Abstract—This study explores an innovative teaching
approach based on the concept of social design. Using, as its case
study, a design education course called “Social Design,”
currently taught in universities, this study discusses the essential
elements of social design courses, based on the three
characteristics of social-design education: design practices,
problem evaluation, and interdisciplinary cooperation.
It concludes by showing that social-design education includes
the following essential elements: 1) to train students to propose
innovative solutions to problems; 2) to analyze problems
comprehensively, on the scale of the socio-ecological-system; 3)
to solve problems using interdisciplinary knowledge and
understanding; 4) to include people who have experienced
problems in the problem-solving process; 5) to ensure that
students achieve reflective learning during the problem-solving
process; and 6) to guide students in recognizing the “organic”
nature of social design problems, in which levels of stakeholder
participation affect problem-solving decisions, given that social
systems are constantly changing.
Index Terms—Social responsibility of designer, social design,
case study, design education.
The authors are with Department of Digital Media Design, National
Yunlin University of Science and Technology, Taiwan (e-mail:
chenghh@qq.com, cristance@gmail.com).
Cite: Hui Hsin Cheng and Wen Huei Chou, "A Curricular Case Study: Constructing the Essential Factors in “Social Design” Teaching," International Journal of Information and Education Technology vol. 9, no. 9, pp. 639-644, 2019.
Copyright © 2019 by the authors. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited (CC BY 4.0).