Transformative Design Education

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268760

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Submitted

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NEW EUROPEAN BAUHAUS AWARDS : existing completed examples

Project title

Transformative Design Education

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Description

In October 2018, we, Michael Hohl and Mathilde Scholz, tried a new experimental approach of teaching design theory to first year Bachelor students of integrated design in Dessau, Germany. The students locate problems in their own environment, at home, on the campus or in town, and use design theory and design methods to better understand their problems and develop solutions. They experience self-efficacy and intrinsic motivation. They see that they can change to world for the better.

Where was your project implemented in the EU?

When was your project implemented?

Has your project benefited from EU programmes or funds?

Which programme(s) or fund(s)? Provide the name of the programme(s)/fund(s), the strand/action line as relevant and the year.

Please provide a summary of your project

We teach design theory to Bachelor and Master students at Anhalt University of Applied Sciences. I am a professor for Design Theory. My background are design research, systems thinking and cybernetics. Mathilde Scholz is a MA design student now and a social scientist. Over the course of 6 years, step by step, the students and i, developed a new method to allow design students to experience intrinsic motivation and take control of their own learning process. The best results we achieve when we begin with first year bachelor students studying 'integrated design' in Dessau. Our intrinsically cybernetic and constructivist approach connects theory and practice in an applied manner, encouraging students to locate problems they observe in their environment, at the university, at home or in town. In this process they learn about both academic and professional design methods and models, how to apply them, how to design and test prototypes, and how to reflect and connect their learning experiences to existing design theory. Additionally, student feedback is used to redesign our seminar. Step by step they take responsibility for our seminar—moderating, giving feedback, and discovering the intrinsic motivation involved in their own learning process—working together in groups. As a result of our pragmatic approach the students feel empowered, begin to get involved and shape the world around them. They took over a vacant room on the campus, named it [cloud] and turned it into a meeting room in which they can work, converse or just relax. In the town of Dessau they took over a derelict building and began to plant vegetables in the garden, fixing rooms and created shared workshops and co-working spaces. This turned into a lively, thriving community. The newly restored kitchen is used for a food sharing project for foods donated from a local grocers. Additionally they created perMA, in which the graduating BA students conducted workshops, designing their own MA program.

Please give information about the key objectives of your project in terms of sustainability and how these have been met

Main objective was to turn the group of newly arriving students into a community that cares and works well in teams. From there we introduce systems thinking and cybernetics as theoretical perspectives to frame their actions. This works very well. We treat them as younger colleagues, on eye-level. To this circular, evolving and open approach, we teachers prescribe a, seemingly counter-intuitive, formal structure. Within this format, surprisingly, practice and theory converge. We begin with nothing, just curiosity, a structured agenda and 1 1/2 hours a week. From this, structure emerges within the course of the semester and under our guidance, resulting in what the students make from it. They feel empowered, they begin to care. They choose projects such as 'rubbish behind the student dorm' that they wish to better understand in order to solve.  By introducing systems thinking they do research, for example on coffee and tea, and discover the vast invisible system that connects the globe and allows us access to cheap products such as coffee or tea.  Thinking about sustainability is not the focus of our project, but it becomes a natural corollary.  Through our systems thinking approach, and applying cybernetics and systems thinking to our own learning, leads to empowerment, being part of a trusting, caring and reliable team, encouraging students to actively take responsibility. Of their own learning process and their own lives.

Please give information about the key objectives of your project in terms of aesthetics and quality of experience beyond functionality and how these have been met

Among the key objectives of our teaching and learning approach are: Ability to - Think critically and ask questions - Think holistically and system-oriented - To think about the future - To formulate values from the point of view of cultural, technological and scientific developments - Apply design to current issues and real-life situations - Concrete implementation of design concepts (e.g. such as rubbish behind the student dorm) - Ability to continuously develop - Being able to work in a team - Being able to lead - Be able to communicate clearly with different recipients - Giving and taking Feedback and reflection - Openness, curiosity, tolerance of ambiguity We as teachers give feedback and the importance of reflection (for learning). Together we evaluate and discuss designs and the quality of designs. We create the sense for aesthetics in conversations and through different iterations of designs. The quality of experience is mainly of the social dimension. Over time the group of students turns into a team. Every single member can take on different roles such as time-keeping, facilitating, giving feedback, documentation. The group becomes a team, that has bonded through a caring atmosphere, trust and reliability. Errors are nothing to fear but experiences to learn from and reflect upon. The aesthetics of their designs and quality of experience are emergent qualities, that increase step by step over time. The key is to create this sense of care and trust with first year students. A strong sense for aesthetics, detail and quality emerges over the course of studies.

Please give information about the key objectives of your project in terms of inclusion and how these have been met

Diversity and inclusion are key elements in our approach. Research has shown that especially introvert students benefit from a high quality teaching and learning approach. We use a chair circle in order to break with the pattern of a lecture theatre with a front and a back, with knowledge streaming in one direction and the rate of participation decreasing the further back students are sitting, we organize the beginning of the seminar in a chair circle. Here we all see each other and we all interact on the same eye-level. It is easy to communicate and information flows in all directions, not just from the educators to the learners. Everyone can get involved and contribute. The circle can also easily be rearranged into 2-3 smaller circles for small-group discussions. This has proven particularly helpful for more introverted students who are reluctant to speak in front of a large group. Here they can test the waters and perhaps become more confident when they later report back their ideas to the main assembly in the large chair circle. We also ask questions and involve students that are introvert and encourage them to take on certain roles and responsibilities (e.g. such as writing a protocol). Check-in, Check-out At the beginning and the end of every seminar we have a check-in/check-out, a procedure in which everybody reports in a brief sentence how they are feeling. Who wishes to begin today? People who do not wish to elaborate simply make a gesture such as giving a thumbs up or thumbs down or wave past to the next person. The same is done at the very end of the seminar before we depart. During the check-in everybody’s presence is acknowledged, and everyone actively contributes at least once to our seminar. This creates an important sense of connectedness and presence. Over time these check-ins are growing in importance as they provide a good sense of the overall spirit of the group as a whole. Our conversations follow Bela Banathy guidelines.

Please give information on the results/impacts achieved by your project in relation to the category you apply for

Our approach is a spectacular success. :) And this does not take into account that students now get involved on the campus and in town! The students have become more self-confident and independent, they strive to communicate well and with clarity, they know how to listen generously without interrupting, and enjoy taking on responsibilities; additionally, some have become experienced moderators as well as proactive leaders. They thrive working together in groups. In the final session we asked our 1st semester students to answer a number of questions in writing. Among those questions were: What was your most important learning insight of this [design theory] seminar? Here a selection of student responses: –Design has no beginning and no end. Share responsibilities. [Don’ try to do everything on your own]. –Conducting interviews well is difficult. Working in a group is a joy. –Very personal things. Empathy is important.–Its all encompassing. Design permeates one’s life, it is not just a job. –Understanding the problem well before [working on] a solution. The different methods. –It is important to get early into making. Then correct, share responsibilities, trust the methods. Understanding different perspectives. –Designerly competence is a side-effect of solving problems. The mindset of approaching a problem. –It’s time-consuming. A lot of back and forth. –The design process begins with research [and] exploration. Begin with openness—become more concrete. –Theory and practice can’t be separated, they are like two sides of the same coin. It became clear to us that we were able to create a safe space in which everyone can dare to say what they think and also make mistakes, when two reserved students volunteered to moderate the next two seminars. Experience has shown that it may take up to five semesters for introverted students to take an active part in discussions. Here it took only 10 weeks. This was a clear sign that our approach is successful.

Please explain the way citizens benefiting from or affected by the project and civil society have been involved in the project and what has been the impact of this involvement on the project

Over the past 6 years our style of teaching and the growing confidence and knowledge of the students, has led from actively designing their own learning experience, and designing the campus, to getting involved in town ,and also their hometowns (one student for example is trying to encourage the local council to create a 'youth club' for young people to meet). For example taking over a vacant building (with the help of locals and staff). Students are visible in town as they attend public gatherings discussing the future of Dessau and also initiating such gatherings. In these meetings they apply the roles and facilitating techniques they learned in our seminars. They have taken over allotments and began planting their own vegetable and produce.  They also are interested in health and nutrition. Waste products from a local organic grocery shop are being salvaged and, once a week, cooked into free healthy meals for everyone. During the pandemic it was take-away only. (Image 2) Additionally many student projects and degree projects moved from the studio out into town, becoming design for social innovation projects. Two students created fliers and posters announcing that they wished to meet the people living in their street. They invited to a picknick in the local park on a Saturday. The result exceeded all expectations, with dozens of families and older citizens attending the event.  Another project was 'Sauberkasten' a business model that emerged from a BA project: Here a handful of home remedies such as vinegar, soda or lemon, among others, are used to mix own cleaning detergents. These detergents are more environmentally friendly and do not result in any plastic packaging. This also has been a very successful project with several employees.

Please highlight the innovative character of the project

We think that for us teachers the most important aspect was that of a new mindset towards teaching and a re-definition of the role of a teacher. This new mindset entails humility, being a learner and not having all the answers. We encounter our students on an eye-level and we are learning together and perhaps making mistakes together. We try to listen and ask questions, instead of providing explanations and answers. We act more as facilitators and experts than leaders, giving them the tools to reach their goals. We try to understand what it is they wish to achieve and support them with the relevant feedback, questions, tools and knowledge to achieve it. Many of the first batch of students educated this way have now become elected students representatives in the senate of the university. One of them is now an official student accreditor, travelling to other universities, evaluating and rating their performance. The images show: 1. Check-out after the strollology method where we receive & give feedback during a walk. 2. Cooking saved food donated by the organic food shop and giving it away for free. 3. The work-group 'CURRICULUM' in which a group of volunteering students, staff and professors work together to create a new curriculum. We are currently doing a second school wide experiment, testing block-seminars. 4. Our chair circle 5. An exhibition in the Bauhaus building, the students organised all by themselves. Here they present their methods, they themselves distinguished: Reflection, Feedback, Mindmap,  6. The final highly aesthetic exhibition the first-year students organised all by themselves. They used the chair circle and invited visitors to discuss design & education with them. The changes that our new learning culture initiated are palpable across not only our building and faculty, but across the campus and in town. It lead to a mindset and culture ready to change things and get involved. What more can you wish for?

Please explain how the project led to results or learnings which could be transferred to other interested parties

Our approach was a 10 year journey where we actively created different experiments in order to learn. Our approach is based uponsystems thinking, cybernetics and the writings of Ranulph Glanville, Paolo Freire, Neil Postman, Ivan Illich, Carl Rogers, Donald Schön, Jerome Bruner and others. These approaches lead to a particular change of mindset and posture.  It is a transformative experience for the students as well as for the teachers. Implications Free, explorative learning requires structure and rules for creativity to unfold. It requires clear rules (and goodwill) for self-organization to emerge and evolve. Once these have been adopted these rules may also be changed and evolve. Not only what is conveyed plays a role, but above all the how and the context are important, the visible and invisible. Observing circularity on several levels: Theory is linked to practice; practice influences theory; feedback flows in both directions between learners theorizing and practicing. Kindness and care: From a radical constructivist perspective we cannot look into others. We must be friendly, generous, patient and attentive when dealing with each other, especially when others seem to make mistakes. We listen and provide feedback. Feedback: Receiving constructive feedback is a kind of mirror and a way through which we can understand how we are perceived and also how or whether we are understood. Giving constructive feedback is a mirror for the other group members. Giving and receiving feedback must be learned and reflected upon. Making an error is part of this and an implication of learning. Just take a step back and do it differently. How do you make sure you learn from mistakes? Safe space: People feel safe to open-up, discuss ideas and also make errors. Positive emotions and mutual trust are crucial elements conducive to learning and personal growth. Reflection aids understanding and learning from experience.

Is an evaluation report or any relevant independent evaluation source available?

By ticking this box, you declare that all the information provided in this form is factually correct, that the proposed project has not been proposed for the Awards more than once under the same category and that it has not been subject to any type of investigation, which could lead to a financial correction because of irregularities or fraud.