Frugal Education: Using Design Cards to Inspire Sustainability. An Interview with Alex Masters

Students using Frugal Education Card Set in a Design Thinking Classroom

“Frugal Education” is a blog and website dedicated to providing resources, tips, and strategies for sustainable learning. The content includes reviews of cost-effective educational tools, open educational resources, DIY learning project ideas, and guidance on accessing free or low-cost resources. The site aims to make innovation accessible to all, emphasizing the value of creativity and smart planning in achieving educational goals while centering sustainability.

The Frugal Education Action Cards are a fairly easy to use tool for rethinking education design in frugal and sustainable ways. The card set is in and of itself a frugal tool – it can be printed, assembled and embedded in a design process with learners, instructors, parents, administrators and other stakeholders. As an open educational resource (Creative Commons License CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 ), the cards are free to use, share and adapt to new contexts.

Cards in Design Thinking are versatile tools used to stimulate creativity, facilitate brainstorming, and enhance collaboration among team members. These cards often contain prompts, questions, or scenarios that help guide discussions and inspire innovative thinking. For example, IDEO Method Cards offer different techniques for human-centered design. By providing a structured yet flexible approach, cards can help teams break down complex problems into manageable parts, explore various perspectives, and generate diverse ideas.

I first came across the frugal education resources through an article about using everyday objects for LEGO serious play. I was intrigued by the idea, and decided to introduce the frugal education card deck as part of an ideation session in the design thinking class at the Asian University for Women (AUW) and follow up with the creator of deck, Alex Masters from the Disruptive Media Learning Lab (DMLL) at Coventry University (UK).

Interview

Alex, thank you so much for talking the time to answer interview questions. Since my students used your cards in class, I asked them to send me questions they may have for the developer. What everyone wanted to know is this: What was your inspiration for designing the frugal education card deck?

My pleasure Stefanie, thank you for having me.

The Frugal Education cards were inspired by my research and practical experience designing and developing educational projects and activities over the past decade. Working as an Innovation Technologist at Coventry University’s Disruptive Media Learning Lab, I was exposed to a dizzying array of innovation projects, learning environments, cultural practices, and technical challenges, all of which informed my research into frugal education design. I wanted to develop a tool that presented the aspects of frugal design that I had compiled from my research, one that could be distributed easily, reproduced sustainably, and shared freely among the education community.

The card deck serves as a practical resource that breaks down complex concepts into manageable, actionable steps. Each card contains specific considerations and characteristics related to different aspects of frugal education, such as resourcefulness, practicality, and resilience. These aspects are organised under guiding principles, which help educators navigate the design process with a clear framework. I settled on a physical card deck for its simplicity and familiarity to the largest possible audience. I’m currently working on a web-based version which will be available in a couple of month at frugal.education/cards.

Taking a step back: What is your motivation in general to create and use card decks? Do you remember when you first came across the concept and what was the first card deck you played or designed with?

My motivation primarily stems from the desire build tools that are both practical and accessible. Card decks serve as a concise, organised, and engaging format for presenting information, allowing educators to quickly grasp and apply the concepts within their teaching environments. By breaking down complex ideas into manageable, bite-sized pieces, the card deck format ensures that the information is not only easily digestible but also actionable. This method supports educators to pick up and use the resource at the speed of need. This accessible design reduces the friction of engaging with the cards, making them more attractive option grab and feed into the ideation process. Another key motivator was the ability for others to print their own versions affordably, and if that isn’t an option, the cards can still be easily recreated using a pen, some paper, and a little patience.

I first came across the concept of cards as a design tool when using my previous colleague Kam Star’s AddingPlay card deck; an ideation tool using game mechanics and dynamics in the design process. This, combined with a collaborative card-based game called Space Team which I love, inspired me to use the same medium in a future project. This led to a whole host of card-based creations over the years such as the ‘What is Your Story?’, ‘LEARN’, and ‘Remixing Play’ cards, and most recently the Frugal Education card deck.

The GameChangers team have co-developed several card decks, for example ‘What is your story?’ and ‘Remixing Play’. Can you describe the differences and similarities of different card decks the team have created?

While all the card decks the team have collaborated on, like ‘What is your story?’ and ‘Remixing Play’, share a focus on creativity, flexibility, and user engagement, they differ in their specific purposes and target audiences. ‘What is your story?’ focuses on helping users craft compelling narratives, making it ideal for writers and storytellers. On the other hand, ‘Remixing Play’ encourages innovative play activities, designed especially for educators looking to incorporate playful learning. Despite these differences, both decks are interactive tools that simplify complex concepts and inspire new ideas. We experiment with all sorts of mediums for our tools and resources, but more often than not, the familiar and tactile nature of cards seems to rise to the top as our go-to method. Maybe it’s the designers in us, there’s just something joyful and honest about a well-designed card deck!

Are there overarching design principles that make a deck effective?

I believe so yes. Card decks provide a user-friendly and interactive medium that encourages hands-on engagement and flexibility. The tangible nature of the cards makes them an excellent tool for dynamic learning and spontaneous application, which can be particularly beneficial in diverse educational settings. Whether used for planning lessons, inspiring creative problem-solving, or facilitating collaborative activities, the cards can be shuffled, randomised, and rearranged to suit various needs and contexts. This adaptability, coupled with the familiarity of card decks as a medium, ensures that they are not only accessible but also widely appealing to educators and learners alike, making the process of adopting sustainable and creative practices both enjoyable and effective.

Do you have advice for facilitators? How should facilitators introduce and use the frugal education cards?

As a facilitator, my advice for introducing and using the frugal education cards is to start by explaining the core principles of frugal education, emphasising creativity, resourcefulness, and sustainability. Demonstrate how the cards work by showing examples by shuffling the deck, drawing cards randomly, and applying the prompts to real-life teaching scenarios. Integrate the cards into lesson planning sessions to inspire fresh ideas and resource-efficient strategies. Use them to facilitate group activities for encouraging collaboration and collective problem-solving among educators. Make the cards a regular part of your teaching toolkit, drawing a card daily or weekly to continuously foster a frugal and innovative mindset. This approach will enable the frugal education cards to become a valuable resource for enhancing your education design practices in creative and sustainable ways.

Does each card deck come with its own set of facilitation principles? As an example, would it work totally different to use ‘Remixing Play’ or do the same facilitation principles apply?

Yes and no. Each card deck does come with its own set of facilitation principles tailored to its specific purpose, though there are some overarching principles that apply across all decks. For example, ‘Remixing Play’ focuses on incorporating playful learning activities, while ‘What is your story?’ emphasises narrative development techniques. Despite these differences, the same core facilitation principles – such as encouraging creativity, promoting engagement, and adapting to the audience’s needs – apply all the decks we have developed so far, and I think probably always will. Very importantly, all the decks we have created allow the cards to be randomised, serving as a catalyst for creativity and inspiration by introducing an element of spontaneity and fresh perspectives into the process. The added benefit of this approach is that even without any previous experience or guidance, you can still just throw the cards on the table and start creating with as little friction as possible.

What are the outcomes you would like to see when people are using the frugal education card deck?

Most importantly, I hope to see educators embrace creativity and sustainability, finding new ways to use existing resources responsibly and efficiently. I want the cards to promote ongoing reflection and adaptation, leading to the sharing of creative and environmentally conscious teaching practice. Ultimately, I hope the cards raise awareness of sustainability and resourcefulness, helping educators and students develop a mindset that values these principles, expanding beyond the classroom into their everyday practice.

Why frugal? How did frugal education become the focus of your work and what do you focus on in your PhD thesis?

Great question. I’ve thought about this a lot, and it stems from a few things. Professionally, the approach was, in part, a response to the challenges of budgets and time management when working on a large number of complex projects running in parallel within the Disruptive Media Learning lab at Coventry University. Despite access to funding, it became more effective to simply approach many new projects with a zero budget, rapid development mindset: utilising the Google Venture SPRINT method to great effect. These self-imposed constraints fostered creativity and inspiration in spades, leading to some of our most impactful work within the lab.

Secondly, my experiences working on the CreativeCulture project in Malaysia was a real lightbulb moment for me. In a similar vein to the lab projects, working in the constraints of rural Borneo, leveraging limited available resources, natural materials, and affordable mobile technologies allowed us to co-create innovative and engaging learning designs using a frugal innovation mindset – arguably leading to more impactful educational practice for a fraction of the resources we might have consumed in the more, let’s say, contemporary education environments we were used to.

From a personal perspective, I was deeply influenced by my grandfather, who instilled frugal values in me from an early age. Having experienced the challenges of rationing resources during the Second World War, he taught me the importance of ingenuity, the repurposing of limited resources, and a respect for the natural world. These are some of the most important lessons I have ever learned, and I am forever grateful for his insights and for the sacrifices he had to make to learn those lesson for himself.

As for my PhD journey, the concept of Frugal Education is the backbone of my thesis. This involves researching and documenting case studies of successful frugal innovations in education, creating guidelines for adopting frugal methods, and developing resources like the frugal education card deck. My goal is to provide educators with the knowledge and tools to make education more accessible, sustainable, and effective, regardless of their resource constraints. And I might get a doctorate out of it if I’m lucky, fingers crossed!

Beyond and prior to Frugal Education, you have been involved in (at least) two other projects that are of interest to teachers: GameChangers and CreativeCulture. How can teachers internationally benefit from the work in these projects?

A great way to learn more about these initiatives is to visit their websites at gchangers.org and creativeculture.my respectively. On these sites you’ll find details about the various projects the teams are working on, as well as historical projects, and a host of freely available open educational resources, such as the Remixing Play cards and STEMBucket activities. The teams are always happy to hear from enthusiastic educators, so if you have any questions, ideas for collaboration, or feedback, them don’t hesitate to get in touch!

Why should teachers in secondary and tertiary education care (more) about play?

I would say, regardless of the level of education, play as an approach to learning is an essential part of any learning process in my opinion. Be it creativity, critical thinking, problem-solving, or skills development, all of these practices can be facilitated through play. Playful learning can encourage students to engage with material in a more meaningful and enjoyable way, which can enhance the retention of information and understanding of complex concepts. Play can also promote collaboration and communication in certain instances, developing essential soft skills for use in both academic and professional settings. There are many benefits to play as an education tool, for more about this I’d point you to the work of my colleague and friend Sylvester Arnab, professor of Games Science, who is a lot more qualified to in this area than myself. He’d be an excellent person to interview on the matter!

I was personally intrigued by EscapED, in particular the Virtual Escape Room guide. It is such a good, easy-to-follow recipe. You clearly care about the application of your work. Can you explain how using creative commons licenses supports this and what other ways you use to make sure that your research is usable?

Thank you. Credit to Sylvester for his outstanding work on the Virtual Escape Room project, and Samantha Clarke for her pioneering work on EscapED. Using Creative Commons licenses is very important to us and is a key process to ensure our work is accessible and (re)usable. By allowing other to freely use, share, and remix our resource, this openness not only broadens the impact of our research but also promotes a culture of collaboration and continuous improvement. We pride ourselves on creating clear, user-friendly resources and provide detailed guides and support to help educators implement our designs effectively. We also engage with the community through workshops, practical sessions, and feedback surveys to help refine our tools in response to real-world use cases and needs. Everyone should create materials and resources using Creative Commons, it is a powerful means for knowledge sharing and benefits the educational landscape on a global scale.

Generative AI is currently at the forefront of everyone’s mind. You have a current project about Remixing AI-Generated Media playfully for education. What are you doing in this project and what are your general thoughts in generative AI in education?

It is indeed! Our current AI project comprises collaborative workshops with teachers across Coventry primary schools here in the UK and focuses on exploring the creative and critical integration of General Artificial Intelligence (GAI) into education. These workshops are part of the RED-funded GAI project and have been taking place throughout the spring and summer months. The project has been a fantastic success, and we are learning a lot about the perceptions possibilities of AI in an education context. I think there is incredible scope for AI in teaching and learning, and it’s essential that educators understand the tools available both in terms of the potential benefits and the unintended negative consequences of such a powerful new technology. I’m an optimist, so I lean more towards a positive outlook. I think students will learn to leverage these tools in hitherto unimagined ways for the benefit of their educational journey, however, I am concerned about the potential negative effects that a compute-intensive technology such as this will no doubt have on the environment. This is something we need to be mindful of as researchers, educators, and conscious consumers of technology on the verge of irreversible climate change. Sorry to be a downer, but it’s the truth.

Playful and game-based learning are enduring themes in your work. What games – digital or physical – are you playing currently?

I’m a big fan of multiplayer / social games in general as I find it difficult to sit and play games on my own for more than a half hour at a time. This is mainly due to the fact that I’m always working on various DIY projects at home or travelling. My go to games are Mario Kart, Splatoon 3, and Rayman Legends, all on the Switch. Anything beyond those and I’d prefer to be outside touching grass! 😆 As for physical games, I love Monopoly Deal (seriously, go play it, it’s so much better than classic Monopoly), and I’m currently trying to find the time to play Dead of Winter but I keep failing dismally. Ironically, I’m not a good gamer!

How can people keep up with your work?

Well, conveniently, I have a recently published paper titled “Frugal Education: What, why, and how?”, which provides a deeper dive into the frugal education concepts discussed throughout this interview. You can find out more about my frugal education work over at https://frugal.education where I blog and share open educational resources, such as the Action Cards discussed earlier.

You can also find me on Mastodon at https://mastodon.social/@alexmasters, and if you’re interested in game-based learning, check out GChangers.org for all things play in education.

Thank you for your time, it has been a pleasure talking with you!

About

Alex Masters is an innovation technologist, multimedia designer, and practice-based researcher at Coventry University, with a keen interest in the intersection of technology, innovation, and education. His work emphasizes frugal innovation, rapid development, and playful learning. With over six years of experience designing cost-effective educational solutions, Alex has contributed to numerous international research projects and initiatives. His twenty-year career in multimedia design encompasses web development, graphic design, journalism, photography, social media, brand development, and IT. Currently, Alex is a researcher in Frugal Education and serves as the Technical Operations Lead at the Institute for Creative Cultures, Coventry University.