Conference Agenda

Students not always enjoy an in-depth practical learning experience with an adequate portion of hands-on during their academic education. In many fields of study, traditional laboratories are common learning spaces that are, however, not accessible 24/7 and, the practical work is mostly pre-defined by the lecturer, resulting in a short and very “passive” active learning. To overcome this limitation and to provide a broader availability and to foster individual learning experience, we aim to transform this analog world into a modern learning and teaching environment using digital technologies and a corresponding digital framework for courses and laboratories.

An existing laboratory on prototyping from our university’s bachelor program on sustainable engineering with an extensive machine park consisting of 3D printers, milling machines, lasers and various hand tools is digitized and will finally be linked with the real-world lab.

In addition to digitizing the basic process of product development and prototyping as part of students' project works, all additional activities arising in the lab are also transferred from the analog to the digital world. This digitalization is implemented alongside the already existing (partly browser-based) software tools of the individual devices in the e-learning platform Moodle. This results in a digital copy of the lab, its equipment and defined processes – structured in accordance with the established proceedings on product development (such as Pahl/Beitz and VDI 2221). We consider it a digital twin of the work and learning environment, calling it the “digital learning environment twin” of the real-world lab.

For the product development process, a course area is available in Moodle with various feedback loops and assessment levels for the individual development steps of the student projects. Through this, students can submit their project plans, design ideas, sketches, CAD-models, manufacturing codes (such as G-codes for 3D printers, laser cutters and carving machines), or “just” request feedback and initiate meetings on technical and/or organizational topics of their product design process, the lab equipment, etc. Also, a safety instruction with instructional videos, PDF documents with hazard warnings and operating instructions as well as a final test (to allow operating the lab equipment) are provided to introduce the students to the lab.

In this paper, we will illustrate the overall methodological approach on the established digital learning environment twin of the lab. Furthermore, we will have a detailed view on the challenge of transferring underlying manufacturing process to the digital world and linking them to provide a continuous digital workflow. The paper will be closed with an analysis of feedback (by both students and lecturers) on the pros and cons as well as on the usability of the digital twin of the lab.

Professional identity and vision (PIV) development is important for students to shape their educational path and future careers. Students need guidance to transition from their university work into working life [3]. Especially for Industrial Design (ID) students, it is important to define who they are and want to be as designers. These students need to be prepared for a professional career working in a field with varying perspectives regarding emergent technologies and the role of designers.

Recognizing this need, Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) provides students with guidance on their PIV development. This guidance mainly takes the form of seminars which include supervised group discussions and students writing PIV documents. However, many students still struggle defining and writing their PIV. One way to facilitate students developing their PIV is externalizing and analyzing their underlying mental models. This uncovering of mental models can be done by expressing these models through tangible visual prostheses [1].

To supplement the mainly textual approach now offered in the seminars, we explored how an adapted Thinking with Things (TWT) toolkit [2] can help ID students in their PIV development and reflection. This toolkit makes use of visual prostheses to assist people in externalizing mental models. The usage of the TWT toolkit for PIV development involves groups of students working together with various tangible materials to construct a physical three-dimensional landscape representing elements of their identity and vision as well as any connections between these elements.

Two case studies were conducted to observe the use of the toolkit. The first case study involved first-year bachelor students of ID and the second involved bachelor students of ID approaching graduation. Data collection was done through an adapted professional identity scale supplemented by a semi-structured interview, together aiming to cover students’ usage of the toolkit itself (e.g., material properties, projection of meaning on objects) as well as the takeaways they gained from it (reflection on current PIV, relating to peers, development of new PIV insights).

We conclude that our adapted TWT toolkit is more suitable for students approaching their final bachelor graduation project and those beyond this stage in their degree, and that the main use of the toolkit lies in its reflective nature. First-year students’ challenges with their PIV did not primarily concern expressing or visualizing their mental models, but rather that they did not yet have sufficient experiences to build mental models around, and as a result had little to share or reflect on. (Upcoming) graduate students generally displayed a deeper understanding of the field and their role in it, but some still struggled to fully express or externalize this position using conventional methods, such as reflective writing.

As a result of this study, the TU/e has integrated the TWT workshops for developing students’ PIV into its 23-24 curriculum.

References: https://pastebin.com/VMTKeEtm

By its very nature, education is a moving practice. As new theories, practices, technologies and evidence emerges, all educators have a responsibility to ensure their teaching is at the forefront of their subject and specialism. However, many of the foundational learning skills are taken for granted as being taught and embedded in the earlier years of education. The traditional ‘reading, writing and arithmetic’ of old has been replaced with a much wider suite of skills, but as our world changes with the climate emergency, there are new learning paradigms that are essential to the growing learner and engaged human.

The circular economy is one such element. A system that aims to keep materials and resources in constant flow, whilst also creating a regenerative future is arguably a critical system to be understood – and practiced in a variety of ways – by the youngest of learners as a foundational piece of education.

This paper looks at two case studies – firstly, the authors new pilot study of how circularity can be embedded earlier in the education landscape through the creation of a 10-week online city-wide education platform working with schools from all key stages and also how circularity has been embedded over the last few years in a BSc / BA Product Design Degree, (and the graduate results this has created).

By looking at how circularity can be embedded earlier in the curriculum as a core skill and language, the aim is to discuss how higher education can then push the progression and practice of circularity in each specialism and help the acceleration towards a regenerative future. How might our courses change if we were working with more prepared students?

Our material world and consumer habits have a significant negative impact in the environment. Across its life cycle the average product results in carbon emissions of 6.3 times its own weight (1). Designers are starting to experiment and develop biomaterials from waste or generate renewable growable materials rather than extracting and mining.

New materials developed from mycelium, bacteria, algae, and cactus help to reduce the environmental impact of single use and to rethink our relationship with convenience and consumption. These materials offer some of the insulating, lightweight, waterproof, and transparent properties of plastic, but are non-toxic and compostable. Moreover, these materials often use bio fabrication techniques, instead of traditional manufacture processes by harnessing biological organisms to design and grow products and clothing.

Truly regenerative design considers interconnected dynamics that are people and planet centred with a focus on circular economy and regeneration. Material Futures used biomaterials and bio fabrication to introduce regenerative design principles to second year Product Design students towards a co evolutionary process between humans and natural systems, understanding local context and a living system thinking approach. Students were asked to design a product made entirely of mycelium that considered user needs whilst helping to decarbonise the material world. Design methods such as cone of futures, future backing and the thing of the future were used so students had to consider the micro and macro impact of their proposals. The project was supported by a regenerative design lab through a workshop format in which students had the opportunity to learn mycelium’s bio fabrication processes and properties. The paper includes examples of experiments with mycelium, the methods used to develop concepts and student feedback that illustrates the importance of introducing regenerative design principles to increase ecoliteracy and consequently reduce the environmental impact of product design.

1. Meinrenken, C.J., Chen, D., Esparza, R.A. et al. Carbon emissions embodied in product value chains and the role of Life Cycle Assessment in curbing them. Sci Rep 10, 6184 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-62030-x

Innovation of didactic is an increasingly strategic goal for universities to equip students with the right competencies for modern and complex challenges and for continuously changing working contexts. Universities need to cope both with preparing learners for jobs that still don’t exist and be competitive towards emerging players in the context of education and training. The label “innovative didactic” generally refers to the idea of a cultural and epistemological transformation that has the potential to change the teaching and learning models. Specifically, the innovation of the instructional design approach suggests moving from the conventional ex-cathedra lectures to a more active involvement of students in the learning process. Indeed, the concept that innovation in didactics only relates to digital technologies is limited. In fact, the research in this field aims, more broadly, to experiment with new educational practices and methodologies that relate pedagogy, space, and technologies and reflect on the synergies of the different elements. Lately, the pandemic and digital transformation are two of the main issues that have pushed the discussion around this topic. On one hand, the sudden restrictions in the context of didactic imposed by COVID-19 oriented the research toward strategies to cope also with distance education. On the other hand, digital transformation has transversally affected learning and teaching settings for over two decades.

The design discipline has always pursued experimentation in its didactics and by nature design-based learning often offers a teaching setting, such as studio-based classes, which places the students with an active role at the centre of the learning process. Examples of these innovative teaching practices might be found in design literature, but there is a lack of extensive studies on how the teaching innovation process is being handled and tracked by design schools.

The paper illustrates a funded research project, [project name], aimed at investigating the perimeter of innovation in design education. The research focuses on the situated context of [university] to comprehend how experimentation in university courses can lead to the innovation of design didactics. The paper presents the results of two research activities: a survey that has been sent to all the lecturers at the School of Design of [university], which aimed to map the experimental practices in the courses in the last decade and two sets of interviews. One set, as a follow-up of the practices collected, and the second set, to relevant actors in the didactic organization to comprehend how the ecosystem can enable these experimentations.

The data collected disclosed that various experimentations are currently running in our context, and they could contribute to understanding how design teaching and learning are recently evolving. Moreover, the interviews have been designed with a semi-structured protocol to foster teachers' narratives of their experimental practices. In conclusion, the investigation developed in our situated context contributes to the discussion of understanding how experimentation in design courses can bring the innovation of didactic. Hence, it provides a series of protocols that might be used in other contexts to expand the scope of the research.