Within different cultural and historical contexts, design has been conceived as an art, as a hard science, as a social science, as a political tool, as an economic sector, as a technical field, and any number of other ways of framing this complex and multidisciplinary realm of human endeavor. The way in which one chooses to frame design has broad implications for the pedagogical approaches that one applies to the teaching of design. The cognitive frameworks, teaching methodologies, research methodologies, vocabularies and value systems of different fields are thus absorbed into design education, and play a profound role in shaping students’ views of the designer’s way of engaging the world.

The characteristics of each of these framings are also in constant flux, as sociological agendas for instance shift from patriarchal to participatory, and dominant technologies shift from mechanized mass production to peer-to-peer social networking. The evolution of design – and of design education – can be recounted in terms of different positions taken vis a vis other areas of human knowledge and activity.

We are seeking papers that critically explore relevant contemporary practice in the appropriation of ideas and techniques from other fields of knowledge and action into design education, and which provide an understanding of these practices within their cultural and historical contexts. We invite submission of papers addressing the following five broad themes:

•      From the social sciences into design education
•      From the hard sciences into design education
•      From the arts and culture into design education 
•      From business into design education
•      From production into design education

While we expect that papers will be grounded in actual pedagogical practice, papers should also address theoretical issues of the impetus for adopting a given approach into design, the value and consequences brought to design education by such adoption, as well as the value and consequences for these other fields from which design is borrowing.

Abstract Submission Due: 5 August 2012

Abstract Review and Notification: 10 September 2012