Insights for Educational Practice from a Thematic Analysis of Student Experiences with Speculative Design Mini-Projects about Personal Issues

In 2020, we gave a large-scale first-year informatics course an assignment to speculatively design hypothetical solutions for issues they were experiencing due to social distancing measures during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this paper, we present a speculative design mini-project, then analy...

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Main Authors: Kay Kender, Peter Purgathofer
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: ASLERD 2021-12-01
Series:Interaction Design and Architecture(s)
Online Access:http://ixdea.uniroma2.it/inevent/events/idea2010/index.php?s=102&&link=51_11_abstract
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author Kay Kender
Peter Purgathofer
author_facet Kay Kender
Peter Purgathofer
author_sort Kay Kender
collection DOAJ
description In 2020, we gave a large-scale first-year informatics course an assignment to speculatively design hypothetical solutions for issues they were experiencing due to social distancing measures during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this paper, we present a speculative design mini-project, then analyse student feedback and present insights about applying speculative design mini-projects around personal issues and in a large-scale technology education context. Our findings indicate that students had strong emotional experiences throughout the process and gained deeper insights into both design and the issues they were engaging with. Through peer reviews, students found new perspectives and feelings of relatedness in the face of shared hardships. From this, we summarise learnings for teaching practice about 1) peer review as a tool for feedback loops and discussions, 2) safety and student well-being when addressing personally experienced issues, 3) abridged design processes for trans-disciplinary competency, and 4) fostering safe spaces for creative vulnerability.
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spelling doaj.art-231b11045e8b4c55804e083a779fe0312023-09-03T10:52:31ZengASLERDInteraction Design and Architecture(s)2283-29982021-12-015124926910.55612/s-5002-051-011Insights for Educational Practice from a Thematic Analysis of Student Experiences with Speculative Design Mini-Projects about Personal IssuesKay Kenderhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-3733-9329Peter Purgathoferhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-5453-5631 In 2020, we gave a large-scale first-year informatics course an assignment to speculatively design hypothetical solutions for issues they were experiencing due to social distancing measures during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this paper, we present a speculative design mini-project, then analyse student feedback and present insights about applying speculative design mini-projects around personal issues and in a large-scale technology education context. Our findings indicate that students had strong emotional experiences throughout the process and gained deeper insights into both design and the issues they were engaging with. Through peer reviews, students found new perspectives and feelings of relatedness in the face of shared hardships. From this, we summarise learnings for teaching practice about 1) peer review as a tool for feedback loops and discussions, 2) safety and student well-being when addressing personally experienced issues, 3) abridged design processes for trans-disciplinary competency, and 4) fostering safe spaces for creative vulnerability.http://ixdea.uniroma2.it/inevent/events/idea2010/index.php?s=102&&link=51_11_abstract
spellingShingle Kay Kender
Peter Purgathofer
Insights for Educational Practice from a Thematic Analysis of Student Experiences with Speculative Design Mini-Projects about Personal Issues
Interaction Design and Architecture(s)
title Insights for Educational Practice from a Thematic Analysis of Student Experiences with Speculative Design Mini-Projects about Personal Issues
title_full Insights for Educational Practice from a Thematic Analysis of Student Experiences with Speculative Design Mini-Projects about Personal Issues
title_fullStr Insights for Educational Practice from a Thematic Analysis of Student Experiences with Speculative Design Mini-Projects about Personal Issues
title_full_unstemmed Insights for Educational Practice from a Thematic Analysis of Student Experiences with Speculative Design Mini-Projects about Personal Issues
title_short Insights for Educational Practice from a Thematic Analysis of Student Experiences with Speculative Design Mini-Projects about Personal Issues
title_sort insights for educational practice from a thematic analysis of student experiences with speculative design mini projects about personal issues
url http://ixdea.uniroma2.it/inevent/events/idea2010/index.php?s=102&&link=51_11_abstract
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