André Solomon’s Post

Industrial design education includes engineering mechanics, finite element analysis, material science, and manufacturability, etc. Then there's product safety regulations, ergonomics, and more. It's _very_ different from UX. But it's not considered a STEM field. Is it because industrial designers cultivate aesthetic capabilities through years of dedicated practice? Is it because our definition of STEM actively _excludes_ aesthetics? Aesthetics is an area where you can instantly see if something is good, but where it takes years, even decades, to be able to do it.

Sometimes our best efforts to solve group, organizational, societal, and systemic challenges result in unaffected, worsening, or temporarily resolved problems. We usually rely on individual analysis and strategic thinking using mainstream, institutional knowledge sources. What if we were to access the wealth of other types of knowledges in the world around us: aesthetic, intuitive, emotional, spiritual, relational, energetic, communal, lived experiential, embodied, etc.? There are a number of practices, both old and new, that explore these other types of knowledge by creating awareness and using intention to act. At this conference, I was blown away by the brilliance of other folks in the design & innovation space, as we considered how to apply human-centered design to health and wellbeing.

Recently, the ECE Capstone Design Open House showcased the creativity and technical expertise of 15 senior design student teams as they presented self-imagined projects, from automated pet monitoring systems to puzzle-based alarm clocks. A celebration of collaboration and impact that drew alumni, faculty, and student peers, the event highlighted how ECE student innovators are addressing real-world challenges with ingenuity and learned skill. Full story and images: https://lnkd.in/gq8KCnHf UW-Madison College of Engineering Wisconsin Foundation and Alumni Association Joe Krachey Mark Allie Susan Hagness Cole Burek Marwan Estiban Patrick Flannery Joseph Fourness Kenton Smith Phil Nwafor

NBBJ Design’s Westmark School is Designed for Learning Differences. The global firm’s Los Angeles–based studio worked with landscape architects SWA to create an education space dedicated to both physical and emotional well-being. The lower school campus of the Westmark School, a private academy in Encino, California, dedicated to supporting students with learning differences, is a model for charting a new direction. Not just for educational architecture, but for any type of building. Embracing research in neuroscience, education, and architecture, the facility addresses learning challenges from top to bottom, from incorporating nature and natural materials to encouraging multi-sensory learning to limiting stressors like excess noise and clutter. https://lnkd.in/eqz8ApSP

Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) recently introduced their Student Hall for Exploration and Development (SHED) which takes audience-centered design to new heights and covers more than 120,000 square feet of new construction. With a Crestron DM NVX backbone RIT's SHED provides flexible spaces that foster and stimulate creativity, collaboration, and discovery, which are uniquely designed serve every student and support their ambitions. Kinly knew the right fit to bring AV-over-IP to this impressive new building which was recognized as the "Top Education Project" in this year's DM NVX Technology Awards. Read more here: https://ow.ly/X0An30sIcBH

Today, I had a most interesting conversation with Aya Mouallem, Phd student/Knight-Hennessy Scholar in electrical engineering and engineering education research at Stanford. https://lnkd.in/dKTcz6bN Among other things, she has worked on a project of making an electricity engineer course accessible for blind and visually impaired students. The course was required as part of the computer science program. At the same time, it is a course that is very demanding to make accessible because the reading, the lecture notes, the assignment; all contains a vast number of diagrams. Despite a dedicated department for production of alternative formats of learning materials (as part of the Office of Accessible Education), it is difficult to keep up. This is a typical problem in STEM subjects. It would be extremely difficult to apply a Universal Design for Learning approach to all STEM subjects that ensure visual accessibility in advance for all subjects, before knowing which STEM programs had students who needed alternative formats and what their visual abilities were. Aya introduced me to ability-based design instead. The idea is to design towards what users can do. It started out as an approach in software design where the idea is to design solutions that focus on what the user can do (rather than focus on the disability and what the user cannot do), and also employ the fact that software systems can be adaptable: 1.     Focus on ability 2.     Poor performance -> change the system, not the user 3.     Interfaces with the user are user-adaptable 4.     Interfaces provide users with a sense of the adaptations going on and the opportunity to impact on them 5.     The system monitors user performance 6.     The system proactively senses the context and anticipate its effect on the user 7.     The system must be inexpensive for the user and readily available. (Wobbrock et al., 2010) I find the focus on ability and adaptability highly interesting. While I still like the idea of UDL to organize teaching and learning with flexibility in mind, I have also felt that it is difficult to be able to foresee and plan for all the different kinds of learners that might turn up in a classroom or lecture hall in higher education. But if I am already thinking about my teaching as a flexible activity, I can also adapt it to a new kind of learner (Principle 1 and 2). Also, makes sense to involve the student when making adaptations as the student is the best judge of what will be helpful (Principle 3 and 4). And it could be a very good idea if both the educator and the university system did look forward and anticipated the learning trajectory of the student and what kind of system adaptations that would be needed rather than waiting for the student to stumble over them (Principle 5 and 6). Universal Design Hub - Bevica Fonden #Bevicascholarshipprogramme #inclusivehighereducation #leavenoonebehind #UDforlearning

Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) recently introduced their Student Hall for Exploration and Development (SHED) which takes audience-centered design to new heights and covers more than 120,000 square feet of new construction. With a Crestron DM NVX backbone RIT's SHED provides flexible spaces that foster and stimulate creativity, collaboration, and discovery, which are uniquely designed serve every student and support their ambitions. Kinly knew the right fit to bring AV-over-IP to this impressive new building which was recognized as the "Top Education Project" in this year's DM NVX Technology Awards. Read more here: https://ow.ly/cGLt30sIa0G

Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) recently introduced their Student Hall for Exploration and Development (SHED) which takes audience-centered design to new heights and covers more than 120,000 square feet of new construction. With a Crestron DM NVX backbone RIT's SHED provides flexible spaces that foster and stimulate creativity, collaboration, and discovery, which are uniquely designed serve every student and support their ambitions. Kinly knew the right fit to bring AV-over-IP to this impressive new building which was recognized as the "Top Education Project" in this year's DM NVX Technology Awards. Read more here: https://ow.ly/moHm30sIfNf

“We are very excited about the teaching opportunities this presents for us and, with IT’s help this semester, we should be able to create some lessons with the device for second semester.” — Josh Wood, Technology Education Faculty New Trier High School District Applied Arts received full funding through the Foundation’s Marran Grant for the purchase of technology to serve as the faculty station computer for room W032 at Winnetka. This will enable teachers to demonstrate, upload, and manage student projects like never before. The studio computer recently obtained by the department is a WACOM which will be used by multiple teachers within the department to help better support equity work in architecture as well as urban design and civic engagement. Once fully operating with the department’s current architecture software, the WACOM will enable easy sketching/annotating over models and blueprints, which may bring about some cross curricular opportunities as well. Learn more about the James Marran Grants and the programs we support: https://bit.ly/3tryzXh #newtrier #grants #supporteducation #supportteachers #computerstation #appliedarts #architecture #urbandesign #civicengagement

Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) recently introduced their Student Hall for Exploration and Development (SHED) which takes audience-centered design to new heights and covers more than 120,000 square feet of new construction. With a Crestron DM NVX backbone RIT's SHED provides flexible spaces that foster and stimulate creativity, collaboration, and discovery, which are uniquely designed serve every student and support their ambitions. Kinly knew the right fit to bring AV-over-IP to this impressive new building which was recognized as the "Top Education Project" in this year's DM NVX Technology Awards. Read more here: https://ow.ly/zfcS30sIa3V