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The rapid adoption of extended reality (XR) is driving the development of immersive educational services and increasing the need for systematic design approaches. From a Design for Extended Reality (DfXR) perspective, this study investigates authentic XR use-cases to develop an empirically grounded framework that synthesises design principles supporting educational service innovation, learner engagement, user adoption, and organisational implementation. The study is based on qualitative findings from open-ended provider and user-reflections, structured queries where use-case descriptions have been gathered. It explores a series of authentic use-cases, delving into both design and user experience aspects. The data was collected through firsthand experimental testing, use-case workshop reflections, and insights from the lead designer. In addition, two technology providers added use-case insights together with two classes of engineering design students. The findings uncover use-case design insights and their value concerns. Past research has shown that XR service solutions deliver added value to various stakeholders, employees, and customers on multiple fronts. The study identifies critical aspects for establishing user adoption proficiency and highlights that delivery value deviates between stakeholders, benefits, and practical use. This study contributes to the emerging DfXR discourse by synthesising findings from authentic XR use-cases into an empirically grounded framework for educational service design. The proposed framework demonstrates how pedagogical, technological, and organisational design considerations can be systematically integrated to support immersive learning, user adoption, and organisational implementation. By shifting the focus from technological capability to intentional design, the study provides practical guidance for developing scalable and effective XR educational services across higher education and professional learning contexts. 

In an era shaped by autonomous systems, designers increasingly confront a central question: how should responsibility and decision-making be distributed when environmental action is partially delegated to algorithms? This article explores how AI infrastructures in marine environmental operations reshape relations between human intention, machine autonomy, and ecological care. Drawing on posthuman design theory, Actor–Network Theory, and explainable AI, the study proposes an Ethics of Autonomy framework that positions design as a mediator between human oversight and algorithmic agency. Using a case-informed analysis of three marine robotic systems—FloatyBoats (coral restoration), Seaswarm (oil spill mitigation), and the autonomous surface vessel Vatoz (marine waste collection), the paper illustrates how sensing, feedback loops, and adaptive control enable autonomous systems to move from environmental monitoring toward ecological intervention. The study argues that responsible innovation in autonomous environmental technologies requires systems that are interpretable, accountable, and embedded within transparent algorithmic decision-making infrastructures supporting ecological responsibility. 

Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) is reshaping how students engage with learning both within and beyond traditional classroom settings. In a time when the development of transferable skills is essential for enabling students to thrive in varied and rapidly evolving environments, the potential of GenAI to enhance learning engagement remains insufficiently understood. Despite rising interest in interactive, personalised learning companions that enable deep engagement and ongoing skills development, scholarly research remains limited. This gap constrains effective institutional use of GenAI, reinforces black-box thinking, and restricts understanding of meaningful student engagement and skills acquisition. This paper investigates how a GenAI-enabled AI teacher supports student learning engagement, focusing on behavioral engagement as evidenced by learner interaction and participation patterns across diverse international higher education institutions. Using a combination of quantitative engagement metrics and qualitative learner reflections, the study examines how GenAI supports personalised learning, sustained interaction, autonomy, and cognitive engagement among students with varying educational backgrounds. The findings demonstrate that GenAI-based teaching systems can promote meaningful learning engagement, enhance motivation, and strengthen the development of transferable and employability skills. The study contributes empirical evidence to current debates on GenAI integration, teacher practices, and student engagement, offering implications for curriculum design and institutional adoption of GenAI-enabled learning tools.

This paper explores the implementation of Extended Reality (XR) technologies as educational tools for multidisciplinary and multicultural learning in the fields of Project Management and Product Design. This study is the result of an international collaboration between three universities: Tecnológico de Monterrey (Mexico), Mälardalen University (Sweden), and the University of Seville (Spain). Throughout 2024, didactic activities were developed using virtual and augmented reality technologies, designed by professors and carried out by interdisciplinary and multicultural teams of students from the three institutions. The interactions were carried out remotely through collaborative platforms, thus allowing a significant integration of XR capabilities in the educational context. The results obtained encompass both qualitative and quantitative dimensions, highlighting improvements in the understanding of complex concepts, the development of critical skills, and the promotion of intercultural collaboration. The analysis of these data provides valuable lessons on the effectiveness and challenges of using XR in higher education, underscoring its potential to enrich academic programs and foster greater global connectivity between students and teachers.

This contribution describes the application of project management in the design of a virtual reality educational lesson of a DeLaval VSM system, which academically explains the operation of a milking stable operated by CAETEC (Agricultural Experimental Field of Tecnológico de Monterrey). This collaborative project involved the University of Mondragon, Mälardalen University and Tecnológico de Monterrey. The lesson was designed by integrating various tools and methodologies, including design thinking, design of experiments, soft systems methodologies and project management. The multidisciplinary and multicultural approach allowed effective teamwork, considering academic norms and regulations of all institutions involved, including private initiative. A constant focus on educational innovation was maintained throughout the project, ensuring that learning and business objectives were met. The combination of these methodologies facilitated the creation of an immersive virtual reality educational environment, optimizing the understanding of technical concepts of milking and practical application of project management and VSM systems concepts in an agricultural context. © 2025, Asociacion Espanola de Direccion e Ingenieria de Proyectos (AEIPRO). All rights reserved.

The COVID-19 pandemic was a great opportunity for learning and solving challenges to develop tools that enable excellence in distance education. This research summarizes the "journey" of research professors in educational innovation, detailing the results of different classroom implementations of virtual and augmented reality lessons at both Tecnologico de Monterrey and Mälardalen University for industrial engineering and design programs. In this paper, we describe the methodology for designing virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) lessons from two different approaches: designing a lesson for a specific topic and the design of a lesson using virtual and augmented reality lessons already realized and adapted to enhance learning using this type of emerging methodologies. The obtained results show the implementation of the lessons in different training units and how enhanced engagement and deeper understanding can be promoted through extended reality (XR).

Navigating societal, technological, and environmental changes, the urgent need for transformational change within organizations and society has become a paramount concern. The sustainable development goals (SDGs) necessities innovative approaches that can address complexities and multiple-actor involvement to enable systemic shifts. This paper highlights the urgency of quality education SDG #4 as a trigger point for educational change action. This paper seeks to explore how design thinking can be systematically linked with transformational change and theoretically contribute as process enabler as part of an educational ecosystem. Through actuators, change agents, change processes and reasons for addressing this from a systems perspective is conceptualized in an educational ecosystem. By delving into co-evolutionary dynamics of organizational complexities, this paper looks for ways to establish more resilient strategies for change that also in for future work can further inspire to align efforts with the SDGs.  

Purpose – Despite increasing focus among scholars and practitioners on the design of product-services systems (PSS), there exists no compilation of current knowledge on the role played by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in designing such systems. Thus, this paper sets out to identify and organise the existing research and suggest questions for future research.

Design/methodology/approach—A systematic literature review was performed to identify and provide in-depth details on key themes in the literature addressing the design of PSS in SMEs.

Findings – This paper identifies five themes in the literature on the design of PSS in SMEs: motives, challenges, SME characteristics, methods and digitalisation. The themes are interrelated, and SME characteristics seem to beat the core as they are related to all the other themes. Gaps in the current knowledge are identified, and questions for future research are suggested.

Originality/value – The suggestions for future research provide a starting point for expanding the research on PSS design and devising practical support for SMEs.

Universities face a critical crossroads, in need of swift, targeted, and efficient actions toaddress future challenges. This necessities a strategic approach to updating and assessingengineering design education. Efforts to improve teaching and learning require systematicchange in many universities, yet research on structuring such change is scarce. Few studieshave combined a systems perspective with a functional operational level. This researchembeds design thinking to structure to isolated actions. Drawing from an extensive literaturereview of educational change frameworks and several illustrative cases, this article demon-strates the potential of design-driven change. It highlights how dynamic interrelations canfacilitate educational transformations across diverse academic levels. By presenting aneducational ecosystem as a framework for systematic educational change, design thinkingfunctions as a catalyst for educational transformation. The article also presents case findingsthat strengthen supportive actions ingrained in existing change research frameworks con-necting, them to a transparent approach for sustainable and careful decision-making.

This paper presents a scrutinising attempt to design an artificial design tutor (ADT) that can specifically support development task throughout the phases of product development. In the format of a conceptual paper, it is arguable important to consider how artificial intelligence can support task related aspects, and more complex process-oriented design processes, not as an immediate substitute but as a supplement. With the purpose to present the founding principles of an ADT, the full paper adds insights through a series of interviews with academics and professionals working in the field of AI. The ADT is designed based on generative AI protocols and follows the escalating trend of utilising more and more areas with AI tools to facilitate and improve existing processes. From Newsweek magazine alone, it has been stated that numerous fully functioning AI apps are released every week, exceeding a growth rate of 38% in 2023. The AI components in an ADT can contribute to improved decision-making processes, where machine learning algorithms may be used to improve the ADT's ability to recognise and capture user preferences, emerging design trends, and successful design strategies. Consequently, given the range of scope, we still have not faced any ADT, which probably is connected to the complexity of the process itself. This paper hopes to inspire the cross-disciplinary efforts that advance the community of designers, and design educators, involving computer scientists, IT specialists, AI consultants, systems developers, and beyond, to further explore potential and risks of AI-enabled design support.