Rethinking Design Education at the AIGA GAIN Conference

In October, the Design Educators Community hosted a seminar on “Rethinking Design Education” as part of the 2014 AIGA GAIN Conference in NYC. I participated in a panel discussion moderated by Haakon Faste.

Each panelist presented their perspective on the future of design education and then posed a question to the gathering. Panelist questions and key slides appear below.  The discussion began by defining design education clearly as “education” not “training” and then moved to scaffolding co-creative, participatory experiences. The panel took a bit of an odd turn—as all great panels do—when the Singularity crept into the dialogue....How do we prepare students for a post-evolutionary future?

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How can participatory design play out in the classroom?
Helen Armstrong, Graduate Director of Experience Design, Assistant Professor of Graphic Design, Miami University

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“What is your Material?”
Allan Chochinov, Partner of Core 77; Chair of the MFA in Products of Design, School of Visual Arts

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“How can educators make collaborative work not simply active, but reflective, and with career-long values?”
Laurie Churchman, Principal at Designlore, Adjunct Faculty at the Maryland Institute College of Art and Philadelphia University.

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Cameron Tonkinwise, Associate Professor and Director of Design Studies, the School of Design at Carnegie Mellon University

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“What’s the future of Interaction Design… and how do we teach it?”
Haakon Faste, Assistant Professor Interaction Design, California College of the Arts

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To read more about the panelists visit the speaker section of the GAIN site.