A blog about design at the OU.
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Digital education for sustainable teachings in the future.
By Dr. Gil Dekel. To achieve sustainable education for the future we need to adopt new ways of teaching that move away from segregating people to uniting people. Divisions in societies are created by such values as individual success of one over the other, or the belief in international competition. On the other hand, teachings…
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My Design@50 Research story
Last month, Jeff Johnson and I were interviewed in the online event OU Design Research @50. In the discussion, ably steered by Claudia Eckert, Jeff and I reflected on how design research has developed at the OU and what is distinctive about the OU’s design research approach. I thought for this blog it might be useful…
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What is the problem with solar thermal panels?
In my research on carbon reduction from heritage buildings, visible renewables such as solar panels are interesting. Quite a lot of the heritage conservation community isn’t necessarily convinced by solar panels on the roofs of heritage buildings and there’s been lots of research in various places to consider how to integrate solar PV sensitively with…
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Radical Acts
An exhibition currently on at Harewood House in Yorkshire, bears the title “Radical Acts”. This grand stately home, surrounded by gardens and an estate, was built on money from West Indian sugar plantations and was, as information around the house freely admits, bought on the backs of slaves. Indeed in 2021 the black actor, David…
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The body as an artwork – the body as a community experience
Once again, it is a novelty experience to go to a physical exhibition. No other exhibition could have been more appropriate than Daniel Lismore’s “Be yourself, everyone else is already taken” (what a title!). The focus in the exhibition is on the body, more precisely on Daniel’s body as an artwork, but the bodily experience…
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Creativity, Rituality and Sustainable Development: A Case Study from the Global South
Introduction A few years ago, while researching the persistence of traditional creative practices in Nepal, I heard about the Janakpur Women Development Centre, an NGO in Southern Nepal, where local women work on the preservation and re-use of traditional patterns and imagery used in agricultural rituals. The NGO aims to improve the quality of…
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What did YOU do in the War (against Covid19)? Engaging a response to the covid pandemic through visual communication.
It seems we might just, finally, be starting to win our battle against the scourge of covid. In fighting an invisible enemy that has had such a devastatingly tangible impact, it is not surprising that the rhetoric has sometimes carried metaphors of war. COBRA meetings in Whitehall and the Queen urging the country to remain…
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Presence in distance education – spaces to belong
I promise this is not going to be a philosophical discussion, but a rather practical view on the topic. In a discussion of a new design degree at the OU (we call it ‘BDes’), a group of academics mused about how you are present (or what of you is present) when you are studying at…
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Art-Based Research Methods, STE(A)M and Global Challenges
Over the past two weeks, I shared some thoughts about Art Based Research (ABR) methods with students and colleagues. I thought I would also write my reflection here. Personally, I have always been driven toward ABR for my need to think through making and my passion for the arts. But aside from my strictly personal…
