Sod+a
Schools of Discovery + Action
SOD+A is a cross-institutional pilot program co-led by LCC (Lower Canada College, Montreal) and Fab Lab Barcelona, with the collaboration of OCAD University (Toronto). It connects students, educators, and makers through a shared design-fabrication challenge. Grounded in experiential, project-based learning, the program invites students to prototype ideas using digital fabrication tools, document their creative process openly, and engage with circular design values.
Participants are assessed through four lenses — The Design Process, Bits to Atoms, Making Meaning, and Creating Microworlds — and earn Bronze, Silver, or Gold recognition based on the criteria they meet. The challenge culminates in a collective showcase of student discoveries with potential impact on their school or cultural community.
The Challenge
Higher education design programs often operate in institutional isolation, disconnected from hands-on fabrication practices and from peers at other universities and cultural contexts. Students rarely have the opportunity to prototype in physical-digital space, share their work openly, or iterate alongside international collaborators.
Existing assessment frameworks tend to reward finished outcomes over creative process, discouraging experimentation, risk-taking, and the kind of reflective making that produces real learning.
Type of Project
Pilot program co-led by LCC (Lower Canada College, Montreal) and Fab Lab Barcelona. It blends design research, digital fabrication, open-source culture, and cross-institutional pedagogy. Activities include curriculum co-creation, community-based seminars, industry collaboration, and the production of Public Open Educational Resources.
Our Solution
SOD+A bridges institutions and disciplines through a common design-fabrication challenge with a simple, observable, and evidence-based assessment framework. Shared criteria establish a baseline for participation, while partner-specific recognitions celebrate each institution’s distinctive approach without creating an overwhelming checklist.
Students document their process, iterate based on feedback, and publish their work so others can learn from and adapt it. Technology supports co-creation across distances, and the program closes with a collaborative showcase of student work.
Project Outputs
- Shared assessment framework co-designed across three institutions
- Cross-institutional student showcases connecting makers from Montreal, Barcelona, and Toronto
- Open Educational Resources (OER) published and freely available
- Student portfolios documenting design-fabrication processes
- Community-based seminars and industry collaborations in each partner city
- Bronze / Silver / Gold recognition certificates for participating students
The Project
SOD+A is a pilot program co-led by LCC and Fab Lab Barcelona, blending design research, digital fabrication, open-source culture, and cross-institutional pedagogy. It is designed as a co-curricular challenge — running alongside existing programs at partner institutions — allowing students to connect their academic work to hands-on making and to peers in other cities.
The program integrates curriculum co-creation between partner institutions, community-based seminars open to local practitioners, industry collaboration, and the production of Public Open Educational Resources. It asks: what does it mean to learn by making, together, across borders?
The challenge ends not just with individual student outcomes, but with a collective event — a showcase of discoveries and actions with potential impact on the school or cultural community.
Four dimensions of making
Assessment is simple, observable, and evidence-based. Students can pass some criteria and not others; feedback drives iteration, and iteration is part of the challenge.
A · The Design Process
- Embrace iteration — Show that you can test, change, and improve your work based on what you learn as you make.
- Design for circularity — Show how your design choices minimize waste: reuse, repair, regenerate, or redesign.
B · Bits to Atoms
- Fab Labs as research — Show how you combined different technologies and digital fabrication tools in prototyping ideas that can be shared digitally.
- Fully shareable + scalable — Publish relevant files and details so others can remake, learn from, and adapt your work.
C · Making Meaning
- Make it personal — Provide evidence that reveals your unique voice as a maker, designer, or artist.
- Clarity of expression — Compelling documentation (photos, video, artwork) with captions showing key creative decisions.
D · Creating Microworlds
- Experiment to get ideas — Show several simple ideas before locking into one direction.
- Learning through constraints — Show how your ideas evolve as a result of the creative constraints informing your work.
Our Contribution
Fab Lab Barcelona co-leads SOD+A alongside LCC, contributing its expertise in digital fabrication, open-source design, and maker pedagogy to co-design the shared assessment criteria and the program’s learning architecture.
We host students and educators in our Fab Lab, providing access to fabrication tools, materials, and the global Fab Lab network. We contribute to the development and publication of Open Educational Resources, ensuring all materials remain freely accessible and adaptable for future iterations. We also facilitate connections between students, practitioners, and the broader maker community in Barcelona, grounding the program in a real context of production and exchange.
Who is it for?
- Higher education students in design, architecture, and related fields
- Makers and fabricators across skill levels
- Educators and faculty from partner institutions
- Curriculum designers and education researchers
- Cultural institutions and local communities
- Industry collaborators interested in design education
- Open education advocates
Our Partners
LCC — Lower Canada College, Co-lead, Montreal, Canada
Fab Lab Barcelona — IAAC, Co-lead, Barcelona, Spain
OCAD University Collaborator, Toronto, Canada
