Challenge Summary




Design Learning Challenge 2011


In the spring of 2011, a pilot IDSA Design Learning Challenge was initiated in St. Louis, MO, at IDSA’s Midwest Design Dialogue Conference. Over the following five months, 11 self-motivated and dedicated students submitted nine Design Integration Plans.

The purpose of the Design Learning Challenge pilot was to gain insight into the hearts and minds of college design students today. The goal was to gather feedback on recent learning experiences and generate input to serve as fodder for two design high schools as they refine their curriculum models, Da Vinci Design School and the Charter High School for Architecture and Design.

Using an action research approach, each participant actively investigated a selected study question, created partnerships with a learning organization and developed a viable Design Learning Integration Plan using a Learn.Think.Do framework.

Hannah Duffy and Erica Michie, sum up their new insights: 

“In addition to a greater appreciation for teachers and passion for reforming education, we have learned many things. We have gained extensive experience in action research; understanding action research takes time and patience and is never over. We also have realized that some schools have actually implemented the integration of design into the high school experience. We have also gained valuable knowledge from many different perspectives, student, teacher, designer, educator and administrator, which helped us formulate new knowledge and new insights that evolved into innovation.“ 

Winners of the pilot were as follows:

First Place
“Discover”
by Hannah Duffy and Erica Michie from the University of Illinois at Chicago

Second Place
“Design Learning Challenge 11”
by Eva Foo from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Third Place
“iDesign Awareness”
by Jessica Fertig from the University of Kansas at Lawrence