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Isabel Prochner posted an articleTeaching resources from PedSIG and The Open University Design Group see more
Distance Design Education Resources
The DRS Special Interest Group in Design Pedagogy (PedSIG) is working with colleagues and institutions to support design educators continuing to move to distance and online teaching in response to the events of 2020 and the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic. This transition to distance education is a particular challenge for design educators, since design curriculum often relies heavily on physical and proximate teaching and learning, particularly in the studio.
PedSIG, in collaboration with The Open University Design Group, have developed shared teaching resources available on the Distance Design Education website. The site features recipes, articles and resources about teaching, learning, staying connected and collaborating at a distance. It includes all the recordings from the series of Distance Design Education Meetups, where colleagues from around the world share their experiences and practices.
You will also find the open education resource Creating Distance Design Courses, which outlines some of the approaches and ideas used at The Open University in the UK.
In 2021, the site aims to continue support and is keen to hear from colleagues with suggestions of what would be most useful in supporting educators.
If you want to contribute material or take part in future events, then please get involved or stay in touch. Over the past year the community has learned from one another regardless of knowledge or experience: everyone has had something valuable to share.
As always, best wishes from the DRS—stay healthy and safe.
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Peter Lloyd posted an articleThe Call for Papers for Learn X Design 2021 is now open! see more
The Call for Papers for Learn X Design 2021 is now open!
Deadline: 23 March 2021
Details: https://learnxdesign.net/lxd2021/
The 6th International Conference for Design Education Researches, Learn X Design, will be hosted by Shandong University in September 2021.
This is a call for Papers, Case Studies, Workshops and Visual Papers in the following Track Themes:
Track 01 | Design Thinking to Improve Creative Problem-solving
Track 02 | Empowering Critical Design Literacy
Track 03 | Alternative Problem Framing in Design Education
Track 04 | Collaboration in Design Education
Track 05 | Co-creation of Interdisciplinary Design Educations
Track 06 | Learning Through Materiality and Making
Track 07 | Sketching & Drawing Education and Knowledge
Track 08 | Educating Data-driven Design Innovation
Track 09 | Design Learning Environments
Track 10 | Futures of Design Education
Track 11 | Design Educators as Change Agents
You can find further details on the call and track themes here: https://learnxdesign.net/lxd2021/
The deadline for submissions is 23 March 2021.
Learn X Design is the DRS Pedagogy SIG biennial conference and the 2021 conference in Shandong University will be the 6th in the series, with a conference theme of Engaging with Challenges in Design Education.
Over the past months a group of international design education researchers have been preparing the track themes as a peer group. This approach has led to 11 tracks with very clear and focused themes, reflecting contemporary issues in design education research.
Details of past Learn X Design conferences can be found here.
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Isabel Prochner posted an articleGet involved with Global Health SIG, Pluriversal Design SIG and Design Pedagogy SIG see more
DRS SIG News: CFPs, Meetups and More
DRS SIGs have been busy planning and hosting events, despite this unusual and rather chaotic academic year. There are lots of ways to engage with Global Health SIG (GHSIG), Pluriversal Design SIG (PluriSIG) and Design Pedagogy SIG (PedSIG) and participate in design research activities.
GHSIG has been developing a crowdsourced repository of COVID-19 Public Health messages and information set by official national, regional and international bodies. This will be a source of information that researchers, public health authorities and policy makers can access and forward to communities around the world. The team is also analysing the data for a multinational and multicultural visual and language communication analysis of COVID-19 public health messages. They've started the analysis and expect to develop guidelines and a white paper on best practices. You can view the repository here.
GHSIG also has a call for abstracts for a Little book on Global Health: Special Edition on COVID-19. They’re looking for proposals for short case studies on health and wellbeing—the deadline is coming soon on 15th October. The book will be published in 2021 and will also include outcomes from the GHSIG Conversation at DRS2020.
As for PluriSIG, they’ve been running a bimonthly book club that reviewed and discussed Escobar’s Designs for the Pluriverse: Radical Interdependence, Autonomy and the Making of Worlds and Santos’ Epistemologies of the South: Justice Against Epistemicide in September. The selections for October are Pluriverse: A Post-development Dictionary (16 Oct) and Pedagogy of the Oppressed (30 Oct). Visit Eventbrite to view the schedule or register.
Finally, PedSIG has been buzzing with activities including bimonthly Distance Design Education Meetups and a discussion on the Futures of Design Education planned for 29 October. PedSIG is also organising their next biennial conference Learn X Design 2021, which will be hosted by Shandong University of Art & Design in September 2021. Full paper, workshop and case study submissions are due in March.
Check out the DRS Events Calendar for a list of more design research events and add your event by contacting editor@designresearchsociety.org
The DRS is also looking to expand the SIG program. Contact admin@designresearchsociety.org to learn more.
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Isabel Prochner posted an articleLearn X Design 2021 will take place 24–26 Sept. 2021, hosted by Shandong University of Art & Design see more
Learn X Design 2021 Announcement
The DRS Special Interest Group in Design Pedagogy (PedSIG) is delighted to announce that Learn X Design 2021 will take place 24–26 September 2021, hosted by Shandong University of Art & Design, China.
Learn X Design: International Conference for Design Education Researchers is a biennial conference series from PedSIG. This will be the 6th Learn X Design conference. It follows the 2019 event hosted by METU in Ankara.
Full Paper, Workshop, and Case Study submissions for Learn X Design 2021 are due 23rd March 2021. More details will be available on the conference website as the event approaches: https://learnxdesign.net/lxd2021/
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Isabel Prochner posted an articleHow design researchers can get involved in the COVID-19 response see more
Design Research and the COVID-19 Response (Updated)
The DRS has received questions about how design researchers can get involved in the COVID-19 response. Here’s a list of initiatives associated with the DRS and some compelling projects in the broader design research community.
PedSIG is doing great work with their Distance Design Education platform. They've been sharing articles and recipes for distance learning in design and have hosted 4 meetups on special topics. PedSIG is looking for new content, meetup hosts and ideas. You can contact PedSIG Convenor Derek Jones derek.jones@open.ac.uk to get involved.
InclusiveSIG Convenor Hua Dong shared a link to a COVID-19 resource matching platform where she is a volunteer. The platform includes links to PPE 3D printing groups and calls for donations at hospitals across the UK.
The Global Health SIG has shared a list of public health bodies and their websites. The list includes official organisations at international, national, and regional levels. It’s available as a Google Document and the SIG is encouraging visitors to add to the list.
Beyond the DRS, the Strategic Design Research Journal is planning a special issue on design contributions for the COVID-19 global emergency. The issue will gather and map COVID-19 responses and build an understanding of the role of design during global emergencies. Full paper submissions are due 15th July on the journal website.
The Design for Emergency platform is a great initiative organised by Sara Colombo and Paolo Ciuccarelli. These Northeastern University researchers are conducting surveys about COVID-19 experiences and have prepared data visualisations with the initial results. The platform is also hosting an open design challenge in response to survey results.
New addition: The Emergency Design Collective brings together doctors, designers and design researchers and has partners including IDEO, Frog and Stanford d.school. The group offers design suggestions for healthcare and life at home during COVID-19. They're looking for volunteers, partners and donations to support their work.
Contact the DRS Online Editor Isabel Prochner editor@designresearchsociety.org to share your COVID-19 project with Society members.
We hope you’re staying safe during these difficult times!
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Derek Jones posted an articleConference report: LearnXdesign 2019 Conference a great success! see more
Conference Report: Learn X Design 2019
The fifth annual DRS Pedagogy SIG Learn X Design conference, Insider Knowledge, was held July 9-12 at the Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey.
The conference hosted 150 delegates from 81 institutions in 31 countries, highlighting the continued interest in design education research around the world. In all, 87 papers and 6 workshops were presented. It was a busy conference, but one that allowed the community to reconnect, create new links and engage in discussion.
The conference started (unofficially!) with a one-day PhD Pitstop event, where 24 PhD students presented their work, interspersed by short lectures by Owain Pedgley, Peter Lloyd, Gülay Hasdoğan, and Gülsen Töre Yargin. During the 'pitstop' itself, students had the chance to visit four tables to grill the 'experts' on PhD-related issues. Quite a few good ideas for design PhD researchers came from this event (and not just from the experts…), so keep an eye on the DRS PhD Discussion board for more on this in the coming weeks. The day ended with a traditional Academic, Live-Band Karaoke with double-blind peer review singing...
The papers presented over the three days demonstrated the range and rigour of contemporary design education research. In all, there were 27 presentation sessions organized into 18 Track Themes and the topics ranged from core design education themes (such as student development, modes of learning, and studio praxis) through to emerging practices in teaching as well as between education and society.
The range of research methods was similarly broad: from large-scale statistical analyses of large data sets through to rich description and dramaturgical approaches of analysing the Studio. Questions from delegates on methods and approaches were as common as queries on results.
And, of course, the range of subjects of study expanded the anthropocentric to include, for the first time, both cats and squirrels…
The Keynote presentation on day 1 was given by Gabriela Goldschmidt, who presented her work on design cognition and its inherent spatiality through theories such as Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development. Goldschmidt argued strongly for the value of such spaces to develop design expertise – not simply design-like behaviours and actions.
Day 1 ended with a visit to a traditional Ankara hammam for a Turkish bath. A comparative, auto-ethnographic, reflexive study was conducted and concluded: "What goes on in the hammam stays in the hammam"
The second keynote was presented by Zeynep Çelik Alexander, who gave an in-depth and fascinating analysis of the pedagogical roots of the Bauhaus, arguing strongly that the design curriculum that has influenced nearly all contemporary design education had prior pedagogical research roots (aesthetic feeling, drawing, designing). Yet another reason to join the DRS Pedagogy SIG - it all started with education research!
Thursday ended with the conference dinner, which, again, took a purely Turkish turn - before the first food arrived, everyone was given a hip scarf, the band started, dancers arrived, and off we went. As with the hammam, you had to be there…
The final keynote was given by Halime Demirkan on the subject of learning styles and their applications to student-tutor interaction. This work highlighted the unique position of design education research in the intersection of theory, research, practice and design itself.
The conference ended with a panel session considering the future of design education and research, comprising Emre Çaglar, Aykut Coskun, Ípek Akpinar, Yasuko Takayama, and Stanley Reucker. The panel noted several emerging themes throughout the conference, including the continuing maturity of design education research and the growing body of work produced, and referred to, by the community. A follow up article on the discussion and themes will follow.
The conference was closed by Naz AGZ Börekçi, Fatma Korkut and Dalsu Özgen Koçyildirim, the conference co-chairs, outlining the design process and organisation behind the event. The theme of the conference, Insider Knowledge, was reflected throughout the event in discussions and, in particular, through communication about design education and its value as a mode of education.
The visual identity for the conference was inspired by the intersections of cultures, peoples and ideas that represent Turkey's past and present. This identity worked really well across all the conference materials and was a reminder of the diversity and plurality of speakers and participants.
Overall, this was a fantastic conference with a lot of good work brought together by a passionate community of practitioners and researchers. The design research education community has incredible Insider Knowledge and a growing maturity of practice and research.
So, thank you to everyone who helped make Learn X Design 2019 such a great event: to Naz, Fatma, and Dalsu for guiding the design; to all the volunteers and helpers who made it work; to Middle East Technical University for supporting it; and to all the contributors, delegates, presenters, authors and speakers.
After a well-deserved rest, the conference team will complete editing the proceedings, which will be available in September on the conference website and PedSIG page on the DRS website.
The next Learn X Design Conference will be held in 2021 (location still to be confirmed). If you are interested in hosting the next LearnXdesign conference in 2021 then get in touch with derek.jones@open.ac.uk
Author
Derek Jones, PedSIG Convenor
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Isabel Prochner posted an articleLxD 2019 took place last year on 9-12 July 2019 see more
Learn X Design 2019 Proceedings Now Available!
The fifth DRS Learn X Design International Conference for Design Education Researchers (LxD 2019) took place last year on 9-12 July 2019. Full proceedings are now available on the conference website and on Google Drive. The proceedings include all 87 papers presented at the main conference and 22 short papers from the PhD Pitstop session. You’ll also find track theme introductions, a summary of the keynotes and an editorial by the conference organisers Naz A.G.Z. Börekçi, Fatma Korkut and Dalsu Özgen Koçyıldırım. These sections give a flavour of current and upcoming research interests in design education. To top it off, the book is wrapped up in the fantastic LxD 2019 visual identity, courtesy of Dalsu.
Group photo from LXD 2019
Learn X Design is the biennial conference series of the DRS Pedagogy Special Interest Group (PedSIG). LxD conferences have been running since 2011. LxD 2019 took place in Ankara and explored 'insider knowledge' through thematic areas: approaches and attitudes, educational milieu, tools and methods, and making and prototyping. These subject areas show the variety of topics in design education research. Case studies and reflections are common in this work, but there are alternative methods and topics as well. For example, conference presenters discussed dramaturgy as an approach to understand the studio and human-squirrel interaction as an adapted mode of design studio practice. A full conference report is available here.
The next Learn X Design conference location will be announced shortly. Join the PedSIG Discussion Group to find out first!
Author
Derek Jones, PedSIG Convenor; DRS Interim Advisory Council Member; Senior Lecturer, The Open University, UK
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DRS Administrator posted an articleCall to Host Learn X Design 2021, the DRS Pedagogy SIG Conference see more
Call to Host Learn X Design 2021
The Design Research Society Pedagogy Special Interest Group (PedSIG) invites proposals to host the next PedSIG biennial conference Learn X Design 2021. For an application pack and guidance on making a proposal, please email the PedSIG Convenor Derek Jones (derek.jones@open.ac.uk).
+++UPDATED+++ The updated deadline for proposals is 12:00 noon BST on 14 November 2019.
The PedSIG Convening Group will review proposals and schedule interviews (if required) by late November. A final decision will be announced in early December.
Above: Photo at the closing of Learn X Design 2019
PedSIG is the largest SIG in the DRS and includes members from institutions around the world. The SIG has held biannual conferences since 2011. The 2019 conference took place in Ankara and welcomed over 150 delegates from 81 institutions and 31 countries. Read more about the DRS Pedagogy SIG here. Further information on past conferences is available in the application pack.
Contact Derek Jones (derek.jones@open.ac.uk) with any further questions.
