Dexign Futures is a required class for all third-year design students in the School of Design at Carnegie Mellon University. The course is taught as a flipped class: online work prepares students for in-class activities. The class is organized into one-week modules. Each week, two online assignments, two in-class assignments, and a weekly reflection are due.

If you are interested in teaching with the Dexign Futures course materials, it is available as an open-source offering. Please contact Peter Scupelli.

Dexign Futures Courses

Previous Dexign Futures courses taught at Carnegie Mellon University. The Introduction to Dexign the Future course was taught at the School of Design at Carnegie Mellon University by Peter Scupelli fall semester 2014. The Dexign the Future course taught fall 2013 by Arnold Wasserman and Peter Scupelli.

Publications

Scupelli, P. (2021) Teaching Designers to Anticipate Future Challenges with Causal Layered Analysis. IASDR 2021: With Design: Reinventing Design Modes. December 5-9, 2021. Hong Kong, China.

Barbara, A., & Scupelli, P. (2021). Teaching to dexign futures in cities. TECHNE – Journal of Technology for Architecture and Environment, (2), 112-116. https://doi.org/10.13128/techne-10693 pdf download

Scupelli, P. (2020) Teaching to Find Design Opportunities for Behavior Change Through Causal Layered Analysis. Proceedings of the 2020 Human-Computer Interaction International Conference. 2020 HCI International Conference, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Scupelli, P. (2020) The Faster Ones Don’t Always Win: Dexign Futures Thinking for Innovation in Urban Context. 10^th United Nations World Urban Forum. Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. February 8-13, 2020.

Scupelli, P., Candy, S., & Brooks, J. (2019) Teaching Futures: Trade-offs Between Flipped Classroom and Design Studio Course Pedagogies.  IASDR 2019: Design Revolutions. September 2-5, 2019. Manchester, UK.

Scupelli, P., &  Brooks, J. (2018) What Features of a Flipped Course Improve Design Student Learning Experiences? Next wave: Design Management Academic conference, August 1-2, Ravensbourne London, UK. Presentation

Scupelli, P., Wasserman, A., Wells-Papanek, D., &  Brooks, J. (2018) The Futures of Design Pedagogy, Learning, and Education. Next wave: Design Management Academic conference, August 1-2, Ravensbourne London, UK.

Scupelli, P., Wells-Papanek, D., Brooks, J. & Wasserman, A.(2017) Opening a design education pipeline from University to K-12 and Back, IASDR 2017, Cincinnati (October 31 – November 3, 2017). Presentation

Scupelli, P., Brooks, J. & Wasserman, A. (2016) Making Dexign Futures learning happen: A case study for a flipped, Open-Learning Initiative course. Design Educators IDSA International Conference 2016: Making Things Happen. August 17-20, Detroit, MI, USA.  [25% acceptance rate (10 accepted, 41 submitted)]

Scupelli, P., Wasserman, A., Brooks, J. (2016). Dexign Futures: A Pedagogy for Long-Horizon Design Scenarios. Proceedings of DRS 2016, Design Research Society 50th Anniversary Conference. Brighton, UK, 27–30 June 2016.
[11% accepted with revisions,(53 accepted with revisions, 478 submitted)]

Wasserman, A., Scupelli, P., & Brooks, J. (2015) Learning to Dexign the Future. Design Educators Asia Conference 2015. December 1-2, Jockey Club Innovation Tower, Hong Kong, China. [30% acceptance rate,(31 accepted, 105 submitted)] presentation

Wasserman, A., Scupelli, P., & Brooks, J. (2015) Learn!2050 and Design Futures: Lessons learned teaching design futures.  Design Educators IDSA International Conference 2015: Future of the Future. August 19-22, Seattle, WA.
[50% acceptance rate,(21 accepted, 42 submitted)]

Scupelli, P. & Wasserman, A. (2014). Dexign the future: lessons learned from teaching a design studio course on human-centered innovation for exponential times. Oxford Futures Forum, OFF2014, Saïd Business School, Oxford University, May 30-31, 2014.