A blog about design at the OU.
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Europe’s first eco-mosque
I visited the Abu Bakr Siddiq Mosque in December 2005 during the Mill Road Winter Fair. They welcomed me in for mint tea and sweet treats, while my highly-excited small daughters had their hands tattooed with henna. At that point this was the only mosque in Cambridge, attached to the end of a Victorian terrace. […]
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The design opportunities in a crisis
It seems to be a little inappropriate to talk about ‘opportunity’ when you think about the current health crisis. The first association between these two words might be that of profiteering. But having had a good look at design and technology related news over the last weeks, I could mainly see other, more altruistic, design […]
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Using remote and onscreen laboratories in online learning
As many Universities need to quickly move their learning online during the current coronavirus crisis, we have received many questions about our remote and virtual laboratories. This blog collects together useful information about our OpenSTEM Labs and provides links to online resources. This blog is a working document and was last updated on 20th November […]
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Editorial: Ed Tech defining design curriculum
(This is a cross post fromthe #DistanceDesignEd blog: http://distancedesigneducation.com) If you’d asked me ‘What drives your design curriculum?’ a few weeks ago I wouldn’t have said Zoom… I’ll shortly have to add a whole list of other technologies, services and ed-tech that are emerging as “class leaders” (That was a satirical pun, by the way). […]
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Being a designer: Starting in a new product development team.
Research on design practice examines how the role of the designer is shifting, that product design is collaborative, and design is taking on more responsibility in the process. It claims that design is no longer an aesthetic afterthought, but rather involved from inception within a multi/inter/trans- disciplinary project. As we leave University, there is an […]
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Exploring the design in place of on-street wireless charging for EVs
We are taking part in an 18-month Innovate UK research project exploring the design of, and user interactions with, on-street wireless charging for electric vehicles (EVs). This £3m project, entitled “On-Street Residential Induction Charging”, or OSRIC for short, is about using induction charging plates in roadside parking bays that draw power from lampposts and are available […]
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Heritage buildings, carbon emissions… and gingerbread!
One day in early October, as I was quietly wandering along, minding my own business, I was accosted by a lady from the graduate school. ‘Ah, the very person I was looking for!’ She said. My heart sank, ever since I foolishly showed up for a number of training sessions during the first year of […]
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Empowering Design Practices Live: celebrating community-led design in historic places of worship
On 12 February 2020, the Empowering Design Practices research team gathered with partners and community collaborators, colleagues, funders and friends to celebrate five years of research exploring community leadership in design within the context of historic places of worship. EDP Live was an opportunity not only to share what we have learned and the resources […]
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Distance and online design education – a (not so) quick introduction
This is a quick post after a few online discussions and question around how to start with distance (and online) design education – thanks to @ZhenpingLiow, @_p_antonio and others). It’s a quick summary of a few key concepts and ideas for any design teachers or tutors needing to think about online and distance education and […]
