DEL in Between (PR): Community of Inquiry & Decelerating Design Education

What is DEL in Between (PR)?

DEL in Between (PR) is a monthly peer-reviewed webinar series exploring emerging topics in art and design higher education. It is organised by DEL Conference, a collective of colleagues across Parsons School of Design, Penn State, Texas State University, University of the Arts London.

Learn more about DEL.

What's on this month?

Transform Digital Asynchronous Learning through Community of Inquiry and Co-Design Approach

Presenter: Uyen Nguyen, Senior Learning Designer (RMIT University)

This case study examines the significant challenge of transforming asynchronous learning in Digital Media Studio 2 at RMIT Vietnam, where traditional content delivery in Canvas had resulted in passive consumption rather than active engagement. Using the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework (Garrison, 2009), we shifted from heavy content delivery to interactive, technology-enhanced learning experiences that develop cognitive, social, and teaching presence. The implementation of H5P activities, Padlet, Atomic Jolts, and Genially transformed isolated content consumption into active, community-based learning. This process not only enhanced student learning but also upskilled instructors who, despite being skilled digital practitioners, had not transferred their innovation to teaching practices. Using a typography module as an example, this session illustrates how CoI principles support design learning, encourage peer interaction, and incorporate teaching presence. This approach bridges the gap between asynchronous preparation and face-to-face studio practice while addressing critical challenges in design education, including student motivation, quality engagement, and authentic application of design principles.

Resisting Acceleration: A Pedagogical Case Study in Critical Design Education

Presenter: Cynthia Lawson Jaramillo, Professor of Integrated Design (Parsons School of Design)

Society and our planet are in desperate need of sustainable designers. We cannot afford to continue making more "stuff" and we certainly must break our patterns of living, consuming, and depleting resources at accelerated rates. In a studio course at a U.S. private institution, undergraduate students from across design disciplines and the liberal arts engaged with frameworks that promote slowness – craft-oriented and indigenous-centered approaches – to design for each of the three vertices of sustainability: equity (social and labor), economy (business models), and ecology (natural resources and the environment).The course employed a two-phase structure: first, students conducted critical redesigns of existing products, services, or systems; in the second phase, they developed original speculative or practical interventions based on their personal skills, values, and disciplinary lenses. This session will present the course’s guiding research questions, pedagogical strategies, and qualitative analysis of student work and reflection. It will conclude with a discussion of the collaboratively authored “Manifesto for Sustainable Slowness” as both a pedagogical tool and a potential framework for design research that foregrounds temporality, locality, and interdependence.

What's on next?

Explore the rest of the DEL in Between (PR) collection to sign up upcoming sessions.

Do you have any questions?

Email us at delconference@arts.ac.uk