Design Education Strategy

Appropriate pedagogy for practice, the ha-ha in the higher education landscape

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Design Education Strategy

In this paper I argue that appropriate methods and approaches in university teaching require an on- going ontological and epistemological debate. A pedagogic orientation implies a framework for educational decision making and participation that can result in strategic educational failure if it is poorly understood.

The ethics of Ubuntu and community participation in design

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Design Education Strategy

In order to produce skilled design graduates schools regularly restructure their curricula to develop knowledge  characterized  by  continuous  advancements  applicable  to  the  ever-changing  design industry. New schools are in demand and a concern arises that these offer little more than specialized software training and do not sufficiently prepare students to become empathetic, thoughtful individuals that may serve the needs of society.  Former president of the International Council of Graphic Design Associations (ICOGRADA), designer and educator Jorge Frascara (2008, sp) confirms this:

Do the right thing- combat our unsustainable future with design education

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Design Education Strategy

Governments, policy makers and environmental activists across the globe, entered the 21st century with a renewed focus in combatting the impact of humanities unsustainable practices. To achieve this goal a paradigm shift towards being environmentally responsible and accountable is required in which humanity will have to adopt radical personal change. This paper therefore aims to address the unsustainable future that humanity faces through investigating the role of education as agents of change in motivating sustainable practices and inspiring personal, ethical conduct amongst university students.

 

Praxis of Design Education to the current Digital Culture Student

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Design Education Strategy

If “Design is shaped by the community and community shapes design” (DEFSA 2013 brief author), then how do we teach design to a culture that is engrossed within the ever-­changing information age, what is the impact of this ethos on the current day designer and design?

Critical Design as critique of the design status quo

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Design Education Strategy

Contemporary design practice (and theory) is growing up. There is evidence to support the emergence of a new breed of designer who is able to reflect on her or his role in society, and to be critical of what they make and what the resultant consequences of that may be.

Design is often used as a vehicle to criticise and comment on issues, highlight problems and shortcomings in society, and present views and perspectives. This suggests that design is at a distance and impartial, but the truth is otherwise. Design is ideological and an expression of the values mediated by the designer and commissioned by others. This is the status quo: affirmative design. When design steps away from this position and critiques itself, critical design is the result.

Cultivating sustainable thinking through employing a student-centred learning approach

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Design Education Strategy

In  order  to  save  both  the  planet  and  the  human  race,  society  needs  to  take  action  and  adopt  sustainable practices and approaches. The embedded modes of operations and encultured human behavioral patterns are under attack and radical changes are required, to ensure a future that provides sustainable  living conditions. Through employing various teaching and learning strategies, educators aim to convert the student’s approach and encourage  personal  awareness  that would stimulate   responsible  sustainability  thinking  and design. This paper  explains  how  behavioral  patterns   can  be changed  through  our  teaching  and  learning  approach  thus contributing towards an environmentally responsible design culture and society.
 

From 'banking‘ to 'stockvel‘: a critical reflection on the development of literacies

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Design Education Strategy

This paper presents an analytical autoethnographic reflection on the adaptations in approach to the teaching and learning of literacies that led to the writing and research-intensive literacies programme currently presented to first year visual arts students. It maps our practices to theory, and specifically to those of Freire, Lave and Wenger, Mezirow and the transformational education theorists.

Enhancing Learner Performance in Design Education for Disadvantaged Students

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Design Education Strategy

Participation of students from disadvantaged backgrounds in South African higher education has been below acceptable levels and recent reports indicate that it is still in decline. Much has been discussed about the link of under-preparedness to poor performance of students. However not much has been discussed about under-preparedness of universities curricula for teaching an evolving student population in the design disciplines.

An examination of student formative assessment and face to face feedback in studio-based design education

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Design Education Strategy

Over the last two decades we have seen the designer‘s role and brief broaden. Through the introduction of the personal computer, the Internet and wireless technology and social networking, we all have experienced dramatic changes, especially in our rapport with space, time, the physicality of objects, and ourselves as individuals. Today, with the expansion in student numbers and a reducing resource in Higher Education how the studio-based design pedagogic community responds and adapts its teaching and learning methodologies in response to these rapid developments and effectively utilises feedback opportunities to inform curriculum is key in ensuring that students understand and are equipped for the profession they are entering.

A role for information architecture in design education: indeterminate problems in design thinking

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Design Education Strategy

When faced with complex problems that are situated in social reality many design students struggle to formulate meaningful and articulate responses to these problems. The cognitive skills required to solve complex problems are often learned only experientially. This paper argues for these latent, yet critical abilities, to be taught explicitly as part of a tertiary design education.

This paper initially reviews the theoretical underpinnings of design thinking with a specific focus on the reciprocal relationship of the design problem and the subsequent solution. A range of the formative cognitive requirements needed to solve complex problems situated in broader society and within disciplinary practice are described in reference to the theoretical framework.

The Politics of Change, Craft and the Bauhaus Reborn: New Relationships in Design Education

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Design Education Strategy

South African education systems straddle the developed/developing world schism, an old-school-style Eurocentric view has long tussled with an Africanist dialectic. Educators struggle with access and upliftment issues whilst implementing outcomes-based learning programmes and simultaneously maintaining academic standards. At Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU), conscious of the need to build future capacity, innovation in teaching and learning is paramount and the issues identified above are constantly under debate. Experimentation is an ongoing aspect of teaching methodology.

The Ethical Dilemma of a Rapidly Receding Watering Hole: Implications For Design Education

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Design Education Strategy

Ethos, the origin of the word ethics, originally meant a place where animals frequent. When the herds gather at the watering hole how do they interact with other herds, species or competition? How do they behave in a way that they will be welcomed back?

Interdisciplinary Theory Teaching: Can One Size Really Fit All?

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Design Education Strategy

The Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture at the University of Johannesburg has diverse departments ranging from Architecture, Fine Arts and Multimedia to five different design disciplines. After years of being housed in geographically dispersed locations the faculty has recently moved into one building, and is in the process of consolidating and rationalizing the teaching programmes. One area of rationalization has been identified as the theory programme, and we have been assigned the task of identifying theoretical material and drawing up a single teaching programme that most departments could subscribe to.

Extending The Learning Landscape: Adapting To A New Student

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Design Education Strategy

According to Megan Hughes (2006) the generation that educators of the 21st Century have to deal with is referred to as “Generation Y”. They represent the by-product of the previous generation, i.e. the “baby boomers”, who heralded a “surge of new inventions and improvements” (Hughes, 2006), allowing the next generation benefits of improved technology and a much easier life.

“The Y Generation doesn't like hard work, even when it's for its own benefit, and is very much in love with anything that's 'instant'. “(Hughes.2006)

Design educators often adopt teaching and learning methods of a traditional nature. These practices may no longer be effective in the fast-paced world of tomorrow.

Successful learning through assessment design

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Design Education Strategy
  • How do we clarify to the student what good performance is?
  • How do we feedback in a way that encourages students to take action to address their individual learning styles?
  • How do we facilitate the development of self assessment and reflection in relation to learning?

Assessment design and feedback are powerful tools in the support of worthwhile learning and in motivating students for future learning.

Academic staff in the School of Design at Northumbria University have some confidence that subject teaching promotes deep approaches to learning, through practice, in a studio culture which encourages frequent, informal feedback between tutor and student.

New Sites of Practice: Educating New Curators of the Contemporary

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Design Education Strategy

This paper explores curation as a developing field within the creative industries and explores the theory, methodology of such new sites of practice outside the traditional gallery and museum context. It evaluates a new role for curating in terms of economic and cultural growth.

Seven years ago Kingston University and the Design Museum London launched a Masters programme in response to a clear need for professionals who could curate and communicate design within the new landscape of the changing museum and design sectors.

Growing Design Leadership: New Requirements for Design Education in the 21st Century

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Design Education Strategy

Conventional design education does not prepare a designer fully for the 21st Century context of globalizing societies, dynamic marketplaces, and complex political structures. A young designer now needs an awareness and understanding of a context’s inner relationships to be able to contribute design strategies that are appropriate for the more complex situations we face. This insight must also be supported by skills of observation, research, analysis, mapping, and knowledge management in order for a designer to contribute significantly to multi-disciplinary teams that are increasingly becoming necessary to address the “wicked” (indeterminate) problems needing a leadership through design for policy institutions, business enterprises, and social organizations.

Continuing professional development for product designers: barriers and opportunities

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Design Education Strategy
Product & Industrial Design

More designers expect and are willing to spend time to continue their education. It is not only because of new job requirements that designers need to upgrade and update their knowledge and experience, but also for self-satisfaction. To meet this educational need, a part-time programme has been offered to product designers with different educational backgrounds and working experiences.

Evaluations of the overall arrangement of the programme and of the teaching and learning of some subjects have been conducted for six years. The evaluations have included questionnaires, classroom observations, and in-depth interviews with students and teachers. This paper briefly reviews the social changes and the need of product designers for continuing education.

Can creativity be taught?

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Design Education Strategy

 

This paper is based on research conducted for a PhD (completed in 2006) that aimed to develop a methodology for the systematic and strategic fostering of creativity in graphic design education at university or college level.

Tool 1: The Big Six technique
Tool 2: The Random technique
Tool 3: The Mind-map technique
Tool 4: The Visual Thinking technique
Tool 5: The Trigger technique
Tool 6: The Metaphor technique
Tool 7: The Five Senses technique
Tool 8: The Cross-connect technique

The methodology incorporated three main strategies for enhancing creativity in an educational context, namely the teaching of

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DEFSA conferences

DEFSA promotes relevant research with the focus on design + education through its biennial conferences, to promote professionalism, accountability and ethics in the education of young designers. Our next conference is a hybrid event. See above for details.

Critical skills endorsement

Professional Members in good standing can receive a certificate of membership, but DEFSA cannot provide confirmation or endorsement of skills whatsoever. DEFSA only confirm membership of DEFSA which is a NPO for Design Education in South Africa (https://www.defsa.org.za/imagine).