The Creative Computing Institute (CCI) offers courses ranging from year-long diplomas to 3-year degrees, with most incoming students having little or no prior experience with coding or electronics. Learning these complex skills in a limited timeframe requires self-directed practice, yet students can struggle to do this unless the outcomes feel personally relevant.
Many students join with skills from diverse artistic practices. These are not always considered ‘technical’ as they are not digital, however, disciplines such as textiles, sound arts and drawing rely on repetitive practice to develop. Interdisciplinary learning materials allow these students to combine formal and embodied knowledge (Papert, 1980). Moreover, taking these skills seriously (alongside computing skills) can be empowering for students who see themselves as excluded from traditional STEM education.
One approach involves integrating workshops, inductions, and an open online wiki around a small project to support the development of technical fluency (Matuschak, 2024). This approach was used in teaching materials I developed in 2022 for CCI’s digital embroidery machine, around the theme of generative design.
Digital embroidery files can be produced through a variety of workflows, ranging from proprietary GUI-based tools to the open-source PEMbroider project, which generates embroidery files programmatically. The advantages of PEmbroider are that it is fairly simple, builds on the artistic programming language Processing, and requires students to repeatedly iterate on their code.
I developed material to function both as an in-person workshop, and a self-directed learning resource. The outcomes from both of these approaches have been positive: a number of students from each learning pathway have made repeated use of the tool, adapting to their own context and using for class projects, including data visualisation and materials investigation.
Three years after this resource was introduced, however, the need to update it has become increasingly clear:
- Following the the introduction of the open-source embroidery software Inkstitch, students appear less motivated to learn PEMbroider, as there is another free tool that allows the creation of embroidery files on their own computers which does not require them to develop programming skills.
- While there is a more even gender balance in embroidery inductions, current regular users of the machine are almost exclusively women.
- The language for which the tool was developed (Processing) is no longer taught in the department, having been superceded by P5.js.
To address both 1) and 2), myself and fellow e-textiles technician Rosie will organise new workshops on PEmbroider to ensure that the material reaches a wider range of students. We have also developed more advanced technical content that makes use of the unique qualities of PEMbroider as a malleable (Litt et. al, 2025), programmable medium.
A further way to address 2) may also be peer teaching of textile skills to a wider range of staff. Attitudes among some male staff members have been dismissive (as not ‘real’ technical skill), and while it’s unclear whether these views are shared by students, positive role models may help to broaden the view of the diversity of applications of textiles to technical practice..
To address 3), myself and Rosie will experiment with a new library that has been released for P5 to see if we can maintain the languages’ direct relevance (P5).
References:
Litt, G., Horowitz, J., van Hardenberg, P. & Matthews, T., 2025. Malleable Software: Restoring user agency in a world of locked-down apps. Ink & Switch, https://www.inkandswitch.com/essay/malleable-software (Accessed 21/01/26)
Matuschak, A., 2024. How might we learn? Andy Matuschak. Available at: https://andymatuschak.org/hmwl/ (Accessed 21/01/26)
Papert, S.A., 1980. Mindstorms: Children, computers, and powerful ideas. Basic books