Designing Our Tomorrow (DOT)
Lead Research Organisation:
Loughborough University
Department Name: Ergonomics and Safety Research Institute
Abstract
Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.
Planned Impact
STRATEGY Since 2000, the i~design project has been successful in engaging with key stakeholders from designers to policymakers and industry. The time is now right to see inclusive design practice embedded in education. The i~design project has teamed up with the Faculty of Education at Cambridge University to allow integration with leading practice on creative thinking, as well as practical expertise on working in schools. The key strategic direction of this project is to enable the teachers, seen as the gatekeepers to initiating and sustaining change in schools, to reach pupils through the provision of high quality resources. This gives a highly leverage outcome for the effort put in by the project and will enable many more pupils to be reached than if the project team only worked directly with pupils. The baseline target is to reach 10,000 new Key Stage 3 pupils per annum through the embedding of inclusive design approaches in the curriculum of schools. DIRECT BENEFICIARIES: The aim is to bring about a substantive and sustainable change in the way design is taught. As such it engages with a section of the population who have the greatest potential to bring about long-term change towards a more inclusive society. The following categories of stakeholders will be directly benefit from the project: 1. Teachers, policy makers and educators 2. Pupils and Parents 3. Inclusive Design Researchers LONG-TERM BENEFICIARIES: The implications of inclusive design will have an impact on how we design everyday things, whether they are products, services or even organisational structures. These can either be designed inclusively or not. This project aims to 'include' pupils as part of this process, to think and design inclusively, to enable them to design our tomorrow to be a more inclusive one, as designers and as consumers of this future world. Their awareness and skills are key to bring about this change and bring the benefits to society as a whole. APPROACH This project has 4 key elements that bring about the desired impact. These are: 1. The development of high quality 'standalone' resources that enable teachers to embed inclusive design in their core curriculum work at Key Stage 3. 2. Assisting the 6 partner schools to embed the resources into their normal teaching. This will mean that around 1800 (assuming a 10 form entry) new KS3 pupils will be reached per annum. 3. Promote the resources more widely through the following routes: - DATA with its 6,000 members, their publications and annual conference with the target of signing up a minimum of 100 teachers who are interested in the resources. Assuming a conversion rate of 10% to 30% this will reach an additional 3,000 to 9,000 pupils per annum. - Special training sessions will also be conducted for the Design & Technology initial teacher education programme at Cambridge University, which trains 20 D&T teachers annually. This also gives access to a further 25 schools which means that if 30% of schools adopt DOT, then potentially another 2,500 pupils per annum will be reached. - The RSA hope to promote the work through their network of 300 schools that are part of the Opening Minds initiative. - The Design Council will help promote the resources through their various channels. In addition they will consider adding the inclusive design challenge to their Design School Challenges initiative. - The team also has a good relationship with Teaching Resources based at Middlesex University who publish a free newspaper that is sent to every Design and Technology school department, 3 times a year. Through these various initiatives the project believes that it can attain the target of reaching of 10,000 new KS3 pupils per annum empowering teachers. 4. The resources will be promoted and made available via a web-site that gives the potential for more schools to use the resources thus extending the reach further beyond the end of the project.
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
Colette Nicolle (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Bill Nicholl (Author)
(2011)
??we?re not designing for a specific user at key stage 3?
Nicholl B
(2012)
Inclusive design in the Key Stage 3 classroom: an investigation of teachers' understanding and implementation of user-centred design principles in design and technology
in International Journal of Technology and Design Education
Description | The Designing Our Tomorrow (DOT) project focussed on creating a 12 week scheme of work on designing for the ageing population. The scheme of work was aimed at Design and Technology Key Stage 3 pupils and teachers. The scheme of work incorporated new design and creativity tools from previous inclusive design and creative research projects carried out by Loughborough and Cambridge Universities. Feedback from trialling the materials in 6 schools (Loughborough University focussing on 3 of them) indicated that the scheme of work has been successful with both pupils and teachers. Teachers involved in the DOT project have continued to use the scheme in their Key Stage 3 classes. |
Exploitation Route | Learning from teacher and pupil feedback, discussions are on-going with a potential partner to fund further development and promotion of the resources. There is potential to promote the resources more widely through a number of routes, in collaboration with the University of Cambridge, e.g. DATA. RSA, Design Council, and Teaching Resources based at Middlesex University. In addition to the initiatives in collaboration with University of Cambridge, introduction of the DOT materials is also being discussed within Loughborough Design School as part of their PGCE/MSc in Education with Qualified Teacher Status. This will help to attain the target of empowering teachers and reaching the maximum number of KS3 pupils per annum. |
Sectors | Education |
Description | The Designing Our Tomorrow (DOT) project focussed on creating a 12 week scheme of work on designing for the ageing population. The scheme of work was aimed at Design and Technology Key Stage 3 pupils and teachers. The scheme of work incorporated new design and creativity tools from previous inclusive design and creative research projects carried out by Loughborough and Cambridge Universities. The materials were tested in three separate phases between September 2010 and December 2011, with 2 schools trialling the scheme in each phase. Loughborough University focussed on trialling the scheme of work with 3 schools (2 schools in phase 2, and 1 school in phase 3). The schools were based in the Leicestershire and Derbyshire area. The 3 other schools that trialled the DOT materials were recruited by Cambridge University. Learning from teacher and pupil feedback, further development and promotion of the resources are ongoing. The DOT material has also been condensed into a 2-hour workshop design challenge, which was conducted with 5 schools in Leicestershire throughout the DOT project. The workshops have the potential of further exploitation opportunities. |
First Year Of Impact | 2012 |
Sector | Education |
Impact Types | Societal Policy & public services |
Description | Workshop materials |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Scientific meeting (conference/symposium etc.) |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Type Of Presentation | workshop facilitator |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | The DOT material has also been condensed into a 2-hour workshop design challenge, which was conducted with 5 schools in Leicestershire throughout the DOT project. The workshops have the potential of further exploitation opportunities. Although an end date has been inserted above, this is not seen as the end-date for use of these materials, as they have the potential for further exploitation opportunities through, for example, Loughborough University's Student Outreach Activities where materials can be promoted to a wider, more diverse audience. The workshop framework has the potential for further exploitation opportunities through, for example, Loughborough University's Student Outreach Activities where materials can be promoted to a wider, more diverse audience. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011 |