1. Brain-based Learning
Addresses Technology and Media Influences
Anni Adams - Faculty of Education, University of Calgary, Calgary,
Canada
As educators, we must understand and articulate how our learning and teaching theories address the extensive and pervasive realities of computer technology and media communications in our schools and in our homes. Specifically, these theories must translate into changes in our schools. We can no longer fail to use all the technologies available, fragment our classes into predetermined subject areas, substitute control for the natural desire to learn, co-opt naturally active students in assembly-line classrooms, or ignore both individual and cultural differences.
To deal with the complexity, ambiguity and open-endedness of our educational milieu, we can adopt brain-based, social-constructivist theories of teaching and learning. These theories acknowledge that the Internet and media entertain and influence us, consciously and unconsciously. When we are logged on or tuned in, do we, both educators and students, think critically, raise questions, enter into debate, problem solve, or test our moral views? Or are we seduced by Internet and media information, ideas and opinions?
Within collaborative learning communities - whether classroom-based or virtual-reality- educators are necessary as the 'guides on the side' as students explore the information, resources, and opinions found on Internet news groups and web-sites, and on television programs and in video presentations. Educators remain vital as the facilitators and researchers who orchestrate thematic, integrated units of study that provide opportunities to explore, construct and communicate information, ideas and opinions. To facilitate these explorations, constructions and communications, we need to use all parts of our triune brain and the taxon and locale memory systems, to be in a state of readiness or relaxed alertness, to actively process the information that is presented, and to plan, implement and evaluate learning experiences in an integrated manner.
As a way of understanding and integrating brain-based learning theories with technology and media developments, I am developing a model which considers teaching and learning in the present and anticipates the continuous change that epitomizes the 21st century.
What do we mean by teaching thinking? Why teach thinking? How can we teach thinking? There are many different models and ideas about how people learn, and of the validity of teaching thinking. This session will look at the relationship between the Technology (or Design) Process and a metacognitive approach to learning. Metacognition, thinking about thinking, has been regarded by many as an approach that promotes learning, and engenders student reflection. It has been argued that metacognition can assist students to develop lifelong learning strategies and that it promotes transferable learning.
This session will look initially at some of the theories about metacognition, and reflect on suggested approaches to teaching it, including a number of brief activities to model metacognition. It will then focus on the Technology Process and consider some of the issues related to the thinking that can occur through the use of the process. The types of activities that may be undertaken at different stages of the process, and the thinking and learning that is associated with these will be discussed. The session will then look at the possible relationship between the Technology Process and metacognition, and consider some of the ways in which a metacognitive approach to learning may be promoted in Technology Education through the use of a technology or problem solving process.
This paper is derived from my current research project on the development of feedback mechanisms. The paper will take the form of a case study with aims, process description and conclusions together with background material and contextual features of the studio class within which the project is located.
I am currently undertaking a research project with a group of 92 second year design students. I believe that the conclusions and description of my process will act as a useful strategy to other teaching staff both within the College of Fine Arts and other art and design colleges.
Because of the ever increasing financial restraints being imposed on design courses within higher education institutions, we are faced with the daunting prospect of teaching larger groups with fewer staff. This, in some cases, will lead to difficulties in maintaining the standard of our design programmes. All the evidence suggests the situation will not improve and may get worse before there is any possibility of a return to smaller intakes of students to courses.
I feel therefore, that we must not admit defeat, but for the sake of our students strive to find appropriate ways of managing and facilitating our larger classes. In particular I have been looking into ways of giving feedback to design students, week by week, concerning their practical work. This has eventuated following concerns expressed by second years students that they were not being adequately informed of their progress within their subjects.
An initial paper (Caban & Oluwoye, 1997) has proposed a conceptual framework for sustainable development education (SDE) in the emerging disciplines of design and the built environment based on a detailed review of the existing literature. The problem in the initial paper, as the authors see it, is that there is no empirical data showing which teaching and learning methods best meet the educational objectives for SDE. Furthermore, there is no data reflecting the views of teachers and students on this issue.
The objective undertaken in this second paper is the design of a new instrument for data collection because the scales developed so far in the existing literature relate more to course delivery than to course design. The authors have posed four questions with a view to exploring the importance of learning and teaching methods used to achieve these objectives. The paper concludes that the database of teaching staff and students should be evaluated by several quantitative analysis techniques. This study represents a reference point for future research for SDE.
The desire to create or invent can be tapped early in a child's educational career. Through a series of motivational lessons integrated with curricular areas, and the use of information technology including the Internet, the inventive spirit can indeed be captured and fostered. The purpose of this workshop is to share these insights so that individuals can apply this knowledge with children from the age of 9 up to ignite that inventive spirit. The program begins by comparing and contrasting invention and discovery. An understanding of the world of invention follows, as outlined below in four strands, so that students are able to apply this knowledge to their own inventions.
I. Famous Inventors/Rube Goldberg - Participants will see how students use various media to research and present findings about inventors, look for trends in inventions, make projections about the future of inventions, and ask questions about an invention's feasibility. As part of this process, cause and effect relationships are explored in the style of Rube Goldberg, and in student simulations.
II. Inventiveness/Inventor's Workshop - Participants will view how students explore the characteristics of inventors, what it takes to invent, and how they can work through the complexities of creating something themselves, using tools such as brainstorming and SCAMPER (registered trademark).
III. Patents, Logos, Trademarks, Copyrights - Participants will be given a variety of ideas and methods used to familiarize students with patents, logos, trademarks and copyrights. They will see how these ideas can be translated into classroom lessons and creative projects.
IV. Inventor's Fair - Finally, participants will be shown how students can create and present multimedia presentations for school and parents as a culminating activity.
This paper outlines a study in distance education. The purposes of this study were to: 1. identify strengths and limitations of the real time interactive distance learning environment; 2. examine the effects of "Real Instructor" on students' learning attitudes.
Owing to the broadband network technology, students can take courses offered by the instructor at other universities and have lectures simultaneously with students on the other campus. The real time interactive distance learning environment provides good quality of image and sound transmission. Compared with ISDN, this type of distance learning environment offers simultaneous interaction between students and the instructor. In addition, since its image and sound quality is almost perfect, it is suitable for mass instruction. However, the instructor could only be present physically on one campus which we call the "broadcast classroom", so students in the other campus (remote classroom) must feel something "missing" in the learning process. In order to understand the impact of "Real Instructor" on students' learning attitudes, we developed a questionnaire and conducted a survey at the end of the semester to analyse the differences.
The Subjects consisted of 242 students at the universities in Chia Yi and Tainan area. 131 were students in the remote classrooms while 111 were in the broadcast classrooms with the "Real Instructor".
The results indicated that, compared with those in the broadcast classrooms, students in the remote classrooms showed more percentage of being unsatisfied on the following items: the presentation of the learning materials, the learning environment in general, the interaction between students and instructor and the learning achievement. Detailed numerical analyses will be reported in the paper. The results also revealed that in the real time interactive distance learning situation, the planning and implementing of active learning strategies as well as delivery systems into the instruction is essential to the participants, especially for students in the remote classrooms; otherwise, the technology advances can only bring us conveniences, but not effectiveness.
Design lies at the boundary between creativity and technical resolution, and design thinking therefore differs from both and needs to be recognised as a distinct form of thinking process. New approaches to design teaching and assessment must therefore be developed to reflect these differences. But what exactly are the differences? and what new approaches are needed? This paper shows how joint research by design teachers and psychologists in Australia and Europe, using innovative research methods, has tracked the process in accomplished designers. The result is a new model of the design thinking process which identifies the part played by subconscious thinking, and how and when it is activated to induce "inspired" creative events. The model is complex and transcends established models of analytic and reflective design process and established concepts of creativity as a function of intelligence. The model explains why some designers and students achieve brilliant solutions quickly while others plod on inconclusively, and why even brilliant designers have periods of "creative block". New teaching and assessment methods based on the new model are introduced for discussion.
The most brilliant designs are frequently elegantly simple ideas which transform very complex situations. The challenge for the designer is to capture the elegant idea and keep it intact whilst developing it, and without taming it by compromising it through rationalisation. That is, the elegant simplicity must be maintained while the complex situation is resolved. This paradox defies conventional concepts of design as an analytic or reflective process and therefore defies conventional concepts of teaching and assessing design, particularly in brilliant students. This paper presents work in hand on the thinking processes in outstandingly creative architectural designers from inspired idea to realisation of the idea into elegantly simple designs. The paper looks at the additional paradox of students achieving high quality designs in spite of the very best of design education and assessment available.
This visual ethnographic study examines the beliefs and values underpinning the work of this internationally known artist/craftsperson. The subject was provided with a zoom lens camera which provided the visual data for the study. The resulting photographs provided the focus for in-depth interviews. The photographic topics were selected by the subject and therefore accompanying interview data focussed on issues considered by the subject as being important.
Results of the study indicate that there is a confluence between issues of ‘best practice’ in working with wood and the creative designs produced by the subject. The long and arduous development of a craftsperson in wood influences and sometimes contests with the type of designs produced.
Fostering an acceptance of lifelong learning amongst both design students and practitioners will become a significant aspect of design education as we move towards the 21st Century.
The design disciplines (such as, interior, graphic and industrial design) in Australia are currently in the process of professionalisation, yet have little culture of developing knowledge through research or theoretical discourse. Certainly, the concept of lifelong learning is unfamiliar to many design students and practitioners.
This paper will provide an interdisciplinary discussion of the role and benefits of lifelong learning within the design professions. Informed by the results of research currently being undertaken by the author into the lifelong learning requirements of design practitioners, the paper will address the following issues:
· What is the current level of understanding of the benefits of lifelong learning amongst design professionals?
· Why is participation in lifelong learning important for designers? - What are the benefits to individuals, the quality of practice, the design professions and society at large?
· What are the relevant forms of lifelong learning activity for members of the design disciplines?
· How can an acceptance of lifelong learning be encouraged, and skills developed for both students of design and practising professionals?
One of the major challenges in teaching technical topics using a design approach, is to generate interesting problems that the student can then solve successfully. Designing and building "floor robots" to perform well defined competition tasks, is an approach that has been explored in the disciplines of Electrical Engineering and it's offshoot Mechatronics over the past decade. The Design and construction of these robots allow students to integrate knowledge from a number of different fields to solve many realistic "real world" problems.
Recent developments in the availability of simple, cheap, easily programmed micro-computer integrated circuits (PICS), opens the problem "domain" to the less specialised tertiary, and senior high school student. This paper describes the range of "Floor Robot" competitions such as Robot Soccer, and Micro-Mouse. It then introduces the Bilby Project, a intelligent, autonomous, beginners exercise in Mechatronics which is well within the capability of senior high school students.
This paper will examine the role that the Design process has as a methodology in Technology Education. The paper will contain a brief overview of the history of technology education in Australia, as a background to the potential impact that the design process can bring to curriculum and pedagogical practice within technology education.
The design process gives technology education a contextual basis within which the specific technologies can be learned . Design, because of its context driven methodology, provides opportunities for problem solving that can be undertaken within the algorithmic-heuristic continuum. This in turn provides the flexibility for highly creative outcomes and pragmatic problem solving. Specific examples, drawn from schools, will be used in this section.
The paper concludes with the finding that while neither Design nor Technology have value in their own right, together they form the basis for much learning in both primary and secondary education.
The difference between a Masters and a BA course centres on the breadth and depth of understanding of the design process and reasoning, underpinning the visual solution. Postgraduate study is not to be treated as a finishing school for creative people who require more time to do more of the same as on the BA course.
Postgraduate study necessitates the formulation of an individual program of study, which is developed in partnership between the student and the course team. This program of study becomes a form of contract and basis of the student’s individual research/investigation against a set of criteria subject to course monitoring and assessment regulations. The program ownership remains firmly with the student.
The program of study establishes aims, objectives and methods, always with the intention of the student acquiring new knowledge, skills and attitudes which enables them to visually problem solve more thoroughly than perhaps experience afforded in a commercial environment, or were expected to do at BA level. As a postgraduate student, they would be able to investigate projects/topics that others cannot do.
Program and subject tutors are responsible for monitoring weekly/monthly developments with written documentation, following up all agreed objectives from their previous tutorial/meeting. Seminars, lecture programs and workshops exist to fully support and provide a catalyst, fostering healthy dialogue, debate and perspective for the individual program of study - which may be wholly topic led or issue driven, thereby questioning aspects of visual communication.
The program of study encourages the student to contextualise their findings and to become and expert/authority in their chosen topic/area with much of the practical visual outcomes underpinned by appropriate design theory acquired through personal individual research.
The presentation tries to analyse the various methods currently utilised and tries to project future strategies which may be employed in helping to develop individual programs of study, through the identification of specific aims, objectives and methods.
A broad range of case studies will be presented visually
Contexts help people ascribe meaning and value to their experience of signs and images, objects, activities and services, and systems and environments. Meaning and value derived from design experience may thus be seen as cognitive, cultural and social constructs. In effect, contexts provide a fourth dimension to the world of experience and are an essential ingredient of design education. Remove context from design experience and you fail to see many of designs real purposes. Unfortunately this dimension is often missing in design experiences at school.
This paper examines the notion of context in design and its relevance and application in any learning setting. It canvasses the difficulties in dealing with design methods in school, particularly the tendency to portray design as a formalised and regimented problem solving process characterised by the application of a standardised methodology where an implicit goal, typically the acquisition of psychomotor skills, controls action.
Strategies for teaching and learning are explored which acknowledge and address the role of context in design, which encourage creative thought and action, and which build flexible and adaptive thinking processes.
The paper explores the value of seeing design action as a situated, multilevelled, multi-dimensional, interdisciplinary, socially constrained and liberal art of technological culture.
This paper aims to raise the awareness of the Mayer Key Competencies and of the potential of design to develop these competencies. The findings of two reports, 'Educating by Design' (Jackson and Doyle, 1996) and 'The Mayer Key Competencies and Arts Education' (Bryce, Harvey-Beavis, Livermoore & O'Toole, 1996) will be considered. The paper will examine the issues raised in relation to the transferability of the key competencies, their assessment and the unique characteristics they may manifest within the different art/design contexts. It further examines the importance of the skill of critical reflective thinking as a strategy towards a self directed learning methodology that is implicit in the development of key competency skills. It considers the links between art making and design processes, and critical thinking. It presents issues surrounding the need for art/design students to be self directed learners and seeks to illuminate the characteristics of these cognitive skills embodied within the key competencies.
Student’s journals are used for teaching and learning in a wide range of contexts. In design education, journals are commonly used to record the processes involved in undertaking projects. In the Bachelor of Design course at the University of Technology, Sydney first year design students in a problem-based curriculum, record and document the design process for major projects using a learning journal. In this paper various parameters of the journal method in design are discussed including its purpose, relationship to course outcomes, format, confidentiality and assessment.
This paper describes a project to develop a design assessment training kit. The aim of the project was to develop a resource that addresses the needs of teachers in a design-based curriculum where the development of design evaluation skills is an important learning outcome. The kit consists of a video and associated learning guide that provides pre-service and in-service teachers with a philosophical background to, and a demonstrated use of self and peer-assessment teaching strategies; where instructional objectives are used to define learning outcomes, and where knowledge and skills are gained through a well designed educational experience. The investigator has worked collaboratively with pre-service and in-service teachers to develop the video tape which is considered to be the most effective medium for demonstrating a complex, social, teaching environment.
This paper tells the story of an integrated design project based around the development of a school vineyard in a new high school in the Hunter Valley in New South Wales. After a four year effort and with the help of two local vignerons, the school now holds a vignerons licence, and markets their own wine. Senior students have been involved in the production processes, the design of labels, financial management and marketing. Year 12 students have designed the conference presentation and will be taking part in the presentation.
A sociological perspective can contribute to understanding theoretical issues and practical applications in environmental design. This paper incorporates social theory to examine the functionality of design. It examines and contrasts traditional vernacular design with Post-Industrial design to establish an ideal-typical continuum of designs based on function or fantasy. It then extends that continuum into a brief examination of how design and evolution can lead to success or failure of residential design. Historical and contemporary examples of residential construction are used to illustrate the analyses. The paper concludes with an example of how sociology may be used in residential design. It describes a project for designing residential communities in Yellowstone and Sequoia/Kings Canyon National Parks in the United States. The project drew upon sociological surveys and analyses to assist in optimizing residential designs for the diverse population of United States National Park Service. The project demonstrates the effectiveness of combining social theory and data analyses to design forms. That is, communities and residences that functionally meet the needs of diverse, transient residents.
This proposal looks at a type of curriculum change that could be implemented at the secondary high school level, targeting mostly the National High School (NHS) sector. NHS’s are schools accommodating grades 11 and 12. This is the level where universities collect their students from. They replaced university preliminary year courses in the late 1970’s.
The overall aim of the new proposal outlined in this presentation is the early introduction of specialisation at the senior high school level. It is anticipated that specialisation at that level will boost productive learning, and hence, result in excellence at a pre-university stage. Significantly, the proposal introduces ‘schools of excellence’. This should create an atmosphere conducive to easy and speedy selection for universities. It will be to the advantage of the students who will proceed to higher institutions and also for those who will not make it to further education within the formal system. Hopefully, for those whose formal education ends in year 12, the knowledge and skills learned at that level should equip them adequately for their lives after school. The proposal is geared towards producing young people who will adapt well to university study as well as preparing those destined to return to their own communities.
To what extent is the Technology Learning Area, with its central process strand of Design, Make and Appraise, ‘critical’ - within the education system or within society? (The useful ambiguity of the word invites clarification of its senses of ‘essential’ and ‘judgemental’.) This paper explores some of the issues implicit in the rhetoric and the reality of various ‘critical’ agendas which can be identified for Technology Education today.
While Design and Technology Educators might value the development of ‘critical thinkers’ - who can objectify and critique appropriately while developing products and systems, it is also the case that such thinkers may or may not be valued by those concerned with the general education of all future members of society. Similarly, ‘critical discourses’, which have the potential to enrich the Technology Education profession, bring exciting dimensions to current practice and challenge current global utilitarian trends.
After taking an overview of concepts such as ‘critical discourses for teachers’, ‘critical thinking’ and ‘critical technology education’ the paper goes on to examine the place and implications of such concepts for practising Design and Technology educators, for their students and for society.
Learning environments for design education should incorporate the study of theoretical viewpoints and the development of skills in conceptual thinking as much as the development of practical skills and an understanding of technical issues related to the specific discipline. This paper discusses the use of Integrated Problem Based Learning (IPBL) as a method of achieving such a learning environment and way of accommodating the need to address theoretical issues as a central component of the learning environment. The full potential in adopting the IPBL philosophy for design education far surpasses mere simulation, and can provide deeper theoretical coverage than a curriculum based around mentoring in a specific discipline.
There is much dis-information about PBL and particularly its application to design education. Often PBL is rejected due to the perception that it increases workloads and stress levels for staff and students. Another argument against PBL is that it is too practical and reduces emphasis on theoretical aspects of studies in design disciplines (which are rightly regarded as of great importance in tertiary-level education). Research has shown that many of the problems experienced by those implementing PBL stem from inadequate staff development and support provisions (Cowdroy & Kingsland, 1992; Kingsland, 1992; Cowdroy, 1994, 1992) rather than from the use of PBL. This paper expands on specific points from that research relating to staff (and student) workloads and stress levels, and demonstrates that it is possible to incorporate theoretical components as a central platform of a PBL curriculum.
This paper highlights the experience of orientation in a design environment for first year students in the Department of Architecture & Building, Papua New Guinea University of Technology, (Unitech) Lae. Assumptions made about the learner entering the first year studio design are discussed in relation to established learning theories namely; "Developmental Theory of Learning, the Behaviourist Theory of Learning and the Constructivist Theory of Learning".
Conclusions suggest that each theory of learning has relevance during the orientation period and the teaching emphasis in learning to design.
For a long time, distance learning has been treated as an extension of the traditional teaching and learning beyond the physical boundaries of a classroom. Not surprisingly, it preserved the same passive learning paradigm assuming one way transmission of information from a lecturer to the mind of the learner via an educational medium. Although educational technologies have been changing they continue to be used on the same old way - as information delivery machines - replacing a teacher. The salient point is that technology though very powerful is not sufficient for effective distance learning. It requires an appropriate methodology that will enable student-centred learning rather that simple presentation of information. This paper proposes a methodology for teaching and learning in a virtual classroom for collaborative distance learning. The methodology is described as a set of collaborative learning activities that enhance conceptual learning, communicative and problem solving skills. Instead of starting with a set of ready-made software tools and investigating how to use them to support distance learning, the paper starts from the opposite direction - it starts from collaborative learning and defines requirements for software tools. The paper also investigates advantages and disadvantages of different information technologies that enable collaborative distance learning such as Internet tools, in particular World Wide Web as well as "any time/ any place" Groupware technology. Furthermore, the paper discuss the benefits of collaborative distance learning and potential problems and propose some possible solutions.
The traditional classroom organisation is very well known to all educators. A lecturer is the central, dominant figure who lectures, explains, questions the total class and determines the activities as well as tone and pace. Students are generally very passive and engaged in rather narrow range of classroom activities - listening to lecturers, writing answers to questions and taking tests. In such an organisation, some students are very reluctant to ask questions even if they don't understand something. A total class discussion is often dominated by a few students while majority of students usually hesitate to express their own opinion especially if it contradicts the teacher's. In addition to all those problems, international students usually experience more difficulties due to their limited language proficiency, cultural diversities or different educational backgrounds. The standard techniques of textbooks and large group instructions are simply not capable of handling the range of diversities found in many of today's classrooms. This paper addresses those specific problems of the international students and proposes an innovative methodology for collaborative teaching and learning that is based on the "same time/same place" groupware technology. Through various classroom activities it is described how electronic collaborative learning can help international students to overcome some of their problems and reach their potentials. The paper also discusses the teacher's perspective ie. benefits and potential problems that a teacher may experience in such an electronic classroom.
As we approach the dawn of a new millennium our current age may well be remembered as that which entertained the development of what we loosely call post-modernism, the ferment that has sustained much of the intellectual debate of recent decades. Ironically, the true implications of this debate have barely begun to be understood in the bastions of its development; the education institutions of our culture. While they have supervised the disassembly of the modernist paradigm, the institutions have been slow to focus on themselves and implement the managerial and structural implications of the new paradigms. At the discipline-specific level within the institutions, this refocus has barely begun. Through an exploration of the skill, discipline and authority base of design education in Australia, this paper proposes that most courses are deeply embedded in the modernist/positivist paradigm.
The paper locates the unsustainable nature of this structure in the contemporary environment of mass tertiary education. Whereas elite education has the luxury of educating a limited cultural group, mass education must deal with a highly diverse cultural basis and the associated inherent difficulties of divergent value structures. The paper concludes with a discussion of the development of new paradigms that will allow design education to remain relevant in a world of rapidly changing design literacy and cultural value systems.
This Paper reports in part on collaborative research being undertaken by the authors in the area of art and design. As is well known, art and design schools teaching a variety of traditional disciplines have been quick to adopt recent developments in information technology (IT) with a view to enhancing teaching and learning. However, many schools appear to have diverged in terms of the characteristics of the hardware and software system solutions they have chosen to fulfil their educational needs. In the absence of pertinent information, individual schools may arrive at their choice of systems by trial and error, by university policy or by following the lead of industry (given the pressure to produce work-ready graduates). This can lead to situations where many schools of art and design install different and generally incompatible technologies to cater for the various disciplines being taught in the schools. Serious problems can arise when students and/or teachers want to cross subject boundaries or where sprawling IT facilities need to be unified for administrative and economic purposes. Adding to these considerations is the problem of maintaining the creativity of traditionally non-technical students and teachers in an increasingly more technical educational and professional environment.
In this paper, several well-known art and design disciplines are examined and discussed in terms of their IT objectives and requirements. These disciplines include fine art, graphic design and industrial design. Areas of commonality are identified and a general approach to determining IT system requirements is developed based on selection criteria relevant to each discipline. Guidelines are proposed to help unify differing IT system (hardware and software) requirements not only through technical compromises but especially via careful attention to the informational and creative qualities of the art and design student and staff work outputs. Finally, several visual case studies, appropriate to the noted disciplines, are presented and discussed to reinforce the IT selection guidelines proposed.
This paper deals with the issue of fostering a management culture in design education by implementing quality management principles throughout a school of design. Why would designers develop an appreciation of the benefits of good management practice if their educational environment doesn't reinforce this concept ?
Curtin University School of Design in Perth, Western Australia has, over the last three years, implemented a quality management system in response to both Federal Government initiatives to promote quality management in education and the Australian design industry's moves toward quality accreditation.
Historically, the principal concerns dealt with in this school were matters of aesthetics, style and fashion of design. That focus lead to the belief among some faculty and the majority of students, that design was a practice of self evident value. In this educational climate, professional practice and design management topics were seen as something outside the main field.
It was perceived that to change design there needed to be a change in the school. Research had shown that the adoption of design by industry was low. Traditionally, designers had attempted to change management culture; to 'teach industry to value design'. This project was an attempt to change design culture, to 'teach designers to value organisation and management'. Examples of short term outcomes are shown and long term change is speculated.
The idea that 'tacit', as well as 'articulate', knowledge underwrites professional praxis encompasses the polarity represented by both creativity and critique. Design and education practice embody both these extremes within the 'normal' context of ambiguity, uncertainty and indeterminacy. Designers and educators, however, are participants in a society which over-emphasises the values associated with 'articulate' knowledge to the extent that it has become enslaved to rational expertise. Because the 'reasonable' technocrat's narrowly pragmatic view of 'knowledge' is essentially instrumental, it is incomplete, by comparison with that of the 'creative' designer or educator for whom tacit 'knowing' is as important as critical reflection. Because the 'systems' approach values specialism rather than generalism it excludes those critical, contextual and implicit aspects of 'knowing' which may engender a more involving and socially responsible praxis. No longer can designers and their educators afford to feel that their approach to 'knowing' is somehow less valid and less valuable, than the apparently irrefutable, yet often nonsensical, logic of the technocrats who control the structures in which they work. Design education is undertaken within institutions increasingly dominated by technocratic ideology, and yet, design practice, which has traditionally been inspired by a 'partnership' paradigm, is moving, with developments in digital media design, toward an even more inclusive, multi-disciplinary and democratic team-ethos. Design educators must support a critical praxis which does not confuse the competitive values of the 'free-market' with the collaborative values of democratic consensus.
It is a dream of problem-solvers that their objects are real. Bridges need to be built, DNA needs to be coded (or de-coded depending on your leanings). It is a dream of problem-solvers that when they create they suffer the exhilaration of working with real constraints (laws of nature, properties of materials). For them the artist is expressive, free, unconstrained, except in trivial ways. Paint will or will not stick, but it doesn't really matter; pictorial cows can be blue or pink, but these variations will not violate any physical laws. Poets can add to or subtract from their text and no harm will come to day trippers to the Gold Coast.
It is a dream of poets that nouns and verbs stand, like cows, in paddocks that mean; that pronouns bond tighter than bolts; that adverbs are the grace of a curve holding megatons of significance. It is the dream of poets that when they create they suffer the exhilaration of determining constraints that otherwise would not have existed: this cow now in this paddock now.
How do we connect these two views of making? How do we understand the poet in the designer and the designer in the poet? For the ancients this was not a problem; we need to refocus if we are to inform our current concerns with Design with the cultural richness of human making. As we turn the corner of a century, we have the opportunity to look a long way back.
This paper presents an argument concerned with the structure of teaching and learning in Art and Design. A proposed model for the Faculty of Art and Design at the University of Newcastle is presented.
Design and Art education takes place within specific cultural contexts. This paper looks at the nature of some problems in university teaching and learning in Art and Design within the Faculty of Art and Design at the University of Newcastle. These problems were identified by a review process during 1996. The proposed model includes a new structure which addresses issues raised by the review.
The proposed structure takes into consideration the history of the discipline in Art and Design and of their modes of delivery, as well as contemporary concerns with client and industry demands, and equity and expediency issues deriving from pre and post-Vanstone directives. The proposed model addresses the desirability of preserving the identity of individual disciplines (and experimental learning) in a manner which can accommodate competency-based training requirements and the need to differentiate between teaching structures that deliver the shared bodies of knowledge that constitute the discipline and those that assist in the development of individual creative interests. As well, it emphasises the need to develop a system that allows for interdisciplinary access to discreet aspects of art/design disciplines and which establishes a proper integration of practice and theory.
This paper outlines the process and findings of an investigation into the influence of software functions of Computer Assisted Design (CAD) packages and teaching practice upon the conceptual understanding of 3D imaging. The project was undertaken at the University of Newcastle using students from the Departments of Architecture and Psychology. The study focused on both psychological domains and practical applications of 3D imaging.
The process of the investigation involved the use of a pre-test and post-test methodology, evaluating the impact of the use of the customised CAD functions during training. The tests were devised to examine the ability of students to make decisions about images of 3D objects and also to extract practical information from the images such as true length and true shape. Preliminary findings when averaged out across all subjects and tasks indicate an improvement in response times in task completion. Also, there are indications that there is a possible improvement in the accuracy of responses. The initial results infer that the design process employed by a range of designers and associated professions could be enhanced through the application of these practices to their training programs.
With Design Studies becoming a growing area for internationalisation, there is a need to develop a more creative approach to language development, capable of meeting the design language needs of International and Non-English Speaking Background (NESB) students, than is currently possible with the more traditional English for Academic Purposes currently used in most tertiary settings. This paper looks at the development of one program that has tried to address these needs, The Language of Design Program. The Language of Design program was developed to address perceived communication problems experienced by International (and particularly NESB) students enrolled in the Bachelor of Design course at the College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales.
Two key issues directed how this course progressed. The first was the language needs of the students in terms of the language context they had to engage with. The second was a problem identified in both the Bachelor of Design course and in the Bachelor of Built Environment course, where NESB/International students consistently failed to be able to respond reflectively and personally to design issues and to items of design. Invariably, teaching staff received descriptions of items and reports about issues, but rarely with any personal reflective aspect to them. The question was, and still is, whether this was due to inadequate language, ie they simply didn't have the words for personally and reflectively responding, or was it a case of it being culturally inappropriate to respond personally? The Language of Design Program was aimed at developing this reflective skill in the specific language context of a design studies course.
One of the most exciting recent technological achievements in the computer industry is the arrival of "Virtual Reality" (VR) on personal computers, such as through Apple Computer's QuickTime VR technology. The potential to navigate freely within a rendered scene simply creates new opportunities for the exploration of three-dimensional space. "Quicktime Virtual Reality" is a technology which allows users to deliver a 360° 3D rendering of a room or series of rooms on a 3.5 inch diskette. By incorporating Quicktime VR, computer-aided design users and their clients can pan and zoom inside a room and navigate through several linked rooms of their future home or office. Viewers can access this technology with almost any desktop computer. This technology allows users to offer their clients a completely rendered 3D environment which they can explore freely simply by moving the mouse. This is a breakthrough for architects and builders concerned with communicating their design without building expensive models or producing extended video animations. Previously, exploring the 3D space in almost real-time was available only on very expensive computers using cumbersome software. QuickTime VR offers this same effect on inexpensive PC's. The end result can be either a panoramic view about a single room where you can look around, up and down, and zoom in and out, or a panoramic walkthrough across multiple rooms, with a linear order of going from one room to the other and back. The presentation will incorporate a computer demonstration on how virtual reality scenes are created, examples of student work using the VR software, and a discussion of how students have managed this latest technology within the classroom.
The area in Industrial Design known as bionics is an attempt to integrate biological science into the process of product design. It involves exploring mechanisms in living nature as a source of precedent or inspiration. There is growing interest internationally from design schools wishing to include the bionic approach in their curricula. Such schools typically assume that an ethos of environmental sensitivity follows from the bionic approach. It is argued here that emulating natural principles in isolation as the basis for industrial design is not, in itself, enough to ensure an environmentally sound product, given the often large disparities between natural and built environments. Further, as currently conducted, it is not a sound pedagogical approach, principally because of these same disparities.
A more appropriate way to include investigations of nature in the teaching and learning of Industrial Design is to use the bionic method as a basis for developing skills in criticism and comparative evaluation.
A learning framework is proposed which concentrates on the comparative evaluation of the bionic method and its product with more traditional methods and products. Emphasis is upon understanding the complexities of evaluation and the interrelations of design criteria. This gives recognition to the way in which careful analysis couples the desirable professional competency of critical judgement in product design with environmental awareness.
The fourteen week duration of the traditional university semester dictates that studies in design and technology are done piecemeal with each subject concentrating on limited aspects of the content and process of design. In the Bachelor of Technology Education degree within the Faculty of Education at Griffith University, a conscious attempt has been made to develop a subject that draws on all of the separate subjects covered in the first seven semesters of the degree and engages students in an holistic process where each student locates a commercial customer, and goes through the process of establishing the need, designing and making a solution and developing a marketing program. The final assessment is carried out in front of an audience of invited guests from the Education Department, schools and the University. This paper will cover the development and implementation of the subject and the benefits and problems of such an approach.
The importance of Multi Disciplinary Design Teams (MDDT) in the design world has long been recognised but there has been limited research examining the nature of the reasoning heuristics used by designers, working in teams, in the development of design outcomes.
Lawson, using the example of architects, demonstrated the importance of collaboration to their role as designers. An examination of professional diaries is likely to show that most architects spend more time interacting with other specialist consultants and with fellow architects than working in isolation.
It is the intention of this paper to document the initial findings from a long term study of an MDDT’s as it designs a complex project. The paper will focus on the specific aspect of the communication strategies and techniques used by members of the MDDT while contributing to the design process within the context of team meetings. This communication relates to the explanation of discipline-specific information or the request for clarification of discipline-specific information between team members.
The factor that complicates this communication is that the team members are from different design and/or technology backgrounds. This means that the team members are communicating technical information and design concepts to other members of the design team who may have a limited understanding of that discipline area. The strategies used by the team members, in resolving these communication difficulties, will be identified and their effectiveness analysed.
Distance communication in the area of technology education has always been problematic given the reliance on tools, machines and equipment. Communication between groups must be technically correct, precise and accurate. There is little research related to these imperatives, and yet it is vital if technology education is to use a variety of media in electronically communicating.
This presentation describes a project, the aim of which was to document the processes of distance communication in the context of a collaborative design project in technology. It was conducted between two universities in Australia (in Newcastle and Perth) with Year 3 students training to be technology teachers. The classes combined, and then were divided into groups of two with one student on each campus.
Solutions to the problem of designing and manufacturing a camping seat were then developed by each group. The groups used only electronic media to communicate (E-mail and fax), and the record of these communications provided the data for analysis and a record of the cognitive processes relevant to design that took place within each group.
An analysis of the design protocol revealed how the students ideas and thinking developed over time as each group progressed through the stages of design and problem resolution. This presentation will outline the findings of the analysis of the project and propose some suggestions for refining the methodology.
This presentation deals with three strategies which have been utilised in an attempt to individualise learning and maintain a focus on the core goal of design in technology education.
The concept of tendering and contracts has long been a part of the technological world and it is through the adaptation of the contract to the classroom that an effective teaching strategy is developed. Students negotiate a contract with the teacher then a plan is developed by the student to fulfil the contract as well as specific criteria for assessment.
One of the foci of traditional technology education has been the development of manipulative skills. In an attempt to ensure the development of practical skills without making them the focus of learning, a skills register for each student can be maintained. As a student attains proficiency in specific skills, it is signed off the register. Not all skills will be attained by all students, and competency may be achieved in a variety of ways.
As the tendency in design is for students to choose activities which are appropriate to their learning and experience, not all students will spend the same amount of time on each task in a subject. A method of equating this disproportionable time distribution to assessment is to permit students, with consultation, to predict the number of hours they will spend on each task and then relate hours to the maximum value possible for each task.
It is essential that learning in design and technology be individualised in order for all students to achieve their potential, and teachers must utilise a range of techniques in order to achieve this goal.
This paper outlines the progress and outcomes of the Green Heating Quest, a national environmental education project conducted throughout Universities during 1996. It is an important case study about the challenge of teaching design for environment in a multi-disciplinary framework.
Design has a significant role to play in addressing major environmental issues of our time. The Quest seeks to provide a forum in which educators and tertiary level students can explore this role by:
· choosing a manageable theme, in this case domestic heating.
· posing the question, how can we stay warm without harming the environment? and asking students, through their studies, to explore the broad range of issues that influence this. Everything from appliances and housing to marketing and social expectations about heating are considered.
· providing a dynamic program in which students, educators and industry can collectively be involved, share their findings, and most importantly, finding solutions to a real world problem.
The results range from simple yet innovative product designs to creative broad ranging proposals. Some of the outcomes are being considered for commercial follow-up. In the process design students have been empowered to see the positive contribution they can make to the environment.
The value of the Quest as an educational tool is discussed. Furthermore, as this is the second in an ongoing series of Quests, the conclusions about the effectiveness and value of this and the previous Quest, are briefly compared and contrasted.
Industrial Design is a complex concept. It is both a process and the result of that process. It has an inevitable link with the growth of the capitalist economy. Moreover, there are many factors which influence the process: the ideas of the designer, the technological determinants of the product’s manufacture, the cultural context that gave rise to the need for a product, the socio-economic constraints of the manufacturing process, and the consumption of the final product. Three geographical areas that have had a great influence on the profession of industrial design are : the United Kingdom, the United States, and Europe. This article will focus on the US where marketing and manufacturing are two distinct features which lead to the establishment of professional industrial designers. Firstly, a brief description of the influence of the US on industrial design will be provided. Secondly, the application of Fordism after Henry Ford and its influence on lifestyles will be discussed. Thirdly, the requirement for styling, lead by Harley Earl, and its influence on automotive design will also be described. Finally, a section analysing the influence, relevance, and importance of Fordism and Styling towards to the development of industrial design will be presented. As described in this brief essay, the automobile industry was the forefront of the new wave of industrial design. Henry Ford and Harley Earl were two influential people who made a profound impact on design and manufacturing. From their pioneering efforts and philosophy, many new innovative techniques, processes and design features were developed. It is assumed that through continuing changes and advancements, their legacy and contribution will carry on.
The purpose of this paper is to examine two major twentieth century design movements. One from Germany, the other from Japan. The examination will be in terms of their educational philosophies, history, culture, and social impact. While the two movements can be considered from various points of view, this paper focuses on aspects of art and design education and in that context compares the founders, the institutions, the creative processes and some of the objects.
The German Bauhaus, founded in 1919 by Walter Gropius in Weimar, was an avante garde school of art and design which influenced design education throughout the World during the second half of the twentieth century. Mingei, the Japanese Folk Craft Movement, was founded by Yanagi Soetsu in the early 1920’s and concerned itself with educating the people of Japan by establishing museums, associations and journals. While the Bauhaus curriculum has become famous in art and design education circles, the curriculum of the Mingei movement is more elusive because it’s focus was conceived outside the traditional school and classroom setting.
In terms of design education, this study provides an interdisciplinary approach by focussing on elements of education, art history and ethnological studies. Art and design education and the Bauhaus are synonomous. Art and design historians study both movements and aspects of ethnology are essential to an understanding of Mingei.
The significance of this work lies in the comparison of the two movements. The format provides new insights into concepts of education and as the century turns, informs design educators, designers, and other professionals.
DECA has adopted a slightly unconventional process for publication of the conference papers. Presenters have been invited to forward a paper, based on their conference presentation, for review and publication in Design & Education, the refereed DECA journal. In this way the published papers receive the benefit of both conference participant feedback, and critique through the blind review process of the journal. We believe the result will be ‘well designed’ articles that will reach a larger audience than a set of conference proceedings. The first papers to be published appear in Design & Education Volume 7, Number 1 (October 1997).
DECA 97 Conference Committee
