Education: Designing for Social Change

Education: Designing for Social Change is the theme for World Usability Day 2011. "This year we will focus outwardly on how organizations, our cultures and our world impact usability." said Elizabeth Rosenzweig, founder of World Usability Day (WUD).

This year's events and forums will focus on how Design Education will help develop products and services that will impact social change. Programs will examine all products and services used for teaching how usable design impacts the world, whether it's close at hand (organizations), surrounding us (particular cultures/communities) or from a global view: How does something designed in China, Scotland, India or the United States, for example, have impact on other nations around the world?

WUD will explore and celebrate: Education: Designing for Social Change - designing with an intentional outcome of sparking change in how people behave, communicate, and do things in the world; and examining the concept of cultures and how culture impacts usability.

For project ideas for children that foster social change, we encourage you to check out the program initiatives presented by Sesame Workshop: http://www.sesameworkshop.org/initiatives. Not only are programs described, teachers' guides, facilitators' guides and brochures and posters are all available online...free!