Unbounded
Integrating real-world problems into an undergraduate information design course
Design courses teach a broad range of skills to prepare students for the increasingly complex and interdisciplinary situations they will face as designers. This article describes how students in a senior, capstone design course worked on a real-world project, the Communicating Pain Project, under the aegis of their university’s Center for Design in the Public Interest. The project combined case-based learning and service learning. In this article we explain how the integration of the center’s project into the classroom was accomplished, report on how it worked, and offer some thoughts on its contributions to information design pedagogy.
This article is currently available as a sample article.
References (31)
Abendroth, L.M., & Bell, B
(Eds.) (
2016)
Public interest design practice guidebook: SEED methodology, case studies, and critical issues. New York: Routledge.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Aeschbacher, P., & Rios, M
(
2008)
Claiming public space: The case for proactive, democratic design. In
B. Bell &
K. Wakeford (Eds.),
Expanding Architecture: Design as Activism (pp. 84–91). New York: Metropolis.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Altay, B
(
2014)
User-centered design through learner-centered instruction.
Teaching in Higher Education, 19(2), 138–155.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Annerstedt, C., Garza, D., Huang-DeVoss, C., Lindh, J., & Rydmark, M
(
2010)
Research-able through problem-based learning.
Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 10(2), 107–127.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Baeten, M., Dochy, F., & Struyven, K
(
2013)
The effects of different learning environments on students’ motivation for learning and their achievement.
British Journal of Educational Psychology, 831, 484–501.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Blair-Early, A
(
2010)
Beyond borders: Participatory design research and the changing role of design.
Visible Language, 44(2), 207–218.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bourelle, T
(
2012)
Bridging the gap between the technical communication classroom and the internship: Teaching social consciousness and real-world writing.
Journal of Technical Writing and Communication, 42(2), 183–197.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Butcher, J., & Schaber, F
(
2013)
Undergraduate design learningin multiple partnerships: joinedupdesign for academies.
International Journal of Technology & Design Education, 231, 567–579.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Dorst, K
(
2011)
The core of ‘design thinking’ and its application.
Design Studies, 321, 521–532.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Fisher, T
(
2016)
Professional responsibility and ethics. In
L.M. Abendroth &
B. Bell (Eds.),
Public interest design practice guidebook: SEED methodology, case studies, and critical issues (pp. 35–44). New York: Routledge.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Fishman, S.M
(
2012)
Listening to pain: A clinician’s guide to improving pain management through better communication. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Forsyth, A., Lu, H., & McGirr, P
(
2000)
Service learning in an urban context: Implications for planning and design education.
Journal of Architecture and Planning Research, 17(3), 236–259.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Gerstner, K
(
1974)
Compendium for literates: a system of writing. The MIT Press.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Hasrati, M
(
2005)
Legitimate peripheral participation and supervising Ph.D. students.
Studies in Higher Education, 30(5), 557–570.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Huckin, T
(
1997)
Technical writing and community service.
Journal of Business and Technical Communication, 11(1), 49–59.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
IDEO Product Development
(
2003)
IDEO Method Cards: 51 Ways to Inspire Design. Palo Alto: IDEO.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Institute of Medicine
. Committee on Advancing Pain Research, Care, and Education (
2011)
Relieving pain in America: A blueprint for transforming prevention, care, education, and research. Washington, D.C.: National Academy of Sciences.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Jang, A., MacLean, D., & Heer, J
(
2013)
Designing a prototype interface for visual communication of pain. Paper presented at the
CHI’13 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems
.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
Kolko, J
(
2011)
Thoughts on interaction design: A collection of reflections. Amsterdam: Elsevier/Morgan Kaufmann.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Lee, N
(
2009)
Project methods as the vehicle for learning iundergraduate design education: A typology.
Design Studies, 301, 541–560.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Melzack, R., & Torgerson, W.S
(
1971)
On the language of pain.
Anesthesiology, 34(1), 50–59.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
National Academies Press. Institute of Medicine Reportfrom the Committee on Advancing Pain Research, Care, and Education
(
2011)
Relieving Pain in America, A Blueprint for Transforming Prevention, Care, Education and Research.
The National Academies Press. Retrieved September 2, 2016, from
[URL].
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
National Center on Universal Design for Learning
(
2014)
Case-based learning. Retrieved June 11, 2016, from
[URL].
Partners Against Pain
(
2016)
Memorial pain assessment card. Retrieved June 14, 2016, from
[URL]
Pentland, A.S
(
2012)
The new science of building great teams.
Harvard Business Review, April 2012, 60–70.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Riley, L.A., Wojahn, P., & Park, Y.H
(
2003)
Multidisciplinary courses: Facilitating win-win opportunities across departments and colleges. Online Proceedings of the
2003 Science,Engineering, and Technology Education Conference
, 1–10.
Steinke, P., & Fitch, P
(
2014)
Using goal-based learning to understand why service-learning improves cognitive outcomes.
Currents in Teaching and Learning, 7(1), 50–63.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Tharp, Twyla
(
2003)
The Creative Habit: Learn it and Use it for Life. New York: Simon & Schuster.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Verba, S
(
2014)
DES 159: Design for Understanding. [Syllabus]. Department of Design, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Cited by (2)
Cited by 2 other publications
Judge, Pamela K., Jane A. Buxton, Thomas C. Sheahan, Eleanor R. Phetteplace, David L. Kriebel & Elisabeth M. Hamin Infield
2020.
Teaching across disciplines: a case study of a project-based short course to teach holistic coastal adaptation design.
Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences 10:3
► pp. 341 ff.
![DOI logo](//benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
Waller, Robert & Stephanie VandenBerg
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 3 july 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.