design pedagogy

Learn X Design 2025 conference paper September 22-24, 2025.

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Peter Scupelli & Paulo Carvalho will present their co-authored paper titled “Design Futures Pedagogy: Does the type of exercise, year of study, order, and number of exercises matter?” at the DRS special interest group conference Learn X Design 2025 at the University of Aveiro, Portugal, on September 22-24.

Abstract

Teaching design for long-term, societal-level sustainability requires design students to learn new design methods that combine Futures Thinking with Design Thinking. This paper explores three questions: (a) how to teach Futures Thinking methods; (b) when to incorporate Futures Thinking into the undergraduate curriculum; and (c) how many exercises to assign to teach a futures method. In this paper, we focus on the Futures Thinking method called Causal Layered Analysis (CLA). Previous research has shown that a “Studio Project CLA” exercise is three times more effective than a “Personal Futures CLA” in helping students apply CLA to their design work. In this paper, undergraduate students in their first and third years did both exercises. We report on three studies. In Study 1, we replicated prior research using a larger dataset. Our results confirm that when performing a single exercise, the “Studio Project CLA” exercise is significantly more effective than the “Personal Futures CLA” exercise. In Study 2, we compared the performance of first-year and third-year design students on both exercises. We found that first-year students had more design insights on how they might apply CLA to design processes. In study 3, regarding the order and quantity of exercises, contrary to the maxim “more practice is better,” we found that “what one practices matters.” In other words, for first-year students, a single “Studio Project CLA” exercise provides more benefit than an additional “Personal Futures CLA” exercise. We posit that the observed transfer from “Futures Thinking” to “Design Thinking” may be explained by three theories from Learning Science literature: (a) concreteness and abstraction of the CLA exercises, (b) the layered aspects of CLA helped to emphasize structural similarities across contexts, (c) concreteness fading in the Design Studio exercise. This study examined the number of design insights; our future work will explore the types and quality of design insights.

Reference

Scupelli, P. & Carvalho, P. (2025) Design Futures Pedagogy: Does the type of exercise, year of study, order, and number of exercises matter?, DRS – Learn X Design intertwinia in Design Education conference in Aveiro, Portugal, on September 22-24, 2025.

IASDR 2023

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September 1, 2023 1:42 PM

Peter Scupelli will present a paper titled “Teaching to transfer Causal Layered Analysis from Futures Thinking to Design Thinking” at the 2023 IASDR conference held in Milan, Italy October 9-14 at The Politecnico di Milano.

Abstract
We live in exponentially changing worlds. Design educators are challenged to teach new design methods to productively engage with ongoing societal problems with planetary implications such as the Sustainable Development Goals, the unfolding climate disaster, zero-carbon lifestyles, circular economies, nuclear disarmament, etc. Such societal-level problems require both short-term design action and strategic long-term vision goal alignments. How might design educators teach new design methods effectively and efficiently within already packed design education curriculums? In this paper, I describe a required design futures course that teaches an experimental form of design, called Dexign Futures, it merges design thinking with futures thinking. One often unstated goal of teaching new design methods is to enable students to transfer such knowledge to other design courses, and, ultimately, to their professional practice. The futures thinking method, Causal Layered Analysis (CLA) is the focus of this paper. Prior research on Dexign Futures, made clear that with a “Personal Futures CLA” assignment, only 19.8% of design students could articulate how the Futures Thinking method CLA related to future design methods and practice. In this paper, I describe a new way to teach CLA called “Studio Project CLA”; it more than tripled the number of undergraduate design students (62%) who described applications of CLA to their design practice. I posit that transfer of knowledge mechanisms likely explain observed performance gains. I hypothesize key insights relevant for design educators to create design exercises for undergraduate design students that likely facilitate knowledge transfer from futures thinking methods into design practice.

IASDR 2021

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October 15, 2021 7:50 PM

Peter Scupelli will present a paper titled “Teaching Designers to Anticipate Future Challenges with Causal Layered Analysis” at the 2021 IASDR conference held in Hong Kong December 5-9 at TThe Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

Abstract
Low-probability disasters like global pandemics, nuclear war, earthquakes, solar flares and so forth require anticipatory imagination and strategic preparations. The COVID-19 global pandemic amply illustrated how being unprepared results in tragic outcomes for human lives, families, organizations, and economies. Preparing for different kinds of possible futures requires new thinking, imagining, and acting. Globally, design educators are challenged to prepare the next generation of designers for a rapidly changing world. How might designers learn to meaningfully engage with the challenges of our time (e.g., climate emergency, sustainable development) and emerging opportunities (e.g., AI, fourth industrial revolution, and so forth)? In this paper, I describe two futures thinking methods taught in a design centred futures course taught in the School of Design at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (USA). First, an Alternative Futures exercise with a 2×2 matrix that yields four possible futures. Second, students explored one possible future in-depth with Causal Layered Analysis (CLA). The design futures course was taught with the flipped-classroom active learning pedagogy through five activities: online learning, mini-lecture, demonstration, small group in-class workshop activities, and weekly reflection/discussion. I report on text analysis of student weekly reflections parsed with five codes related to CLA (i.e., personal insights, thinking structures, design insights, CLA details, other). Step-by-step scaffolding and multiple integrated learning activities helped students to engage with futures studies methods. CLA provided students with new thinking structures for sensemaking, new insights into futures thinking,  and design methods and process insights on how to design for future challenges.

Last updated: 4:21 pm

IEERC INTERNATIONAL EXPERTS WORKSHOP: Design Thinking and Futures Thinking

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June 1, 2018 5:49 PM

Peter Scupelli taught the Design Thinking and Futures Thinking  workshop June 7-9, at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China. The workshop was called “Using the Flipped Classroom to Teach Design Thinking and Futures Thinking.”

The world is changing at an exponential rate. How might design educators teach different types of design thinking to address challenges such as societal level sustainability? How might technology be used to create innovative learning experiences for students? How might students get more practice opportunities and feedback to better learn new kinds of design thinking. The School of Design at Carnegie Mellon University launched a new curriculum undergraduate, masters, and doctoral students in 2014 to teach design led societal level sustainability. In this workshop, participants experience teaching innovations developed to teach alternative versions of design thinking for societal level sustainability through case studies of four courses taught. For example, in the Dexign Futures course, Design Thinking and Futures Thinking are combined to align short-term design with long-term visions. The Dexign Futures course was taught as a flipped classroom course with two main parts: (a) interactive online modules with interactive feedback that prepare students for (b) in-class hands-on design activities. Workshop participants will learn how to apply the design based teaching innovations demonstrated in the case study to solve current student learning challenges.

http://www.ieeac2015.org.cn/p/17/20180614/163847274598383.html

US2020 STEM Collaboratory Keynote

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January 24, 2018 3:52 PM

Kristin Hughes and Peter Scupelli are keynoting for the US2020 STEM Collaboratory workshop Thursday, February 1, 2018.

About the US2020 Challenge
The US2020 STEM Challenge is a competition for communities that are working together through cross-sector partnerships to bridge the opportunity gap and bring maker-centered learning and STEM mentorship opportunities to more girls, low-income students, and underrepresented students in their local communities.

Over 92 communities across the country applied to the competition, proposing innovative approaches for cross-sector collaboration and exciting STEM solutions in their communities. A panel of expert judges helped US2020 select fifteen finalist communities to move on to the final round of the competition. They’re currently in the process of engaging their stakeholders, refining their proposals, and will revise and resubmit their application prior to attending the STEM Collaboratory event. More information about the Challenge can be found on our website and in our press release.

The STEM Collaboratory
The celebration of their work will culminate at a STEM Collaboratory event, where communities will highlight what they’re doing in the collective impact space to bring engaging and enticing opportunities to students across the country through their cross-sector partnerships. This two-day workshop will expose communities to STEM and maker experts and creative community builders and provide an opportunity for communities to share share, learn, and inspire one another to build local movements around STEM mentorship and maker-centered learning and bridge the opportunity gap.

The objectives of the event overall are to:
●      Provide a space for teams to reflect, share, and refine their strategies for embedding maker-centered learning and STEM mentorship into their communities
●      Expose finalist teams to experts that can facilitate new learning, spark deep, rich conversation between teams, and share meaningful feedback
●      Strengthen relationships between Finalist Teams
●      Introduce helpful frameworks for working through barriers and challenges
●      Create a learning experience that is meaningful and applicable, regardless of Challenge outcome

Audience and their Work
This event will bring together 45 leaders representing 15 communities across the country. Each community will be represented at the event by 2-3 local leaders that are spearheading this work. These leaders will represent the non-profit, public, and private sectors, and are all working to strengthen their local STEM and maker-centered learning movements locally.

Each community has been working to build a collective action and impact model around STEM mentorship and maker-centered learning. All of these communities are focused on mobilizing stakeholders in their community to drive systemic change. Some of these communities also design and implement programs related to maker-centered or project-based learning. These communities are quite diverse – some are from larger cities like New York and Chicago, while others are working in more rural contexts, like Socorro, New Mexico or Allendale, South Carolina. Learn more about our finalists here.

Date + Venue

The event will take place from Wednesday, January 31- Thursday, February 1, 2018 at Alloy 26, located at 100 S Commons Suite 102, Pittsburgh, PA 15212

Last updated: 5:50 pm

IASDR 2017 conference

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September 22, 2017 2:49 PM

Peter Scupelli to present a paper titled “Opening a Design Education Pipeline from University to K-12 and Back” at the IASDR 2017 conference in Cincinnati.

Opening a Design Education Pipeline from University to K-12 and Back

  • Peter Scupelli, School of Design, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
  • Doris Wells-Papanek, Design Learning Network, Cross Plains, WI, USA.
  • Judy Brooks, Eberly Center, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
  • Arnold Wasserman, Collective Invention, San Francisco, CA, USA.

AbstractTo prepare students to imagine desirable futures amidst current planetary level challenges, design educators must think and act in new ways. In this paper, we describe a pilot study that illustrates how educators might teach K-12 students and university design students to situate their making within transitional times in a volatile and exponentially changing world. We describe how to best situate students to align design thinking and learning with future foresight. Here we present a pilot test and evaluate how a university-level Dexign Futures course content, approach, and scaffolded instructional materials – can be adapted for use in K-12 Design Learning Challenges. We describe the K-12 design-based learning challenges/experiences developed and implemented by the Design Learning Network (DLN). The Dexign Futures course we describe in this paper is a required course for third year undergraduate students in the School of Design at Carnegie Mellon University. The “x” signifies a different type of design that aligns short-term action with long-term goals. The course integrates design thinking and learning with long-horizon future scenario foresight. Broadly speaking, we ask how might portions of a design course be taught and experienced by teachers and students of two different demographics: within the university (Design Undergraduates) and in K-12 (via DLN). This pilot study is descriptive in nature; in future work, we seek to assess learning outcomes across university and K-12 courses. We believe the approach described is relevant for lifelong learners (e.g., post-graduate-level, career development, transitional adult education).

Last updated: 1:47 pm

Poster Presentation@CMU’s Teaching & Learning Summit

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August 16, 2016 12:20 PM

Peter Scupelli and Paul Inventado presented posters at the first Teaching and Learning Summit for faculty and graduate students hosted by Carnegie Mellon University’s Eberly Center for Teaching Excellence and Educational Innovation.

The event was designed to:

  • Foster dialogue, networking and collaboration within and across disciplines.
  • Showcase the educational research of CMU instructors and learning scientists.
  • Share transferable, evidence-based and innovative teaching strategies used by CMU instructors.

1. Scupelli, P. and Brooks, J. “Dexign Futures: a flipped, open learning initiative course”

Abstract:

Design for sustainability opportunities reside in bridging between short-term action and long-term strategic thinking. Unfortunately, traditional design pedagogy poorly equips designers for long-term strategic thinking. In the Dexign Futures class described in this poster, students learn to align short-term design with long-term horizons. Dexign Futures is a required design studies class for all third year undergraduate students in the products, communications, and environments tracks in the School of Design at Carnegie Mellon University. Flipped courses shift lectures and instruction to the online learning initiative (OLI) course to use class time for hands-on activities. Online homework helps students to prepare for in-class activities. During in-class activities, the course instructor, and teaching assistants can provide students with feedback and answer questions. Likewise, in-class team activities and peer feedback can enhance student learning. Research from piloting of the online modules and in-class workshops are promising. We measure student learning for this flipped class.

2. Inventado, P. S. and Scupelli, P. “A Data-Driven Design Pattern Methodology to Facilitate Effective Pedagogical Practice in Online Learning Systems”

Abstract:

Paradoxically, online learning system designs often fail to fully benefit from research insights and findings expressed as learning principles possibly because of nuances in translating to specific learning contexts. We present a methodology that uses data exploration, statistical analyses, and machine learning to uncover relationships between designs and learning outcomes. In a specific context, effective designs linked to good outcomes are encapsulated into design patterns. For example, analyses of student interaction data from an online learning system revealed that struggling students quickly learned to solve similar math problems by requesting all available hints and answers, and learning from it. This was encapsulated into the Explain Worked Solutions design pattern: incorporate worked-out solutions in on-demand hints for students struggling with math problems. Design patterns are uncovered through research, and their continued evaluation and refinement ensures reproducibility in tested contexts. Uncovered design patterns are currently compiled into an online repository to facilitate use.

Last updated: 12:20 pm

Paper presentations @ DRS Conference 2016

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June 22, 2016 1:30 AM

Peter Scupelli presented papers at the 50th Anniversary Design+Research+Society Conference 2016, hosted by the University of Brighton in the UK. The papers featured were:

1) Scupelli & Hanington: Design Studio Desk and Shared Place Attachments: A Study on Ownership, Personalization, and Agency

Abstract:

Increasing numbers of students, limited space, and decreasing budgets nudge many university administrators to shift from assigned design studio desks to flexible workspace arrangements. This paper explores student attachment to the individual desk and shared spaces in a graduate design studio in a Design School in a North American first-tier research university. The studio had four interconnected spaces with: individual desks, collaborative workspaces, a kitchen-social cafe area, and a distance-learning classroom. We explored student perspectives and attitudes on studio aesthetics, functionality, agency, ownership, personalization, and occupancy patterns with four methods (i.e., online survey, student class schedules, interviews, time-lapse study). Perception of ownership, personalization, and agency were greatest for individual desks. Students perceived the individual desk as a primary territory even though the administration said desks were shared hot-desks. Individual work and collaborative work occurred throughout the studio regardless of functional assignment (e.g., spaces for individual work, collaboration, classroom).

2) Scupelli, Wasserman, & Brooks: Dexign Futures: A Pedagogy for Long-Horizon Design Scenarios

Abstract:

The transition towards societal level sustainability requires thinking and acting anew. Traditional design pedagogy poorly equips designers to integrate long- range strategic thinking with current human-centered design methods. In this paper, we describe a three-course sequence: Dexign Futures Seminar (DFS), Introduction to Dexign the Future (iDTF), and Dexign the Future (DTF). The term dexign indicates an experimental type of design that integrates Futures Thinking with Design Thinking. Students learn to engage strategic long time horizon scenarios from a generative design perspective. DFS, online modules, teaches students to critique and deconstruct existing futures scenarios. iDTF situates students to explore futures based themes and apply design methods and research techniques. DTF takes students into a semester-long project designing for 2050. In this paper, we describe lessons learned that lead to a pedagogy for supporting novices as they develop skills and methods for long time horizon futures design.

Last updated: 1:30 am

Paper presentation @ 2016 IDSA International Conference

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June 22, 2016 2:00 AM

Peter Scupelli presented a paper he co-authored with Judy Brooks and Arnold Wasserman on “Making Dexign Futures learning happen: A case study for a flipped, Open-Learning Initiative course” at the 2016 Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) International Conference in Detroit, Michigan.

Abstract:

How do design educators make change happen to address new challenges? Currently, design educators are caught between challenges: first, teaching well-established design traditions based on craft and making; and second, training students to situate their artifact making within transitional times in a volatile and exponentially changing world. The tension design educators navigate involves teaching the core of a discipline in relation to an expanding periphery where multiple disciplines interact. The epistemic challenge is how to initiate students into the field’s crystallized knowledge at the same time as fluid, emergent knowledge. Some design educators may yearn for simpler times focusing on mastery of the deep disciplinary cores. Others may discount their own core disciplinary teaching in favor of exploration of the rapidly shifting disciplinary peripheries to meet new challenges and opportunities. We acknowledge both perspectives and further posit that students need exposure to both the core and periphery of design. This introduces an interesting learning challenge: an implicit contradiction for students of design where the core/making tends to reinforce short time horizon thinking; and the disciplinary periphery requires long time horizon visioning. We try to address this challenge by aligning short-term design opportunities with sustainable development plans for long time horizons. We merge design thinking and futures thinking to create “deXign” thinking. In this paper, we discuss a flipped classroom pedagogy that integrates design studio with an online component. The class we describe is called Dexign Futures. Dexign Futures is a required design studies class for all third year undergraduate students in the products, communications, and environments tracks in the School of Design at a North American tier-one research university. Because traditional design pedagogy poorly equips designers to integrate current human-centered design methods with long-range strategic thinking, a challenge we explore through the class is how to teach designing for the long time horizon. The Dexign Futures course is built on an elective three-course sequence: Dexign Futures Seminar (DFS), Introduction to Dexign the Future (iDTF), and Dexign the Future (DTF). The term deXign indicates an experimental type of design that integrates Futures Thinking with Design Thinking. In this paper, we discuss the process of making the Dexign Futures flipped classroom pedagogy happen by: (a) describing the online class modules in detail; (b) providing examples of in-class workshop activities; and (c) reflecting on lessons learned from iterative development of the online modules and in-class activities.

Last updated: 2:00 am

Teaching Interaction Design in Physical, Digital, and Hybrid Environments @ Interaction Design Education Summit 2016

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February 29, 2016 5:45 PM

Peter Scupelli and Austin Lee gave a talk on “Teaching Interaction Design in Physical, Digital, and Hybrid Environments” at the Interaction Design Education Summit 2016, interaction16 (IXDA) Conference in Helsinki, Finland.

Summary:

Over the past two decades, new technologies shifted what Interaction Design (IxD) students need to learn for professional practice. In the mid-nineties, IxD education covered interface design and web design to the plethora of topics currently explored today, such as, sensor networks, smart environments, smart cities, Internet of Things, Augmented Reality Interfaces, and so forth.

To keep IxD university programs relevant, educators seek new ways for students to learn to design in emergent areas such as: larger scale environments (e.g., smart environments, Internet of Things, augmented reality interfaces). New technologies and design opportunities often require new design and prototyping methods.

Last updated: 5:45 pm