Science, Computer Science & Industrial Design
Shaping STEMM futures: Design for change
The Shaping STEMM futures prototype project develops Swinburne students’ communication and technical skills utilising a multidisciplinary collaborative approach where students play, take risks and act as entrepreneurs. It fosters the building of digital literacy that empowers students with the skills for their future career as they inspire community and contribute to industry. Students design and pitch a startup concept with a STEMM prototype aligned with one of the two suggested directions:
• Inspiring girls and women in STEMM aligned with the ‘Invergowrie Foundation vision’.
• Make the world a better place to live contributing innovative ideas to the industry partner, aligned with ‘Insurance Australia Group (IAG) vision’.
Resources
These resources can be downloaded and include:
1. Assessment - Judging video Criteria
2. Project Instructions
3. Teacher Rubric
The following resources are available on
Designing a prototype app - STEMM Challenge [Teacher Resource] (Swinburne access only)
Example of assessment rubrics 1 and 2 & Presentation Template (Swinburne access only)
Judging criteria (Swinburne access only)
Summary of the program (Intro for Live Showcase Competition) [Powerpoint] (Swinburne access only)
Supplementary Resources
Design for Change is one the series of scaffolding co-curricular activities that the Shaping STEMM futures initiative offer to engage Swinburne students in Australia and Malaysia to enhance communication and develop future readiness. A key employability initiative is linked to empower Swinburne students’ communication, career development and digital skills to address the challenge that STEMM students do not see the value of communication studies or communication skills as imperative for employability.
• We provide opportunities for performance and feedback
• Communication and digital skills are scaffolded
• We connect students with industry and community
• Students are inspired by the stories of success and engaged
• We are making a difference
The importance of students attaining effective communication skills is highlighted in both Swinburne’s graduate attributes for future-ready learners and in the Australian Council of Deans of Science Threshold Learning Outcomes (TLO) for science (2011).
Design for Change aims to address the challenge and generate further discussion of best practice for teaching employability skills within and alongside STEMM curriculum.
Overview
Design for Change: A STEMM prototyping competition builds communication skills by requiring students to work in teams to develop and pitch a STEMM prototype aligned with one of two visions proposed by community and industry partners. Four WIL workshops were organised to support student participation.
Key features of Design for Change include:
• Introducing IAG (Insurance Australia Group) as our industry partner
• Creating a promotional video to share via social media to invite all Swinburne students to participate
• Promoting Design for Change beyond NPS20005 unit, in SWE40001, CVE10007, COS60011 and ICT90004 and STEMM Clubs
• Embedding innovative assessment/rubric: students are required to develop a 4-minute video pitching their innovative STEMM prototype design to a judging panel of industry, Adobe and community organisation representatives
• Designing the judging criteria to evaluate Swinburne students’ communication skills, entrepreneurship, and inspiring STEMM prototype design
• Organising the relevant WIL workshops as extra-curricular activities with collaboration of Industry, Employability and Adobe teams:
1. Adobe Illustrator Workshop
2. Adobe XD Workshop
3. Adobe Rush Workshop
4. Start-up Pitch Presentation delivered by an IAG entrepreneur
(All workshops were recorded and are available within the SwinEmploy resources and shared with Swinburne Sarawak, Malaysia.)
• Showcasing the finalists' design as part of the "Design for Change 2021” online event and announcement of the winning team.
• Introducing IAG (Insurance Australia Group) as our industry partner
• Creating a promotional video to share via social media to invite all Swinburne students to participate
• Promoting Design for Change beyond NPS20005 unit, in SWE40001, CVE10007, COS60011 and ICT90004 and STEMM Clubs
• Embedding innovative assessment/rubric: students are required to develop a 4-minute video pitching their innovative STEMM prototype design to a judging panel of industry, Adobe and community organisation representatives
• Designing the judging criteria to evaluate Swinburne students’ communication skills, entrepreneurship, and inspiring STEMM prototype design
• Organising the relevant WIL workshops as extra-curricular activities with collaboration of Industry, Employability and Adobe teams:
1. Adobe Illustrator Workshop
2. Adobe XD Workshop
3. Adobe Rush Workshop
4. Start-up Pitch Presentation delivered by an IAG entrepreneur
(All workshops were recorded and are available within the SwinEmploy resources and shared with Swinburne Sarawak, Malaysia.)
• Showcasing the finalists' design as part of the "Design for Change 2021” online event and announcement of the winning team.
Outcomes
• 96 Swinburne students registered in the program from Australia and 14 students from Sarawak
• 3 teams of Swinburne students competed as finalists in the Design for Change competition
• Design for Change and its vision introduced to 5 units providing opportunities, services and networking between academics, students, industry and Swinburne professional staff
• Positive feedback from IAG for the creative STEMM prototype design
• Format of short-form video of the innovative STEMM solution allowed students to develop a new voice vital for their future success
• High student satisfaction and engagement beyond their unit and assessments
• High quality designs
• The winning team was selected and awarded with:
o Judges’ Choice $1000 prize
o Professional experience supported by IAG
o Certificate of participation
o Recognition within the Swinburne Emerging Leaders program
o Story of success to be published in the Swinburne Newsletter
• 3 teams of Swinburne students competed as finalists in the Design for Change competition
• Design for Change and its vision introduced to 5 units providing opportunities, services and networking between academics, students, industry and Swinburne professional staff
• Positive feedback from IAG for the creative STEMM prototype design
• Format of short-form video of the innovative STEMM solution allowed students to develop a new voice vital for their future success
• High student satisfaction and engagement beyond their unit and assessments
• High quality designs
• The winning team was selected and awarded with:
o Judges’ Choice $1000 prize
o Professional experience supported by IAG
o Certificate of participation
o Recognition within the Swinburne Emerging Leaders program
o Story of success to be published in the Swinburne Newsletter
Digital Literacies
Digital literacies and Adobe products were the cornerstone of this project. Students were encouraged to use Adobe products and increase their digital literacy skills to create a prototype. This multi-disciplinary and collaborative project produced a wide range of prototypes including web, app and UX/UI design harnessing the capabilities of software such as but not limited to Adobe Illustrator, Adobe XD and producing presentations using software such as Adobe Premiere Pro and Adobe Premiere Rush.
Learnings
It was great to see the results of the non-design students. The ability of students to quickly learn and adapt to the design process was fantastic. Combined with the new skills in utilising software such as Adobe XD enabled students to achieve clear communication of the desired outcomes and allowed all to become designers.
Offering workshops for the Adobe products was key in attracting STEMM students to this communication task. Students that normally shy away from public speaking were first attracted to the workshops to further develop their digital literacy by learning new products and from there learnt the importance of communication via a range of media for their STEMM careers.