Category: Design education
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Design for Planet Festival 2024
This article was written on 15th November 2024 On 6th November, I had the privilege of attending the Design Council’s Design for Planet Festival 2024 in Manchester, where designers, studios, and businesses came together with the aim of working towards a net-zero future. The event was opened by inspiring leaders including Andy Burnham, Mayor of […]
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Report on visit to V&A Museum of Childhood
On the 12th October 2024, seven U101 24B students (including two children) met up at the V&A Museum of Childhood at Bethnal Green in East London. The museum itself showcases a mix of displays of artefacts relating to childhood from a diversity of cultures around the world. Some artefacts date back to the 16th Century. […]
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Transformative Learning for Sustainable Transitions
Inner Development Goals (IDG) Annual Summit in Stockholm This week, the non-profit initiative Inner Development Goals (IDG) held its annual summit in Stockholm. The goal of IDG is to harness the power of inner development to tackle global challenges, such as those outlined by the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The IDG community has developed a framework […]
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(Design) ecologies for learning and practice
In this post I acknowledge the contributions of Schumacher College to current shifts toward life-centred design and ‘design for planet’, show how Schumacher exemplifies the concept of ecologies for learning and practice, and draw out insights of value for our new B.Design in development. Collapsing and re-organising In late August 2024 the trustees of Dartington […]
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Nigel Cross on Design Thinking
A is for Architecture, a podcast series run by Ambrose Gillick of Kent University, invited Nigel Cross, a renowned expert in design thinking, to discuss his research. Cross is an Emeritus Professor at the Open University (OU) and a pioneer in distance design education. He has significantly influenced the field through his work as the […]
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Shaping inclusive futures with your design career
Are you a design student embarking on a new journey? Wondering where your skills can take you and the impact you can make? In this blog post, I explore design careers with a focus on inclusive futures. I’ll start by summarising the insights from a Careers and Employability Service event at OU in March 2024, featuring a diverse panel of designers, […]
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A Student’s Perspective: Belonging in the Digital Age – Teaching and Learning Conference 2024
A guest article by Cindy Darbandi As a recent Design graduate from the OU’s School of Engineering and Innovation, I had the incredible opportunity to participate as a student speaker at the Advance HE Annual Teaching and Learning conference in Nottingham this July (2nd-4th). The theme resonated deeply: redefining higher education through new learning […]
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Adventures in design: a curiosity-driven career
Taking the plunge to study for a career in any field is a bold and purposeful step in life. To pursue a creative career takes perhaps an even bolder leap of faith when the array of potential work roles is so diverse and constantly evolving. Design roles today are no exception. More younger adults are […]
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T190: Design practices – Module overview
T190: Design practices is the first of a series of new modules that will form the brand new Bachelor of Design qualification (BDes). T190 provides a foundation in design practice by introducing the principles and skills from topics in different creative and design disciplines. These principles and skills are learned by applying them to a […]
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Presenting Futures Literacy to the Scottish Government
One of the things we get to do now and again as academics is to speak to governments and politicians in policy areas we are interested in. This year, the OU in Scotland contributed to the Royal Society of Chemistry event Science and the Parliament event. This brings together scientists, business, politicians, and government to […]