Bea Rodriguez-Fransen: Embrace decolonial design futures thinking in education

Create. Share. Engage.

Assistant Research Professor in Principled Innovation Dr Bea Rodriguez-Fransen works at the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory at Arizona State University (ASU), focusing on its Principled Innovation Infrastructure for Discovery and Engagement initiative.

In early 2025, Bea published the book Education and decolonial futures in the Philippines: Perspectives for educators and practitioners in which she introduces the decolonial design futures framework that she developed. It is an extension of design thinking to suit working with Indigenous and marginalised communities better.

Bea introduces the decolonial design futures framework along with the decolonial portals and related ideas in this episode, tying them in particular to reflection and how educators can make use of the techniques and frameworks that she's developed, tested, and elaborated on through her work with different communities.

Additional resources

• Mary Lou Fulton College for Teaching and Learning Innovation
• Principled innovation framework
• Bea's TED World Theater talk 'Unlocking Indigenous knowledge: A new path for education'
• Young African Leaders Initiative
• Design Justice Network
• Costanza-Chock, S. (2020). Design justice. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
• Paulo Freire
• Cervantes, C. L. G. (2025). The Filipino experience of Kutob: Understanding culturally-informed hyper-intuition. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies Advance Publication Archive, 113.
• Rank, H. (1976). Teaching about public persuasion, In: Daniel Dietrich (ed.). Teaching about doublespeak. Illinois: National Council of Teachers of English.
• ORID framework
• Rodriguez-Fransen, B. (2024). From “Little Brown Brother” to Filipino genocide: A critical discourse analysis of the Philippine-American War’s impact on Modern Filipino colorism. Journal of Colorism Studies; Windsor Mill, 5(1), 1–22.
• Quimpo, N. G. (2020). Colonial name, colonial mentality and ethnocentrism. Public Policy, 4(1), 1–49.

Related episodes

• Christine Slade and Kevin Kelly: Digital ethics principle DEIBD
• Kevin Kelly & Kristina Hoeppner: Digital ethics principles and UDL guidelines

Subscribe to the monthly newsletter about Mahara and portfolios.
Production information
Production: Catalyst IT
Host: Kristina Hoeppner
Artwork: Evonne Cheung
Music: The Mahara tune by Josh Woodward

บท

1. Introduction (00:00:00)

2. What is principled innovation? (00:02:19)

3. Why did you write your book? (00:05:43)

4. What is the decolonial design futures framework? (00:07:32)

5. What is your prompt to start reflection? (00:15:45)

6. Side note: The country name of the Philippines (00:21:47)

7. How can you work with the decolonial portals framework? (00:23:14)

8. How can people contribute to the decolonial design futures framework? (00:31:21)

9. Q&A: Words to use to describe storytelling that respects Indigenous cultures (00:35:31)

10. Q&A: A tip for learning designers and educators (00:37:41)

11. Q&A: A tip for learners (00:38:45)