Digital Commons Network^™

A Total Modernity And Alternative Avant-Garde Art In China, Ming-Lu Gao 高名潞

Zhou Documents

In this paper, Gao discusses "twentieth century Chinese avant-garde in two major periods: the avant-garde of the 1920s and 1930s; and the contemporary avant-garde of Post-Mao era - the 1980s and 1990s." (Nicole Wang '26)

Youth As Actors On Their Worlds, Asif Wilson

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

This paper seeks to examine theories and practices emergent within a youth organization that cultivates civic engagement and leadership development. It will highlight the theoretical and methodological approaches of the program while outlining constraints that young people within it face while doing this work.

Community Programming And Faith Communities: The Challenges And Impacts Of Civil Rights Education Programming Through The National Endowment For The Humanities Created Equal Grant, Andrea Shan Johnson, Roy A. Fisher

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

We reflect on our experience using a faith community to host a civil rights film screening and discussion series. Hosting civil rights education events in a religious setting was a challenge due to the lack of integration in many faith communities, and the limited resources of the congregation. The short-term results include increased awareness of the history of civil rights struggles, which led to greater understanding of current events for members of the congregation.

A Picture Puzzle Approach To Microbes, Infectious Diseases, History And Art, Adarsh Bhimraj

History of Medicine Seminar

Topics covered in this session:

• What is proper attire for doctors to wear?
• Why read history?
• Picture Puzzles

The Higher Educational Institution Assesses The Community Partnership In Service Learning: One Strategy For Institutionalizing Service Learning, Susan Waters

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

While a growing number of institutions offer service-learning courses, there is relatively little literature on the assessment of community partnerships with the institution. This study offers substantive institutional-community partner survey question examples from Campus Compact member websites targeting institutional assessment of the community partnership for ascertaining both the quality and effectiveness of service-learning on campus and for accreditation purposes. There is a paucity of service-learning institutional assessment research, and this study attempts to alleviate that gap.

Students’ Knowledge And Perceived Confidence In An Interdisciplinary Experiential-Learning Environment, Adam J. Kuban, Michelle M. O'Malley, Lee J. Florea

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

Experiential-learning theory suggests that students acquire knowledge through hands-on learning environments, and aspiring journalists need a setting where they can experience science—its process(es) as well as how to report empirical findings. Researchers used pre/post questionnaires, field notebook evaluation, and focus group analysis as methods to assess an interdisciplinary, experiential course that combined science and media undergraduates. Results revealed students valued procedural over fact-based knowledge. Students also indicated increased perceived confidence—even when they answered questions incorrectly.

Incubating Grassroots Nonprofits: A Service-Learning Approach To Organizational Capacity Building With Communities Of Immigrant And Refugee Background, Nancy Winemiller Basinger, Rosemarie Hunter

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

This paper explains the development of a community-university partnership responding to community-identified needs and toward the goal of creating a nonprofit incubator in Salt Lake City, Utah. Our research draws on several years of partnership work with communities of immigrant and refugee experiences. As groups of immigrant and refugee background settle in new communities, they seek to serve the members of their ethnic community. Leaders emerge and begin to organize groups to meet the specialized community needs they have identified. Increasingly these groups are organized as nonprofits. Emerging micro-nonprofits often struggle to find connections and navigate systems that support organizational …

Reconsidering The American Dream And U.S. Latino Culture In A College Spanish Service-Learning Course, Zak K. Montgomery, Serena B. Ugoretz, Sarah E. Montgomery, Sarah Vander Zanden, Ashley Jorgensen, Mirsa Rudic

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

This study explores how a joint Photovoice project about the American Dream between a U.S. Latino culture course and a multicultural middle school class influenced college students’ perceptions of Latino culture. In addition to outlining the service-learning course design, the study also analyzes the trajectory of the students’ understanding of the American Dream. As a result of the partnership, college students’ American Dreams shifted away from the archetypal personal success narrative toward a more civically- oriented approach.

The Evolution Of An Urban Design Curriculum In Landscape Architecture And A Community-Based Design Center, Frank Sleegers, John R. Taylor

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

Urban community-based design centers have multiple potential functions. Ideally, they give voice to previously underrepresented groups in public discussions of urban design and environmental change. When combined with a university design curriculum, they can be training grounds for a new generation of urban designers sensitive to the needs, wants, and desires of local stakeholders. This study describes the co-evolution of an urban design curriculum at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a design center in the nearby city of Springfield, Massachusetts. Four key areas related to community service learning were evaluated through a mixed methods approach including historical analysis, qualitative …

Community Service In Saudi Arabian Universities: A Comparative Study, Hesham K. Alfares, Muhammad H. Al-Haboubi, Mesfer M. Al-Zahrani

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

A comparative analysis is presented of community service activities in Saudi Arabian Universities. The methodology includes literature surveys, benchmarking, questionnaires, and focus group meetings. Community service definitions and activities are surveyed around the world. A benchmarking comparison is made between community service programs in 10 major Saudi universities and 20 top American universities. The current status of community service in Saudi universities is evaluated, and several improvement strategies are proposed.

Democracy In Action: The Contribution Of The Debatewatch Project To Civic Participation, Barbara A. Pickering, Leslie A. Rill

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

Every four years, Americans participate in political talk about the presidential campaigns with co-workers, family, and friends. This communication impacts attitudes toward civic engagement. Using the 2008 presidential election as a focal point, this study seeks to understand the impact of communication among citizens who engaged in political discussions at DebateWatch events. We examine the effect of debate viewing and post-debate discussions on perceptions of political information gained and increased interest in a presidential campaign.

Education Through Design For Social Empowerment, Lorenzo Imbesi, Luca D'Elia

Learn X Design Conference Series

The critical framework of education through Design-based practices emphasizes hands-on, experiential learning and its role in expanding STEAM education models. This approach leverages enabling technologies, such as digital fabrication tools, to provide transformative educational experiences that address societal challenges. This contribution explores how Design-based educational practices can serve as tools for social empowerment in marginalized communities, specifically examining the integration of STEAM methodologies with digital fabrication technologies to address educational poverty and foster social inclusion. The study discusses a case study focused on eight workshops in Ostia Ponente, where collaboration between universities, local authorities, and social organizations sought to combat …

Ux Design Meets Generative Ai: Posing Questions About Future Implications For Design Education And Practice, Filipe Honorato, Violeta Clemente, Ricardo Sosa

Learn X Design Conference Series

Generative AI is rapidly transforming the creative work landscape and our expectations about everyday products and services. This emerging paradigm shift driven by Generative AI presents both challenges and opportunities for the futures of UX design education and practice. While much of the recent research on Generative AI and human-computer co-creativity has been focused on technology advancements, design research offers valuable potential to anticipate negative impacts, co-envision alternative futures, and steer the development of Generative AI toward more positive design outcomes to individuals and communities. This paper presents a scoping review to identify focus areas, research approaches, and reflexive questions …

Addressing Student Anxiety In Design Education: A Call For Reflection And Action, Maura Flores, Sara Reader, Alis Iacob

Learn X Design Conference Series

Student anxiety in design disciplines in higher education seems to have risen since the Covid-19 pandemic and during rapid technology change. In Brazil and the UK, educators notice students struggle with the uncertainties of iterative creative processes, which can hinder their productivity and increase frustration. Anxiety, while a barrier, can also act as a catalyst for innovation when adequately managed. This letter invites a discussion about how educators can support students by fostering emotional resilience, promoting problem-based learning, and integrating information literacy.

Visioning Transformative Futures In Advertising, Jay Irizawa, Sugandha Gaur, Angela Bains, Lesley-Ann Noel

Learn X Design Conference Series

Four professors discuss the complexities of introducing transformational change in a design curriculum upon arriving at a university located in a large cosmopolitan city in Canada. The newest professor leads the conversation to learn what that experience was like and asks how the university-wide curriculum changed, starting with the Advertising program in the Faculty of Design. Themes of intersectionality intertwine with the identities of the speakers, including their lived experiences as immigrants and settlers in an established institutional system of learning. What transpires is a revealing discussion about the complexity of integrating decolonial pedagogy in the classrooms, research, and practice …

The Impact Of Walking Without Digital Distractions On Design Creativity, Joao Ferreira

Learn X Design Conference Series

This paper aims to understand whether walking without digital distractions can enhance creativity during the ideation process in design education. The study involved ninety-seven third-year undergraduate design students in an experiment examining the relationship between solitude, walking, and ideation. Students were divided into two groups: an experimental group of forty-four students instructed to take walks without mobile phones during the ideation phase of their design process and a control group of fifty-three students who remained in the design studio. Both groups were tasked with generating design solutions for the same brief. Results showed that the experimental group produced ideas with …

Design Literacy In Undergraduate Education For Non-Design Fields, Derya Yorgancıoğlu, Esin Kömez Dağlıoğlu, Yeşim Çapa Aydın

Learn X Design Conference Series

This study dwells on the consideration that design literacy offers a holistic framework for design thinking that fosters the development of 'new literacies' essential for today’s world. Design thinking is increasingly adopted in higher education, particularly in non-design fields. However, design literacy isn't being integrated effectively, which significantly hinders a comprehensive understanding and application of design principles. This study explores how design literacy differs from design thinking and why it's important today. It points to the need to reconsider the dimensions of design thinking, as a well-confirmed concept in the literature. It portrays the findings of a case-study that inquires …

The Ongoing Evolution Of Design: New Life Forms, Manuela Maier-Hummel

Learn X Design Conference Series

As our world is getting super-complex and human’s influence creates disastrous effects on our planet, it becomes vital to nurture design-specific, future-oriented knowledge and skills to establish a mediating environment. How can an interdisciplinary design curriculum support the evolution of future-oriented and sustainable ecologies encouraging creative collaboration inventing, rethinking, and recreating the world? This research explores a novel bachelor’s programme between multidisciplinary faculties of Computer Science and Design and Art to educate future information technology and design specialists together. It examines the qualities of Design interweaving with Computer Science merging into a next-level design culture. From a design researcher’s point …

A Post-Anthropocentric Creative Mindset Through Design Education, Eva Monestier, Marita Canina

Learn X Design Conference Series

Planet Earth is experiencing profound and irreversible transformations caused by the ongoing climate crisis. Simultaneously, technological advancements often create a misleading belief that these complex issues can be solved through with simple tech-fixes. However, to address the root causes of unsustainability, a radical shift in mindset is necessary. It is essential to challenge anthropocentric Euromodern narratives based on binary categories (nature-culture, humans-nonhumans), which have historically perpetuated detachment from the environment. Instead, a more relational understanding of reality is needed - one that positions humans and nonhumans within a more-than-human web of life. This shift necessitates the development of new design …

Unfolding Interactions In Design Studio Courses: Visual Tools For Design Critiques In Terms Of Content And Style, Onur Yılmaz, Koray Gelmez

Learn X Design Conference Series

Knowledge in design studios is mostly constructed via discussions, dialogues or in a systematic way, critiques. Thus, understanding design critiques is crucial for evaluating and improving design studio courses, and thus learning and teaching experiences. This paper introduces two visual tools that can assist in categorising design critiques in terms of their flow, content and style. The first tool visualises the intensity and distribution of different critique categories to make the topics and ways to generate critiques explicit. The latter illustrates the correlations between content and style in critiques and reveals the potential relationships between them. These tools aim to; …

Exploring The Potential Of Dramatherapy In Designers’ Education, Erik Ciravegna, Glenda Pagnocelli, Elisa Vacondio

Learn X Design Conference Series

In recent decades, design has transformed from a craft activity based mainly on manual skills and aesthetics to a strategic discipline that requires a systemic and multidisciplinary vision. Today’s designers need to cultivate soft skills such as creativity, critical thinking, communication, and collaboration alongside traditional technical competencies. Dramatherapy, being an experiential, emotionally expressive, and conscious approach, proves to be a useful tool for acquiring these soft skills. Theatrical games, improvisation, storytelling, and dramatization techniques, such as role-playing and staging metaphors, enable design students to see different perspectives, participate in complex situations, and experience innovative ways of interaction. This contribution offers …

From Design Cognition To Human-Ai Co-Creation: Reflections On Design Thinking In Higher Education, Katja Tschimmel

Learn X Design Conference Series

Over the past decades, Design Thinking (DT) has become one of the most widely circulated concepts at the intersection of design, innovation, education, and organisational change. Originally rooted in design methodology and in scholarly attempts to understand designers’ cognitive processes, DT has progressively expanded beyond the design discipline, gaining visibility in fields such as management, engineering, entrepreneurship, and public policy. Without a question, this growth has helped design become recognised as a strategic approach to solving challenging issues. At the same time, it has intensified a persistent tension between the popularisation of Design Thinking and the preservation of its academic …

Empowering Designers In The Digital Age, Erick Heredia

Learn X Design Conference Series

Abstract: Traditional design education often places a strong emphasis on aesthetics, such as form and visual appeal. This focus typically confines designers to working on the external aspects of products, leaving functionality—especially engineering components—to others. Consequently, designers are limited in their ability to fully engage with the increasingly complex products that incorporate new technologies. In response to the advancements of Industry 4.0, it's essential for design education to evolve and blur the lines between aesthetics and functionality. By integrating subjects like electronics, interface design, and embedded systems into the curriculum, designers can gain a comprehensive understanding of their products. This …

A Study On The Development Of An Educational Board Game For Cultural Heritage Using A Design Thinking Approach, Lung Chieh Chao, Ju-May Wen

Learn X Design Conference Series

This study addresses the pressing challenge of preserving and effectively teaching Indigenous languages and cultures in the context of globalization. Centering on the Paiwan Indigenous culture in Qijia Village, Pingtung County, the research investigates how design thinking can be employed to develop an educational board game that responds to the language learning needs of children. The study adopts the five stages of design thinking: Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, and Test. Through interviews and observations, the needs of students and teachers are identified, and culturally relevant elements are incorporated into the game design to enhance both language acquisition and cultural awareness. …

Questioning The Intersection Of Design Thinking, Public Policy And Circular Economy: A Visual Critique, Joana Alves Dos Santos, Violeta Clemente, Paulo Silva

Learn X Design Conference Series

Through a fragmented and interrogative visual critique, this submission critically examines the intersection of Design Thinking (DT) and Circular Economy (CE) governance in policymaking. It stems from the authors’ engagement with both academic literature and practical experiences in design facilitation and participatory governance, particularly within Portuguese contexts. The work responds to recurring narratives observed in these domains, and uses visual argumentation to unpack their underlying assumptions. It argues that while both DT and CE are widely promoted as tools for systemic change and participation, their application often inadvertently reinforces existing hierarchies and limits genuine community engagement, rather than fostering equitable …

Learning By Teaching Blended International Design Workshops, Daniel Buzzo, Kristina Andersen, António Gorgel, Jonathan Chacón Pérez, Martin Knobel, Lara Piccolo, Pras Gunasekera

Learn X Design Conference Series

This paper draws upon the experience of designing events to provide design students with a multicultural and inspirational learning environment for exchanging knowledge and collectively build new skills. To this end, it reports on the planning, structure and subsequent delivery of an EU Erasmus+ workshop funded “Blended Intensive Program (BIP)” in a collaboration between four Design programs from four EU countries. Four professors and more than 20 undergraduate students participated, assisted by administrative staff from each of the institute’s international offices, collaborating through a blended online and in-person format. Together, the students brought both similar and different perspectives on design …

Prompting Reflective Learning Through Card-Based Approaches, Jesper Legaard, Safia Suhaimi, Jo Ward, Andrew Walters

Learn X Design Conference Series

This study explores how two different card-based approaches, Cards of Doom and CO:RE cards, complement or inspire each other when applied outside their originally intended contexts. C.O.D is designed for design students while CO:RE targeted non-design professionals. Both tools offer semi-structured approaches to facilitate collaborative discussion among participants, fostering reflective capacity within creative-oriented contexts. An analysis of multiple card-play sessions of C.O.D and CO:RE in both their original and alternate contexts revealed three important themes; tension, psychological safety, and dialogic interaction, prompting reflective learning in the participants. The study contributes to the broader discourse on playful learning in design education, …

Examining The Impact Of Design Studies: Systems And Persuasion Courses On Undergraduate Design Students At Carnegie Mellon University, Luis Garcia, Audrey Reiley, Albert Zhang

Learn X Design Conference Series

This study examines the impact of two courses, Systems and Persuasion, within Carnegie Mellon University's Design Studies curriculum. Through qualitative analysis of a substantial number of reflective responses collected via weekly exit tickets, the research identifies key themes that highlight the influence of these courses on second-year undergraduate design students. Students gained a nuanced understanding of design as a systemic, ethical, and collaborative practice, emphasizing systems thinking, empathy, and the implications of behavioral change across multiple scale levels. The findings suggest that students developed a heightened awareness of the interconnectedness of design interventions, recognizing the broader societal and environmental consequences …

Exploring Cultural Frames And The Visual Language Of Rituals, Amrita Datta, Amy Fortunato

Learn X Design Conference Series

In Visual Communication Design, significant emphasis on intercultural communication has aided the development of intercultural competence. This case study investigates how design education can develop cross-cultural awareness by focusing on how cultural frames evolve through experiences and societal perception while becoming increasingly layered and complex. To fully extricate oneself from one's cultural context is challenging, but raising awareness of its limitations and subtleties is achievable. Recognizing diverse cultural frames can broaden one's perspective, leading to a more nuanced understanding of both the articulation and consumption of messaging in visual communication. Two educators located in different socio-political contexts in the United …

Exploring Cross-Disciplinary Lessons In Interaction Design Courses, Joshua Pridemore, Molly Briggs, Abigail Chen, Laura Chiaramonte, Rachael Dietkus, Fengzhou Shao, Ben Tairy, Fan Xia, Yiqi Xiao, Amanda Yates

Learn X Design Conference Series

This case study explores the transformative potential of cross-disciplinary approaches in teaching interaction design for social impact. By integrating insights from diverse fields such as trauma-informed design, interactive dance, media theory, and environmental storytelling, the course challenges students to think beyond traditional design practices. Students were encouraged to create projects that not only demonstrated technical and creative expertise but also engaged deeply with emotional, societal, and ethical dimensions of design. The course culminated in a public exhibition where students showcased interactive installations addressing real-world issues, including online safety, animal testing, environmental awareness, and technology addiction. Through a combination of theoretical …