Experiencing Design for Repair, educating circular practitioners

Abstract

Introduction In the bachelor program of the faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, three courses on sustainability are offered. Sustainable Impact focuses on the basics of sustainability like ecodesign and LCA, Design for the Circular Economy focuses on circular business models and future design visions, and the Sustainable Transitions minor focuses on sustainable systems interventions. Although these courses score “more than satisfactory” on student evaluations (EvaSys), attendance is low and decreasing over the course. Besides, coordinators of the parallel running design projects notice that students struggle with the integration of sustainability into the design solutions. To make sustainability more applicable, we developed a new master elective related to design for repair, named Repair! (ID5422, 3EC over 8 weeks). In this course we explicitly implemented the theory of productive failure by Kapur & Bielaczyc (2012) and followed the course-design model for productive failure described in Persaud & Flipsen (2023). Contrary to traditional teaching, productive failure flips the process and starts with an explorative problem which students cannot solve without the right knowledge. This is followed by an instruction explaining the missing concept and filling the knowledge gap, after which students apply their learnings on their own project. This approach engages students in active problem-solving, with the goal to increase retention of the theoretical concepts and facilitate deep learning. In the Repair course respectively 24 and 36 students participated over the past two years. Students work on client-based products, focusing on a demonstration model to show the improved fit of the product within a circular economy. In this paper, we will present the course and its content, one of the workshops explaining the productive failure approach, and finalize with an analysis of the student’s learning experiences.