Design for Social Learning: Transformative Learning Theory and Practice
Jody Boehnert said that there is a recognition within design that social innovation is needed to meet challenges associated with sustainability. Meanwhile, educators have developed powerful pedagogic practices such as 'transformative learning' (TL). TL was used within the women's movement in the 1970s to help transform women's understanding of the political and social conventions that worked against their liberation. She presented transformative learning as a practice which can addresses values within sustainability education and explained how and why this works. She also explained how design can facilitate this process (using examples from her research). She included examples of how she has attempted to measure values through testing students’ familiarity with key ecological concepts. See powerpoint presentation (pdf 7.5mb).
Co-Design in Action
Nick Gant presented a range of active co-design projects that explore different value systems and collaborative methodologies for sustainable development. These included 'open-sourcing' ideas, socially networked community led planning and building physical 'totems' as a means to facilitate more resilient products and communities. Within each project, he identified 'indicators' of non-financial benefits and values, and demonstrated the value of collaboration in the design process. See powerpoint presentation (69mb).
The Need for Better Design of Research Projects with CSO Partners
Marie Harder described how the traditional approach is that research should start with specialists, who can 'pick up' non-academic matters, assuming that all topics can be researched successfully from their R&D base platform. Civil Society Organizations are usually treated mostly as 'Objects of Study' that can in some cases help at specific points of research design and implementation. With a full partnership with and often leadership from CSOs, previously uncharted community knowledge becomes accessible to researchers, and the end result is directly and immediately useful. Overall, a complex problem is now considered from a new (co-developed) point of view, and this new point of view is partly owned by society, and resides there as well as with researchers. A new Community of Interest is formed with a shared vocabulary, ready to move forward together. Healthy shifts can occur in the research approach developed. CSO involvement shifts the research to new ground away from any traditional academic base. The CSO approach does not respect academic disciplinary boundaries, forcing different academics to work together. Instead of using established research tools, the CSO focus forces hybridisation of wide range of tools and the development of new ones. See powerpoint presentation (1.4mb).