Digital tools that support students to reflect on their design competency growth paths

This paper reports on the design and testing of two digital learning systems. The first, STUDIO, supports individual and collective reflection on the design process. It allows design students who have completed a work placement in industry to capture the skills they have acquired and to share their progress. The tool is intended to be used post facto, that is retrospectively, to aid development and inform future design work. The second system, Trajectories, supports student journeys through a course of study. It is intended to be used live. As students proceed through their studies, acquire new skills, and deepen their existing knowledge they assess their own level of mastery of a specific competency on a continuous basis by connecting it to specific design outcomes.