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INTRODUCTION
Background
As one of this year’s 3rd Istanbul Design Biennale activities, Istanbul Bilgi University has organized a
workshop on Competences, Credentials, Actions: Blueprints for Designers’ Lifelong Learning in collaboration
with ico-D, the International Council of Design, and IIDj, the Institute for Information Design
Japan.
Professional designers and experts from non-design areas, including academicians, administrators,
educators, government representatives, corporate specialists, and activists gathered from 22 - 23
October 2016 at Istanbul Bilgi University for intense brainstorming on the future of an extended Design
Curriculum.
David Grossman, President of ico-D, Prof. Dr. Halil Nalçaoğlu, Dean of the Communication Faculty
at Istanbul Bilgi University, and Sébastien Shahmiri, Corporate Communication Specialist/Consultant,
joined as moderators, while ico-D Vice President Cihangir Istek (Istanbul Bilgi University) and Andreas
Schneider (IIDj and Guest Faculty of Istanbul Bilgi University) acted as curators.
Visions for vocational design education were discussed, departing from the following questions:
• What are the most relevant issues and references for Designers’ Lifelong Learning?
• How can factors of Competences, Credentials, and Actions contribute to the development of
new curricula and formats?
• Can we compile a Preliminary Manifesto/Agenda to catalyze future discussions?
This Istanbul workshop was the first of a series of multiple gatherings. The outcome of these expert-meetings
will be summarized in a proposal to the First Global Design Summit in Montreal, 2017, to advance
discussions of future vocational learning models with an international scope.

Concept
2016/10/24 (SAT)
2016/10/25 (SUN)
Reaching beyond traditional formats of learning, our understanding of Lifelong Learning focuses on:
• Gaining competences across ages and disciplines in formalized and informal training
• Sharing of knowledge, recognition, and practice in learning throughout life
• Engaging outside the classroom within a diversity of settings and sectors
Developments in society, professions, and technology are driving change at a rapid pace, pushing
educational institutions to adapt to new needs, constraints, and opportunities of Learners, Mentors, and
Facilitators from a wide range of age-groups and disciplines.
These changes challenge long-held assumptions. In short-term they request the inclusion of disciplines
which so far have not been considered relevant. They also afford new formats such as multichannel curricular
offerings, virtual classrooms, real-time reviews – including monitoring and assessments by social
media audiences. Long-term education/training schemes from kindergarten to post-profession groups
of elderly will be re-formatted.
As the complexity and interconnectedness of societal issues are increasing, design gains more and
more recognition as a relevant discipline. Local communities, cities, and even countries emphasize the
inclusion of design for understanding, planning, and implementation of solutions that benefit its citizens.
09:00
Wake-Up, Morning-Snack
09:30
Keynote-Lecture:
Drafting Blueprints for Designers’ Lifelong Learning
Investigating Competences, Credentials, Actions as
components of Learning experiences
Setting Groups:
Competences/Credentials/Actions
09:50
Session 1:
Moderators present Learning Contexts
10:00
Me as Learner
Personal Accounts of Lifelong Learners
11:10
Presentations
09:00
Wake-Up, Morning-Snack
09:30
Outline/format of documentation
Curators
10:00
Summary of Each Group
Moderator, Group-Members
Plenum review
12:00
Closing Lunch
Outline and Structure
Preparing a submission to the World Design Summit 2017 in Montreal, Canada, we expect this workshop
to conclude with a preliminary Manifesto/Agenda that lists the most critical points for the development
of Blueprints for Designers’ Lifelong Learning - a list of actionable ideas on new curricular content
and formats for decision-makers, academicians, administrators, educators, government representatives,
corporate specialists, and activists.
Group-work sessions are organized around three aspects that we consider to be the core constituents of
Lifelong Learning:
• Competences
• Credentials
• Actions
Examining relationships with a range of other factors (www.3factors.org/CCO8UPBB) we brainstorm
on ideas and visualize the results as blueprints for new vocational visions and formats. Teams investigate
particular aspects in three sessions of explorations, discussions, and presentations.
• Session 1: Contexts
• Session 2: Scenarios
• Session 3: Future Projections/Agenda
Shuffling each group’s participants across sessions exposes everybody to a wide stretch of questions,
supporting the workshop’s principal line of cross-disciplinary collaboration. Expert-presentations provide
further insights and help keeping discussions focused on the demands, constraints, and opportunities
of Designers’ practice in different fields and contexts.
12:00
Lunch Break
Shuffling Groups
13:00
Session 2:
Moderators present models/scenarios of Learning
13:20
We as Learners
Landscape Detailing One Lifelong Learning Experience
14:20
Presentations
15:20
Tea Break
Shuffling Groups
15:50
Session 3:
Moderators summarize findings of Sessions 1 and 2
16:00
Them as Learners
Future Projections and Preliminary Conclusion by
Introducing three Persona as Lifelong Learners
18:00
Conclusion of the Day and Remarks by ico-D Representative
David Grossman

KEYNOTE-LECTURE
What is Lifelong Learning?
Drafting Blueprints for Designers’ Lifelong Learning
Investigating Competences, Credentials, Actions as Components of Learning Experiences
Cihangir İstek (Cİ): Good morning. I would like to welcome
you all to the Istanbul Bilgi University. Thank you for joining
us in this workshop “Blueprints of Designers’ Lifelong
Learning”. We are happy to see you all. This workshop is
organised in coordination and collaboration with Istanbul
Bilgi University’s Faculty of Communication, ico-D: International
Council of Design, and IIDj: Institute for Information
Design Japan. I would like to introduce my long-time colleague
Andreas Schneider, who is along with me responsible
for the organisation or curation of this workshop. He is
based in Tokyo, but has been also a visiting faculty of our
Visual Communication Design Program.
Andreas Schneider (AS): Good morning.
Cİ: This event was originally meant to be more international
as a preparatory meeting on the way to the first World
Design Summit, in 2017, and where we would want to
advance the discussions of vocational learning models,
what we call ‘lifelong learning’. However, the recent events
in Turkey also showed us why lifelong learning and becoming
lifelong learners are so important. We still follow
our commitments on the way to the Summit and we invited
several guest and experts from different fields, including
design-related and non-design-related ones.
Cİ: Let’s look at what ‘lifelong learning’ is. It is also related to
lifelong learners, us. All of us are indeed lifelong-learners. In
our view, lifelong learning is to do with gaining competences
across all ages and disciplines in formalised and informal
training. Lifelong learning is also about sharing knowledge,
recognition, and practice in learning. Therefore, we wish to
deal with these three strongly interrelated and foundational
concepts. Obviously, we want to get engaged with what is
happening outside the classroom: think and do outside the
box. We want to consider the possible ways such as in our
neighbourhoods and communities as our classrooms. How
could or should our city, region and even the whole world
become our classroom?
AS: Because, the term ‘lifelong learning’ has become a quite
popular catch for everything about that happens not in institutionalised
learning. So, we collected a range of references
in order to understand ourselves, but also to make accessible
to you. Like what type of projects we could or for us represent
lifelong learning. The examples we collected here are partly
integrated within universities or educational institutions,
but many of them are also local initiatives by NGO/NPOs.
We grouped these by different type of educational contexts.
The green would be like schools, the yellow universities, the
blue corporate efforts, and the pink individual initiatives. For
example, I think you all know about the Kahn Academy which
is one good example for lifelong learning. It was taken on by
an individual. As a very personal experience, he thought that
learning in school was either not accessible or available, or
he thought that people would be very keen to learn. So, it was
started and developed own teaching material and became
a big success. We will share with you a reference link (CCA
References: http://cca.istanbul-a-z.info/#references) where
we have still few examples. We would like to build up on that
in a near future. We also provide a way for you to contribute
your own ideas or the projects you know by this simple web
form (http://url.istanbul-a-z.info/google_89HR). That’s something
during the workshop to keep in mind that it’s not only
about one or two days. We are really looking into a longer
perspective.
Istek already mentioned about the World Design Summit
in Montreal, which is a concrete target for us or the workshop
that we can put together something and present there.
Hopefully, it is again in the interest of the organisers who are
making this summit to make it one of the core issues there.
From our own experience as Learners/Mentors/Facilitators
we recognize not only an urgent need for new
paradigms in Education - we also see tremendous
opportunities for change. Here are some selected statistics
that strengthen our motivation: In The Holy Grail
of Future Work, Kelli Wells quotes that Less than 25%
of German students are satisfied with the skills received
in their formal education (Kelli Wells, The Holy Grail of
Future Work, 2016, url.istanbul-a-z.info/project-syndicate_61er).
In reverse this means that more than 75% of
the students feel they did not learn anything meaningful.
The McKinsey Global Institute foresees that 20 to 23
million workers in advanced economies do not have the
skills that employers will need in 2020 (McKinsey Global
Institute, The World at Work: Jobs, Pay, and Skills
for 3.5 billion People, 2012, url.iidj.net/google_GZ46).
A projection in 2010 by Anthony P. Carnevale from
Georgetown University states that by 2018, 63 percent
of job openings will require workers with at least some
college education (Anthony P. Carnevale, Nicole Smith,
Jeff Strohl, Projections of Jobs and Education Requirements
through 2018, Georgetown University, 2010, url.
iidj.net/georgetown_KXJZ).

Blueprints for Designers’ Lifelong
Learning
Session 1 - Me as Learner - Personal
Accounts of Lifelong Learners
Cİ: So, in the whole area of education and especially in
design education there is quite some movement. As design
is a discipline with impact, it is getting more and more attention.
Cities, regions and countries emphasise the inclusion
of design in their longterm planning. What we would
like to do specifically in this workshop is to focus on the
blueprints for designers’ lifelong learning. What we mean
by the blueprints? They are basically actionable ideas on
new curricular contents and formats for decision makers
and activists. That’s why in this workshop, we wanted to
have many people, especially not only designers, but also
non-designers as governments, administrators, NGOs,
academics, educators, corporates and so on. These people
are also involved in education. So, together we will examine
the lifelong learning as experience under the three
sub-tracks: Competences, Credentials, and Actions. We
will have three tables for these themes and each table will
be moderated by an invited guest.
Competences, Credentials, Actions
Cİ: Competences are basically abilities, qualifications,
skills for life. Why are we at school? Why do we acquire
education? It is recognised that all are for competences. As
an educator, at the university we start each year’s curricula
with the competences. We ask ourselves for what kind
of learning objectives and outcomes we would like our
students have in the end. So, in this workshop we will look
at this important area to recognise, value, and if possible,
reframe them.
AS: I think it is important to emphasise here, as it comes
up in a traditional curriculum debate. But, we would like to
look at the competences from a different way. Such as the
competences that are not so obvious, like tacit competences
or competences which nobody recognises, because they
are so common. But, if only we would be more competent
in these particular things required in daily life, it would
still make a big difference. So, looking on how we can
rephrase competences and how we can also make them
more recognisable. That leads to the second sub-track, the
credentials. Typically, we understand why it is like that in
school starting from the primary school unto the university.
Credentials are basically numeric values, which sort of
make the final full-stop after the time of learning. We think
that credentials cannot be captured as such a simple unit.
And, the credentials are very different in demand. Some of
the credentials are very personal. Some others have much
more public significance. How can we collect those credentials
with a lifelong-learning perspective? So, it might
be interesting for somebody who makes a job interview at
24, still to have some sort of achievement he had when he
was 5.
It might sound odd, but for an interview if I had such a
person showing me something he did at 5, I would really
look at that person and say “Hey, there is something which
this person recognises as very important in his own life”
and I would see him in a much broader understanding of
his own personality. So, how can we create, manage and
produce such credentials in a good way? And, of course,
information and communications technology gives us a
different perspective from a written-down certificate and
allows much more flexibility.
Cİ: The next is Actions. How do we do in education? What
activities are we doing when we learn something? We will
talk about engagements, practices that build competences
and provide contexts for credentials. We don’t want to
think in a linear logic. Normally, in traditional education
environment, as I have given you one example before, we
start with competences and learning outcomes. But, can we
think of other ways, for example by starting from credentials
or even from actions? These three are of course related
to each other, but we want to see their relationships in
actions and from a lifelong-learning perspective.
Cİ: In the first session, we will make the first distribution of
the participants into the three groups. During this workshop,
you will notice that we will change our contexts and move
from more personal or individual learning experiences like ‘I
as learner’ to more plural ones such as ‘we as learners’ and
’they as learners’. All of these will be projections and become
the basis for the proposal that we would like to submit to the
World Design Summit Montreal in 2017. In the first session,
we would like you to set the ground by dealing with your own
personal accounts or stories as ‘learning contexts’ from the
perspective of each of three groups Competences, Credentials
and Actions. Please consider yourself in a time-span either
from your childhood, or from the present moment, or you can
make a future projection. And, please consider yourself as a
learner who had a specific learning. At the tables, your group
moderators will guide you in more details.
Session 3 - Them as
Learners - Future
Projections and Preliminary
Conclusion by Introducing three
Persona as Lifelong Learners
Cİ: In the third session, we would like you to summarise the
whole workshop and confirm the work you have already
produced in the previous two sessions by introducing three
possible personas or users, whom we call lifelong learners.
We are of course still talking about designers as lifelong learners.
So, we will try to conclude the workshop, which started
with ‘I’ as a personal account of learner, then opened up on
‘We’ as one particular lifelong learning experience/scheme
in the second session, and finally in the third session, that will
lead to ‘Them’ as a future vision or projection.
AS: By doing so in the third step, we should be aiming at
more radical than what we have been so far. Also, we should
identify our group themes of Competences, Credentials and
Actions more narrowly and clearly. Because, I think, we saw
in the previous presentations that the competences could also
be part of the actions, or the credentials could be part of the
actions, and so forth. So, we would like you to do this third
session to get that focus, but at the same time to be more
plausible as a projection. Because, in the end, we want to
compile a document, which could offer perspectives of what
lifelong learning for designers can be, and at the same time
something which can present and communicate to others. So,
we expect that this workshop is not just an exercise, but in the
best case it would lead to real proposals and real programs,
either here or in other places.
Session 2 - We as Learners -
Landscape Detailing One
Lifelong Learning Experience
Cİ: In the second session, we will shuffle the teams and
ask the participants, according to the group dynamics,
to move to the other theme-tables. So, we will ask you to
work in new groups on a joint picture, a kind of mural.
This time, it is not a personal portrait, but a landscape
view that you should be detailing one particular lifelong
learning experience.
AS: You are free to use any visual models, diagrams, or
scenarios, where you sketch out what it means for one person
to go through a learning experience with this group
specific focus.
We want to carry that beyond this workshop. Therefore,
this third session is very important to capture the essence
of the previous two sessions in a visual and tangible
way as a scaffold. We expect three separate posters.
Most possibly, they are very different to each other to
communicate the scope of your ideas. The scope could
be different in terms of the age-brackets or pre-requisites
you look at, or the breath of knowledge or competence,
or the credentials you are looking at. Please
try to make sure that these three personas are different.
The more persona-type it is, maybe the easier to discuss
about and communicate our ideas. For example, in
the case of credentials, the possible persona would be
somebody who somehow produce, manage or receive
credentials for some purpose, expectations or rewards
as a projection beyond what we see, have and practice
today.

COMPETENCES
Moderator: Sébastien Shahmiri
Outline
Competences describe the ability or qualification a person
has and that person can put into good purpose in the
work. Identifying and communicating somebody’s competences
successfully makes that person a desired partner to
collaborate with.
As there are many competences that defy standard
categorization, during the workshop we will be seeking
schemes that help giving them appropriate recognition
and valuation.
Session 1
Personal Learning / Career Milestones
Members: Umut Südüak, Gökçe Dervişoğlu Okandan,
Hande Akyıl, Harun Ekinoğlu
Sebastien Shahmiri (SS): You might think that as the group
moderator I have not much to say. But, for me, minimum
information is maximum communication. We investigated
the personal learning experiences, and I now invite my
group members to make their presentations.
Umut Südüak (US): Paths and Junctions in Self-Learning
When I try to recall the origin of my current path,
which is graphic design, I realize that it all started in
childhood with drawing, looking at magazines, and
simply following my curiosity. My parents and the home
environment had a great impact. In the past I encountered
junctions that made me take turns. One important
junction was certainly the Mimar Sinan Fine Arts
University, which since has a strong influence on my
professional life.
Hande Akyıl (HA): Lifelong Learning as a Process of Imagination,
Curiosity, and Motivation
I am a strong believer in lifelong learning and consider
myself fortunate to work in this field. In our lifetime, we
pass through many education phases, starting in early
childhood with the family. Later experiencing formal
education followed by many lifelong learning processes
that teach us important knowledge and skills. Among
these Motivation, Curiosity, and Imagination stand out as
very personal competences we may not acquire in formal
education alone.
Relevant Questions
• What are the abilities and/or qualifications a
designer should have?
• How can somebody’s competences be identified
and communicated successfully?
• What are the competences that produce approp
riate recognition and valuation?
Group Summary
Starting from a collage of dictionary entries that cover
the semantic space of ‘Competences’ this track aims to
produce a list of competences relevant for a Lifelong
Learning perspective. Special consideration is given to the
evolution of working environments, such as growing social
and cultural diversity, migratory patterns of short -term
engagements, but also the fact that people will extend
their working life well beyond the current accepted age of
retirement.
Various processes that grow competences and make them
recognized are examined through participants’ personal
accounts in education and competitive work-spaces.
Taking employers’/mediators’ role, the group seeks to
understand how changing needs and demands for new
competences can be feed back to educating/training institutions
for the development and adaptation of appropriate
curricula.
Typically, I see myself as a strategic management scholar
who works in the fields of culture and design. During this
workshop, I unexpectedly became aware of my body.
Something I must have known for long, tacitly. My primary
education was in classical ballet, moving on to modern
dance and the performing arts. This strict training and the
spontaneous improvisations of modern dance, made me
recognise the value of body. In retrospect, these competencies
of living the moment, being aware of my own body,
and connecting with an audience all inform and impact my
current career of professional moderation as a business
consultant.
Becoming Holistic and Curious for New Things
In my current work I build on a body of knowledge and
empirical evidence. Creating the space, that brings theory
and practice together directed me to a holistic view that
substantially enhances the quality of my work. Moderating
between different disciplines is challenging but also encourages
my curiosity for new things and expands my scope of
understanding.
Balancing Competences and Knowledge
To sustain our personal development and to find fulfillment
in our work we have to complement our accumulated knowledge
with the attestation of acquired competences.

Session 2
Modelling Lifelong Competence Building
Members: Ayhan Fişekçi, Aslı Kıyak İngin, Ertuğrul Belen, Yeşim Demir Proehl
Harun Ekinoğlu (HE): Staying Curious, Persevering,
and Devoted
Society often expects us to perform in certain ways. However,
curiosity, perseverance, and devotion help us keep our
own course. In the 6th grade of my formal education, I became
interested in dance and stage performance groups.
Rare opportunities in a small town like Elazığ, where I
come from. I registered during my extra time from school.
Soon however, my poor time-management skills made me
fail in Maths. Yet, I felt the uplift to be part of important
performance projects. I could cover quite a range, thanks
to my post-graduate studies in Milano.
Currently, while being a full-time government employee, I
am doing a PhD on urban analysis software. As I am not
trained as a software developer, my academic advisor
initially dissented. Alas, during a stay at Columbia University
as visiting scholar I had the opportunity to collaborate
with some good engineers, producing what I had set my
mind on.
Curiosity, perseverance, and devotion for the ideas we
really want empower us to excel even in areas we are not
competent in.
Yeşim Demir Proehl (YDP): We tried to make a time-based model for lifelong competence gathering or building starting from
the very earlier stages of learning in family or own habitat to expansions of that during the childhood, from the first formal/
standardised education to the later period of higher-education or to the self-learning stage of profession that could lead
into professional life in either corporate world, or to academia or self-employment. In our model, the professional life after
the initial stage of the formal education also adds up to the assets of competences, during which we might acquire random
sequences of many different competences. They are, for example, ’follow the world’, ‘learn the ethics of work’, ‘define and
communicate yourself not only with the things you do, but also with the things you don’t’, ‘practical problem-solving’, ‘job
management’, ‘team working’, ‘networking’, and so on.
Q&A
Cİ: I would like to start with a question. Your proposal looks
more detailed in the parts after the formal education. Is it correct
to say that you model mainly focuses on the competences that
we should develop during the professional life after the formal
education?
YDP: No, that was not the intention. The difference between
the two, the formal education and the parts after, is because of
the order/linearity of the competences that one should develop
during his or her formal education years. However, those
competences we defined after the formal education can happen
randomly at any time in life experience.
Cİ: Let me ask a second question. Is it possible to offer any
tracks or structured experiences of competences by your group
proposal?
YDP: No, one should select randomly what competences he or
she needs during the course of life.
AS: I think Cihangir’s question is relevant. Because, in practical
terms, we would like to transform your model into a proposal
for concrete lifelong learning offerings based on competences.
Yeşim says that everything happens after the formal education.
But, it might be helpful in fact to indicate that, for example, after
60 these competences might be more relevant for designers.
David Grossman (DG): But that’s for the Actions, no?
AS: No, I still think that an age-bracket would also apply for
the Competences. Because, there are certain competences you
can only reach after you have a certain experience. Let’s say
after 60, you have seen so much, you went through so many
professional experiences, you might have developed much
deeper competences which you cannot develop in your 40s - a
different competence! So, I think, this was maybe the initial
question...
Cİ: Yes! Also, any pre-requisites prior or in order to build certain
competences might be useful.
AS: It is not a critique, but just a question. We could reframe
that, like an offer or question for the next session. Could we package
our model of competences into something more useful?
I suggest or question myself, if that might be more helpful in
terms of communication and application.
SS: After university it is totally a different way of competence
gathering. Until university is finished, it is much more linear.
And, we know what will happen next and what kind of competences
we need to gather. However, after that once we are
in life experience, it will push us to build new competences and
that is not something we can foresee.
YDP: That’s true.
AS: As an example, in India, typically somebody who completed
his career at the age of 60 or 70, he would go into a
temple and start studying Sanskrit. That could be an example
of a competence you can acquire only after you reached to a
certain level in your personality.
YDP: I think, the competences designers acquire have
no limits. I personally never believe or feel that I am a
mature designer. I cannot stop thinking about that, and
I know that many designers feel the same way. In every
project, I start with the feeling of butterflies in the stomach.
That is why, how we thought about our proposal.
Aslı Kıyak İngin (AKİ): Our proposal is not related to
the ages. I think I understood Andreas’ point that there
should be some construction. But, maybe, we don’t
know the way now. Because, we think that age has no
relation with experience.
YDP: But, there is no construction, just practice and
experience.
DG: Maybe, every individual has his own tracks. There
is some people who have more experiences and some
people with less experience. I don’t think it’s a time. I
don’t think it’s necessary.

Session 3
Three personas as Lifelong Learners
Q&A
ACTIONS
Members: Aslı Kıyak İngin, Harun Ekinoğlu, Ertuğrul Belen
HN: I guess our minds work in order to discover credentials
in different ranges of understanding not necessarily formal.
We have Artin, who is a no tag designer. He is old and
locally recognised. He is also a craftsman perhaps. He does
not necessarily design novelties but he is part of a tradition.
In other words, he carries on by not carrying a design. He
is a maker sometimes as he solves design problems for ship
building by metal and wood work. He is recognised and
identified mostly through word of mouth. He is formally
uneducated but he is a potential tutor if he is discovered by
a life long learning initiative or an education institution or
a network which has the ability to connect him to potential
learners. Another guy whose works is in similar vein but on
a completely different set up is Viki the hacker. She has no
age but she is very young. She is a digital maker. She has
the self assigned duty of gap finding in existing systems.
She has problems with the formal systems of banks and university
institutions. Although she is communally recognised
in a circle that knows her, she is never out in the lights. She
does open source design therefore receives open source
credit in wiki sense collective design. Sometimes Viki and
her friends work together even without knowing each other.
It is what we call peer to peer crediting. She receives her
appreciation by crediting through her circle. Cesar however,
is a male tag collector. He exists in complete opposite of the
former two. He is formerly educated and officially recognised.
His network is heavily accredited via his linked-in
profile. He maintains his contacts and manages reputation
and credits. He is within or by the side of a school system.
He loves trophies and collects certificates. He has registered
certain achievements. These are the three personas and
different types of recognition and credential. Thank you
very much.
EA: What about Viki the hacker’s contribution to design?
Why do you need to create this character? What do you
mean?
HN: Viki actually discovers design faults in a system via
hacking. She can misuse her skills or she can convert them
into a positive cause. As you all know, banks have been
trying to hire hackers by their security officers that tries to
learn something from them. There are also hackatons, where
leader hackers come together and work on some certain
projects. But they are not formal designers. They do not
design a product but they design a digital system. Systems
also do have design don’t they.
EA: What is the purpose of hacking into systems then?
HN: Hackers find faults or gap openings in systems. They
also let owners of the systems know that their systems are
flawed.
AS: Hacker is not only in a system sense of hacker it is
also metaphoric. In a more palatable term we could call it
a trendscout. Trendscout is a gap seeker in current developments.
He looks for the scouts and whispers them to the
developers. So this is I think the persona used in here.
AKI: We want to choose some extreme levels with hackers
and no tag designers. By such cases, we can see the different
possibilities of learning systems.
DG: My problem was this, in terms of life long learning we
have been discussing and mourning in the examples. The
credentials do not have to do with evaluating design. They
have to do with evaluating learning. So this is not a question
of trends by people who says that whether designers
are good or not. As I understand it, the credentials has to
do with systems not a person. But a system where everybody
is involved in the process of lifetime learning agrees
to a certain framework of beliefs when they agree that
there are a lot you can do as part of your lifetime learning.
But it is important to measure them and it is important to recognise
or inscribe them. It is not so much the individuals as
systems. I think that it is an important differentiation when
we talk of the overall thing. Because, the first thing is that
once people realise that life long learning is a good thing
then they are individually responsible for taking care of it.
Then it is good that they have some system of measurement
and some system of recording it. So I do not think it is the
individuals whether they are hackers or not, it is the system
that I think has to be built in some way and recognised.
HN: But the thing is that we tried to identify personas who
are in a sense might be incorporated into a system of learning.
As I said, first of all we are trying to be interesting.
Secondly, a person can be made use of the goodness and
the improvement of a system by creating ways of learning
from them.
AS: In this case it is not really the factor but it is the peer to
peer crediting that is the point. I think the group wants to do
that there is a system where peer-to-peer validation is relevant.
It is not necessarily formalised, standardised, codified
system of values but it is the peer-to-peer recognition which is
relevant for the success and coming of these people.
Cihan Çankaya (CÇ): There is one more thing I would like
to add about the hackers. The hacker idea is also changed
nowadays because it is not just about codes and algorithms
anymore. For example, there is this newly heard movement of
makers that hacks into mechanical systems as they contribute
the systems instead. So the hacking is not just an underground
or a coding thing anymore but it is rather a design thing
because making becomes designing. That is what I would like
to add.
HN: To turn David’s contribution, how would we relate that to
lifelong learning? That is the main issue.
CÇ: That is important because maker movement teaches
about trial and error in the cases of lifelong learning.
Cİ: Thank you for all the comments.
Group Conclusion
Lifelong Learning happens at any time, anyway. Credentials
received vary from the very personal amongst peers – informal,
yet delicately tuned by those who share the same
language, to framed documents recognized by the general
public – these could be trophies - or the space/attention given
in mass media.
Recognizing that certification schemes of the established
educational institutions are not able to appropriately keep
pace with developments in society and technology. Hence,
the challenge for this group was to identify the gaps that are
not covered by credentials as dispensed by formal systems.
Credentials may be the result of successfully hacking accepted
norms and values, producing highly personalized badges
of recognition and trust that could be collected, augmented,
traded for higher valuations, and exchanged in various denominations.
Moderator: David Grossman
Outline
Lifelong Learning goes along with Evidence-based
Education/Learning. Blueprints – that are made of new
concepts – for new vocational formats should consider
how project-driven learning within concrete use-cases
can enhance the development of competences and
produce meaningful credentials that help people join or
build most fitting working environments.
Relevant Questions
• Where is the need for Lifelong Learning most
evident?
• How does project-driven learning impact the
development of competences?
• What engagements can foster and reward
learning as context anchored experience?
Group Summary
The set of competences required by professional designers
is varied and changes dynamically during their
lifetime. To maintain relevance and provide effective
service, designers must continuously upgrade knowledge
and skills. Knowledge- and skill-base established in the
formal studies period serves only as a foundation on
which to expand.
There are numerous opportunities for designers to
continue learning – structured and unstructured, formal
and informal, intended and unintended, recognized and
unrecognized. These range from courses and formats
that are offered by educational institutions and professional
entities, to conferences, lectures, workshops, and
also personal development efforts that can be highly
individual.
It is important to plant the seeds of lifelong learning in
the minds of professionals at an early stage - as part of
the formal study curriculum, and to make them recognize
not only the need for ongoing learning, but also the
readily available spectrum of learning opportunities. A
system, best introduced and maintained by the professional
community, that would measure, recognize, and
record ongoing learning efforts can support such efforts,
producing formal/informal credentials.

Session 1
Recalling Situations / Actions of Learning
Members: Aslı Kıyak Ingin, Bengisu Bayrak, Ertuğrul Belen,
David Grorossman
David Grrossman (DG): What we started with is that we
asked everybody about what we recall by looking back
into our own experiences that were the occurrences when
we felt we learned something formal or informal, structured
or unstructured. In other words, when do we recall
being in the situation that as a result of whatever happened
we actually learned something? We had a discussion
and everybody made a personal poster.
Changes in Technology produce Motivation for Learning
The facts of today may not be the facts of tomorrow. Change
is pervasive. Technology changed the foundation of our
communications. While face-to-face communication is still
very important, we have other channels, such as LinkedIn,
today. How do we cope with that? Technology compels us
to learn all over again what we thought we knew already.
Bengisu Bayrak (BB): Knowledge Transmission between the
Abstract and the Real
Aslı Kıyak İngin (AKİ): Teaching and Collaboration as Learning
Experiences
DG: Change Circumstances Out of One’s Comfort
Zone
Ertuğrul Belen (EB): Learning from People, Contexts, and
Processes
I mostly learn from the problems other people have.
Teaching for example I learned by considering the people
in front of me. Likewise every context or situation I find
myself in teaches me something specific; if my current
knowledge does not help me in a particular context, I have
to learn. Stuff, that then I can share with others. Crises are
excellent opportunities for learning, those are the times
when my competences grew exponentially. Yet, there are
also times when I am silent throughout the whole process
and feel there is nothing new. Silence becomes an interesting
urge for me to break the moment and to go back and
accost something new. Curiosity! Questions are always
triggers for learning and action.
I like reading books, and also like to know how the things
read apply in real life. Are these valid propositions? When
I read a book about my profession, I always try to write a
concentrated paragraph that summarizes the whole book.
Then I question if there is a relevance for real life, or if I
can use what I have learned from that book in real life. I try
to either find applicable real life examples or to see if the
arguments made are working in reality through a simple
exercise. In the end, the abstract knowledge or summary
that I gleaned from the book become almost something
physical I can hold in my hand. Not abstract anymore. At
that point, I test if that physical thing can turn into something
abstract again. I write it down to see if it would fit in
any of the books I have read or any of my knowledge. If
the answer is ‘Yes’ I have found a valid point. If the answer
is ‘No’ I might have discovered something new. In both
cases I have expanded my learning.
During my childhood years, I was always trying to help
some of my friends with their school work. I realised that by
teaching somebody, I learn myself. Even today I follow this
approach. While teaching in university, I am learning from my
students. It is always a process. In my work, I collaborate with
different groups of people - local authorities, NGOs, residents,
and students. My practice becomes a learning platform that
generates common knowledge, not only for myself, but for
everyone involved. Workshops, discussion panels, common
works, and practice are very important.
Creating Empathy at Work
When I work with different groups, creating empathy
is important. I start thinking with the mind of local
authorities, seeing with the eyes of kids, listening with
the ears of craftsmen. This has become another learning
conduit for me.
My recollection of situations, where I ended up learning
something intentional or not, looking for perhaps
recreating those circumstances if they proved beneficial
is change circumstances, whether geographical, cultural,
or social that is out of my comfort zone. Out of my
comfort zone results in new awareness and leaning. By
the way, going to different countries and participating in
events like this is similar to that. Although it is very comfortable
here (laughter), it is out of my normal zone.
Consistent Pattern of Broad Accusation of Data
Even it is very shallow, for example, reading the whole
newspaper everyday adds to my learning. Reading
whether my normal newspaper or another newspaper
in another country always generates unexpected links
and connections to things that affect my profession that
I wasn’t aware of is a best way of learning. Getting into
the habit of collecting information, a sort of radar-looking
around and picking up information, is very healthy
and leads to new avenues of learning and knowledge.

Session 2
Road Map for Opportunities in Lifelong Learning
Members: Cihan Çankaya, Ebru Alarslan, Gökçe Dervişoğlu
Okandan, Harun Ekinoğlu
DG: The Actions group is very much reflective of the
Competences group. It does have a timeframe, but is little
bit different. What we tried to do is to make a road-map
based on the earlier session, to recognise the whole range
of opportunities that permit people to learn. The road-map
has many routes. There is not one route for lifelong
learning. There are a lot of opportunities, because every
individual is confined to a different way of hitting different
points to learn. If someone makes no effort to learn anything
over his professional career, there is a good chance
that he won’t be a very good professional. Because, he is
stopping and not trying to expand. Although our model is
on a two-dimensional paper, the solutions require three-dimensional
problem solving. There can be roughly four or
more tracks, including for Academics, Professional Communities,
Personal Professionals, and Governments. These
tracks are never isolated, but also overlapping each other.
For example, when someone is on his Personal Professional
track, he is also part of a professional community; or,
someone on the Academic track is also influenced by the
Governments track, and vice versus. Then, we have the
time tracks influencing and defining the areas such as
‘Before Studies’, ‘Formal Studies’, ‘Post Studies’, ‘Early
Work’, ‘Mid-Level Work’, ‘Advanced Work’, and so on.
The underlying statements or titles of this model are that;
first of all, there is a self-awareness that you have to learn
and what you have to learn (that is a competence planted
when you were young by your family or own habitat);
secondly, all of these activities have to do with expanding
your perspectives, challenging your limits, and expanding
your experiences, and that is the title for everything that
other people added as further activities like reading, listening,
networking, etc.
If we get into the particulars; there are the Formal Studies,
which is an important part in proving for professional
framework. The Formal Studies should also include the
seeds for the later lifelong learning, which normally doesn’t
happen in the current framework of the academic studies.
Also, the academic framework is not stand alone and
there should be some interactions between the academic
framework and the professional community in terms of
initial learning and lifelong learning. that you are enriching
yourself as part of lifelong learning. associated with your
profession, but you automatically expand your consciousness
when you do that or the things that take place throughout
your entire life.
On the personal level, any work that you do, for example,
that is trans-disciplinary work, pro bono work, or any general
or personal development courses that you take that may not
even be directly associated with your profession, but you
automatically expand your consciousness when you do that or
the things that take place throughout your entire life. On the
government level, there are sometimes certification processes
for advanced academic and professional standing, which
is another framework for lifelong learning. For example, it
seems that in Turkey, though there are such processes and
programs, there is no design track. So, the absence of design
track in the government programs influences that situation
and the possibilities for designers to learn lifelong. That would
be the situation where we would say that the professional
community should be influencing the government to make
sure that designers have also a track for certification at the
government level.
I also found interesting that the road map we suggest in our
group does reflect what has been discussed in the Competences
group. So, it is a question of a person realising that
certain competences are important and finding his track of
which ones he does on a process.
Q&A
EA: I think this workshop is very interactive for all of us, at
least for me. The information society and the technological
advances like online education provide us with many opportunities
as well. So, they enable some people who start
their career with vocational activities or trainings to have
their formal education at a later stage. Therefore, I think that
something like a four-dimensional approach, including time,
personal dynamics, formal and informal training systems
would be better.
AS: I think the term ‘road-map’ you used at the very beginning
could be a nice pattern to take up. It might also
respond a little bit to Ebru’s comment. In fact, the linearity
that the diagram implies maybe is not there anymore. And,
the road-map can be much freer. If it is a road-map, we can
go long-ways, we can make short-cuts, and there can be
fast-roads. I think it has a nice content. But, I also felt and
maybe Ebru also felt that this is pretty much ordered. At least,
the visual shows like that, because of a spread sheet. It is just
a suggestion. If we have a visual of something which is like
a rhizomatic road-map, it might be much more reflective of
what you wanted to convey with this.
HN: I guess we will take up the rhizomatic part in our presentation.

Session 3
Three Personas as Lifelong Learners
Members: Hande Akyıl, Yeşim Demir Proehl, Umut Südüak, Ayhan Fişekçi
Yeşim Demir Proehl (YDP): My girl’s name is ayşe. She is a
graphic design student that wants to become a professional
and believes an advocacy of design. She lives in Istanbul.
Luckily, she has taken elective classes on design when she
was in high school which is I believe that we do not have it
in our high school system. And then she had five years of
university education. In the first four years in the school, she
had taken courses. She also worked as an intern in a design
studio preferable by the credit system. And then, she had
taken seminars and workshops as part of her education.
Then, for one year of her university education she has to work
in an office outside of Turkey. Preferably in universities that
has links with some studios abroad. While she was a student,
she becomes a member of her association JMK. After she
graduated, she starts working in a design studio meanwhile
she keeps on following conferences and workshops local and
abroad. While working five years in a design studio, she had
established networks with local and abroad designers. In the
mean time, she started organising events with her associated
designers. So she likes to share information. And all of a
sudden, she gets married and have a baby. After ten years of
given story, she stayed with her baby for three years because
she did not have anyone else to look after for her. She also
could not work at the same time. There was also an economical
issue because the country’s economy was not that good.
So she had to stay in the house, but she wanted to share all
these networks and all these experiences. But eventually, she
started teaching in private and state schools. Meanwhile,
as she was taking care of the baby and working as a teacher,
she continued working as an associated member at the
board. So baby is four years old. Then she founded her own
studio preferably by herself or with a designer friend. She
also kept on practicing by being called to the juries, conferences
and seminars. And she kept on sharing information. After
the years she spent on her association, she started working
at the board on ico-D the international design council. In the
meanwhile, one of the things which I could not add here was
that she has learnt at least two languages willingly. Turkey is
a country where English does not come automatically. The
small yellow papers however, are the credentials acquired by
working in workshops and seminars. Because first she had
a diploma. Becoming a member of a community for me is
definitely credentials. Giving time for searching for it, is an
investment to yourself. Actually credentials for me is an investment
to yourself. Networking with abroad and local designers
and organising events are definitely one of them. Starting to
teach is also credentials. Thank you.
Umut Südüak (US): He is a graphic designer although he had
to study a six years program in a university. Five years of his
education had to be in Istanbul and one year must be abroad.
In five years time, he had to attend to seminars, workshops
and earn credits by the regular system. After six years of
education, he continued his education. These yellow stickers
signify floating credentials during his education. Therefore,
when he needed a credential, he could select from any of
these. Thank you.
Ayhan Fişekçi (AF): We have a fashion designer. She
started her education in the Mimar Sinan University.
She went to an exchange program in Domus Academy.
This is an ideal carrier path. She made a workshop with
Hüseyin Çağlayan in Milano Fashion Week. After that,
she had an internship in Koton in Turkey. After she had
a certification from IMA İstanbul Fashion Academy with
London School of Fashion, she started to improve her
skills and abilities. During her education, she had taken
painting courses, drawing courses, Spanish courses and
photography courses. She traveled to local and abroad
countries. She got a master’s degree in philosophy and
critical studies. After that, she started her job in Inditex
group in the retail sector. Inditex group has brands like
Zara, Pull and Bear, Bershka, Lefties and more. She also
had taken online courses in the company. She had business
networking. After that, she decided to have her own
brand but she had to learn about marketing, sales and
finance. She also wanted to be an instructor and consultant.
So this is our story. Thank you very much.
Q&A
Cİ: I would like ask these three groups a question. How
do you think these personas reflect the work you did in
the previous sections? Did you think any of these relations?
Lets remember the works in the second section in
formulating a system of road maps? How do you think
these personas fit into these roadmaps? Do they really fit
into? Did you think about that way? How do you relate
your own persona? If so, how can we test the system?
US: I think they do fit into our personas. Because the
current educational system offer six years to test it. In the
last section we have talked about the whole system and
we offered some ways of looking at it.
DG: I also believe that these personas relate to what we
talked about in the previous sections.
Cİ: But I wonder how did we create such personas in
relation to our on-going investigation?
DG: It uses all three of these personas by the same stepping
stones as a roadmap in the former stage.
Cİ: So you are saying that these personas can exemplify
the system you created in the previous session.
DG: I think so yeah.
AS: I think the baby idea is very good because in theory,
it was a retarding element. So it created an issue for the
path that she had to change certain things. From there
new competences and opportunities spread up. I think it
is very nice to have this last session. I think it is now up to
all of us to extract the conclusion that we all need.

EA: I have one last question. What was the purpose in creating
these three personas? In our own examples, personas
are more tangible as they can also be found in our current
society. But for example, I envy this fashion designer
because she was very lucky. But what was the purpose and
objective in making this exercise? What did you expect
from us in return?
Cİ: In the second session, we tried to build the system. But
when we needed to communicate within this system, we
should first contextualise what we are proposing. To contextualise
and exemplify what is embedded in the system.
So in our third session our intention was to go from I, We
then They. In education, we do this for others. We first start
from our own experiences then we act as a group of people.
Then to test and exemplify these systems, we should first
define where we are and where are we going in making
projections for the future. Without these personas how can
we act and think realistically. But yeah the personas are
hypothetical.
DG: You said, if we do not have personas how can we test
the system. But you are assuming that these personas test
the system. That is an assumption. Personally I think that
it is an erroneous assumption. I think a persona can only
work in activities since the solution can be tested on individuals.
But in terms of credentials, they are not based on
individuals but they are based on a system. It is a collective
system that everybody has adopted in certain way.
Cİ: But since we are questioning the system, why should we
adopt and accept it as it is?
DG: No it is not the existing system. It is a new system.
Because lifetime activity does not exist sufficiently, we must
think it has to be much wider. It should have new activities
and descriptions that people have to adopt and believe
in that system. Academic system of design education is
accepted by ninety percent of the people. It can surely be
changed and improved but we agree on a certain system
since there is a degree, a curriculum, a teacher, a student
and a classroom. But the equal system for lifetime learning
does not exist yet. That is what we have been talking about
right?
Cİ: Yes that is what we have been trying to formalise it.
DG: Exactly but that system for credentials, is not based
on individuals. It is based on common understanding of
culture that has to be developed and adopted.
Cİ: What culture are we talking about here?
DG: A joint cultural understanding of lifetime learning.
Cİ: To give an example. In some countries, credentials do
not count but in some they do.
DG: We do not know what the credentials are because
every new system requires a new credential.
Cİ: Sure.
DG: But a credential system does not based on people, it is
based on common understandings and beliefs.
Cİ: But again, learning and education is for the people. we
cannot exclude but should include people’s personas into
the system.
DG: Credentials are not people. But they are some kind of
measurement and recognition.
AS: I think the credentials group tried to show that the credentials
can be based on people and I think this is a positive
perspective. Taking out the system and it becomes very
personal. The ship builder for instance. He is so competent
that he is already recognised by the people around him as
the guy who can fix things. That is enough of a credential
for him. The system that is required makes him a respected
person.
DG: Obviously. But what does it have to do with what we
have been talking about?
AS: Because, it is their way of giving him credit. These
people organise that credit. Look at Wikipedia on how this
can work. This is not about whether it is based on a system
of values or not.
HN: But when we speak of a system, there should be a designer
of the system right? So systems do not fall from sky.
In our group, knowing or unknowingly, we have envisioned
at least two of the individuals who are not in any sense
recognised by the existing systems. We were wondering
if a system could spring from those imagined personas.
So it was an exercise. For instance, the guy who has no
tag represents the doer or maker in cultivation who is not
recognised in any system at all in his lifetime. So we open
a parenthesis by a circle of initiatives like ico-D or Stanford
University then he could be incorporated in a system. In
Turkey for instance, the exact opposite is being done. Previously
the universities were able to hire instructors those who
have or not have a university diploma in some cases not
even a high school diploma. Now we cut that road and I
think that is important. I understand that the credentials are
not people but a system. But we have followed a path other
way around from an existing and unrecognised individuals
to imagine a system that might incorporate their value or
design ideas so on and so forth. Thinking on the existing
works, made me realise different aspects of the concepts
we have not yet considered.
Group Conclusion
The broad, ever-growing cloud of competences required by
professional designers is fairly easy to chart, as is the map
of the very diverse and multi-faceted spectrum of learning
opportunities.
The challenge is to infuse a ‘culture’ of Lifelong Learning in
the minds of designers as an accepted ‘professional/social
more’. This can only be achieved by a concerted effort
of the professional community, academic institutions, and
perhaps governments to engage in collaborations that span
the development of curricula, the coordination of certification
schemes, and the provision of working opportunities.
PLENUM REVIEW & DISCUSSION
Members: Andreas Schneider, Cihangir İstek, David Grosmann,
Halil Nalçaoğlu, Sebastien Shahmiri, Hande Akyıl, Aslı
Kıyak İngin, Harun Ekinoğlu, Cihan Çankaya, Ebru Erarslan,
Ayhan Fişekçi
Andreas Schneider (AS): We are aware that this workshop
might have been created some sort of a separation between
each of the three different tracks. We aimed to overreach
that through the presentations and the rotation of the groups
which injected thoughts to their new groups from the previous
discussions. But today, I think it is time to discuss about what
the moderators and participants experience of yesterday. We
will try to see how we can connect these three tracks in terms
of producing that document, which we regard as a starting
point or seed for the proposal that we talked about at the
beginning of the workshop for the submission to the World
Design Summit in Montreal. This proposal will be a manifesto
or an agenda of what the format and content of lifelong learning
could be. So, the purpose of today’s session is to extract
a conclusion from yesterday’s experience and insights.
Cihangir İstek (Cİ): For example, one of the questions raised
yesterday was why we had the third session where we asked
you to think of the three possible personas or users. What we
expect for you to produce is to create possible user-scenarios.
We even tried to diagram these scenarios in our previous
workshops because, using and configuring user-scenarios
always makes more sense when we try to explain our models
to the third parties. This is one of the methods of how we aim
to compile the proposal. As we all were experiencing during
yesterday’s workshop, it is always difficult when we are participating
in a very tightly scheduled event like this, and that
we might indeed easily lose the whole picture. But, once it is
finished and we look back on what was configured, hopefully
it will all make more sense.
AS: I do not know if this is relevant, but some people also
questioned why it is three in general. Why not four? Some
people might have thought that this is like a game or a
formalistic exercise. There is however a reason why we use
‘three’ as a core element or inspiration from the way we look
at if we think we have a sort of non-binary principle like a
yes-or-no issue. We use our factors on the issues that cannot
be captured by binary principle because, when we have more
than three, we will always have more elements which are not
in contact with other elements. Number three is used in order
to achieve any of the thoughts, issues or dimensions which are
connected or integrated with each other, which also makes
sure that every element has some connections with each other.
For example, the layout of our three core issues competences,
credentials and actions could well be perceived as a sequence
or even as a hierarchy. Such as competences coming first,
followed by credentials and actions. This is not how we think
and it is very difficult to communicate with a fixed two-dimensional
surface. So, I guess in this morning’s discussion we will
all have a chance and opportunity to reconnect what might
have been perceived as an isolated discussion and discuss it
together in one context.
That would be our expectation from today. I am guessing
that this will also be your own expectation because,
just by looking at our previous stuff some of you
might have felt that, we would need to be more connected.
I suggest to start with what did you take from
yesterday or what could be relevant for the next steps in
terms of lifelong learning.
Ayhan Fişekçi (AF): Firstly, I started to the workshop
within the credentials group but in fact, I believe that
the starting point should be the competences. These
credentials and competences need to be dealt as a
set. Because, credentials in particular are meant to be
upgrading competences to the next level(s). After that,
actions should be introduced to the lifelong learning
system. Secondly, I also think we should have defined
more clear competences for specific action plans. The
ones stated during the workshop are not so specific and
understandable to everyone, such as a clear competences-set
defined for specific learning actions. The
most important part is the beginning. The process we
experienced yesterday was, however, very creative and
brainstorming alike. Today, I hope we can use a more
specific approach, with which we will get to a better
output.
AS: You said that competences are not so clear and
maybe there should be more other competences. Can
you make some suggestions?
AF: Yesterday, I shared with my fellow team members
in the competences team an exemplar tool/set of 18
particular competences used in business leadership, including
‘Technical Skills’, ‘Interpersonal Skills’, ‘Self-confidence’,
‘This-is-it! Skill, ‘Logical Approach’, ‘Practical
Problem-Solving’. Additional competences could also
be added into this set to upgrade for any required performances,
and each skill or competence area would
be detailed into further strengths. For example, in order
to develop technical skills, it is said that one would
be requiring the strengths like ‘Technical Know-how’,
‘Understanding of Subject Matter’ and ‘Flair for Dealing
with Complex Technical Problems’. Another advantage
of having the similar kind of competence set is that if
someone has overplayed on some of the competences,
we could easily track that person as a specialist rather
than a manager, which means that someone lacking of
commercial perspective would be considered as being
one-dimensional, i.e. too technical-focussed, etc. I think,
if we could manage to define a specific competences set
for designers, it would be much more clear for everybody
to understand, as well as much easier to draw
credentials and action plans accordingly.
AS: I wonder if any of our moderator would pick something
from this and continue this discussion by telling
us their own experience of the workshop. Sebastian,
from your own point of view, how did you experience
yesterday? What did you take from the presentations as
a conclusion or insight, and how could that lead to the
content of the documentation?

Sebastien Shahmiri (SS): Yesterday, we had interesting
sessions. Because, I was not expecting this kind of setting
and the participants were not prepared to think about the
outcome and even thinking about the competences. Therefore,
what came out was very spontaneous. However,
the outcome was not complete because, the participants
were not in the presence of mind in order to tackle the
questions which had been placed in them. However, I was
satisfied with the outcome of the second session where we
got together in order to make a murre between the three
people. It also showed roots one could take until university
education. After that, it was more depended on the way
the society was pushing that person to go through. It also
came to me that a lot of us are building our competences
according to the social chances if we have them. These
opportunities which is socially available for us or not
would create our competences in one section or another.
But how is it connected to lifelong learning? This exercise
showed me that quite a lot of it are by expectation of the
society which push us to go through lifelong learning. If
the society is demanding enough, fine. If not, then we go
back to the nature of human to sit down and do nothing.
This is my observation from yesterday.
Halil Nalçaoğlu (HN): What I gather from yesterday is
the existence of a need to recognise, identify and register
competences which lie outside the formal domain of
education. That is important. Since we are discussing
lifelong learning, there should be something outside or
as the offerings of the formal system. You want to find a
methodology or a philosophy, a perspective to catch those
competencies which lie outside the formal working or educational
systems. The most important thing that I remember
from yesterday with the help of David’s comments, is to
structure the findable and repeatable ways to catch those
aspects that are missing from the formal systems. We live
in a society where there is a plâtra of certificates, rewards.
But there should be a genuine, identified, registered,
measurable, method of bridging the gaps that exist in a
formal system. Why do we have that need? Because life
is so dynamic and so fast. In one of my groups, we were
discussing how the existing milieu of whatever we are
doing is always late. The academy is always late because
we have rules, classes, administrators, schedules, and all
these things constrict and limit our ability to become more
dynamic. Besides, technology is adding a twist of all these
so, there should be a system outside the formal system
and that is actually called lifelong learning. The problem
with lifelong learning is with certificates that is just given
out. So that should be structured and recognised by the
institutions, organisations or groups that are created by
the university itself. But there should be a zone outside and
beside the existing system. That is what I gathered from
yesterday.
AF: I agree with Mr. Halil that there should be new ways
of learning beside the universities, classrooms and online
systems. We should show the alternatives where a designer
could learn and see a way of learning in different
methodologies.
AS: Your group was very much concerned with credentials
right?
HN: Yes.
AS: So, I wonder after the day if you had any idea that you
did not before on how these credentials looked like? Today
you also talk about certification and how that could work.
Is there anything you gained? Do you have any insight
based on yesterday?
HN: What I remember from yesterday is the little pieces of
post-its. I can still see them on the board. So these are the
credentials.(CCA_WS_DATA_REF_20161022_Actions_
S3_01_edit_aa) These green post-its really represents what
I just said like plâtra of credentials falling from the sky. That
should not be the case because learning from experience
already exists. We always learn from our experiences. The
beginning of learning is by experience anyway. So credentials
in the case of life long learning should stay somewhere
in between a chaotic everyday learning and a formal
structures of learning. I constantly turn back to our own
institution because we are experiencing this day to day. My
mind is filled with the faculty of communication. What we
did, was to open up a space inside the formal structure. It is
not extremely liberal like getting rid of all the constrictions
but it is not also as structured as a course system, a curriculum.
We tried to snatch pieces from the formal system.
Almost like putting all in the middle so that people can start
playing with them. So that is more creative. It involves and
encourages people more. At some point we realised that
we do not give any credentials and we do not recognise
work of our students who create things. Someday I was
leaving the school, I bumped into a friend of mine in the
television department. He said we had just finished the
editing of our latest video by staying all day long on saturday.
So they come at school, edit their video with students.
At that point we realise that we do not credit, appreciate,
recognise the work of this extra curricular work that is also
curricular by academic outcomes, we devised IIW crediting
system. No matter where you are, at any time, your work
should be appreciated and credited. It is not just a courtesy.
The student is being paid by credits because students are
after 240 credits. That is what they look for. Their mind set
on going to a university is to finish the amount of credits
successfully necessary for graduation. We realise that it is a
valuable thing the crediting in ECTS. So we converted activities
into a kind of a business model and we devised time
credits. I am telling this because you cannot really operate
within the formal system. If you are teaching editing a
video for instance, you cannot teach it every wednesday
from one to four because it is a continuous job. Sometimes
you would like to edit for two days long and sleep for two
days. That is for instance how editing goes. I am guessing
there are some other tasks also like that. To wrap up, there
is this formal structure, there is life which is totally chaotic,
and in between there is lifelong learning which is semi-structured,
recognised and identified.
David Grossman (DG): I agree with you on many things
you have said. I also think we would agree on rest of the
things you have said but I look at it a little bit different. For
example, in a formal study what students are interested
in is not 240 credits, they are interested in the degree. In
order to get the degree you need to complete 240 credits.
There is a difference there because if they had to have 246
credits they would just be as interested in 240 credits. They
are interested in fact in formal studies is this first big yellow
one. Because in the beginning of our studies 90 percent of the
time we go to formal framework of study.The way the world
has developed the best way of knowing it is to make credits
and grades. It is the way the world works and at a certain
point we need a degree. When you get the degree, it is a
recommendation, a recognition and people feel alright to
take the next step. In terms of the formal universities, they are
very good at making a first, second degree and so on, and
handling all the rest of it. It sort of works. People have high
motivation in investing more time because they understand the
culture of the university that is good for them learning and it
is also good as they get recognition. It is also good if they are
in a faculty so they go up the ladder. It is a system where you
play by the rules and it works. Then you go out into the world
and you work. People usually without too much realisation
know that they have to continue to expand because things are
happening. So they do go to competences and they do participate
in projects to learn by themselves. They do lots of things
which is lifelong learning and there are some minor awards
for it. I think what we are saying in the discussions we had
yesterday is that in the competences we know that there is a
lot that is worse learning. That is changing all the time especially
in the world of design. If a designer wants to be current, it
is a good idea that he continues to learn. That is not a difficult
concept and I think everybody agrees upon that. I think from
the activities section, we saw without too much discovery that
there are many many options that can provide opportunities
to learn. From more formal to less formal, more personal to
less personal, intended to unintended structure. There are
many opportunities to learn. The thing that is missing is something
when we are in school, there is a very formal structure
so you do what you told and hopefully you learn. When you
go out into the world there is no really a structure if you are
highly motivated and able. It is also a question of time, money
and things like that so you learn by yourself but not only there
is no structure that encourages you in an orderly way to learn,
but unfortunately there is also for many people no frame
of mind that automatically causes you to say you to learn.
People who are lazy and do nothing. There is no motivation
and there is nothing fostering it. That is what is missing. I think
it is difficult because in a school the professors tells the student
to come on tuesday to do his work. If he comes he does work
if he does not he is out. In the world it is a personal thing in
a competition. So I think on the one hand yesterday in terms
of competences, I think it is possible to recognise a balloon of
changing competences. It will change every time so, it always
needs more things and there is a basket of things that are
competences that a designer needs. A slightly different basket
for architects, engineers, every profession has their basket. In
terms of activities, there is also pretty understandable menu
of opportunities for activities that permits you to learn. It is
really a menu, you do not have to take one. You can take one
from here two from there but what we are agreeing is that as
long as we have some of them it is ok. But what is missing is
to convince people that they have to do it number one and
create some system that fosters that. I think that is the glue
between the competences and the activities and I think that
is the trick. That is what does not exist. How do we create a
frame of mind so that a professional understands
I should be doing something on the menu of lifelong
learning. But if I do not do it then the other guys are
doing it so he is going to be better than me. I think that
should be planted in the schools which did not. I think
it is an opportunity for schools to be more active after
graduation. But it is not only the schools I think also the
professional organisations, governments and individuals
have a role to play. I think that our challenge is to
suggest to that have a form, a brand, a societal imprint
on it that people think that it is a right thing to do. It
cannot be too formal because it should not be too formal.
Because people have to think of it as a right thing
to do so it is creating a behaviour pattern that is accepted.
People learn how to drive and there are rules about
driving and if you do not go according to the rules you
get a ticket. But none of us are going according to the
rules because we behave with the other cars. It is culture
that you learn. It is this culture I think that we have to
learn. That is the opportunity and that is the new thing
that would change lifelong learning. To my mind I call
that credentials. It is not so much of a credential in a
stamp. It is more a credentials in individuals and society
recognise that as the right thing to do. Just as you are
polite, you do not get a badge on it but you can see
when someone is polite. If someone is really interested
in lifelong learning and you see him in a conference or
a project he becomes interesting, he teaches all these
things and he tells himself it is the right thing. I think
that does not exist. It somehow creates a culture of
activities between the formal education and the professional
activities of individuals. I think that is what is
most interesting so when you say when these things are
meaningless certificates, I do not see them as meaningless
but I see them as little stars of good behaviour that
you value. How can we create a system that people
recognise that these stars are a good thing. It is sort of
a passport. Does not have to be a physical passport but
if you look back over the past year you say what did I
do this year to learn. Well I went to a conference and I
did this so ok. And if I look back at my passport and it
is empty, I say that this is not so good. More than that, if
the professional association looks at his member and he
says what did you do this year? Because when I came
to this workshop I learned something for the last two
days. I cannot help but learn when you have a meeting
like this. That is a good thing. It is a question of creating
this passport system in the mind. I think that would be a
good outcome. I think that we agree but we look at it at
different angles.
HN: Totally.
DG: Just between us in terms of the universities,
it is a big opportunity. Because in this point, in
most of the cases when the students leave for
formal education, bye bye. But universities are
in the best situation in terms of not only content
and expertise, and research but also in terms of
facilities. Your are in the best situation to create
more formal necklace of events that people can
voluntarily participate in that is good for you too.

HN: Exactly. Only one thing I would like to comment on
are the stars and the badges. The reason why I called
them stupid pieces of paper is because there is no culture
as you said that make them meaningful. Relying on
your metaphor of passport actually reverses it and make
it an actual passport. You would see people showing
each other the visas in Turkey that they have certificate
to go in to for example Venezuela. So why are people
doing that? Or why are people taking selfies in front of
Eiffel Tower? Because, it means them to be there and it is
important to prove that they had access to Eiffel Tower.
In the case of my certificates, it is the lack of culture that
make the administrators produce those stupid things.
And to my second point. In a way speaking of creating a
culture, you basically fight with the anthropologists. They
are crossed at you because they do not like the idea of
how is a culture comes about? You do not go and start
creating a culture, you live it. You make it existing. Again
turning back to my own institution, you are right we are
very lucky to have resources, but I am also trying to save
students from their instructors. I am trying to open up all
the resources to individual students who would like to use
them under guidance of course. I am giving money to students
who has projects in the faculty budget. Despite some
objections, the concept of whatever thinking in philosophy,
it is called learning in a system of education. Sometimes
education overcomes and obstructs learning. Obstructs its
own raison d’être that we are here to educate people, to
make them learn things and we obstruct them because of
our structure. What do we do? We encourage thinking in
philosophy. Formal philosophy education is good but you
do not need a formal philosophy education to be a philosopher.
You can teach with that diploma but you cannot
be a philosopher. Similarly, you can learn right next to the
formal education. I do not have a name for it. Because
formal education has government and companies behind
of this tradition for hundreds of years but sometimes it kills
its own objective. So that is how I understand it. We mean
the same thing. Just existing side by side with education,
professional organisations. One thing I would like to
re-emphasise in my previous talk is to identify areas of
learning which might not exist in the formal systems. There
are things that we could learn from other disciplines such
as nature, children plays and so on. There are zillions of
areas where formal system of education close their doors
and they do not allow it.
SS: One single word to say about that is to ask from
childhood, what did you learn last night?
Ebru Alarslan (EA): I think in regard to yesterday,
I understood your point more on what makes a
designer. Formal education is what you refer as
competences, credentials are also a bit life experience,
actions place your initiatives to upgrade
yourself. I think this is what you tried to mean and
measure by our perception. Actually, these are the
three main fields which is complementary to make
a designer. I agree with all these points. But what
type of formal education is taken as viewpoint?
Formal education from my point of view, is just
saving time because in your formal education you learn
about other life experiences happened in the past but you
can also learn things by your own experience. So this is just
about saving time. Even when I think about my bachelor
degree, now I am very thankful. But as he has mentioned
in the previous session, if the formal education is structured
by the professors who are able to give lectures, it might not
give a good result. So what I would like to say that in competences,
credentials or actions, we might think about what
makes competences competent, what makes credentials
remarkable, what type of actions are effective also by what
standards and points? What features describe competences?
Because it might also be changed by periods, countries
and regions.
Harun Ekinoğlu (HE): I think in this respect, I
would like to share an experience of mine from citys
urban office where I used to work more or less six
to seven years. In 2001, we presented a proceeding
in the academic meeting of landscape architects in
Ankara. Our paper had a point stating that we need
credentials for competences. But there is no current
and a reliable system that is doing that which I believe
is very urgent. Because when we are designing
and preparing projects for the city, we go to official,
legal and bureaucratic stories. If it is a street furniture,
who is going to make it? Can we categorise it?
Or are we just going to say alright, we expect firms
hiring people with a degree of product design? I
believe it is not enough. But how can you trust and
measure such expectation? It is a big risk because we
are spending public money and we are responsible
about it. When you spend public money, you are
responsible to the end. The system asks you how did
you measure this person whether if he is competent
enough to work in this firm? Which credentials did
you consider to go with that firm?
DG: And where is the system that measures the
competence of a city planner to make decisions?
HE: The system that we rely on is the current system
of institutional organisations that are supposedly
does not exist. For example, we are going to do a
design project in an archeologic site. For that we expect
landscape architects and architects that already
did some projects to contribute in such site. But we
do not have such a system to measure it. I know that
my friend did such things before but this is a friend
relationship and there are also others. So this is a big
ambiguity for us to propose a new, reliable system.
I think the people who are supposed to do are the
professional organisations. Who else, because we are
getting degrees from universities and they do not
care what we do in our professional life.
HN: So how did you measure their previous work? Because
that their work is out there. If they screwed a job before, you
simply fire them.
HE: But how could we? It is still not objective. It is about how
they present it to you.
DG: You asked a question but the answer is not black and
white. When you are building a bridge, an engineer has to
have a license and hopefully the engineer who passes can
build a bridge. It is not always true. Architects I know in Turkey
have to be part of a professional organisation in order to sign
a document. But looking around, some buildings are not so
much of a presence to the people. Doctors also have to pass
through a license and hopefully most of the doctors are ok.
But sometimes they are not. So, when it comes to design, it is
much less structured than medicine, engineering or law. But
you are expecting a professional organisation to say that this
designer or colleague is good and this designer or colleague
is not good.
HE: It is not that much of good or not good analogy. He did
this, in this year, in this budget, in this area. So everything
becomes very objective.
DG: Life is not objective, it is rather difficult. The answer to
your question is if, because the public money is concerned
which is a problem, since you need some support to make a
decision, I think it comes to a big project that in making the
decision, and choosing between some options. If you include
according to the criteria to a committee that is making decisions,
with several representatives of a professional organisation,
they probably have the experience to see who the candidates
are and suggest that this one might be a better chance
than this one.
HE: I wish we could have such a committee or a routine processes.
But actually we have such committees in competitions.
For example, there was an amazing committee for the competition
we did in Yenikapı area. It was with architects that are in
well reputation. They did a critical and in-depth evaluation but
in the routine, there is no such committee.
DG: Life is difficult.
SS: Coming back to what we were talking, what do you mean
by there must be an evaluation added to these three. We have
credentials, competences and actions but we do not have
evaluation. Should we add this one?
DG: I think it is a good question. For example, there are
designers in Ontario the providence of Canada. The graphic
designers miraculously succeeded in moving through the parliament.
A resolution which registered graphic designers. It is
not good for everywhere but in Ontario if you want to say that
you are a graphic designer, you have to pass an examination
and the approval of a professional organisation. Now once
they did that and since you have to be a part of a professional
organisation, it gives them cloud and power. So what they
have in theory is that in three to five years, they can say lets
see if you are still competent. Did you take a course? Did you
do this and that? Yes, and than we approve you once again,
you have our confirmation.
Now that is part of lifetime learning. And they force you
to learn. That might be good for Ontario, so what you
say is I think a part of culture of lifetime learning. I think
it is everything.
SS: I think it is more of an ingredient at this point before
the culture is built. If from today we ask our children
what did you learn last evening every morning, they realise
that they learn something on a daily basis. By the
time they are forty, it becomes natural. Then we need
this evaluation. But at this point maybe we need it until
forty years from now. When we do not need it anymore
we can get rid of it.
AS: I think we were talking about systems and formalisations
at the same time you brought up the term called
currency as a metaphor for how to handle credits.
We all know how that works with likes or dislikes on
Facebook and such. I would like to ask Cihan because I
think that our discussions are based on a very orthodox
education as well as credits and actions. With your
profile could you explain where did you come from and
how did you spent one year without electricity? You do
something very different and might have some ideas
on how things could be very very differently. What is a
competence for you? How do you recognise it, yourself
along with the abilities you have on each other? I think
you have a lot to say so I ask you to give a short review
of yesterday.
Cihan Çankaya (CÇ): In our case, we have more practical
things. The most important thing for us first, is to
see past works. This is the most important part actually
but sometimes in cases like these, we fail as these works
can be bad but presented good. When we first started
with Decol, we had trusted to our showreels on evaluating
how we did and called in the past. We give credits
to showreels. But then we saw that sometimes showreels
does not work because some bad works were being
presented in a good presentation. Then we started
to work together for a while to give tasks to the new
comers. This is what we are applying to our works by
our people. I do not know much about formal education
systems and how do academic ideas work but, I know
much on the practical things.
Aslı Kıyak İngin (AKİ): How does the system work in
your practice?
CÇ: It is so important to see a finished work. If you want
to credit some people, you need to see some finished
work. It is the most important. Idea is not enough.
We are working on digital production so we see it on
computer systems such as a 3D model or an animation.
Because sometimes you ask people if they know your
software. If they do, then it means he or she is capable.
HE: Can I ask a question? Can you evaluate what he
or she did since you are competent? You are doing this
work professionally. You can least get an impression if it
is a good job or not. But you still need another measurement
to get an impression.

CÇ: This is important. Finishing a task whether it is good
or bad is not always so important to give credit. Sometimes
they start with a bad production. But when you teach
then they start to do good. The important part for us is
if he or she can finish the work or not. This is the most
important thing. You do not expect the most amazing job
but you want a finished work and this is why there is a
separation of junior and senior designer and so on. If you
have a bypass system when they finish but not good, the
senior can handle it so the client do not know about the
bad product because we can finish it for them.
HE: But the important thing is that you are a team member.
It is important to start working with each other. As you
pass time, you establish a working culture and the new
member will also be a part of it. Maybe this is an interesting
point to make. It is creating a common culture by working
together. There might not be a working credentials.
CÇ: This is so important because when you start spending
time with each other and have not slept for two to three
days working on a same project, the working culture is being
established among those people. When the designers
work collectively, there should also be a specific cultural
engagement among these designers and it is important.
But working with designers produce a clan thinking as
each group of a design establishment create their own
culture. This is called clan management. This is also what
we apply on our cooperative.
Cİ: Based on that, you are doers right? You value culture
of practice together as groups. How did you experience
yesterday based on these methods you are using and based
on your background coming from different practices?
What was your experience and impression of yesterdays
sessions?
AF: I want to share my experience. I have a confession. I
was not here yesterday during the half time of the workshop.
I felt that I was a bit away from university education.
I have a lower tolerance in talking about these philosophy
of things and theory. I promptly want to involve in action.
I am an action man based on my business experiences. I
must admit that I have some difficulties to keep my mind to
be here in these new philosophical kinds of discussion. It is
good that everything is recorded because I skipped many
things. I would like to convey myself that I am coming from
a very different discipline however I would like to be a designer.
I think I can be a typical designer and I would like
to design my life. I do not have a well known infrastructure
but I had some expectations to learn what kind of requirements
are valid to be a designer. I have no time attending
to four year curricular education. I have neither time nor
sufficient motivation to get formal lectures of design. But I
wish to be a designer. I have a limitless fair for discovering
what I should do to be a designer but I have a risk to be
lost in this fair. It is an enormous sphere and I do not have
a sufficient path to learn what type of procedures to follow
as guidance.
DG: I will give you the guidance. The music that we heard
while we were waiting for the opening. It was a beautiful
music and I liked it very much and I wished I could also
play such music but I do not have the time to become such
a composer or a musician. All I can do is listen.
AF: You mean that I can listen music but do not try to be a
composer?
DG: If what you say that you do not have the time to learn
how to be a designer, you cannot be a designer.
AF: Then maybe I should change my words. Maybe I have
the time and motivation to be a designer. I would like to
share my experiences of when I made a training program I
also was designing it. I was also experiencing design when
I was designing its posters. Yeah I also like some music
but do not try to be a composer but I would like to be a
designer.
AKİ: I would like to add something to you. I think there is
an important point there. Are we going to open a way for
people like him? How can we create such a way outside of
university? Because, he did not have the chance of studying
design in a university. This is a very good persona I think
that we have to add.
AS: I think that designers are very sensitive in protecting
their rights for them and that only they could educate or
certify. I think your case is very important for us in lifelong
learning because there are many other people who has
some interest in learning about design. You want and sense
to have a certain expertise but you cannot because you
have to spend four years as student. I think that lifelong
learning should tell you that you can do it by giving you a
well adjusted program. Gradually you build up your portfolio
of competences and maybe a portfolio of credentials
so that you can also say it to others that you also have all
these expertise.
HE: Ayhan you are saying that you will spend a necessary
time to be a designer no matter what it takes. But not in a
school environment like this?
AF: No I cannot start to a university education.
HE: I understand. So the problem might be coming from the
formal design education for the late starters.
HN: I only have a small comment. We should differentiate
university education in general from learning skills in
performing a profession. University education picks up a
youngster and allows that person to spend four years teaching
them not only profession so the university education
elevates people no matter what profession. Coming back to
your question I think it is so obvious. I agree with Andreas
on you should find a way to enrich your design part which
the society should be providing you with that. This is what
we were talking about.
You are absolutely right in looking ways to learn certain skills
that would make you a designer. I do not say that I am a sociologist.
I do not have constrictions on what you cannot be but
design profession is very specific. You have to learn specific
techniques. You need to follow certain rules. Than this is what
it is. I just wanted to separate out university education from a
certain profession.
DG: When we are talking about life long learning for designers,
we are not opening at least to my mind saying the
whole population of planet earth through this process can
participate to become a designer. That is not what I thought
we were talking about. I thought we were talking about that in
the classical sense of professional designers, it is not enough
for them only to have a formal education. They have to go
beyond the formal education and keep on learning. A structure
to further enhance the capacity of a professional designer
after his formal education requires the sophisticated system.
The same machine is not appropriate in permitting anyone to
become a designer at any time and any pace. Another system
maybe could work. But it is not the same system because the
lifetime learning assume that the designers are off at a certain
point as a foundation that came to continue whereas, what
you are suggesting that anybody can become a designer
but participating in this program is that they will be having
an opportunity to learn the basics of the system. When we
are talking about the professionals, going on to a system of
lifelong learning, they have the basics. When a designer have
a formal education, he does not have to go back into basic
composition. Lifelong learning does not teach basic composition.
It is the additional things. That is why I think we were
talking about different things.
Cİ: David I think it is a possible direction. I agree that it is
different than lifelong learning for professional or studying
designers, but for amateur designers. I remember from the
talk of yesterday, you gave the example of Brody. You said if I
am not wrong, he did not study design. Ok it is a very exceptional
thing but how would you compare it?
DG: Of the six and a half billion of year on planet earth,
there are two examples like that I know of. There are exceptional
people and there is no doubt. But to make a system, to
assume that anybody can do that I think create expectations
that cannot be met. But it is a different system. I am sure. I
think what we are talking about here is lifelong learning for
designers that are already designers but not an opportunity
for anyone who is not a designer which is another issue.
There may be classes and formats. It cannot be a one thing
for everybody or it is nothing.
AS: I think it is a little bit abstract discussion. I think there is
one person and he describes his personal experience and interest
to learn more. I think it is a beautiful and an appropriate
case for our discussions on the idea of lifelong learning. But
how and whom could we address and in what way? Limiting
or not limiting, considering if it is a designer tag or not, that is
for me not relevant. I would like to listen this person with these
interests.
He needs some source and some place where he can
satisfy his interests. Obviously university does not offer
because they force him to study a four year diploma
program so we need to find something else. It is a very
valid and good example of what we were discussing
here. Even if it is for designers as you consider, for me
lifelong learning does not start at the university. It also
starts at an early childhood learning about composition,
design thinking and so on. We can be much more
pragmatic in our discussion here in order to achieve
some sort of outcome of this workshop.
HN: I would like to talk about the conceptual confusion.
When our friend said I would like to be a designer I
guess he did not mean to be a professional designer.
He just told us that he would like to look at his own life
from a design perspective. That is quite fine. It is like I
would like to review my life from a lawyers perspective.
That does not make me a lawyer, or an architect. I
constantly draw things and tried to look at things from
a design perspective because design perspective eases
up thinking for me. It is something that I developed. I
would never call myself a designer for that. So that is
just a little remark. And maybe in that respect, lifelong
learning could offer designers lifelong learning and lay
person a design perspective at a separate perspective.
I have no objection to that. In that way we can raise the
awareness of design.
AI: I think it is nice to discuss it like this because yesterday
each section was different from each other. After
yesterday me and Yeşim went to same direction and
talked about what is the aim and goal of the workshop.
Could you re-describe the aim of this workshop? I think
at this stage we can focus on reaching the aim. Now we
opened a discussion only but we do not have a goal. It
is nice to talk what we understand about lifelong learning.
What does it mean? Because we are working with
communities and third parties to create products as designers.
I also know some craftsman who develop themselves
alone. I have for instance some friends who only
went to high school but did not go to a design education
in a university. They develop themselves by attending
and contributing in workshops and events. Those things
they took benefit from it and started to think differently.
We also have a tutor here in Bilgi University. He went
and started working with an apprentice. He did not
have a designer background but we wanted to give him
critics. But we told him we are not designers and we did
not expect a designer but a person between apprentice
and master. Some of them are better than our students.
We are collaborating with them and they are very
ambitious with motivation. When we started the first
section with David it was very exciting for me because
I had a chance to witness other contributors ideas. We
can create a lifelong learning path to make people
understand themselves and to understand what are the
systems, manuals and templates that is necessary to
establish. We can create a roadmap that benefits from
newly invented technologies and other professions.

CÇ: First, I would like to talk about a roadmap. I think that
the road map is not going to work but giving the people
a certain guideline for a skill set. So that they can create
their own roadmap but for a lifelong learning, I do not
think so. There is another thing that I want to add. I can
give certain examples from DECOL. We created structures
by learning together continuously. As far as I know there is
no cooperative skill set for designers. When I checked my
engineer background, I needed some input process and
out to provide a collective culture in our team. So I checked
for what does the designers need, how it is involved
in the learning process. I thought a lot with these inputs.
Yesterday during the sessions, it worked for me to put
some inputs to out processes. We as DECOL are trying to
design environments. This also includes designer’s lifetime
needs. Not just the design techniques. There is a lot of
wants and needs for designers in order to work together.
In yesterday’s sessions I saw a lot of different perspective
of designers so there was a lot of new inputs for me to
complete my cooperative working system.
Hande Akyıl (HA): Actually I am from another background.
I am not a designer. Yesterday, I thought about
any possible courses we can develop in our lifelong
learning centre. We do not have difficulties in designing
courses but have troubles in finding participants.
Cİ: What was your impression of yesterday and how does
it work for you as someone from Bilgi University’s Life
Long Learning Centre? You are from the field so I would
like to hear about your impressions.
HA: I think it is very interesting academically but in our
lifelong centre many of the specific courses does not work.
Last year, I was in Berlin University of Art Life Long Learning
Centre. I noticed that they had many courses specifically
for the participants. Digital music managements for
instance. This course was very specific. But they can also
reach at participants at a global scale. In here, we need
to develop this structure. We get participants but not for
specific areas.
AKİ: I think that this experience is important and maybe
we should add the question of who are the participants for
lifelong learning. Should we go to some location to create
some courses there or should we wait for them to come to
us? And I think the money is also the issue here.
Cİ: I would like to answer one thing you asked. You said
you lost the track of our sessions. Our aim has stayed the
same. Lifelong learning is established but lifelong learning
for designers is very new for which we are trying to build
a blueprint. This workshop might be the beginning but we
should go beyond awareness and start thinking of possible
tracks in the future.
AS: I think that in order to confirm or become more
specific in our conversations that is a selection of simple
statement will give us new leads for the next steps. So far,
we were talking about the abstract presentation of ideas.
But from now on, we should try to make concrete structures
from these ideas in order to use it beneficially. One
metaphor which came up was the passport and how you
use a passport.
Not only by the means of using it in having access to
certain countries in travelling it is also the proof that we are
living in borders. It is not a document that we like but when
you think of it, can become a document of that we like having
record of the past countries visited and also the proof
that we had been there. So it can become a document you
share with friends. Maybe passport can be one of these documents
that we can manage our credits such as a book of
credentials. Somebody else also mentioned in the workshop
that they used a book that which describes or collects certain
competences. So it is like your personal book becoming
a collection of your credentials. So I thought that could
be one concrete proposal. And that led to another thing.
When you travel how do you do it? In this experience of
using other people’s places such as Air BNB. You do not
know who to meet and what to expect. It is the same thing
with credentials. It happens with the peer reviews once you
get certain testimonials where you describe the host and
they describe you as a traveler. In a way that creates a system
which somehow works. It might look like another hint
on how we can look at lifelong learning with the term roadmap.
Maybe nicer suggestion can be mapping. Mapping
out the abilities in order to help your orientation on navigation
through the complex space of possible competences.
So we could have different roadmaps or maps that could
be coloured like an underground map for certain expertise
or so. It offers some rich set of metaphors I think that could
be applied for the open set of a lifelong learning. So in that
sense, when we look at the past day, what can we really
extract as concrete proposals?
AKİ: Maybe we can visualise some of our final ideas on the
white board.
EA: In terms of a designer for instance in a trainer,
professional phase and recognition, I thought
at least three channels but we can enhance it. The
keywords of these channels are also very important
otherwise they might be flying objects. I would like
to see a structural thinking. I can offer the training
of a designer, the practice of a designer and the
recognition his or her success. Maybe we can collect
keywords accordingly.
Cİ: If I understand correctly, Ebru’s proposal is to
offer a matrix with the considerations of the topics
competences, credentials and actions. There is also
the idea of passport that should be added to this
matrix.
HE: We also need an actor otherwise who is going
to use these passports.
AS: I think it is a good idea. These personas should
be the personas from yesterday then?
HE: I think that it will be a professional organisation.
Cİ: Then can we write actors on our matrix?
HE: I think that it should be under the action tab or perhaps
competences. Because it is something after competences
recognised, certified But in the post certification process, there
is bunch of other things happening as David named them with
little stars.
AF: I think it is the actor who has the abilities and competences.
Can we also put a roadmap to the actions tab?
Cİ: David do you have something to add?
DG: I think we are pasting all sorts non relevant posters.
Cİ: Do you think that we are doing a patchwork?
DG: I believe by doing these separations like A, B and C, we
are comparing apples with oranges. The fact that because we
are doing them in a line does not mean that they are in a line.
AS: I think that you can also change this model if you want to.
HE: It does not have to be a matrix.
SS: Number one, we have to figure out after the university,
how does lifelong learning take shape and how does it work
as every individual is different? Everybody has their own story
to say. Everybody has their own path to go. We cannot really
put them in a form like this. One of them goes up the other
one goes down.
Cİ: Can you offer a new structure of showing this since we are
looking for concrete ways?
SS: I think a way to find this is to search for possibilities that
one can use in lifelong learning. For example, Istanbul. Last
year they started to rebuild a beer company to something
else. Nowadays it is called Bomonti Ada. In there it is a shared
working space mainly by designers who are renting that
place for a day. However working there together gives them
opportunity to learn from each other.
DG: It is not the tags that we place on this matrix but we
search for a system that makes a form out of these.
Cİ: One possible way of creating a matrix is to put what we
gathered from yesterday. We can also propose a coworker on
this board.
AKİ: As I also have suggested in my speech, maybe we can
collect the live paths. Maybe we can find a way to collect
these live paths from individuals on a blog and so that we
can see a scheme of their experiences and tools that they use
so we can find a template, a blueprint. This can also be a
coworking space.
AS: Maybe we can add live paths then?
AKİ: I think that this idea should be in the research area.
EA: We can also add formal and informal training to the
competence part.
AF: We can also add learning centred ecosystem. It can
be in the credentials or training and practice because
there are too many ways of learning.
AS: So you talk about a person and all the things
around this person. You call this ecosystem?
AF: Yes.
DG: That is the whole thing. A learner centered ecosystem.
It is the solution for everything because it means
that we are taking the subject who is going to learn life
long, and creating a ecosystem that supports him.
AS: Can you sketch an interpretation of it?
Cİ: Is it the learner in the middle and around it competences,
credentials and actions?
DG: We have life and it goes in one direction. What we
are saying for professional designers is that they get a
whole explosion of learning when they are in the formal
education as they keep on learning. When you say learner
centred ecosystem, there is a learner in the middle of
this ecosystem. You cannot position this and not everything
divides into three like competences, credentials and
actions.
AS: Can you describe what defines a system?
DG: The system that we said is that we have a whole
body, a cloud of competences and it is ever changing.
Once they grow out from your formal studies and new
things come by. No one can know and learn everything.
As long as the individual get some of it.
AS: And they finish somehow before we die.
DG: I do not know what happens after. It is an area of
unknown.
EA: If you define a system like that, it is important that
we have to make awareness that the university is not the
last but as a stepping stone.
Cİ: If you are in the Bilgi University, our motivation is to
learn not for school but for life.
EA: If you ask the students you realise that not everyone
could understand.
DG: If you look at the format of activities, we said it has
a formal education. Then as we said yesterday, there
are varieties of conferences and so on that permits you
to learn. In terms of having not one road but a variety
where everyone can choose their own path, it is a good
thing. We make it a key because it is not a place. Now
we get to the hard part that is to convince the designers
that they have to be conscious and that they need to
have a roadmap to go after it causing the schools and
professional associations not having a hard framework
but a loose conceptual framework by creating a big
network.

So that people can recognise all these red dots are activities
that convince people that there is a roadmap which is
important for them. The difficult thing is to convince people
that they need a map where they are not looking for it.
We need to plant ourselves and to professional institutions.
That is the tricky part because everything else exists. That
is an objective. How do we take the step of causing individuals
to realise that they should be doing it? We should be
causing the schools and the professional institutions to say
that they should be paying attention to this and offering it
on the side it is good for them to do that because it makes
them relevant and keeps them busy. It is a good service to
provide their members. That is the trick and that does not
exist.
Cİ: Can we add template of roadmap to the board.
DG: I think that the keyword that is missing is the glue.
The glue that causes people to realise it and causes the
organisations to prepare for. It is the spray that you apply
on these individuals and organisations that once you use it
they get stuck on it. The glue that makes things together to
make connections.
HN: This looks like my sketch from yesterday. It is pretty
much the whole thing. The red dots are the activities. The
cloud is the possible and available competences. The only
thing remains is the culture and individuals in place. DG: I
think that the keyword that is missing is the glue. The glue
that causes people to realise it and causes the organisations
to prepare for. It is the spray that you apply on these
individuals and organisations that once you use it they get
stuck on it. The glue that makes things together to make
connections.
HN: This looks like my sketch from yesterday. It is pretty
much the whole thing. The red dots are the activities.
The cloud is the possible and available competences. The
only thing remains is the culture and individuals in place.
These might be the road signs but you do not need to
follow them. If you turn left you would develop yourself on
that track but if you turn right, you will have an another
track, and by the end of your life you would add many
thing beside from your diploma. Many of the graduates
are ok with the diploma but we value lifelong education. I
would also like to add that as what David said, there might
be things that are not recognised which had emerged from
yesterdays sessions. There are competencies which are not
recognised by the community. These are derived from the
practitioners who do not define themselves as designers,
and that needs to be unearthed in a sense. So maybe, that
could be added to this atomic explosion of individuals.
Cİ: I want to make sure where are we putting the credentials?
HN: If this were a dynamic graph that we work on it, this
straight line would show one person moving in this direction.
The credential is that if this activity has enough gravity
to pull that person back down, then he would move as in
that part. So the gravity is the credentials, the pulling force.
DG: The point I would like to make is that the division of
three is arbitrary. We can point out and map the activities
and competences but I am maintaining the credentials as
glue. It is the self awareness that puts all of these together.
It is in the minds of the people.
HN: It is connected to the minds of the people if it is
attached to the activities. Credentials are attached to the
activities. If an activity has enough gravitational force, then
it convinces people to join that activity. So blue arrows
in my representation are credentials. If that arrow is too
strong than it would pull the individual closer.
HE: I do not think that it is a one way process. Especially in designer’s life, going back of the process is important. I believe
that this should be rather a circular map. I think if this is the life cycle of designer we can divide it by two. If we say everything
starts with a curiosity then there is a credential somewhere. After got a diploma from a university you become a professional.
In life, there are a lot of things such as these red dots. And then we come here with a lot of problems such as a bad
design. On the action side, there is a lot of activities such as an outsourcing. But the designer is in the centre. In a dynamic
way we can evaluate this periodically.
DG: I believe it is very relevant and interesting but it is an another issue.
HE: To conclude, there is a critical factor that evaluates the process that is specific for designers and create a passport for
some reason.
HN: The plug in part, what does it consist of? Where do they come from? Who are they?
HE: This is the actor that we were discussing about.
HN: It is a commission of thing. I think I would agree with David that it is a mother problem that value process but not a
design education process. It is more a complete and larger picture.

HE: I cannot help but think that they are different from
each other. I believe that they are relevant.
AF: I would like to talk about the roadmap. Some people
have their roadmap linear, circular or even chaotic. Who
will draw this roadmap? Maybe we cannot show them a
roadmap but we can create template of roadmaps. But
we cannot think of all the roadmaps. There are always
new ways of a design process. If we give a template and
sample then, individuals can create their own roadmaps.
If someone come to us and consult on what he should do,
we have to give him some guidance on how he can create
his own.
AKİ: I would like to add something. We were talking
about a smart application and an interactive web page
that people can follow it like a roadmap also to see others
roadmaps. If somebody want some course, other people
can be aware of and maybe contribute.
HA: During our conversation, an interesting and a very
relevant concept of flaneur came to my mind. It defines
someone who wonders around cities in modern times.
Perhaps a lifelong learner and a designer has to take this
attitude.
HN: The idea that we drawn is an exact similar behaviour
of a flaneur. I also remember how my son starts to a video
game. He just starts the game and tries to collect all the
coins and trophies. This concept of trophy might be on a
larger scale but is also along the process.
CÇ: I mentioned before that there was a research about
creative industries on England. To reach at a certain title
you need to know about the skill sets necessary to earn.
In these creative industries, to achieve a certain title you
need to complete certain skill sets. They collect all these
checks and later evaluated according to each title. For
another title, they give another outline of skill sets needed
to earn that. I think the glue part is a kind of accreditation
of systems. For certain titles you need to have certain skill
sets. I like this gravity idea because it really suits the idea
of making designers recognised. I think if you want to give
a conclusion, we should check that creative industry report
of London.
EA: If we have focused on learning centred ecosystem,
ecosystem requires an environment. I think that in our
system we should define the elements of these systems and
share with each other.
SS: I believe based on what David wrote, glue is the most
important part. I read it as the culture of seeking to learn.
If this culture is not there, it is very difficult to go and
advertise since nobody will join. If it is working in other
cultures like Berlin, it is because that this culture was there
long time ago. Our job is to create such a culture from the
basis of the start of life. Then after the university, people
will go after themselves. The rest of these are just the credits
that we give them. This lifelong learning is depended
on that culture with that glue. Otherwise it will not work.
DG: If they know that they are going somewhere, they will
ask for the map. If we make them a map and they do not
use it then it will not work. I agree completely.
AKI: I would like to define the keywords and other parts in
this scheme. Know that we understood glues as culture but
we should further discuss what of the others? This is a very
big and expensive economy. Nowadays, internet gives a
very equal distribution of information but we should consider
the importance of economy.
Cİ: We have to conclude this discussions here. I would
like to thank to all of you very much for participation. We
would like to thank Bilgi University and Communication
Faculty for offering us this chance to be here. I would also
like to thank to ico-D for supporting, my colleague Andreas,
and all the people who have done hard work. Thank
you. But before ending this workshop I would like to ask
David to say a few words as a representative of ico-D.
DG: These issues are very important to us. It was a very
good learning experience. I truly appreciate all the efforts
made especially by Cihangir and Andreas on preparing
all these works behind us as they help us a great deal. We
look forward to get the results on how to use them. But it is
not easy and not obvious. It is a complicated process. But
we surely appreciate all the efforts although I learnt a lot. I
would like to thank everybody for all their contributions.
AGENDA
The concluding diagram reflects the shared understanding in the plenum of the workshop, that Lifelong Learning has a continuing
relevance around people’s life trajectory. Recognizing Lifelong Learning as the glue, that holds a heterogeneous cloud
of Competences, Credentials and Actions, will help developing appropriate curricular concepts to seed, breed, and cultivate
it.
Competences
• Seeding at an early Stage
Imbuing cyclical patterns of observing, understanding, and
knowledge modeling at an early stage in people’s development
prepares the foundation for Lifelong Learning
• Map of Competences
Visualizing experts’ profiles reveals densities, relationships,
and topographies that provide cues not only for navigating/
expanding a personal career but also possible destinations
for those who seek people with specific expertise
• Identifying within Contexts
While framed and certified competences are the building blocks
of formal education, capturing and cultivating skills that
are evidenced through successful acting in various situations
requires adaptive strategies across domains and disciplines
Credentials
• Holding Communities of Professionals to Account
Institutions and associations are tasked to develop and expand
learning opportunities, to establish certification criteria
and valuations, and to promote collaboration across expert
domains
• Badges of Recognition
Credentials as expert currency that can be exchanged to
various denominations and traded across domains
• Patching Gaps left by Formal Education
Competences and professional execution – actions – are held
together by seals of recognition.
Actions
• Building a Culture of Learning
Promote learning how to learn outside of schemes that are
defined by a set curriculum, dedicated facilities, and socially
sanctioned credentials
• Lifelong Learning as Professional More
Design practice is based on continuous explorations and
efforts to advance competences in a wide array of fields
• Engaging in Cycles of Actions
Lifelong Learning is open ended, continuously evolving from
the effective dealing with low-complexity tasks.

PEOPLE
Moderators
Sébastien Shahmiri is a Corporate Communication specialist and a lecturer at Istanbul Bilgi
University. After studying Fine Arts at Beaux-art-de Paris and finishing Graphic Studies
at Wimbledon School of Art, London, he worked in senior positions at large design and
communications organizations in the US, France, and Germany. Throughout the 1990s, he
has been involved in the design of corporate lectures at CeBIT, the yearly global event for
digital business in Hannover, Germany. In 2001, he returned to England from Germany
to work as lecturer at Edinburgh, East-London, Cambridge, Middlesex Universities, while
serving as Senior Communications Consultant for various commercial organizations. At
that point, he also undertook a Lifelong Learning Teacher Training Program. In 2010, he
moved to Turkey where he started to work from Istanbul. Since 2011, Sébastien has been
giving Design and Project Management courses at Istanbul Bilgi University.
Halil Nalçaoğlu is Professor and Dean of the Faculty of Communication at Istanbul Bilgi
University. After graduating from the Sociology Department of Middle East Technical University,
he earned his master’s degree at the Social Sciences Institute of Ankara University
and doctorate’s degree at Massachusetts University. His areas of interest are Education,
Theory and Philosophy of Communication, Cultural Studies, Deconstruction, and Media
Ecology. Halil has penned many articles on topics ranging from Social Memory and
Political Iconology to Internet and Youth in various publications and his own book ‘Kültürel
Farkın Yapısökümü’ - ‘The Deconstruction of Cultural Difference’ (2006). He also translated
Slavoj Zizek’s ‘Did Somebody Say Totalitarianism’ into Turkish. His educational philosophy
and motto are ‘Empower Students - Liberate Classrooms - Contribute to Community Life’.
David Grossman is the current President of ico-D (International Council of Design), the
world’s largest organization representing professional designers. He is an environmental
graphic designer and partner of Daedalos Design Studio in Tel Aviv. David is one of the
founders of the Israel Community of Designers and also a founder of Vital, the Tel Aviv
Center for Design Studies, and the Graphic Design Department of Shenkar College. He has
played a key role as organizer, editor, lecturer, and juror for many international design
festivals, conferences, and exhibitions, catalogs, and annuals.
Experts
Cihan Çankaya is a project and production manager as well as project grants designer
in the areas of Food Production, Tourism, Movies, R&D, Sports, and Entertainment. After
participating in the shooting of a James Bond movie in Turkey, he decided to dedicate
himself to audio-visual productions and new technologies. In 2014 he founded DECOL -
the Digital Experience Collective, where designers and artists are both stakeholders and
employees, with a group of friends. Under the roof of Istanbul Bilgi University’s Visual
Communication Design Department, DECOL received government grants from the Istanbul
Development Agency. In 2015, Cihan developed a project proposal for the DECOL
Academy - a new platform for digital production education. Currently, Cihan is in charge
of DECOL’s cooperative resources, costumer services, and productions. He works on new
projects to extend cooperative business models around the world.
Yeşim Demir Proehl is a lecturer at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University, Graphic Design
Department. She has won many awards in design competitions of The Turkish Society of
Graphic Designers (GMK) where she also served as Chairwoman of the board (2005-
2012). She has been Vice-President of ico-D (International Council of Design) in 2011 and
2013. In 2014 she has been member of the advisory board of the 2nd Istanbul International
Design Biennial. She has lectured in seminars in Turkey and abroad and participated
in many national and international jury panels. At demirtasarim Yeşim is focusing on
exhibition, book, and corporate identity design.
Harun Ekinoğlu is an Urban Designer at the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayoral
Advisory Office Istanbul Tourism Atelier. After receiving his Bachelor’s degree from Bilkent
University and Master’s degree from the Politecnico di Milano in Urban Design with honors
(2006), Harun and his team received an honorable mention award in the urban design
competition ‘Historic District Renewal and Design Strategy’ organized by UNESCO and
UN-HABITAT World Urban Forum III. He has been involved with various architectural, industrial,
and urban design projects as well as national and international competitions within
the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality. Recently, Harun has been a TUBITAK Visiting Fellow
at Columbia University (2014 - 2015). He currently continues his research on Urban Spatial
Analysis and Participatory Design as a PhD candidate at Istanbul Technical University.
Aslı Kıyak İngin is Lecturer at the Industrial Design Department of Istanbul Bilgi University
and Tutor at the Post Industrial Design Master Programme, University of Thessaly. Aslı has
been active in many NGOs and served as Vice President of the Industrial Designers Society
of Turkey Istanbul Branch (2006-2009) and as President of the Human Settlements Association
(2008-2010). In 2006 she has initiated the Made in Şişhane project that evolved into
the Informal Academy during the 2nd Istanbul Design Biennial. She has also been academic
coordinator of the Masterpiece of Beyoglu project as a model for integrating traditional
and informal master-apprentice training systems with formal education systems in a contemporary
way. Her publications include Istanbul Para-Doxa and Made in Şişhane.
Umut Südüak is a graphic designer and lecturer at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University, Graphic
Design Department. In 1998, he received his bachelor degree from the Graphic Design
Department of Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University, and in 2000 his masters degree in communication
design from Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London. Throughout his
career, he has received several national and international awards, organized workshops,
and served at jury panels. Since 2012, he is president of the Turkish Graphic Designers
Association (GMK). Umut has his own freelance design practice in Istanbul.
Participants
Dr. Ebru Alarslan is Urban Planning Expert on Disaster Mitigation and Urban Resilience at
the Turkish Ministry of Environment and Urbanization, Directorate General for Infrastructure
and Urban Transformation Services. She received her doctoral degree from the Technical
University of Dortmund. Recently Ebru has been acting as Advisor to the Municipality of
Yalova in the Campaign of ‘UNISDR Resilient Cities’, as Reviewer to international journals,
and as Board Member of the EU Horizon 2020 Projects. She produced several publications
on Disaster Mitigation, Urban Resilience, Spatial Data Infrastructure, and Geographical
Information Systems.
Hande Akyıl is Certificate Programs Executive at Bilgi Education ‘Lifelong Education Centre’
of Istanbul Bilgi University which has programs for professional development, art, and culture.
She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Italian Language and Literature from the University of
Istanbul and a Master’s degree in Communication Sciences from the University of Florence,
Italy. Hande is currently involved in designing and implementing training programs as Education
Coordinator. She also completed a one-year certificate program in Design Culture
and Management at Istanbul Bilgi University in collaboration with Domus Academy, Italy.
Dr. Bengisu Bayrak is Associate Professor of Fine Arts at Nişantaşı University in Istanbul. After
completing her studies in Fine Arts at Marmara University, Bengisu received her master’s
degree from Istanbul Bilgi University and her proficiency in art from Marmara University.
She participated in many solo and group exhibitions and received numerous awards and
won many competitions. Bengisu continues her research in the areas of Painting, Print Making,
Installation, Photography, Video, and Film.

Dr. Gökçe Dervişoğlu Okandan is Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Communication /
Department of Arts and Cultural Management of Istanbul Bilgi University. After her studies
at Innsbruck University and the Copenhagen Business School’s Center for Art and Leadership,
she received a Ph.D. on the role of Corporate Support in Culture and the Arts. She has
held consultancy positions for integration/turnaround projects in the Turkish industries and
has presented on various conferences on Culture and Creative Industries, Social/Cultural
Entrepreneurship, and Strategic Management.
Ertuğrul Belen is Founding Partner of the Business Networking Academy in Istanbul, where
he provides coaching for professionals and entrepreneurs to improve result-driven and
effective business relations, and to develop successful networking strategies. He graduated
from the Galatasaray High School and the University of Wisconsin. Networking projects
Ertuğrul developed and executed have received many national and international awards.
He also held various roles as founder and board member of prominent ventures and
NGOs in Turkey. Ertuğrul is the author of bestsellers such as Networking: The Art of Meeting,
Referring and Getting Known and The Golden Rules of Entrepreneurship.
Ayhan Fişekçi is Human Resource Management Consultant and Business Development
Director at iCanRecruit. After receiving a civil engineering degree from the Middle Eastern
Technical University in Ankara, he worked as a financial advisor and trainer, using
his experience in marketing and sales of life and pension products. He also worked as a
personal performance coach. In 2010, he was hired by ING Bank as Corporate Development
Vice President, responsible for the International Talent Development Programs, Branch
Manager Development Programs, Performance Management System, and HR Reorganization
Projects. Making his entry into the retail industry in 2011, Ayhan became the Head of
Training and Development of Colin’s Academy, where he was responsible for developing
and building the Strategic Performance and Career Management Systems.
Staff
Atanur Andıç
Design
Tuğba Şahin
Coordinator / Communications
Editors:
Cihangir Istek
Andreas Schneider
Atanur Andıç
Student Support
Photography / Video / Sound:
Atahan Yılmaz
Sevde Kayaoğlu
Mert Sak
Mehmet Fatih Er
Mehmet Kutay Sever
Arda Alparslan
Book Design
Burca Tekin
Curators
Cihangir Istek gained his MSc. from University College London and a PhD from the University
of Tokyo. Cihangir has held several faculty positions and has been teaching design based
on Learning-by-Doing and Real-Life Projects with a focus on Space and Environments
at various universities. Currently, he is ico-D Vice-President and Vice-Chair of the Department
of Communication Design and Management at Istanbul Bilgi University. In addition
to his academic work, he has taken on several design and consultancy roles with international
scope, including the founding and directing of an interdisciplinary design practice.
Since 2008, Cihangir has been an Associate and Design Representative in Istanbul of the
Institute for Information Design Japan (Tokyo).
Andreas Schneider worked as corporate concept designer for Weathernews International
in Japan, after teaching several years as an Associate Professor at the Visual Communication
Department of the Academy of Fine Arts Berlin. In 1996, he became one of the founding
members of the Department of Information Design at Tama Art University in Tokyo.
From 2001 to 2010 he has been professor at IAMAS, the Institute for Advanced Sciences
Arts and Media and a visiting lecturer at Waseda University, Istanbul Bilgi University, the
National Institute for Design in Ahmedabad, India. Andreas is co-founder of IIDj, the Institute
for Information Design Japan in Tokyo.
Curators’ Statement:
We have identified three core domains to follow in our Lifelong Learning activities: Competences,
Credentials, and Actions. We do research in these areas, develop design interventions
with concerned people, and curate/produce workshops, conferences, exhibitions, and
publications that make findings available to larger audiences. Producing tools that help our
work, visualizing complex relationships/data, and collaborating with experts from non-design
fields excites us most!