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Description
The aim of the project is to extend the curriculum of the so-called transition design within the framework of the master''s degree program "Information Services Design" at the Department of Information Studies and Librarianship of the Faculty of Arts and at the Department of Informatics at the University of Oslo. Transition design is a relatively new scientific and practical discipline that has not yet been reflected in the academic environment in the Czech Republic and focuses on the transition to future more sustainable models in complex systems. Within the project, a Transition Design course at Masaryk University and Oslo University will be prepared at the same time. The project also includes good practice mapping and other activities aimed at spreading awareness of transition design.
Summary of project results
The current education of service and interaction designers is mainly focused on building better products and services for users and leveraging human‐centred design methodologies. However, an approach known as transitive design is currently gaining ground in design education. Transition design focuses on connecting global challenges and local contexts. It is an approach that is sensitive to contemporary social, economic, and environmental challenges.
The motivation for the start of the project for both universities involved was primarily the desire to build on the successful previous knowledge exchange and a qualitative shift in the teaching of interaction design and service design. While Alma Leóra Culén''s team at the University of Oslo had already been using transitive design in their teaching for several years, the team at Masaryk University was just starting with the approach in 2020 but had previous experience with related directions (speculative design, critical design).
Throughout the project, the teams met regularly to learn from each other through listening, observation, shadowing or guest lectures. A total of 12 joint activities took place during the project. Following the exchange of activities, two new courses focused on transition design were held at Masaryk University in Brno ‐ one looking at this approach from a theoretical perspective, the other giving students the opportunity to try out their own projects focused on four areas: universities of the future, libraries of the future, a fair and sustainable book market and future public services. Parallel courses were also held on the Norwegian side, where students focused on similar topics: e.g. misinformation on social media, designing for beehive conservation, a sustainable academic library.
The transfer of teaching experience to both parties enabled continuous improvement of the courses, the creation of common artifacts for teaching (card methodology, textbook, case studies). Team also published several articles published in professional journals. However, the cooperation has also brought other unexpected results ‐ for example, the dissemination of knowledge to other organisations (the MUNI team was invited to give guest lectures), the preparation of a new joint project and, above all, it has greatly influenced the creation of a new study programme at Masaryk University (design of information services, online bachelor''s programme, the team from UiO was partly involved in its creation).
Summary of bilateral results
The cooperation between the two teams was crucial ‐ during the project, experience in teaching transition design was transferred from UiO to the Czech university. In addition to the more extensive peer‐learning activities, a number of informal, smaller meetings and peer‐learning sessions were also held throughout the project period, mostly online or in hybrid form.