Speculative Design as a Method of Inquiry in an Online Workshop Setting

This paper presents an empirical study and the resulting insights from a speculative design process in online workshops with students from a K1–12 teacher education programme. The empirical investigation consisted of five online workshops with the purpose of exploring Augmented Reality. Each workshop had a duration of 2.5 hours, with three to six participants per workshop. The theoretical frame was speculative design workshop and methods of inquiry inspired by Dewey, as well as the utilisation of storyboard and design tools for personal reflection. This paper explores three interrelated research questions: What are the implications of conducting an online speculative design workshop? How can speculative design be used as a method of inquiry? What are the potentials and challenges of the tools and exercises used? The research investigates the knowledge that speculative design workshops bring into play, as seen from two perspectives: the participants’ learning process and the knowledge the workshops bring to the research field. It also investigates the implications of conducting speculative design workshops in an online setting, where it becomes essential to apply structured facilitation, and provide common tools that allow for creative and material exploration. Though the literature argues that speculative design provides an opportunity where the potentials uncovered are less influenced by the current implementations of the context under investigation. This research shows that working with speculations on preferred futures in various contexts is a challenging endeavour. The findings also show that the format can bring new insights for the participating students, and that it is essential to consider participants’ well-being, learning frustrations, and keeping participants on track during the workshop.