The Possibilities for Design-Based Learning in Education

• In Event: The Power and Possibilities for Design-Based Learning and Collaborative Creativity in Education

Abstract

Purpose:
During a winter in Montreal, students reinvent their curriculum, focusing on anti-racism education, while their peers design accessible transportation on campus. In another semester, students in Toronto wonder whether filming sets are inclusive to women, and how they can change work culture. And change is what they seek as design problem-solving inspires them in the following weeks. Over the past years, I have taught design to hundreds of students from non-design programs. As a researcher, I advocated for everyone to learn design yet as a university teacher, I wanted to hear students’ stories of learning design. This curiosity to discover how students experience design pedagogy instigated the doctoral research that I will describe, some of its guiding questions include: What are students’ experiences learning design? Are lessons valuable to them in other subjects? How does design develop students’ creative identities? How do lessons support their professional ambitions?

Theoretical Framework:
Design-Based Learning (DBL) borrows methods from design practice and education, the goal is not to train students to be designers but to “encourage critical and creative thinking in any discipline through the signature pedagogy of design” (Davis, 2017, p.145). The attention to design in schools isn’t new, yet in higher education, the interest has grown. Around the world, universities integrate design, mostly design thinking in programs such as computer science, information technology, mathematics, management, economics, languages, business relations, biology, nursing, medicine, project management, and marketing (Alhamdani, 2016; Badwan, Bothara, Latijnhouwers, Smithies, & Sandars, 2018; Beaird, Geist, & Lewis, 2018; Çeviker-Çınar, Mura, & Demirbağ-Kaplan, 2017; Daniel, 2016; Ewin, Luck, Chugh, & Jarvis, 2017; Goldman, Kabayadondo, Royalty, Carroll, & Roth, 2014; Gottlieb, Wagner, Wagner, & Chan, 2017; McLaughlan & Lodge, 2019; Schiele & Chen, 2018).

Methods and Data:
To understand the experiences of students across disciplines learning design, I conducted a qualitative interview study at universities in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Research participants were 15 undergraduate and graduate students from seven academic programs. I asked them about the types of design lessons they learned, and which were valuable to them. I inquired how learning design supports their creative identities. Also, if learning design benefited them in other subjects, and in their personal lives and relationships. I also asked whether they found similarities between design as a discipline and their academic programs, and if they would consider using design methods in their future careers. After data collection, I transcribed interviews and am currently generating findings through thematic analysis.

Results and Significance:
Learning in design education research is often decontextualized as outcomes of DBL are promoted without thorough interpretation of students’ lived experiences. Therefore, this study reveals insights into how students across disciplines and from different walks of life learn design. Preliminary findings show that students’ stories, for example, whether or not they consider themselves ‘creative’ impacts how they develop creative thinking skills when learning design. Another important finding shows us how design pedagogy provides a creative outlet for students who loved artmaking in school but didn’t pursue art because of family pressures, among other factors that led them into other programs of study.

Author

• Layal Shuman, Ryerson University