DEL Conference

Equity in the Review & Artifacts and Pedagogies
2026-01-23 14:00 - 15:00 (Europe/London) | Online – Zoom
Join us to explore rethinking and designing the art and design school experience.
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Equity in the Review: Rethinking the Portfolio Review and Submission Process for Inclusive Art and Design Students
Presenter: Summer Doll-Myers (Associate Professor, Kutztown University of Pennsylvania)
This session explores the student portfolio review as a critical gateway to art and design program admissions and its implications for equity. Drawing from standards and frameworks established by organizations such as NASAD (National Association of Schools of Art and Design) in the U.S., NPDA (National Portfolio Day Association), as well as international bodies like EQ-Arts (Enhancing Quality in the Arts) the presentation analyzes how socio-economic factors, high school curricula, and varying levels of access to resources impact portfolio scores and admission outcomes. By examining disparities in how artistic potential and teachability are assessed—particularly in online formats—the session reveals how review processes may unintentionally disadvantage students. Using a range of data, case studies, and institutional review practices, the session presents findings on the complex relationship between portfolio evaluation and student success. Attendees will be invited to reflect on their current standards and explore insights and best practices to refine their portfolio review methods through an equity-centered lens.

Artifacts and pedagogies: the crafting of a new design school
Presenter: Lorenz Herfurth, Associate Professor (École de technologie supérieure)
This contribution is centred around the ongoing effort that is currently taking place at a university in Montreal, Canada, of establishing the first UX Design program in the province of Quebec.
This is a project that encompasses the establishment of a new design school including the construction and equipment of built infrastructure and the hiring of professors. In this session we will share observations and test initial hypotheses on how the process of planning a new program is characterized by a continuous flow between strategic thinking, the adherence to pedagogical principles and the real-world affordances that are represented by existing built infrastructure and collaborative online tools.
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What is DEL in Between (PR)?
DEL in Between (PR) is a monthly peer-reviewed webinar series exploring emerging topics in art and design higher education. It is organised by DEL Conference, a collective of colleagues across Parsons School of Design, Penn State, Texas State University, University of the Arts London.
Learn more about DEL.

Teaching Ethics and Social Responsibility
2026-02-13 14:00 - 15:00
Join us for an interdisciplinary panel exploring ethics and social responsibility in undergraduate education.

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Designing with Care: Teaching Ethics and Social Responsibility through Interdisciplinary Collaboration
Presenters:

Kimberly Mitchell, Assistant Professor of Graphic Design (University of Tennessee Knoxville)
Ting Zhou, Assistant Professor, Web/Interactive Media Design (University of Connecticut)
Dr. Yuqing Zhang, Assistant Professor, Nursing (University of Cincinnati)
Fengpei (Fiona) Yuan, Assistant Professor, Robotics Engineering Department (Worcester Polytechnic Institute)

This panel brings together an interdisciplinary group of educators—two from design and two from nursing and engineering, respectively—who collaborate on research or teaching initiatives that explore ethics and social responsibility in undergraduate education or community health participants. Their work spans diverse populations and life stages, often engaging with complex health and social contexts. Across classrooms and community research settings, students or community participants are not only introduced to these challenges but are invited to participate as co-researchers and creative partners. Through an open conversation, the panelists will explore how their interdisciplinary perspectives shape the way they mentor students, structure community-engaged projects, and foster empathy and social responsibility. Attendees will be invited into the dialogue to share their own strategies, questions, and insights as we collectively consider how care, responsibility, and justice can become integral to design education—particularly in cross-disciplinary settings.
How can I sign up?
Sign up on Eventbrite

What is DEL in Between (PR)?
DEL in Between (PR) is a monthly peer-reviewed webinar series exploring emerging topics in art and design higher education. It is organised by DEL Conference, a collective of colleagues across Parsons School of Design, Penn State, Texas State University, University of the Arts London.
Learn more about DEL.

Blending Studio and Screen & Archive to Adventure
2026-03-06 14:00 - 15:00
Join us to rethink the first-year design school experience and reignite curiosity for research.

Time is in London time. Check your local time and date.

Blending Studio and Screen: Rethinking First-Year Design Education
Presenters:

Linh Nguyen, Learning Designer (RMIT University Vietnam)
Huy Tang, Associate Learning Designer (RMIT University Vietnam)
Matthias Waldhart, Associate Lecturer (RMIT University Vietnam)

Achieving productive, equitable learning in first-year arts education often requires closing a gap between teaching expectations and student readiness. In this fashion design subject, learning activities were structured around the idea that students already shared a working knowledge of design terminology and conceptual frameworks. However, many were still developing confidence in academic English and unfamiliar with foundational fashion concepts. This mismatch made it difficult for students to participate in critiques, communicate their ideas, or keep pace with studio expectations.In fashion education, terms like “concept development” or “mood board” can carry different meanings for different learners. Without early clarification and structured exploration, students interpret and apply these ideas inconsistently, resulting in unaligned outcomes and assessment challenges.This session shares how a blended learning approach was used to redesign the course. Through interactive, narrative-led pre-class sequences, students were introduced to core terms and design concepts in a visually engaging, self-paced environment. They were guided through explanations, exploratory tasks, and applied activities that connected directly to their own creative work. By preparing students before class, the course made better use of studio time for feedback, experimentation, and meaningful discussion, creating a more inclusive and effective learning experience.

Archive to Adventure: Reigniting Curiosity Through Campus-Based Creative Research
Presenter: Meredith Cawley, Lecturer (University of North Texas)
As higher education navigates post-pandemic challenges, many first-year students arrive disengaged and disconnected from exploratory thinking. Conditioned by standardized testing and digital overload to seek correct answers over meaningful inquiry, they often struggle with open-ended creative challenges like ideation, visual analysis, and research-based making. But when students are invited to leave the classroom and engage directly with physical archives, rare materials, and site-specific investigations, their passivity shifts. These encounters with resources they can’t find online—such as garments from the campus fashion collection or artifacts from university special collections—make abstract ideas tangible, spark deeper curiosity, and increase investment in their work.Drawing from experience in a foundations program, the presenter shares strategies that connect students with campus archives, museum collections, and even building infrastructure to inspire research-driven creativity. One project explores systems thinking and transformation through designer garments. Another uses rare books and zines to develop narrative and material specificity. A third engages students with architectural history, investigating the evolution of a former open-air structure to prompt reflection on spatial memory and change.This session contributes to curiosity-driven pedagogy by reimagining archives and overlooked campus spaces as active collaborators in creative learning.

How can I sign up?
Sign up on Eventbrite

What is DEL in Between (PR)?
DEL in Between (PR) is a monthly peer-reviewed webinar series exploring emerging topics in art and design higher education. It is organised by DEL Conference, a collective of colleagues across Parsons School of Design, Penn State, Texas State University, University of the Arts London.
Learn more about DEL.

Feeling Futures: Exploring Emotional and Futures Literacy Through Youth-Led Design Research
2026-04-17 14:00 - 15:00
Join us to explore technology’s relationships to personal experiences and teaching emotional literacy as a teachable skill.

Time is in London time. Check your local time and date.

Feeling Futures: Exploring Emotional and Futures Literacy Through Youth-Led Design Research
Presenter: Aniela Fidler-Wieruszewska, PhD Sudent, Designer, Creative Researcher (Glasgow Caledonian University (London))
What if we treated emotional literacy as a future skill? This session shares insights from a youth-led, creative research project that explores how adolescents experience climate emotions—and how they make sense of them through fashion (creative medium). Based in London and involving over 50+ participants, the study used participatory design design, speculative thinking and mindfulness techniques to explore how young people relate to climate change, sustainability and their futures.By reframing fashion as more than consumption—as a site of creativity, emotional expression and identity building—this session opens up new ways to teach and talk about climate resilience. It presents creative tools that educators, researchers and cultural practitioners can use to engage students in emotionally rich, future-oriented conversations. Participants will also take part in a short reflective activity from the study and consider how we might design more emotionally intelligent learning environments.
How can I sign up?
Sign up on Eventbrite

What is DEL in Between (PR)?
DEL in Between (PR) is a monthly peer-reviewed webinar series exploring emerging topics in art and design higher education. It is organised by DEL Conference, a collective of colleagues across Parsons School of Design, Penn State, Texas State University, University of the Arts London.
Learn more about DEL.

Evaluating Community-academic Partnerships
2026-05-15 14:00 - 15:00
Join us to explore improving learning and self-efficacy by engaging students in solving authentic, real-world problems.

Time is in London time. Check your local time and date.

Accountability needed: how we evaluate the experience and impact of community-academic partnerships
Presenters:

Cambey Mikush, Assistant Professor, Capstone Coordinator (Duke University)
Liz Chen, PhD, MPH, Associate Professor and Design Thinking Lead (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
Megan Madonna, PhD, Assistant Research Professor (Duke University)

Across disciplines, community-academic partnerships (CAPs) for project-based courses can improve learning and self-efficacy by engaging students in solving authentic, real-world problems (Krsmanovic, 2021). Using human-centered design to structure these community-based courses helps students consider diverse perspectives while developing stronger communication, problem-solving, critical thinking, and teamwork skills. Despite the benefits of project-based courses for students, projects’ quality, applicability, and impact on community partners can vary tremendously. Little research has emerged identifying metrics to monitor and evaluate the experience of the community collaborators that play vital roles in these partnerships. This panel presentation will explore emerging measurements, including two new survey evaluation tools, and strategies that can be used to evaluate the experience and outcomes of community partners engaging in projects with higher education students. Panelists include three design educators from two nationally ranked higher education institutions with Public Health, Occupational Therapy, and Biomedical Engineering backgrounds. The discussion will highlight the panelists’ experiences measuring the benefits of CAPs for design-explicit courses, particularly from the perspectives of community collaborators.
Reference: Krsmanovic, M. (2021). Course redesign: implementing project-based learning to improve student self-efficacy. Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 21(2):93-106.
How can I sign up?
Sign up on Eventbrite

What is DEL in Between (PR)?
DEL in Between (PR) is a monthly peer-reviewed webinar series exploring emerging topics in art and design higher education. It is organised by DEL Conference, a collective of colleagues across Parsons School of Design, Penn State, Texas State University, University of the Arts London.
Learn more about DEL.
