All workshops will take place at the University of Bristol on Wednesday, 2nd September 2026 at 2 pm<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Session Chair:\u00a0Chloe Agg, Imperial College London<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a recent paper Agg, C. (2025) Using queer methods to create equity in Engineering Education<\/em>, International Conference on Engineering and Product Design Education 2025<\/em>, I explained how I used the Wheel of Power and Privilege (WPP) in my research to gather nuanced demographic data and to create a shared understanding of positionality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In this workshop, I will introduce:<\/p>\n\n\n\n – The WPP, and how a team can use it in the forming stage of group work<\/p>\n\n\n\n – Ways in which the WPP can be used in research and or teaching practice<\/p>\n\n\n\n – Broader uses and critiques of the WPP outside of engineering and design<\/p>\n\n\n\n – Discipline specific critiques of the WPP<\/p>\n\n\n\n Building on this, participants will collaborate in small groups to redesign the wheel for use in higher education, within engineering and design education, as well as creating plans for how and when it could be used in their own contexts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ground rules will be established as the WPP offers the opportunity to disclose elements of ones identity which may not always be known in professional settings. People will not be forced into disclosing anything they do not feel comfortable to disclose, and participants will also be asked not to share information about other people\u2019s identities outside of the workshop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the short term, this will equip participants with a tool they can immediately use in their own teaching practice to creating more equitable and inclusive student teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the mid-term term, the outputs of this session will be used to create an effective discipline specific tool as well as a library of exemplar uses to enable our wider community to make use of the tool with minimal additional workload.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the longer-term, the new engineering design specific WPP will form the basis of further research into inclusive engineering design methodologies.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n Session Chair: Chris McMahon, University of Bristol For many years, eloquent voices have voiced caution about the technological choices that our societies are making, advocating for a simpler and less resource-hungry approach to the engineered world. This workshop will invite participants to consider alternatives to current approaches relying on high tech and globalised supply chains by exploring approaches emphasising simplicity and sobriety. Drawing on the foundational “intermediate technology” philosophy of E.F. Schumacher\u2019s Small is Beautiful and the contemporary “low-tech” urgency of Philippe Bihouix, we will challenge the assumption that complex, resource-intensive solutions are the pinnacle of engineering success.<\/p>\n\n\n The core of the workshop will focus on the pedagogy of design for technological discernment: how might we shift the design curriculum away from a focus on high tech, on optimisation and consumption toward a thoughtful exploration of “appropriate technology”? Building on existing work in a number of European institutions, we will explore practical strategies for integrating these alternative views into the classroom, from the identification of source materials and case studies to designing project activities that prioritise repairability, local autonomy, and planetary boundaries. The framing of the approaches in the context of different social and political perspectives on economic development will also be considered.<\/p>\n\n\n The workshop aims to develop a shared understanding of technological discernment as a pedagogical approach in engineering and product design education, and to co-create a set of principles and resources that support its integration into design curricula.<\/p>\n\n\n The workshop should be of interest to engineering and to product design educators, but also to those with wider interests in the socio-technical positioning of higher education.<\/p>\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n Session Chair: Elies Dekoninck, University of Bath Assessment in project-based design education remains a persistent challenge due to diverse institutional contexts, learning objectives, accreditation requirements, and disciplinary traditions. The Design Learning Assessment Dimensions (D-LAD) Framework offers a structured approach for analysing, reflecting on, and redesigning assessment practices across five key dimensions: Output vs. Process; Summative vs. Formative; Teacher-led vs. Student-led; Assessment of Learning vs. Assessment for\/as Learning; and Individual vs. Team Assessment.<\/p>\n\n\n This interactive workshop introduces participants to the D-LAD framework through hands-on, reflective activities in which they apply the framework to their own courses or modules. Through small-group discussions, guided mapping exercises, and collective reflection, participants will examine how their current assessment strategies align with intended learning outcomes, accreditation standards, and industry expectations. Case examples and shared educator experiences will illustrate how D-LAD can support balanced, transparent, and developmental assessment design in project-based learning contexts.<\/p>\n\n\n Each participant will develop a personalised D-LAD assessment map based on a real teaching case. This tangible outcome enables educators to critically analyse and visualise the distribution and balance of assessment practices across the five dimensions, providing a concrete foundation for redesigning assessment strategies, improving feedback and fairness, and strengthening alignment between learning outcomes and professional competencies.<\/p>\n\n\n Beyond individual reflection, the workshop creates space for cross-institutional exchange and benchmarking of assessment practices, fostering a shared understanding and a growing community around design education assessment.<\/p>\n\n\n Designed for design educators, programme leaders, and researchers seeking to enhance the coherence and transparency of assessment in project-based design education, the workshop also serves as a dissemination and evaluation activity for the D-LAD framework. Participant feedback and workshop outputs will directly inform the framework\u2019s ongoing refinement and wider adoption.<\/p>\n\n\n Key outcomes<\/p>\n\n\n Participant-generated D-LAD assessment maps based on real teaching cases, directly applicable to participants\u2019 own educational practice.<\/p>\n\n\n A synthesis report capturing key insights on the practical use of the D-LAD framework and outcomes of the workshop.<\/p>\n\n\n A journal publication addressing contemporary challenges in design assessment and demonstrating how the D-LAD framework can support improved assessment practices through case-based examples.<\/p>\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n Session Chair:\u00a0Tim Woolman, University of Southampton<\/p>\n\n\n The aim of the workshop is to understand what inclusive design process we teach (what would we like to teach), how our teaching is adopted by students and what tips can we share to foster better teaching & design practice?<\/p>\n\n\n (Not focused on an inclusive learning environment.)<\/p>\n\n\n Workshop practicipants\u2019 process for teaching inclusive design process will vary and may not achieve what would we like to teach and be adopted, with more successful cases perhaps exemplified by others. Learning from sharing how our teaching is, or is not, reaching our own goals and being adopted by students may be instructive, supported by collating tips intended to foster better teaching & design practice.<\/p>\n\n\n University staff teaching engineering and product design, plus those interested in the inclusive design capabilities needed by graduates.<\/p>\n\n\n Personal reflections of attendees on the workshop content and conclusions \u2013 potentially informing inclusive design teaching material and methods promoting adoption by students.<\/p>\n\n\n Networking and potential for collaboration on articles or journal\/conference papers for wider reference.<\/p>\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" All workshops will take place at the University of Bristol on Wednesday, 2nd September 2026 at 2 pm<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3042","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/epde.info\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/epde.info\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/epde.info\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epde.info\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/epde.info\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3042"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/epde.info\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3042\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3055,"href":"https:\/\/epde.info\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3042\/revisions\/3055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/epde.info\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\n\n\nTechnological discernment: beyond the high-tech paradigm<\/h2>
Session Chair: Ceri Graham Almrott, Technological University Dublin<\/p>\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nDesigning Better Project-Based Design Assessment using the D-LAD Framework<\/h2>
Session Chair: Francesca Mattioli, Politecnico di Milano<\/p>\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nWhat inclusive design process do we teach (what would we like to teach), how is our teaching adopted by students and what tips can we share to foster better teaching & design practice?<\/h2>