Research on design pedagogy has shown that students progress through a variety of barriers on the path to becoming a successful design practitioner, and that frameworks for explicit reflection can be beneficial to the development of design students. Schön uses the concept of reflection-on-action to describe one form of reflection on design practice, with the eventual goal of improving design processes and judgment. In this study, sketching is used as a form of reflection-on-action in a first semester intensive course in interaction design (IxD). This sketch reflects the student’s current understanding of the “whole game” or holistic view of design in IxD. Current practitioners in IxD companies were asked to draw the “whole game” sketch as well. Parallels among the sketches and areas of divergence are discussed. In summary, students shifted from abstract, linear representations of process early in the semester to more concrete, iterative representations by the end of their first semester. Practitioner sketches were more abstract and linear, but also included representations of business terminology and design teams. Full paper is available at: http://www.academia.edu/2703153/Sketching_design_thinking_representations_of_design_in_education_and_practice

1. Sketching
Design Thinking:
Representations of
Design in Education
and Practice
Colin M. Gray & Martin A. Siegel
DRS // CUMULUS | May 15, 2013

2. Reflection is embedded in a variety of
educational domains
(Ellmers, 2006; Rogers, 2001; Schön, 1983)
Creation of schema as potentially evaluative
in relation to design expertise?
(Nelson & Stolterman, 2012; Siegel & Stolterman, 2008)
Viewing the design studio as “a coherent
system of activity” that connects to practice
(Brandt, et al., 2011; Shaffer, 2007)
background

3. review of
literature

4. literature
“Playing the Whole Game”
Viewing education in a holistic, action-driven way
(Perkins, 2010)
Linking education and practice together through the studio
(Schön, 1983; Shulman, 2005)

5. literature
Reflection
Reflection-in-action as a tacit process “in the moment”
(Schön, 1983)
Reflection-on-action as a more explicit act
(Ellmers, 2006; Schön, 1983)

6. literature
Expertise in Design Practice
Generic model of expertise
(Dreyfus, 2003; Lawson & Dorst, 2009)
Domain specific model of expertise in interaction design
(Siegel & Stolterman, 2008)

7. context

8. First-year Master’s students in the Human-Computer
Interaction design (HCI/d) program in a School of
Informatics
Interaction design practitioners
context

9. data
Students (60)
Three “whole game of HCI” sketches during an
introductory design course (undergraduate and
graduate students)
Practitioners (6)
One “whole game of HCI” sketch completed during
an interview for a larger study

10. methods

11. methods
Thematic coding
Analysis of formal visual characteristics

12. analysis
Analysis of intact sets of student reflection sketches
Sketches coded based on organizational paradigms and
formal characteristics

13. findings

14. ROUND 1

15. ROUND 1

16. ROUND 1

17. ROUND 1

18. ROUND 1

19. ROUND 1

20. ROUND 1

21. ROUND 2

22. ROUND 2

23. ROUND 2

24. ROUND 2

25. ROUND 2

26. ROUND 2

27. ROUND 2

28. ROUND 2

29. ROUND 3

30. ROUND 3

31. ROUND 3

32. ROUND 3

39. findings
Beginning designer to hardened professional
Risk-averse and simplistic to chaotic and deep
Linear to non-linear to linear
Individual designer to team of collaborators

40. D
ESIGN
EXPERTISE
LINEAR-
SIMPLE-
ABSTRACT
ITERATIVE-
COMPLEX-
CONCRETE
END OF
FIRST
SEMESTER
DESIGN
PRACTITIONER
START OF
FIRST
SEMESTER

41. next steps

42. next steps
Richer data collection to establish context surrounding the
creation of these sketches (currently underway)
Additional work on reflection as a way to externalize conceptions
of design thinking

43. references
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Mitzi, McGrath, Margarita & Yolanda Reimer. 2011. “A theoretical
framework for the studio as a learning environment”. International
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s10798-011-9181-5
Dreyfus, Stuart E. 1981. Formal models vs. Human situational
understanding: Inherent limitations on the modeling of business
expertise. Berkeley: Operations Research Center, University of
California.
Dreyfus, H. L. 2003. The Spinoza Lectures. University of
Amsterdam.
Dubberly, Hugh. 2004. How do you design: A compendium of
models. San Francisco, CA: Dubberly Design Office. Retrieved
from http://www.dubberly.com/articles/how-do-you-design.htm
Ellmers, Grant. 2006. “Reflection and graphic design pedagogy:
Developing a reflective framework to enhance learning in a
graphic design tertiary environment”. In Proceedings of thinking
the future: Art, design and creativity: ACUADAS 2006 conference.
Rogers, Russell R. 2001. “Reflection in higher education: A
concept analysis”. Innovative Higher Education, 26(1): 37-57. doi:
10.1023/A:101098640452
Lawson, Bryan, & Kees Dorst. 2009. “Expertise in design”. In
Design expertise, 81-112. Oxford: Architectural Press.
Nelson, Harold G., and Erik Stolterman. 2012. The design way:
Intentional change in an unpredictable world (2nd ed.).
Cambridge: MIT Press.
Perkins, David N. 2010. Making learning whole: How seven
principles of teaching can transform education. San Francisco:
Jossey-Bass.
Shaffer, David W. (2003). Portrait of the oxford design studio: An
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2003-11. Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin-Madison,
Wisconsin Center for Educational Research.
Schön, Donald A. 1983. The reflective practitioner: How
professionals think in action. New York: Basic Books.
Schön, Donald A. 1985. The design studio: An exploration of its
traditions and potentials. London: RIBA Publications Limited.
Schön, Donald A. 1987. Educating the reflective practitioner:
Toward a new design for teaching and learning in the professions.
San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Siegel, Martin A., and Erik Stolterman. 2008. “Metamorphosis:
Transforming non-designers into designers”. In Undisciplined!
Proceedings of the Design Research Society Conference 2008:
378:1-13. Sheffield, UK: Sheffield Hallam University.