Optimising the Employability of our Students through Co-Design

Lauren Moriarty, Leeds School of Arts, Leeds Beckett University, UK

Emails: L.R.Moriarty@leedsbeckett.ac.uk      

Click to download Optimising the Employability of our Students through Co-Design (.pptx)

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Abstract

Establishing and developing a co-design methodology has led to the iteration of a number of solutions for embedding employability into our curriculum, bringing product design students and graduates together to co-design their curriculum with relevant industrial partners and academic staff. The aims of the work are to boost students’ employability, ongoing personal and professional development, agility, flexibility, relevance in industry and creative contribution to society, as well as informing and iterating undergraduate course curricula in the UK and internationally. I am working with the idea of developing a ‘curriculum-as-lived’ or ‘bricolage’ (Irwin & Chalmers 2007, in Kalin & Barney 2014, 21–2), which involves ongoing reinvention based upon the changing needs of students. The co-design approach focuses on empowering students by designing with them, not for them. “Not only is a community far more likely to adopt a practice or service that it helped create, but you’ll also gain valuable insight into all facets of your solution.” (IDEO, 2017). It respects human differences and 'creates new rules of design, derived of networks, not hierarchies' (Sanders, 1999). This lightning talk will provide a summary of the co-design work undertaken with recommendations for effective co-design working with students, employers and academic teams.

References

IDEO (2017) Design Kit [Online] London: IDEO. Available from: < https://www.designkit.org/methods/co-creation-session> Accessed 25th November 2020.

Kalin, N. M. & Barney, D. T. (2014) Hunting for monsters: visual arts curriculum as agonistic inquiry. International Journal of Art & Design Education, Vol. 33, No. 1, pp. 19–31.

Sanders, E. B. N. (1999) Postdesign and participatory culture. Paper presented at Useful and Critical: The Position of Research in Design, University of Art and Design Helsinki, Tuusula, Finland, 9–11 September 1999.