Reframing the Status Quo in Design Education: it’s Not a Rehearsal

Developing Citizen Designers offers an engaging range of writing and illustrative work, stimulus quotations, discussion and a spectrum of the theoretical and the practical in and for design education in general and graphic design education in particular. Following its Foreword, Introduction, and Introductory essay, it is structured in three parts:   Design Thinking with sub-sections on Socially responsible design, Design activism, and Design authorship; Design Methodology with sub-sections on Collaborative learning, Participatory design, and Service design; and, Making a Difference with sub-sections on Getting involved and Resources

Review of "Conducting Educational Research: A primer for teachers and administrators"

Book Title: Conducting Educational Research: A primer for teachers and administrators Book Authors: Morrell, P.D. and Carroll, J.B. Publisher: Sense Publishers Reviewers: Steve Keirl (Goldsmiths, University of London) and Christine Edwards-Leis (St Mary's University College) ISBN: 978-94-6091-202-3 (paperback) ISBN: 978-94-6091-204-7 (e-book

Design and Technology Education as learning agency: and the fourfold of ‘critiquing skills’

Keirl, S., (2016), ‘’ in (Eds.) De Vries, M. J., Bekker-Holtland, A. & , G., Proceedings of the PATT32 International Technology Education Conference: Technology Education for 21st Century Skills, pp.251-258; Utrecht, Netherlands, 23rd – 26th Aug, 201

Binarial hermeneutics for exploring the phenomenon of Technology in support of Design and Technology Education

The phenomenon of technology remains a challenge for philosophers of technology itself let alone for the field of Design and Technology education. Because ‘technology’ is a complex concept it defies definition and finds itself the object of study of multiple disciplines such as philosophy, sociology, psychology, anthropology, history, and more. This paper introduces the concept of ‘binarial hermeneutics’ as a means for exploring, in a non- or anti-disciplinary way, the phenomenon of technology. The concept of binary is clarified and used to locate the kinds of spectra that present themselves when technology is under discussion. Examples of such spectra could be (technology as): arts-science; theory-practice; subject-object; utopia-dystopia; product-process; etc. There is no prescribed set of binaries but a key point is that the binaries are not dualisms, that is, they engage with ‘both-at-once’ rather than ‘either-or’. Having used a binary to locate a particular spectrum, a hermeneutic approach is then taken. This approach draws upon the field of philosophical hermeneutics which addresses questions of interpretation, while resisting Cartesian dualism and serving to develop what Bohman (1999) has described as, ‘…understanding as continuing a historical tradition, as well as dialogical openness, in which prejudices are challenged and horizons broadened’. The paper seeks to locate the kinds of discourses that arise in the theorising of Design and Technology Education (and curriculum) as well as in the areas of public and policy-making discourse. It is written to help articulate the identity of Design and Technology Education as a contested, yet distinctive and worthy, educational enterprise

Critiquing as Design and Technology Curriculum Journey: History, Theory, Politics and Potential

Critiquing, as a key component of Design and Technology (D&T) education, made its global debut 15 years ago in the redesigned South Australian curriculum. It has since gained international recognition for its validity for the education of all children. This chapter sets out the story of critiquing as Design and Technology curriculum phenomenon, and, while the story reports a personal research journey, it was the work of a dedicated team that brought the curriculum as a whole to fruition. Key episodes of the story address: curriculum research method as autobiography; the politics of D&T curriculum; the theoretical underpinnings of the critiquing innovation; its local, national and international contexts; the curriculum challenges its introduction was intended to resolve; and some consequent theorisation since its inception. In this story, ‘Design and Technology’ is seen as much more than a school ‘subject’. It is argued that critical-ethical design and technological literacy is necessary if sustainable, democratic futures are to be achieved. Critiquing is fundamental to such literacy

Scholarly Review 6

Scholarly Review 6: Commissioned by The Design and Technology Association, Wellesbourne. A research report addressing the following questions: i) How can learning in D&T help towards building capacity for changing the future economy of the country? ii) What is the relationship between D&T and entrepreneurship? iii) In what ways does D&T learning help students to develop entrepreneurial competencies? iv) To what extent and in what ways does D&T contribute to the development of higher order skills? v) How does D&T contribute towards creativity and innovation

Technological literacy reconsidered: a model for enactment

The final publication is available at: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10798-009-9108-6.This paper presents a model to describe technological literacy as enacted by individuals in the course of shaping their lives and the world around them. The model has two interrelated facets – the potential for and enactment of technological literacy – where enactment and potential mutually constitute each other. This potential is made up of knowledge of a particular situation, personal engagement with a situation, and social engagement in the world. Enactment requires a particular set of competencies in action, which together helps shape the situation: recognizing needs; articulating problems; contributing towards the technological process; and analysing consequences. The implications of this model for technological literacy in the context of the individual and society, and the role of technology education in developing technological literacy, are discussed