IDSA publishes a selection of peer-reviewed academic education papers each year. These are collected during a community-wide open call period when design educators and practitioners submit materials for review by a group of judges serving on IDSA’s Academic Jury. The program also helps provide content for the annual Education Symposium, where some authors are invited to present their work from the stage to a live audience. To view the full Education Papers jury please visit meet the jury page.
Design For Fostering Action-Oriented Awareness Towards Sustainable Transition
Addressing the imperative for sustainable transition necessitates widespread recognition of the intricate interplay between societal and ecological dynamics amidst the existential climate crisis, localized sustainable development initiatives, and the behavioral patterns of urban inhabitants. This paper advocates for a
Author: Elena Danlei Huang
Company / School: Formlabs Inc / Rhode Island School of Design
- 2024
- Paper Type: Student Research
- Education Symposium Theme: Design Disrupted
The Necessary Complements To Design Methods And Design Skills
It has long been demonstrated that teaching design methods and design skills is insufficient to ensure academic and professional success for industrial design students. These two legs should be balanced with the third leg of a design mindset. Students
Author: Seth Orsborn, PhD, William Chernicoff, PhD
Company / School: Southern Methodist University, Toyota Mobility Foundation
- 2024
- Paper Type: Academic Research
- Education Symposium Theme: Design Disrupted
A Design Letter on Addressing Ableism Internalized, For the Betterment of the Classroom, Studio, and Future Designers
Ableism is deeply ingrained into every part of the world we live in: our physical surroundings, the language we use, and even our culture and shared patterns of thinking. Designers like to think we are above this. We are
Author: Deborah Lalush
- 2023
- Paper Type: Design Letter
- Research Status Completed
- Education Symposium Theme: The Watering Hole
An Application to Industrial Design Studio Projects
As robots become more prevalent in homes and public spaces, there is a growing need for their development in industry and inclusion in industrial design curricula. However, teaching robot design poses challenges due to their unique nature of autonomous
Author: Yong-Gyun Ghim
Company / School: University of Cincinnati
- 2023
- Paper Type: Academic Research
- Research Status Work in Progress
- Education Symposium Theme: The Watering Hole
What would happen if a matriarchal design pedagogy was considered, our patriarchal training was unlearned, and we abandoned solutionism for unknowing—replacing human-centered design (aka design for consumption) by genuinely designing for the pluriverse? What would happen if we smashed
Author: Ayako Takase, Heather Snyder Quinn
Company / School: Rhode Island School of Design, DePaul University
- 2023
- Education Symposium Theme: The Watering Hole
Case Study on a Graduate Industrial Design Studio
It is well-established that professional industrial designers who have designed and launched consumer products must gather and respond to feedback from users to create a design that is well received in the market. Designing in a silo leads to
Author: Kathryn Wozniak
Company / School: NC State University
- 2023
- Paper Type: Case Study
- Research Status Work in Progress
- Education Symposium Theme: The Watering Hole
The boundary of uncertainty is at the edge of what a learner can do without help. At this boundary, a learner can only succeed by collaborating with someone who has a broader knowledge, experience, or skill set. When someone
Author: Paul Skaggs, David Morgaon
Company / School: Brigham Young University
- 2023
- Paper Type: Academic Research
- Research Status Completed
- Education Symposium Theme: The Watering Hole
Navigating Patent, Business, and Invention Strategy
Patton Design’s 40+ years of success creating inventions that shift the societal paradigm of mechanization and complacency have yielded a unique methodology for combining design exploration with patent creation, the concept of which encapsulates profound opportunities for innovation. The
Author: Doug Patton
Company / School: Patton Design
- 2023
- Paper Type: Case Study
- Research Status Work in Progress
- Education Symposium Theme: The Watering Hole
Helping Students Get to the Point
When undergraduate industrial design students cannot see a clear path moving forward, they can default to familiar ideas and struggle to look at a situation with new eyes. A short oral narrative is one tool that helps students make
Author: Richard E. Fry
Company / School: Brigham Young University
- 2023
- Paper Type: Case Study
- Research Status Completed
A Case Study for Teaching More Sustainably
With issues like climate change, pollution, deforestation, drought, extreme weather patterns, and a world population that is projected to reach 9.8 billion by 2050, there has been a strong push in industrial design education to teach sustainability to the
Author: George K. Chow
Company / School: University of Houston
- 2023
- Paper Type: Case Study
- Research Status Completed
- Education Symposium Theme: The Watering Hole