Auditing design justice: The impact of social movements on design pedagogy at a technology institution

Abstract

Engineering aims to solve consequential, real-world problems. To be effective problem-solvers in societal contexts, engineers and designers must be trained to conceptualize and operationalize ethics, equity, and justice in their practice. Our work develops a methodology – based on the Design Justice framework – for ethics, equity, and justice audits of design pedagogy. We apply this methodology to audit design and design critique courses at a technology institution – the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Through this audit we identify exemplar courses as well as ways in which courses fail to engage with ethics, equity, and justice. This audit, the largest of its kind, is a proof of concept of how the audit methodology can be applied to design education and practice.