Data-Enabled Design: Hands-on Teaching Activities to Onboard Design Students in the Use of Sensor Data as a Creative Material

This contribution presents two hands-on teaching activities introducing the use of sensor data to design students. We designed two sequential workshops to educate on why and how to use data as a creative material in the design process and provide students with the technical means to quickly prototype connected data-collecting probes. Workshop 1 (Human Sensors) consists of a role-play
exercise where teams of students simulate the collection of data in-situ by acting out various sensor types. In workshop 2 (Coffee Cup Challenge), students build their own data-collection artefacts using sensors. Modular, both activities can be adapted to any similar course that uses sensor technologies and data to conduct user research and extract insights to be used in the design process. We describe
the activities in detail, provide generalizable materials, and reflect on their use, supported by student reflections and insights from our teaching practice.