A blog about design at the OU.
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AI, are you a watcher or a skeptic?
Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly being used to aid humans in many scenarios and everyday tasks or challenges. From health and welfare to leading military systems AI is already being seen by designers and developers, as futuristic technologies which are available today. But what is AI technology? What can it do? What can it do for humans now and […]
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Design dreams of digital worlds – but is digitech sympathetic?
The architectural collective Assemble– winners of the Turner Prize – continue to explore the designed and manufactured world in the second part of BBC Radio 4’s series, The Sympathy of Things inspired by John Ruskin’s views on aesthetics and the central role of sympathy. With Amica Dall and Giles Smith, the BBC state “The series is an argument […]
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Taste some Raspberry Pi? Yes please!
Raspberry Pis are a key smart technology at the heart of the Internet of Things (IoT) and are central to the design of our future smart cities. At the Open University, there is interest in the way smart technologies can help build and manage the world we live in, and in their role in helping […]
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Co-designing a Makerspace with the La Campagna-Altamira Community in Mexico
I am just back from Monterrey in the north of Mexico, and can’t wait to share what I have done there. I worked on co-creating a Makerspace with La Campana-Altamira, an impoverished and marginalised community in the otherwise comparably wealthy city of Monterrey. Since the former Mexican president Calderon declared the Drug War, this low-income […]
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Innovating Pedagogy – Virtual Studios
The Innovating Pedagogy report for 2019 has just been published by The Open University (IET) in conjunction with the Centre for the Science of Learning & Technology (SLATE), University of Bergen, Norway. The Design Group have one of the sections on Virtual Studios (Section 7!) So I thought I’d share a couple of the stranger […]
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Play, Wonder, Empathy – Educational trends from the Innovating Pedagogy 2019 report
The seventh Innovating Pedagogy 2019 report from The Open University highlights ten trends in teaching, learning and assessment for an interactive world. One of these may be of interest to designers, since it considers how studio pedagogy is becoming more prevalent, through the use of Virtual Studios. The report has been written in collaboration with […]
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The U101 Welcome Pack Incredible Give Away Competition Event Thing
Lola herself has been in touch with the Design Group and asked that we spread the cheer of U101 at this time of year. She has donated a number of U101 Welcome packs to give away to at least 7 lucky recipients. Just look at the creative goodness on offer, each object a portal to […]
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Design Museum: designs of the year 2018
On Saturday, a group of 22 Design and Innovation students (and their friends and family) joined the Qualification team and two Associate Lecturers on a tour of the Design Museum’s permanent exhibition ‘Designer Maker User’ and the Beazley’s Designs of the Year 2018 exhibition. Andy, a U101 student, gives a good summary of the rundown […]
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It was a PIG of a Game!
PIG – the Problem Identification Game – from the OU Archive PIG was part of the module T262 (1975-1982) entitled Man-made futures: design and technology, a 30 credit module students typically enrolled on after completing their Level 1 study, which then was two foundation modules (60 credits each) such as The man-made world: a foundation […]
