Education Papers

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.

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Adapting Education + Industry Collaboration For Covid And Beyond
During the COVID-era, design educators, design students, and design practitioners alike have been forced to adapt their creative practices to online learning and working modalities. We, an industrial design program that has come to rely on frequent engagement with
William Nickley / Hazal Gümüş Çiftçi / Sébastien Proulx
The Ohio State University
A Proposal For Clarity In The Design Curriculum, Supported By Theory And Mastered Through Studio Practice
The rapid expansion of the design pluriverse, as evidenced in both academia and industry, is both wildly impressive and startlingly alarming. Impressive because this sudden outgrowth, driven largely by the adoption of design methods in disciplines ranging from business
James Rudolph
Promoting Engagement Through Inclusive Design For Individuals Living With Intellectual Disabilities
Inclusive design uses the understanding of diversity in populations to create products that are accessible and usable by as many people as reasonably possible. Collaboration with interdisciplinary professionals and the users of the design products or environments are crucial
Cynthia Jih, Elizabeth Shirrell, Kimberly Mollo, Michael Barrett
Reframing The Value Of Plastics Through Educational Game Design
Research demonstrates how socially modeled consumer behaviors can be adapted with incentives; to encourage active learning of often tedious recycling rules, we present an interactive game called “WishCycle” for mobile devices that teaches players how to distinguish common plastics
Steve Love, Joshua Smith, George Chow, Dr. EunSook Kwon
Innovating design through collaboration between Industrial Design & Occupational Therapy
Combining industrial design and occupational therapy graduate students together to create adaptive products for individuals living with Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva (FOP) offers a unique opportunity to facilitate an interdisciplinary approach that better meets the needs of end-users and reinforces
Sarah McNabb, Michael Patrick Barrett, Eric Schneider, Tod Corlett & Kimberly Mollo
Thomas Jefferson University
A Framework For Addressing The Lack Of Leadership Education And Training In The Design Curriculum
The question regarding the nature and viability of design as a field of study and an academic discipline has been hotly debated since the early 20th century. The objectives, principles, and methodologies of design education are perhaps more relevant
James Rudolph
University of Notre Dame
Using A Commercial Cislunar Space Development Project As An Example
The purpose of the study is to experiment with the core principles, processes, and tools of Design Thinking and Systems Engineering through the application of methodologies from these fields to a commercial cislunar space development project. The paper briefly
Sheng-Hung Lee and John Liu
MIT AgeLab
A Case-study In Search Of A More Adaptive Method For Academia-industry Collaboration In Peri-pandemic & Post-pandemic Norms
This paper discusses the value of collaborations between academia and the industry to improve the design education and implementation of successful methodologies by identifying the changing sectoral and educational needs of the industrial designer. The effects of the pandemic
Mekin Elçioğlu, PhD
Kansas State University
A Case Study Examining Skill Development In An Undergraduate Invention Accelerator Program
The Invent@SU invention accelerator teaches collaborative problem solving and necessary communication skills to students from multiple majors during an intensive six-week summer program. This iteration of the program blends both engineering and industrial design methodologies to enable students to
Louise R Manfredi, PhD
Syracuse University
Essentialism And Industrial Design Education
COVID-19 is just the latest crisis to affect Industrial Design education. Tuition rates, student debt, and enrollment numbers have plagued higher education for decades, and these issues are expected to continue for the foreseeable future. COVID-19, however, poses unique
Michael Elwell
Richmond Institute for Design + Innovation at Western Michigan University