Design for Values in Education at TU Delft

The Education SIG aims to bring together educators from across the TU Delft to strengthen the integration of values, such as sustainability, inclusion, and responsibility, into education. For this, we will gather inspiring examples, exchange practices, and build a strong network of educators to support mutual learning and enhance the visibility of on-going efforts. By working together and involving students, the SIG aims to deliver best-practices and form an outlook for integrating values in TU Delft education. In this way, the SIG will contribute to a future-oriented education that prepares engineers to make responsible choices for society and the planet.

Vision

We begin this community by defining what we mean by Design for Values in Education. For this, we explicitly take a broad understanding of design that encompasses multiple traditions in engineering and systems design alongside the more traditional design disciplines, such as architecture and industrial design, and with particular attention to educational contexts. Drawing on the definition from the Delft Design for Values Institute, we understand the concept of Design for Values (DfV) as a design approach aimed at integrating values – like justice, sustainability, integrity, and inclusion – in all stages of the design process. It foregrounds sensitivity to values rather than treating them as a mere constraint at the end of a design process and educational journey. It also promotes values through a design approach, aimed at finding new creative solutions in both in the content we teach and in the ways we teach it.

This perspective recognizes that values fundamentally guide decision-making about teaching approaches and learning experiences, in addition to the engineering and design approaches being taught. That is, how teachers frame problems and solutions, and convey certain values. Therefore, DfV in education requires that educators recognize and consider the values they bring into their teaching. It also asks to support students to recognize, articulate, and reflect on stakeholder values and their own values, and how these may shape their engagement in education and professional pathways.  

Given the plurality of value systems across individuals, societies, industries, and institutions, tensions between personal values and stakeholder values are inevitable. DfV in education thus requires to critically examine and justify value priorities in context, rather than assuming all values are equal. Understanding and navigating tensions is therefore essential to Design for Values in education. For this, DfV in education encourages reflection, critical thinking, and explicit engagement with values as skills to be understood and cultivated rather than imposed. Therefore, this DfV in education SIG seeks to move beyond typical technical education where values often remain implicit, and instead foster transparent, value-aware practices.

Aim and Objectives

Value-thinking in TU Delft education already takes place across various faculties through dedicated education ethics lines, student portfolios, and various courses that teach the inclusion of stakeholders’ perspectives and values in projects. However, these initiatives are not widespread across all programs, and students sometimes struggle to operationalize abstract concepts like stakeholder values, which can feel disconnected from their technical work or be experienced as “just another box to tick”.

These observations indicate that educators would benefit from guidance in identifying and highlighting the relevance of value-thinking in their education context, and students would benefit from support in working with values in academic and engineering settings. TU Delft education could thus benefit from learning across the many ongoing initiatives across faculties. Therefore, this DfV Special Interest Group on education aims to facilitate the explicit integration of value-thinking into TU Delft education by:

–          Creating a TUD-community of value-thinking educators and allies, such as students and support staff

–          Fomenting awareness and cultural change about values in TUD education and across disciplines 

–          Creating a strategy for integrating values in TU Delft education [MP1] 

Current Activities

We are busy getting started with:

–          An overview of teaching experiences, initiatives, resources and experienced colleagues, and a platform where these can be communicated

–          Teaching practice guidelines around value-thinking through reflective sessions with the education community, including students, to identify what works, what doesn’t, and effective ways to create transparency and reflection in classrooms  

–          Communication with TUD education decision-makers to integrate values into education training, teaching support, curricula, amongst others.

Funding and partnerships

Activities within this education SIG are funded from September 2025 to December 2027 by the Delft Design for Values Institute. The education SIG closely works together with the TU Delft Teaching Academy, and through its members it seeks collaboration with related initiatives and groups, such as TU Delft IDEE and Inclusive Education Community.

Contact

Interested in joining this edSIG community and participating in some of our activities and events? Write to edSIG-ddfv@tudelft.nl

If you are interested in having a proactive role in organizing these activities and the overall decision making within the SIG, write it down in your email with a clear indication of how you could contribute.