Abstract

This paper will examine the contours of design-based education within the context of an innovation-driven knowledge economy. Focusing on design as an emergent educational practice, I will consider the advancement of mediational tools and resources for systems of education in the 21st century. Looking at sociocultural theory, I will show that the nature of cultural literacy is becoming increasingly anchored to the use of information and communications technologies (ICTs). As Eric von Hippel (2005) observes, the distributed nature of ICTs is giving rise to an emergent mode of economic and cultural production that is best described as the “democratization of innovation”. With this in mind, I will argue that the application of collaborative innovation to education should be the locus of concern for educators and educational policy-makers over the coming decades.