‘Design justice’ and transformative pedagogy: Experiments in globally connected learning with the global classroom for democracy innovation

Abstract

The Global Classroom for Democracy Innovation (GCDI) explores the impact that critical design frameworks like ‘design justice’ can have on student experiences and capacity building. Positioning students and civil society partners as co-creators and co-designers, while designing spaces that invite lived experience and facilitate collaborative work, can offer new pathways to reanimate the higher education learning environment. These experiences, particularly when engaging with “wicked problems”, can also be transformative. However, higher education systems, along with any intervening design frameworks, must be folded into an iterative praxis to ably support justice-oriented work. This paper is based on our experiences managing an internationally collaborative learning project spanning four continents and offers practical insights for educators interested in reimaging the function and form of higher education.