On 20 January, the IDE Arena was transformed into a ‘courtroom’ as DfI master's students conducted two mock trials to debate pressing issues regarding design’s role in advancing social justice through AI technology.
The following controversial issues were put on trial:
The banning of generative AI tools from design education due to sustainability concerns.
The moral duty that only users have to redesign discriminatory AI applications and prevent oppression.
Students formed groups of ‘petitioners’ (accusers) and ‘respondents’ (defendants) to litigate these issues, drawing on design theory, relevant literature, and real-world cases. They became ‘attorneys’, delivering opening and closing statements, and interrogating several ‘witnesses’—all played by fellow students. This setup fostered a rationally argued, yet respectfully oppositional learning experience, aligning with the course’s learning objectives.
The course coordinator shared his thoughts on this pedagogical experiment:
"Courtroom sketch" of the mock trial at IDE.
This is perhaps the first time the mock trial method, a longstanding tradition in law schools, has been adapted to industrial design education at our university. I am particularly impressed with the efficacy of this pedagogical tool in promoting critical, in-depth ethical reflection on complex design challenges within a short timeframe.
This positive impression was echoed by members of the audience who attended the mock trials. Arvin Khozooei, Privacy Officer within TU Delft’s ICT Department and specialist in AI Act compliance and governance, remarked:
Coming from a legal and sociotechnical background, I was delighted to see students conducting their assignments in a highly professional, organised, and serious manner. Compliments for encouraging design students to approach pressing issues in the AI product lifecycle in an out-of-the-box fashion, especially considering they aren’t law students. Very inspiring!
Arvin Khozooei, Privacy Officer, Department of ICT
Some of the students enrolled in the course offered the following reflections during a debriefing session:
“During the mock trials, I experienced a level of engagement while working that I’ve rarely seen in teamwork."
“In comparison to regular presentations and reports, the mock trials were better not only for doing the research but actually for retaining the information because we have to defend our claims."
“For many courses we read some material, understand it, and make a report. But, in this case, we had to find research that opposes our beliefs and reason through different points of view.”
Bridging Law and Design
This educational activity builds on a series of recent events that bring together the fields of law and design at the TU Delft | Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering. On 17 April 2024, IDE hosted Connecting Law, Design & Tech to Design Just Societies, co-organised with members of the Dutch legal design network. Later that year, in September, the Faculty launched the Convergence Center for Law, Design & Artificial Intelligence at Monday | House of AI, directed by Professor Peter Lloyd (Faculty of IDE, TU Delft) and Assistant Professor Cees Zweistra (Erasmus School of Law).
Fernando is now seeking funding to further develop teaching materials and publish them as open access resources, allowing other educators to build upon this tried-and-tested methodology to foster critical thinking and social responsibility in technology and engineering education.
