Week 6 - Oct 1

This is our last section of readings on "what is design?". This last week focuses on the nature of design situations - how design compares to a general model of problem solving, how features of design tasks relate to design practices, and ways to characterize broad features of design situations.

• Jonassen, D.H. (2000). “Toward a Design Theory of Problem Solving.” Educational Technology: Research & Development, 48 (4), pp. 63-85.
• Goel, V. & Pirolli, P. (1992). “The Structure of Design Problem Spaces.” Cognitive Science 16, pp. 395-429.
• Rittel, H., & Webber, M. (1973). Dilemmas in a general theory of planning. Policy Sciences, 4(2), 155-169.

Some guiding questions:

• How do they characterize "design situations"? In what ways does this speak to "design knowledge", "design processes" or "design thinking"?
• How do they distinguish design from other activities (e.g., problem solving, non-design)? Do you find their arguments persuasive?
• How do these ideas connect to our prior discussions / readings?

Open thread week of Sept 24

Hi all,

Good work on delving into some really complex and slightly (ha ha) abstract ideas. I wanted to capture the open questions and put them here - if you want to continue adding questions (I think I missed a few) or chat...this is the place!

Application: How do you USE these ideas?
Agent of change: How do you bring forth a design culture?
Recency: These are new ideas and conversations - how do they relate to prior work - what should we hold onto (are they incommensurate or is there a way to connect them)?
Defining "design": Tension between a concrete (potentially universal) definition and an abstract (potentially situational) definition - how to enable room for change?