Generative AI & Design Education

In the light of the growing applications of Generative AI in design (e.g., graphics, UI/UX, interior, and fashion), it is becoming more and more clear that, appropriate education about this technology is vital to equip designers and design educators with the necessary skills and foster innovative problem-solving in this evolving landscape. However, research in development of a pedagogical framework aimed at preparing designers for this rapidly changing field and providing them with the necessary skills related to this emerging technology have received inadequate attention.

Recently, researchers in computer science[1] and craft education[2] have investigated the preferences and concerns of instructors and students in an effort to incorporate Generative AI into their teaching methods. In the field of HCI , researchers have primarily focused on investigating challenges related to designing interactions between humans and AI[3], utilizing AI as a design material[4], and examining designer-AI collaboration to address design challenges[5]. Yet, there remains a significant knowledge gap regarding how to incorporate Generative AI into design education, to empower designers and enhance their creative capabilities within the realm of design practice.

Funded by Initiative for the Humanities and Arts in Society (IHAS) seed grant program and the School of Visual Arts at the University of Oklahoma, this research project seeks to bridge this knowledge gap by developing a sustainable pedagogical framework that incorporates Generative AI into the design education, with the goal of preparing a new generation of designers with expertise in harnessing the creative potential of this technology to foster innovation and problem solving.

References

1. Zastudil, C., Rogalska, M., Kapp, C., Vaughn, J., & MacNeil, S. (2023, October). Generative ai in computing education: Perspectives of students and instructors. In 2023 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE) (pp. 1-9). IEEE.
2. Vartiainen, H., & Tedre, M. (2023). Using artificial intelligence in craft education: crafting with text-to-image generative models. Digital Creativity, 34(1), 1-21.
3. Yang, Q., Steinfeld, A., & Zimmerman, J. (2019, May). Unremarkable AI: Fitting intelligent decision support into critical, clinical decision-making processes. In Proceedings of the 2019 CHI conference on human factors in computing systems (pp. 1-11).
4. Dove, G., Halskov, K., Forlizzi, J., & Zimmerman, J. (2017, May). UX design innovation: Challenges for working with machine learning as a design material. In Proceedings of the 2017 chi conference on human factors in computing systems (pp. 278-288).
5. Shi, Y., Gao, T., Jiao, X., & Cao, N. (2023). Understanding design collaboration between designers and artificial intelligence: A systematic literature review. Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, 7(CSCW2), 1-35.