Design Challenge Based
Learning (DCBL) and Sustainable
Pedagogical Practice
Eli blevis

Indiana University at Bloomington | [e-mail]
[ 1] Blevis, E., Lim, Y.,
Stolterman, E., Wolf, T.
V., and Sato, K. (2007).
“Supporting Design
Studio Culture in HCI.”
In CHI ‘07 Extended
Abstracts on Human
Factors in Computing
Systems. CHI ‘07. New
York: ACM, 2007.

Design studio-style learning common in schools
of design has much to recommend it. If you have
ever worked at or attended a design school, you
can imagine my shock when I started working at
a traditional university and began to recall what
it was like to teach and learn in a traditional
lecture-style environment more in line with
a mainstream mode of teaching and learning.
Design studio–style learning fosters a number of
very desirable qualities, but it also suffers from
some perceived limitations: lack of scalability,
possible lack of rigor (primarily in the failure
to include core concepts and methods of HCI
as curricular material), and a perceived lack of
structure and specificity for assignments that
is outside of the comfort zone of many students
(and professors) who are used to the lecture style
of teaching.
Over the past several years, I have worried
about these issues—about the balance between
my love and experience of studio-based learn-
ing and my need to work within a traditional
university environment at scale, with structure,
and with rigor. The notion of studio culture and
learning in interaction design has been a matter
of interest in HCI [ 1]. After much experimenta-
tion, beginning last fall I was finally able to
translate my concerns into a pedagogical para-
digm that appears to work well and has evolved
from my practice and thinking as much or more
than it has evolved from specific scholarship
about teaching and learning. To be complete, I
would call this paradigm collaborative competi-
tive challenge based studio learning (C3SL). The
term “design challenge based learning” (DCBL),
however, is shorter and—though perhaps less
precise—may serve better. Plus, DCBL calls to
mind “decibel.” Let’s regard C3SL and DCBL as
synonyms. There are many other “X”-based learn-
ing paradigms, primarily in the K- 12 constructiv-
ist education literature, including problem-based
learning, project-based learning, inquiry-based
learning, and even challenge-based learning, and
other closely related paradigms under the gen-

Week A:
design research
challenge competition
May + June 2010

As an entire class assembly, (i) finalists participate in the final competition and critique of the preceding week’s design research projects. (ii) A corresponding design concept project is explained and assigned.

Week B:
design concept challenge
competition
interactions
As an entire class assembly,
(i) finalists participate in the final competition
and critique of the preceding week’s design
concept projects.
(ii) A new design research project is explained
and assigned.

In their respective subgroups, (i) students present their individual initial sketches for the design concept project assigned in session one. (ii) Students elect finalists to represent their subgroup. (iii) Students engage in collaborative work on the elected projects. In their respective subgroups, (i) students present their individual initial sketches for the design research project assigned in session one. (ii) Students elect finalists to represent their subgroup. (iii) Students engage in collaborative work on the elected projects.