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Jun,%Grace.%“Making%in%Higher%Education:%Exploring%Wearable%Technology%Through%CrossADisciplinary%
Collaborative.”%The%Harvard%Graduate%School%of%Education%Student%Research%Conference,%2016.%
‘Making’ in Higher Education: Exploring Wearable
Technology through Cross-Disciplinary Collaborative
Grace Jun ( jung235@newschool.edu , jun@openstylelab.org)
MFA Design & Technology Candidate, School of Arts, Media and Technology
Parsons School of Design
Abstract
There’s opportunity for cross-disciplinary learning around social issues embedded in the
disabilities community. Creating assistive technology requires teams composed of
engineers, social and materials scientists, therapists, fashion designers, as well as end-
product users. I currently study how loss of physical mobility can cause difficulties for
individuals when using common clothing fasteners such as buttons and zippers. The limited
clothing choice for people with disabilities can decrease social participation. My MFA thesis
and role as Educational Director at MIT-based Open Style Lab supports Blikstein and
Cavallo’s research (2008). They describe how considering design for social practice through
hands-on, creative applications of technology provides students ways to deeply connect
with meaningful problems.
I. Problem Statement
Wearable technology (e,g, Oculus VR, Intel Adrenaline Dress) is emerging as a dominant
research and market trend. The potential for jobs in this rising field appeals to multiple
disciplines of practice such as engineering, design, and health. While wearable technology
has great potential to improve quality of life, there has been little development beyond
artistic expression or commercialization. One of the problems is a lack of awareness about
the challenges of wearable technology development such as, choosing the technical tools
that also adhere to style, fit, and comfort. Cross-disciplinary collaborations are essential for
problem solving, finding opportunities in this field, and inviting others to participate in the
conversation.
One of the few learning experiences of this combination is MIT-based Open Style Lab. Open
Style Lab offers a collaborative environment to engage with the disabilities community
through design and technology. The lab hosts a ten-week summer program in which teams
of engineers, designers, and occupational therapists make creative wearable solutions for
people with disabilities. The program is a cross-disciplinary learning experience unique from
other labs, maker spaces, and academic courses because it places the client at the center of
the making process. Each team is deeply engaged with one client through interviews and
work together throughout the creative process. Twelve fellows will be chosen for the 2016
summer program from an applicant pool of current college-level students or recent
graduates. Many of the applicants received have studied from renowned schools such as,
F.I.T, Parsons, Rhode Island School of Design, Tufts and the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (MIT). Ideally, each fellow comes with a strong foundational knowledge or
skill-set in his or her core discipline of practice. They face challenges of balancing individual
skill-sets while working as a team to create a final project. Throughout the ten-weeks, fellows
reflect on their roles, the teamwork experience, and their client’s perspective through blog
entries and prototyping iterations.
Collaborations like MIT Open Style Lab pave the way for young practitioners to creatively
work with and for a client with disabilities. With the lab’s research aim to anchor wearable
technology to human-centered explorations, greater awareness regarding inequality within
the disabilities community are open to discussion and encourage social participation. The
fellows not only contribute to this research, but are able to explore different opportunities to
extend their skillsets. For example, a fashion designer may learn how to design a circuit with
fabric from discussions with an engineer teammate. By rethinking learning models across
disciplines, the lab gathers a community where young fellows can have fun, engaging, and
highly meaningful ways to interact with people with disabilities. The clients with disabilities
are also learning from the fellow’s diverse backgrounds on possible clothing solutions that
could assist their day-to-day activities. The motivation for communal participation and
collaborative learning has been seen since the program’s early development in 2013.
II. Conceptual Background
Learning technological tools is a crucial factor for economic success in the United States.
The desire to incorporate technological skills outside and inside academia has already been
seen with the rise of maker movements, workshops, FabLabs, and Open Source hardware.
Such independent movements are significant for their accessibility. With costs of education
becoming prohibitive in the U.S., the emergence of public workshops and online courses that
bridge the skills gap, such as Coursera, Codeacademy, or Skillshare, are seeing increased
popularity. Yet the current skills offered by such online courses goes only so far in filling the
gap between learning and practice.
This is because not all skills are translatable through an online medium. Students in higher
education are empowered by learning experiences that involve hands-on practice and
mentorship to identify best practices in hybrid disciplines such as wearables or assistive
technology. Cross-disciplinary projects can elevate the standard of education in emerging
fields and in turn, provide skills to not only get a job but also enable a job role shaped by the
individual’s experience. Thus, workshops or courses in higher education that offer hands-on
practice with creative applications of technology have the opportunity to develop student
skill-sets with social practice at the core. Student projects have the opportunity to be deeply
connected with meaningful problems on the individual or community level. (Blikstein, 2008;
Cavallo, 2000).
Case studies at MIT-based Open Style Lab emphasize on the process of design and
technology to highlight the challenges for people with disabilities. Technology is not an
additional embellishment on top of existing disciplines. Like Papert’s vision, wearable
technology “is not as a way to optimize traditional education, but rather as an emancipatory
tool” (Blikstein, P. 2013). A student’s hands-on engagement with materials can develop
cognitive skills in problem solving and creative thinking. This learning process also reflects
Piaget's principle of education, “that young children develop cognitive structure (that is,
become more intelligent) in the course of thinking about physical actions on objects" (Piaget,
1948/1973, p. 106). For example, hands-on experience in physical computing and coding can
develop skills needed in wearable technology. By working with micro-controllers, wires, and
other electronic components, students develop circuit design logic and the skills to craft
them into an electronic project. Thus, “learning is a conversation with materials” and vital to
the lab’s process. (Jeanne Bamberger, 1983). Two design fields have contributed to
foundation of the lab’s curriculum to advocate learning through making practices: functional
garment design and human-centered design.
Human-centered Design
Part of developing wearable technologies is design. But making a design solution is not
enough. The end product is a temporary solution for a disabled client. The real impact for
change begins with collaborations and considerate designed products that can change
people’s perspectives about disabilities. Open Style Lab’s user centered design methodology
supports the integration of design practice in parallel to technology exploration. Once user
requirements have been established, the fellows identify appropriate materials to construct a
wearable garment or accessory.
Functional Garments
To construct garments that are human-centered, a deeper understanding of apparel design
was crucial to the development process. Within apparel studies, functional garments have
provided some of the foundation knowledge for the lab. Since the early 1960s, similarities
between fashion and functional clothing have been recorded in
Fashioning Apollo
. The
MFA thesis,
Access & Closure
, submitted to the Design and Technology program at Parsons
is an exemplary case for functional garment design that focuses on people with disabilities.
Access and Closure
was based on the case studies from Open Style Lab and preliminary
conversations with women with breast cancer who encountered difficulty in finding
clothing that was both functional and aesthetically appealing. Because physical disability
affects the type of clothing that can be worn, the project questions the lack of accessible
(price, form, fit) ready-to-wear clothing for consumers with physical disabilities.
Access and Closure
is a functional jacket design focused on the physical mobility challenges
for women with breast cancer, including restricted range of motion in shoulders and arms.
The objective is to rethink traditional patternmaking techniques to help women face these
challenges in the upper body. Limited mobility post-breast cancer surgery make it difficult
for women to put on a jacket quickly. Mobility is a significant issue for women with breast
cancer. But body mobility is a complex chain of events which Watkins highlights: “A certain
amount of ease in clothing is necessary for donning and doffing, manipulating fasteners,
adjusting clothing once it is on the body, and comfortable movement, so that the individual
does not have to work against their clothing” (Watkins, 1984). Watkins suggests that when
starting to design clothing that will aid mobility, the designer should “gather all the available
information possible about the individuals and the activity involved. Then the body
movements that are observed can be translated into garment specifications” (p.183). In
relation to Open Style Lab, the fellows are guided to identify the body part(s) affected by the
disability, the type of disability, and body movement within a garment. Like the MFA thesis,
the lab fellows explore the challenges to make a garment that is both functional and
fashionable. Thus, “in many ways, fashion has always been technology” (Danielle Wilde).
Fashion is not something that exists in garments. Fashion has to do with the ideas, the way
people live, and contextual awareness of communities or social events.
III. Methods
A combination of three research methods was used in the workshops: Hands-on prototyping
exercises, scenario brainstorming sessions focused on principles of user-centered design,
and qualitative questionnaires in the form of surveys and in-person interviews. First, the
fellows were given introductory sessions in using the fabrication machines and sewing tools.
A quick lesson in draping and pattern making gave fellows of all three disciplines a common
knowledge on making clothes. Second, the design prototyping process was developed to
help fellows with creative iteration. Last year’s Open Style Lab fellows discovered the
process to be simultaneously exciting and frustrating.
One particular team had a client named Mia. Mia obtained a nerve injury during a surgical
procedure that damaged her nasal airway, so she began to make masks for herself. With only
limited design knowledge, though, Mia sought to mitigate her pain and fatigue resulting from
her facial neuralgia by approaching Open Style Lab. During an interview, the team and
discovered Mia’s condition influenced her sense of identity. Mia’s condition affects many
daily activities and altered her social participation in past public settings. The fellows sought
to find not only a functional solution to protect her face and nasal area, but also a stylish
design. Compared to other teams, Team Mia overcame technical difficulties quickly but
faced the challenge of creating a solution that is not only functional but also fashionable.
They looked into different styles for masks that would enable their client to be socially
fashionable and sent out a detailed online survey with images of decorative motifs of
symmetrical versus asymmetrical designs for a mask. Mia proudly comments on the
collaborative experience: “having a bigger team, having people with different skill sets
looking at the same problem is progress.”
IV. Findings
The collaboration at Open Style Lab reveals the challenges of individualism and group
collective learning: Does learning come from the collective performance of sharing a
common purpose, or does learning come about “as a consequence of the learner's
experience and interaction with the world?"(Driscoll, 2005) A learning framework that
supports the development of fellows’ self-esteem was crucial to the collaborative experience.
Leading fellows through brainstorming exercises, Open Style Lab mentors helped them
consider their own strengths and talents. The fellows focused their experiences and skills on
the client’s day-to-day activities and lifestyle.
The cross-disciplinary collaboration is both an empowering and disempowering experience.
For example, several designers felt inadequate in their attempts to code or use fabrication
machines like the engineers. The occupational therapists had conflicted interests with
designers who used user-centered design methodologies. The decision-making process for
the division of labor within each team and client-centered mission helped encourage each
fellow to collaborate together.
Another observation that followed the 2015 summer program was how each fellow defined
“technology” and “design” through labor. The value of manual labor was the most apparent
comment from each fellow: “Reading in the beginning was helpful to a point but the more
beneficial experience was once I got into deconstructing a shoe. It helped me fabricate (3d-
print) the shoe for Christina,” said Charles. Charles was a design fellow in a team that created
a pair of easy-to-wear shoes for a client with leg braces. Familiar practices of making were
augmented with fabrication tools like 3D printing and generated not only more sophisticated
solutions for a leg brace, but also increased self-esteem of both the client and fellow.
Overall, the successful pilot program in 2015 involved 24 students and 8 clients with
disabilities, generated 8 accessible apparel designs, and received significant media attention.
Student designs were disseminated to more than 1000 people through a variety of channels
and formats, including participating in a runway show at Disart. In 2016, project structure,
milestone development, mentoring structure, curriculum content, and follow-up support for
fellows after the program will be improved and tested.
V. Implications & Conclusion
The explorations at Open Style Lab contribute to not only emerging fields like wearable
technology but strengthen distinct practices in design, engineering, and occupational
therapy. The implications for further research will explore the challenges in bridging
practice with theory. This year, the lab will focus on three milestones to improve the
curriculum:
1. Cross-disciplinary collaboration & division of labor: We observed from student feedback
in OSL-MIT 2015 that team members commonly under appreciated the role of engineer
fellows because the focus on making clothing or accessories. Proposed change: Increase the
visibility of engineer’s contributions by increasing the number of prototype deliverables due
at the end of a week. A workshop will also be offered to introduce best practices in garment
construction using conductive thread as an alternative for wires. Overall, guide fellows in the
decision-making process for dividing roles and labor amongst each other.
2. Wearable technology curriculum content: Wearable technology is an emerging trend that
people with disabilities have much potential to gain from to better manage their health but is
challenging when combining elements of fashion. Weekly readings on functional garment
research, case studies, mentors from the industry, and guest lectures will be provided to
support students with these potential challenges. The readings, writing, and research are
aimed to close the materials gap between textiles and electronics.
3. Documentation, Research, and Writing: Open Style Lab aims to focus on compiling
theories in user-centered design, maker pedagogy, and fashion history into written
publications. The combination of theory with case-by-case scenarios from the summer
program will contribute to the field of cross-disciplinary collaborative learning and wearable
technology. The lab will continue to collect and categorize clothing with physical disabilities.
Researchers like Reich and Shannon suggest that the most effective categorization for
clothing design is not one that defines groups by the cause of disability, but one that classifies
the limitations by parts of the body affected, so that common solutions to a problem can be
found.
In conclusion, the collaborations at Open Style Lab and continuous engagement with the
disabilities community create a unique opportunity through research to innovate with
young practitioners with backgrounds in design, engineering, and occupational therapy. The
lab challenges fellows to rethink the field of wearables by finding creative solutions for
physical disability.
VI. Acknowledgements
Special thanks to all the fellows and their incredible work last summer of 2015. This was a
collaborative work of many people: The Open Style lab team, Dr. Grace Teo, the 2015 Open
Style Lab fellows and clients. This work is also part of a thesis submission for the graduate
program at MFA Design & Technology at The New School Parsons (
Access & Closure
2016
). Thank you to the thesis faculty support at MFA DT, Alexandra Bennett, SHARE
(Ovarian & Breast Cancer Organization), Dorothy Jones, and CFDA (The Council of
Fashion Designers of America).
References
1. Blikstein, P. (2013). Digital Fabrication and ’Making’ in Education: The
Democratization of Invention. In J. Walter-Herrmann & C. Büching (Eds.), FabLabs:
Of Machines, Makers and Inventors. Bielefeld: Transcript Publishers.
https://tltl.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/files/documents/publications/2013.Book-
B.Digital.pdf
2. Piaget, J. (1948/1973). To understand is to invent: The future of education. New York:
Viking Press.
3. de Monchaux, Nicholas. Spacesuit Fashioning Apollo, THE MIT PRESS. Cambridge,
Massachusetts. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2011. ISBN 978-0-262-
01520-2
4. Bamberger, Jeanne and A. SchÖn, Donald. Learning as Reflective Conversation with
Materials: Notes from Work in Progress.
Art Education.
Vol. 36, No. 2, Art and the
Mind (Mar., 1983), pp. 68-73. Published by: National Art Education
Association.http://www.jstor.org/stable/3192667
5. Wilde, Danielle. The Future of Wearable Technologies. July 15, 2014. Online at%
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3CKsuv0Sbk
6. Watkins, Susan M. (1988) Using the Design Process to Teach Functional Apparel
Design. Clothing and Textiles Research Journal. September 1988 vol. 7 no. 1 10-14.
http://ctr.sagepub.com/content/7/1/10.full.pdf+html.
For more information, please visit: www.openstylelab.org