Carte générale de la République démocratique du Congo (RDC)

The thesis explores the application of design fiction in media education, a creative practice that combines speculative design and science fiction to examine potential futures for new technologies. The author suggests using design fiction
to develop a critical inquiry method in media education, based on inquiry-based learning approaches. The aim is to enable students to ask critical questions about digital media and technology to enhance their critical thinking. As part
of this research, an educational programme using design fiction and a rubric for assessing students' critical inquiry competence were developed in collaboration with Action Médias Jeunes, a Belgian non-profit association. The thesis presents the results of this collaboration and addresses the research question of how design fiction can help build a critical inquiry method in media education and how this method can support the development of learners’ critical inquiry
competence. The results show that design fiction can help build this method in its way of encouraging students in formulating hypotheses about the future and investigating them through the production of diegetic prototypes and speculative scenarios. Furthermore, design fiction can contribute to the development of the critical inquiry competence through its ability to generate critical speculative questions about technologies and their future.

Géraldine Wuyckens studied information and communication sciences at UCLouvain, initially in Mons and later in Louvain-la-Neuve, where she earned her master's degree. She continued her journey as a teaching and research assistant, supporting students in the Master's program in Information and Communication Sciences and Technologies. During this time, she conducted her thesis, specialising in media education.