VIRTUAL MADRID FOCUS ON PEDAGOGY

Abstract

Building on previous research investigating AI in design education, this paper begins by reflecting on findings that explored AI-mediated creativity and collaboration within single-discipline contexts. That study suggested that AI can enhance technical skills and expand creative possibilities, while also raising challenges in ethical reasoning, interpretation, and cultural/real-world understanding. This paper extends these insights by examining cross-disciplinary design education at the Dubai Institute of Design and Innovation (DIDI), a model integrating fashion, multimedia, strategic design, and product design. Using DIDI as a case study, the research investigates how AI-mediated learning can act as a bridge between disciplines, and how students navigate differences in disciplinary language, epistemology, and practice while engaging with AI tools. The focus, then, is on understanding AI not as a mere tool or source of dependency, but as a facilitator and co-creator of knowledge. To do so, the paper employs a phenomenological-hermeneutic methodology grounded in Hans-Georg Gadamer’s concepts of dialogue and interpretation, analysing student projects, AI outputs, and reflective accounts. This approach reveals how AI outputs generate interpretive engagement, prompting students to negotiate meaning, reconcile disciplinary perspectives, and exercise critical judgment. By doing so, DIDI’s interdisciplinary framework serves as an example of experimental learning, highlighting both the opportunities and complexities introduced by technological mediation. The findings offer forward-looking implications for pedagogical strategies, demonstrating how AI can foster collaborative, cross-disciplinary creativity while supporting interpretive depth and reflective practice, hence encouraging educators to rethink interdisciplinary design approaches in the AI era.