Teaching Participatory Design

This chapter is written for scholars who may be teaching Participatory Design for the first time but have an understanding of, and possibly concrete experiences with, Participatory Design work. This chapter will also give experienced Participatory Design teachers a chance to reflect upon their practice. Based on our own teaching experiences and the contributions of several scholars and colleagues, we place strong emphasis on the need to base the teaching of Participatory Design on the continuous combination of practice and reflection. The chapter discusses the implications of this approach, the challenges it entails, and how to address them. We argue for the possibility of students engaging in “real” Participatory Design processes outside the classroom. The aim of this chapter is also to contribute to the development of a pedagogical framework for teaching Participatory Design. This direction centres teaching practice on two pedagogical modes: mutual learning and reflection-in-action. In discussing the practice of teaching Participatory Design, the chapter highlights three main aspects. The first is supporting students’ awareness of the relevance of the social dimension in Participatory Design practice and engaging them in reflection on related issues. To this end, questions that can promote students’ critical thinking are discussed. Given the relevant role of workshops in many Participatory Design processes, a second aspect is providing students with guidelines to consider the materiality in facilitating workshops, as well as opportunities to practise and combine practice with reflection. The chapter provides some concrete steps to consider for this purpose. The third aspect is guiding students in analysing Participatory Design outputs, a critical practice that is not easy and sometimes overlooked. The chapter ends with an annex, providing nine cases-examples, complementing the text and inspiring future teachers of Participatory Design. The cases-examples comprise teaching Participatory Design to bachelor-, master-, and PhD-students and to practitioners engaged in NGOs living labs.