Developing a human-centered attitude through experiental learning

This paper describes factors that nurture a human-centered attitude of a design curriculum. A brief literature study defines a human-centered attitude and explains how to develop this attitude by using experiential learning theories. Furthermore, an illustrative case study reflects on the humancentered elements of a multimedia design course. This study recommends the teaching of humancentered methods as an integral part of a design curriculum, a teaching style that questions the human-centered aspects of the student's work and composing authentic and challenging project briefs with real people. To develop a human-centered attitude students need to involve real people into their design process and empathize with them. The experience with real people affects their beliefs, which can result in changing their attitudes towards people.