Examination

Dear Faithful readers. As you might understand by now, I haven’t been adding any posts lately. Please excuse the laziness. I have been preparing for my final examination for my Master of Communication Design degree. This coming Friday, May 29th I will either come out of the presentation with tears of joy or happiness. I’m pretty sure it will be the later but you never know. In any case, I will be giving this blog fresh input soon after. Perhaps, I will be able to expand my number of readers from 4 to millions. Unfortunately, at the moment, I will not go through my discoveries of these two years of research but stay tuned! I will also update you on my presentation.

Until next week.

Using visualisation to help understand research outcomes

Currently, I’m writing a paper on the above topic. It is a paper long overdue from some past research work that I was involved in. In the paper, I discuss how graphic visualisation techniques and reflective practice can substantially inform research outcomes of a given project. In a way this paper digs in a bit deeper than my exegesis did concerning visualisation a content analysis. That’s fine though. I think my masters research went far enough that road, and stuck to its research question succinctly. Back to the paper though. I’ve been finding a whole lot of information though on visualisation but usually it is more directed towards clinical data, business data or any other data that presumably can be quantified into graphs, pie charts maps. What is missing though is some understanding of how qualitative information can be visualised and thus create relationships or enable researchers to ’see’ deeper into their own research. I know, I know. You guys will say, check out psychology or even a practice-based research project. Well I will keep looking but I think some sort of debriefing, intense and deep book on the subject in the design field is well over due. And yes, I am aware of Beasley & Noble’s book.
Okay, jumping a bit. This paper raised some questions for me as a design practitioner to explore. Some of you might be aware that I have found a concurrent passion to all this. It’s service design. I’m not going to get into the whole thing right now and how I ’saw the light’ but for now let us say that it is a field that I would like to explore and work on. With the economic crisis underway, businesses need to find ways to streamline their processes. Whether it be organizational, social or production, business are having a tough time keeping up without sacrificing usability and customer service. This paper got me to realise that possibly graphic literacy needs to be used within the workplace or better yet hired to educate decision makers and stakeholders of a company their options and strategies within these dark days. I’ll get the reference and insert it later but today I read that visualisation can help reduce cognitive load of understanding information and can in fact help create possibilities in the decision making process. If I can make this more explicit, it may be the starting point for something great.
Stay tuned!

Hold the Press!

Once again I apologize to my readers for the absolute lack of attension to this blog. The last four months have been a little bit ‘hairy’, with the submission of my exegesis and all. Actually, it will be submitted on Monday. The title has changed, which has been reflected in this blog as well. Teaching teachers: Learning through Graphic Literacy is the new update. It really reflects in a succinct manner the original with a stronger focus on what I have been really doing. It’s funny, I read it over once again before going to press and it seems really easy to read and thankfully, it all makes sense. There is a coherent structure to it now, which I accredit to some great supervision and editing by Mr. Jeremy Yuille. Also want to give public thanks to Mr. Paul Goodrick for his help in the editing process as well. Thanks! The entire document really takes the reader on a journey of my perceptions and conceptions of design education from the very beginning and follows through to a solid argument. I will talk about the argument a bit later. I don’t want to say large portions of the exegesis are formed around my reflections of this research, but let us say, there is substantial reflection. I believe this is good though, for a couple of reasons. One, it breaks away from traditional Master of Design research exegesis’, in a manner that the reflections demonstrate really what ‘research through design, (Downton, 1997) and practice-based research is about. Second, the reflections demonstrate increasing knowledge and ‘mastery’ of the subject matter. That is my point of view anyway.
The 114 page, perfect bound, magazine style exegesis contains: An introduction, A comic preface and writing describing “How it all Began”, “What’s going on in Design Education”, The Role of Graphic Literacy in Education, 3 comic chapters and a lot more! Should be a good read.

My next step is to defend it all in a presentation to my examiners. I will brief you more on this whole process soon.

Preparing visually literate learners, notes from some articles

The Educator’s Role in Preparing Visually Literate Learners
Susan E. Metros (2008)

Metros gives us a good background on how our culture has become dependant on the visual
-visual literacy: capacity to communicate instantly and universally.
-advances in technology fueled shift

- Some students and some teachers lack a vocabulary of vision to communicate non-verbally and the ability to express themselves visually

Why Visual Lit?
(Hicks & Essinger) (1991)
Research into cognitive science suggests that users prefer visual displays of information to verbal descriptions.

Not to negate written word as it is just as important. This multi-modal literaciy enhances highly cognitive thinking possibly by allowing the user to see relationships between graphics and text allowing a faster reaction to anylizing.

-The human eye-brain system automatically searches for a visual order and heirarchy in wat it perceives.

It reduces learning cognitive load by simplifying meaning and providing clarity to complex concepts.

(Some reasons above why graphic literacy, if used well, is important to facilitate pedagogical theories. Describe deep learning again?

Graphic/Visually Literacy
- connect abstract concepts to life
- direct user’s focus and attention
-aid the user’s perceptive and cognitive skills
-stimulate interest and excitement

Tang,G.
“Graphics have been shown to be efficient tools for making visible  the knowledge structures which underlie the information. In other words, graphics communicate the shape of the information, thus making it possible for students to transfer their learning beyond the immediate lesson.”

What?
It sounds a bit like student-centered learning. In this case graphics are used to stimulate learners to actively participate in their own learning and move beyond ’surface’ learning to start to think about relationships and abstraction.

“…graphics, thus, provide a context which can be recycled and reused…”

Map of my Masters Research (in progress)

I thought it was a good idea at this stage, with of course suggestions from my supervisor, to map out my entire research. I want to create a visual map to describe my journey and more importantly my learning succession from my projects. Starting from Florence, Italy where I begun my research part-time to where I am now, busy after a penultimate, I tried to show my learning and deep knowledge through a “river” or line.
Take a look:

I found that any horizontal movement represents time that I was really learning something. Gaining knowledge. Although at the same time during this period I also felt I was doing nothing. In reality these time I was usually in “reflection” mode and during those times, quite often you don’t realize what you have learned until a bit after or quite awhile after! This is why after periods of reflection the line dips (representing deeper learning or understanding).  Got to go more later…

Let’s start again.
Throughout this mapping process, I learned about my progression, knowledge, and learning throughout this research. At first I included all the projects and what I learned from each project as well as comments from GRC panels and successive shifts in my research question. Papers were pasted up on my wall, from acceptance letters and rejections…to first skype meetings with my supervisors. I tried to remember what I was thinking during that time, what was I researching and why.
Here’s an excerpt on some of my thoughts then.

After filling up my wall, I tried to connect various projects with/within others, grouping, eliminating and really reflecting on what may have caused the shift of knowledge which I described in my last iteration of my map. To my supervisors and to myself it may be obvious of the progression but now especially wrapping things up I want to try and make this learning and knowledge explicit. In the last shift I tried to express major shifts in my research and thinking by placing horizontal dotted lines. But back to the progress…
Here is the one the first drafts:

I first tried to represent my learning by suggesting and linear vertical movement. I have not seen this time as a linear horizontal movement because that limits depth. The problem with this map is that it does not take into account for periods of learning, just depth. There were many times where I was reflecting on past projects, assembling fragments of discussions, activities, reading, sketching that needed to be accounted for visually. It seemed like a stairs going down, at each rise there was a project then (space) which was the step. Reflecting back on this (learning) space, at the time, I didn’t think I was learning. For the most part I was struggling with concepts and thinking about how to develop the research further (asking new questions). The space led to deeper learning and then another project. If I look that time now I see I was progressing my research by reflecting, reading, teaching and mapping. At one point on the map I pinpointed collecting material, reading literature surrounding educational structures and models. At the time I didn’t think much of it but now I find that information gave me the starting terminology to commence my deep reflection excersise where I wrote about my past teaching experiences. I started to introduce a lexicon into my writing through my previous research. That’s cool!

Other learning phases also consisted of presentations. For example my presentation at New Views 2 in London where I was locked up in a room with experienced educators from all over the globe! Here was the first time I felt very different opinions about design research, practice based research and the future of graphic design education. After my presentation I reflected on comments about my research and comic and I tried to begin to understand who my audience really was and how I could sculpt my narrative to engage educators. I also started to think about the use of the comic medium and graphics in general and how they may be better in communicating pedagogical theory. I didn’t know why yet but it definately laid a foundation.

GRC Presentation October 2008

GRC 2008 Presentation

de-briefing time… It’s been a long time. GRC October ‘08

My last post was after my 2nd GRC (Graduate Research Conference) presentation. I made a lot of discoveries but there have been some significant shifts in my research and thinking since then. At the last GRC I presented my main on-going project, a comic series for graphic design teachers, as a method to visualise my research findings. The comic allowed me to deepen  my understanding of the learning/teaching environment through reflective practice and through the relationships of my other projects. Then, I positioned my comic as the main vehicle of learning without understanding how siginificant this process was to my entire research and impetus. So…I started to ask myself why I chose comics to facilitate teaching and learning principles and what effect does this have on my entire research?

Here’s what I have been doing in the mean time.
To dig deeper into this question I went through a design process as any researcher would…right?
- I investigated the comic craft: You can’t use comics unless you attempt to learn how it works as a medium of communication. This means practicing illustrating, narrating, etc.

- An understanding of visual/graphic literacy through lit. reviews and comic design process

- The writing and design of a poster paper for Glide’08 (design education conference) Here I described the role that graphic literacy may have in facilitating teaching and learning principles to graphic design educators.

- Reflection from interviews of three design educators

- Mapping, and reflecting on my past projects and exercises in order to understand my learning.

This has led to some discoveries:

- Graphic design education may have not kept up with advances in pedagogical theory because of its past separation of practice, research and theory in its teaching/learning structure

- Has led to the consequence that teachers may find it difficult to encourage process-led enquiries and deep learning approaches in the classroom.

- Which may be attributed towards the lack of understanding and familiarity of the academic lexicon that is quite often used in pedagogical theories.

- Graphic literacy can aid in this facilitation

- Comics may act as a bridge in the awareness of pedagogical theories

That’s a lot of stuff to think about but I feel this shift, makes sense and has caused an enlightened approach to the dessiminiation and future of my research.

All this has led to a research title and question change:

FACILITATING PEDAGOGICAL AWARENESS THROUGH GRAPHIC LITERACY IN GRAPHIC DESIGN EDUCATION

How can graphic literacy help facilitate pedagogical awareness in graphic design education?

So I passed my penultimate but these are some items that the panel would like me to work on:

- Incorporate other types of graphic literacies into the comic (diagrams, maps)

- Elevating the presentation and writing to a point that it is taken seriously

- Who am I talking to? All graphic design teachers? Casual/sessional teachers? Tenure?

- Dive deeper into graphic literacy literature to provide a better foundation for my writing

- Watch my language! Rhetoric phrases, pretentious language, historical references

Next post: Reflecting on my research diagram.

GRC June 08

Graduate Research Conference June 08

This was my 2nd GRC presentation but officially my 3rd. My next presentation is my penultimate. For some reason I was not that nervous. I think it went quite well and my examiners thought so as well. I thought I would post my research presentation and document to see what my readers thoughts are. My main comments from the panel were that I perhaps needed to look at my research as ‘using graphic literacy to facilitate and research learning environment.’ Also, I should be looking much closer into the craft and language of comics. More so, my panel thought my interviews were not necessary and I should be looking into some sort of a probe to find the ‘answers’ to my questions.

1.What am I researching?

Currently, this research is focusing on this main question:
How can reflection and teaching and learning principles facilitate a research-learning environment in tertiary graphic design education?

Through my primary research (projects) I have identified that key elements towards student engagement in a research-learning environment are deep approaches towards the synthesis and visualization of the complex communication problems faced today.

This research has looked at educational theorists to establish a framework for my understanding of the development of an aligned curriculum, establishing objectives, teaching and learning activities, assessment and learning outcomes within the course environment. This is uncovering a deeper understanding of:

-    How the students approach towards learning and the teachers’ perception of the learning environment may lead students engaging in either surface or deep approaches to learning

-    How principles of teaching and learning may encourage process-led inquiries and deep learning approaches

-    How teaching and learning principles can provide a pathway for design students to participate in their learning of reflection and practice-based research

Two working questions have risen from my current secondary research. This will uncover and deepen my understanding of pedagogical principles used in tertiary teaching and explore connecting ‘forces’ surrounding process-led environments. Also it may investigate their implications with professional practice and the approaches to learning at the departmental level.

-    What effect does a department’s predisposition towards the facilitation of learning have on the students’ approach to learning and how does this differ in a professional studio environment?

-    To what extent does the awareness of surface and deep focused strategies aid design educators in their approach to teaching?

Outcomes
Through this research I aim to:

-    Gain a deeper understanding of teaching and learning

-    An understanding of how design research specifically reflection and teaching/learning principles can be used in graphic design tertiary education

-    Become a better teacher

-    Help students become better learners

-    Deepen my knowledge to become a better learning facilitator

-     Increase my ability to communicate process oriented research skills

2. Outline Progress

Since my last review, the area in which I have been researching has refined quite significantly in that I have developed a deeper understanding of pedagogical knowledge and how it can be visualised through a communication design approach. My original research question focused broadly on how design research could be integrated into course curricula and its implications on professional practice. Although the questions are still valid, my approach has shifted to a more thorough and methodical exploration of the internal and external forces that surround tertiary learning and teaching.

Project 1: Deep Reflection Exercise (http://designteaching.wordpress.com)
This project enabled me to reflect on my own past teaching experiences that led to a discovery of the ‘forces’ surrounding tertiary education and perceptions of institutional and professional practice design research. Not only did the exercise widen my knowledge of influential pedagogical principles and theories but also initiated a focus of the research towards deep learning environments and reflective practice.

What did I learn:
-    The value of an aligned curriculum: assessment, objectives, institutional environment and teaching and learning activities

-    The implications of surface and deep learning

-    How the teachers’ approach to teaching and learning creates a different learning environment for the student

-    How the students’ approach to learning may shift depending on the how they conceive of the learning environment

Where did it lead me:
This exercise was the initiator towards defining and focusing on key elements of my research. It allowed me to explore my perceptions of teaching and broaden my general knowledge of tertiary education. It also created a synthesis of information to lead me towards deeper questioning.

Project 2: Comic Book Series (on-going)
The comic book was chosen as a method to visualise my research findings from the deep reflection exercise and on-going readings. It was important to find a way through communication design to explore principles of teaching and learning in the context of graphic design teaching. The approach created a flexibility that allowed me to sculpt the narrative linking literature review with possible teaching scenarios. It also allows me to deepen my understanding of the learning and teaching environment through reflection.

What am I learning?
-    How to communicate knowledge of reflection and teaching and learning principles in an engaging and formative artefact directed towards graphic design teachers

-    How to synthesise my research questions so that the body of the knowledge is clearly understood and may elicit a deeper learning approach in an educators’ teaching.

-    Hypothesizing and testing my research findings by creating ‘conversations’ between teachers and students.

-    A deeper understanding of teaching and learning principles

Where will it lead me
The comic will be combined with my exegesis in some form. This will allow me to create relationships between academic literature and engaging narrative.

Project 3: Teaching Diary
My teaching experience has been an integral part of my research because it may give insight in the understanding of the students’ and teachers’ perception of teaching and learning, students’ response to reflection and whether the outcome of the teaching and learning activities elicited either a surface or deep approach. The reflective diary of class teaching and learning experiences I can use the course as a case study where I am constantly creating links and references to my research questions.

What am I learning:
-    How to synthesise a reflective study and shift the knowledge from implicit to the explicit.

-    The role of deep and surface approaches to learning in relation to:
o    Teachers’ perception of the teaching environment
o    Teachers’ approach to teaching
o    Students’ perceptions of the teaching environment
o    Students’ approach to learning
o    Students’ response to reflection

Where will it lead me
-    A more comprehensive knowledge of the research-learning environment
-    Creates strong links with the comic by integrating new ‘conversations’

Up-coming project: Interviews
Interviews with various design educators will be undertaken to provide the research with current user-centred knowledge of the perceptions and approaches educators are using in undergraduate graphic design education.

Proposed Participants:

Florence Design Academy (Florence, Italy)
Director Robert Malagrino

SRISA School of Art (Florence, Italy)
Director Rebecca Olsen

Instituto Europeo di Design (Barcelona)
Head of Communication
Giulia Setzu

Universidad Nebrija (Madrid)
Director of Research and Communication

Chelsea College of Art and Design
Professor Linda Drew

Ohio State University, College of Art
Paul Nini
Associate Professor, Department of Design

Illinois Institute of Technology, Institute of Design
Senior Lecturer Katherine McCoy

UTS (Sydney)
Darrall Thompson
Director-Teaching and Learning, School of Design

University of Wollongong, NSW
Grant Ellmers
Lecturer

Changes to candidature
In response to the change of the research question the project will have a more focused approach to design research. The research will be driven by how reflection and pedagogical principles can facilitate a research-learning environment in graphic design education.

How should the research be evaluated
The research should be evaluated by:
-    A stronger focus of research questions in response to critique and reflection

-    How I communicate ideas from other disciplines to communication design pedagogy

-    Changes in my practice

-    Changes in the experience of colleagues and students

updates, updates, updates

Well, I know its been a long time since my last entry. I have been busy, I asure my readers. Wow, I just checked my last entry…it has been awhile. Since then, I have been busy writing out some of my ideas on graphic design education for various conferences. In fact I just returned from New Views 2 in London. It was great. Met some fantastic people with similar interests and was able to present my reasearch to an international body. I had a great response from both my ideas and my comic book series. I will talk about this more later in a later entry. One of my big concerns was that most educators were trying or have been changing their curricula to fit the mold of industry, students, and academie. The updated curricula that I viewed were very rich and most promoted deep learning in some sense. I proposed that instead on looking at changing curricula, I feel that it is more important to help educators in some way, understand how to look at how they teach and for the importance that educators need to be aware of basic pedagogical principle to help facilitate a research-learning environment. (deep learning/teaching)

To my surprise many educators I spoke with did not have the research culture that I am use to. Many did not understand the importance of Design Research or even what it really is. If you discuss the method of design research and practice-based research, there seemed more of a consensous. I’ll brief this later as well. This was suppose to be just an introductory entry.

So welcome back!

Faithful readers…

To my faithful readers,
After being quite close from losing my entire Masters project from my computer meltdown I am back in business.
Don’t get me wrong, since the crash I have been pulling all nighters busily writing out a comic masterpiece. This week my challenge is to tie up all the loose ends and draft up some storyboards.

As I have been writing, I have been increasingly blocked by frustrations and doubts concerning the method I have chosen to communicate my project. There seems sometimes so many problems concerning the “voice” and keeping the style fresh and engaging for all types of educators not to mention that I’m trying to slip in some learning and teaching principles. I need to test it out and that’s the great thing about design is that I can. But since, I think I only have two faithful readers I won’t do it on this blog yet. Another problem I have been having are the scenarios that I’m staging, the story. That’s another doubt. I might enjoy scenes about basically nothing and the behind the scenes of a “design school” but maybe its not the best way to attack most university educators in graphic design. I mean, there is a huge age group I’m dealing with! In any case, I will push on and hopefully in a week everyone can see what I have done and I can re-evaluate some more.

The Comic…

For the last week I have been building up not only visual research to help my comic dialogue but also writing it. Yes, writing!
It became apparent that if I tried to organise dialogue with introducing educational principles, theory ect, and visuals it ended up to be very messy. So, I have been drawn to write a script. This way I can organise my thoughts and knowledge I want to cover in a story format with sidebar information on what it will look like. After I can draft out the frames by hand, edit and then move to the computer. Everyone reading this post which I think is just two people should see at least the first draft script of issue 1 in about three weeks. Hopefully the layouts as well.
I’ve become more and more interested in how comics tell stories and not I have been doing in the past which have been short strips. “Education” movies have been an inspiration and while I love comical scenarios in films like Ferris Bueller and Animal House or behind the scenes takes in the BBC’s Teacher series I’m going to to keep the “tone” of the comic somewhere in middle.

Something I have been thinking about in general and for another project. How can reflection be structured in the design process? Can it be shown as a tool in practice to illicit obtainable results. Confusing. Next Blog

.

How’s the teaching going?

Someone mentioned to me this week if I have been posting blog entries about my reflections on teaching this semester. The answer is no, at this point to protect privacy but I have been taking notes down after each class and then looking back on them later trying to position “what happened” with some theories and principles I have been reading on design education. Ideally, I will make quick comic pages out of them so I can present it as a visual dialogue.
Teaching this semester is very much linked towards one of my research methods. While I’m not forceable bringing in my own models into the curriculum and testing, it does allow me to review what is happening in the classroom and look at all the “forces” involved. The course does have some flexibility so I am able to propose reflective processes into the daily learning activities. Also, I am noticing how we are delivering the objectives and more importantly I am always relating “what I do” and “what the students do” to the knowledge I have now regarding education and aligned curriculum’s.

More Clive Dilnot

… theory into the process and final delivery. Dilnot states that in order for knowledge through design to become knowledge there needs to be a translation. An exegesis. Does it really? I’ve seen projects at a final examination that “speak for themselves” and demonstrate the knowledge acquired.

More later..

It’s now later. Dilnot’s statement of how we “read” research through design and there is a need of an exegesis in order for this knowledge to become knowledge could be interpreted in a different manner. Design research educator Sharron Helmer has stated once that the knowledge acquired through a research degree must be made accessible to the public in some way in order to validate the process and contribute the information in a broader context. Possibly Dilnot’s statement is more directed towards the dissemination rather than the process and equation. Acquired knowledge through the process of designing seems to need a limit, that is, the knowledge acquired should be reflected on and placed in context of the research questions and the overall objectives in order to help direct the process of research. Once the knowledge gained through a research is done, I don’t think it really matters “what” method(s) of knowledge formation was used but what the content of the information is. Basically, it’s going back to what methods are good for the process of your project. In the end, this knowledge seems to turn into knowledge about design because its being placed in the academic mould of information acquired.

I’m confusing myself. More later. I’m going to run this article dry until something clicks.

Practice based design and Academe–a critique

Recently, I stubbled upon an interesting article critiquing the very values of practice based research, specifically, research through design. Prof. Terry Rosenberg in “Designs on Critical Practice?” describes how design and other creative practices are being forced into academia’s “mould” to as he puts it “fit” into the epistemology of the sciences scholarship. I found this really an interesting article because for the first time, I found someone really critiquing the methods I and the “practice based research cult” have been running. Re-freshing.
One point that interested me in particular is how Rosenberg states that he is unconvinced about the distinction between knowledge about design and knowledge through design. He cites Clive Dilnot’s statement that we need to think about knowledge through and about design in order to see its “space” in academe. What are the epistemological limits to knowledge through design. When we practice, what are the boundaries that say “hey there, that’s knowledge” does there really need to be? There are definitely two different definitions of research “through” and “about” design. But in the practice of “practice based research” the work you produce and through its production and reflection, discoveries are made and coupled with formulated theories, principles and models knowledge is produced. If through the design process we are using knowledge about design to aid in the formulation of the project, that knowledge that we are acquiring seems to me could be the same type of knowledge that we deliver in the end. Speaking in terms about design research, the “about”, “for”, and “through” may equal “about.” I don’t think there is a right or wrong answer in this. Research through practice to be deemed fit for academia seem that it needs to tie theory into the process and final delivery. Dilnot states that in order for knowledge through design to become knowledge there needs to be a translation. An exegesis. Does it really? I’ve seen projects at a final examination that “speak for themselves” and demonstrate the knowledge acquired.

More later…

What’s going on

Here’s another frustration entry. Its time…to work on the dialogs of my comic and try not to come off too pretentious and complex. I’m trying to find a way to “appeal” to the long time design teachers through the scenarios and script. It’s a lot harder that it looks. So, to combat the evil mutants (comic speak) I’m going to try and write a brief as if I had to teach some of this information in a classroom. The last thing I want is to get readers to to approach teaching on a surface level after reading the series!

Critique #1

For this months crit of my work my intension was to present my interview questions and get some feedback on how I can address them in relation to my projects goals. The feedback, was good and mainly touched on the “language” of the comic and how I need to distill it towards a broader, less site-referenced theories. Mainly though was my use of design research and  how what I’m trying to achieve in my project is more “reflective and designing through pedagogical methods” for graphic design educators and not really the integration of research methods in undergrad curricula. This is because a lot of people were confused on my use of research and design research. hmm…

This is what I presented:

A Comic!

Here is a preview of what I been working on. Many blog posts ago, I wrote how I am trying to visualize this “new learning approach” that I have been reflecting on. More so, I should say that after some critique maybe visualize is not quite the right word to discuss the process I’m going through. Can I call it a “reflective-action-process”?
Anyway, I have come across some great readings and knowledge through them. This comic project series will develop the language of reflective-awareness through design by analyzing learning and teaching methods from the student and educator.

Here’s a sneak preview:

Knowledge

Last week, I was going through John Biggs’s book in quality learning and I came across a section that I have gone over before but I obviously wasn’t ready to absorb it yet. Biggs spoke about Alignment of the teaching method and from a good teaching system comes the alignment of teaching methods, assessment to the learning activities in the objectives.
Reading more about objectives I found how truly integral they are to a teaching/learning system and quite often teachers do not relate their objectives to the teaching activities (Biggs). This really throws the system out of order in my opinion. If I am about learning how research can be used (integrated) to create deep learning environments.

One issue that Biggs points out is that in able to cite the objectives a teacher needs to first discover what knowledge is involved in the learning process. He states, Declarative knowledge: knowing about, Procedural knowledge: action, sequences, ect. and Functional Knowledge: Theory, Analyze, reflect and basically the when and why, putting procedural and declarative together. Problem Solving. One thing that stood out was how according to Biggs most teaching was done in the two streams of declarative and procedural. Student are then left with two set of information and left to sort the mess out.
I see significant relevance to what Biggs is describing and how it relates to what I have witnessed in graphic design pedagogy. Tools and technology are taught to students, separately, principles and procedures. How can the student put all this information together and gain knowledge from it? Enquiry-based learning helps and so does practice-based research.
I think the key here is to implement ways of teaching and learning so that all design courses have an underlying connection of creating designers with deep-learning skills and be able to articulate this knowledge in practice. Of course their are “forces” involved by this statement but I will get to that soon. (The academic institution and practice)

The Boyer Commision Report

Through my past scrambling of information for the conference abstract I came upon a report concerning the needed changes in undergraduate education. The Boyer Commission, are a group of scientists, educators and designers who have come together to offer some insightful methods to strengthen the quality of university learning by stressing on the re-development and integration of research in undergraduate education. While many of these types of reports I have written usually deal with research in science pedagogy which is unfortunate for design, more of that later, this report gives plenty good examples.

The report starts by advocating the push for more “Research Universities”, which are universities that “promote collaborative learning experiences, skills of analysis, evaluation and synthesis.”

One important note that they discuss is the importance of “types” of teachers needed in research universities and really all universities in my point of view that would like to introduce some type of deep learning environment for the students. “…students should be taught by those who discover, create, apply and transmit. The non-researcher focuses only on transmitting…” J. Biggs talks a lot about the same things on how it is vital for students to obtain any understanding of what they are doing the teacher needs to actively change there approach to teaching, thus not focusing on transmission or what the teacher does but what the student does. Effectively, trying to understand what the student does and how the student interprets, digests and outputs knowledge. The key here is to get the students to approach there learning. (Ramsden)  In  the design context L. Drew, also mentions that the key to understanding teaching and research is to first get teachers using research in practice thus eliminating the differences of what goes inside and outside of university environments.

The Boyer commission also makes some recommendations to engage research early in higher education (ie, undergrad). This will eliminate in my words “research shock” if they enter graduate school but more importantly will produce a system of inquiry and analysis that will affect practice. What I mean is that by introducing research in the first year of university, students by graduation will bring new skills to workplace which we understand now especially for design are needed because of how practice is changing and evolving into an area where practitioners need to be able to understand the user and be able to solve complex problems not common in the past.

Both the commission and educators like, Drew, McCoy, Davis, Poggenpolh, Nini call for in some sort enquiry-based methods of research to be instilled from the first year. I also think that participatory methods could also invoke a deeper learning and analysis by bringing the students together with “practicing researchers” (do they exist) and collaborative assignments in courses.

I got to go now and move on to some designing in my research. To be continued.

Troubles: New Views Abstract

As I mentioned in my last post since last week I have been desperately struggling to write a mere 400 words of positioning statement for the New Views 2 conference. Well, It’s done and thankfully so. I did learn a lot though from going through the process. Early on in the process I was trying to get the “flashy” or “catchy” topic. Too concerned with what type of paper they were looking for and not enough about what I really did know in the big world of design education. After speaking with my supervisor I understood that I was trying to drive to paper to far. That is, too much knowledge that I was not aware of, at least not yet. So her suggested I narrow it down to what I knew about which is for now, a lot about teaching, learning and knowledge. I framed the abstract around questions that I do not necessarily know the answers to but feel through some deep reflecting that could provide a useful insight to the use of research in design education. Also, through this process I found that I really need to get organized. I cannot afford to lose so much time sifting through notebooks and loose articles to find that reference. Oh yes, she did say something about assessment…where did I put that article…or maybe it was someone else that mentioned it. Where’s that notebook! I got away with that before but now I have an even larger pile of articles and notes. Next week, design a filing system that works!

Here’s the paper abstract.

Researching for the Future:
How principles of teaching and learning may facilitate communication of research in graphic design education.

It has been a good ten years since Sharron Poggenpohl from the Institute of Design described in her paper “Why we need Design Research”1 the need and call for research implementation in graphic design curricula. Many other educators also expressed their voice and advocated for a swift re-evaluation of graphic design pedagogy. Since then there have been many advancements towards the investigation of diverse methodologies and their relationship with the constantly changing landscape of professional practice.

“While many schools claim that their graduates can handle the analysis and solution of large scale or complex communication problems, rarely are their college experiences grounded in study that supports designer development of successful strategy.”2

The intertwining, complexity and relationship of research, learning and teaching have raised some important issues on how practice in the future will affect design research education. Recent studies have found that even with the awareness and use of research-led teaching, some methods are still directed towards the final product instead of process outcomes.3 Even though enquiry-based learning has become a standard in most universities as way of encouraging research 4 there is a void in the education of practice-based research to handle the communication problems faced today.

If we now understand why design research education is important then the next obvious step would be how to teach this knowledge towards a practice and educational system where project-based learning environments prevail. Drew argues that it is the way teachers conceive of and approach teaching that encourages deep learning.5 Paul Ramsden also describes how the goal in any teaching is to change the students approach to the subject matter they are learning.6 By actively inviting students to participate in their own learning teachers may find channels towards higher cognitive levels of understanding. These deep learning environments facilitate understanding and process in education and while they may not be directly linked to design research they provide a pathway for students to actively participate in their learning of reflection and process.

The question today is not what is design research and how is it useful but more importantly how are teachers adjusting to the urgent need of research integration in design curricula and what may be alternatives for creating a research-learning environment? This paper will examine how approaches to learning in higher education may provide an invaluable link towards research integration in graphic design pedagogy.

1 Helmer Poggenpohl, S. (1996). “Why we need Design Research.” Graphic Design Journal(4): 20-25.

2 Davies, M. (2005) “Raising the Bar for Higher Education.” The Education of a Graphic Designer. Allworth Press, New York.

3 Bew. A. (2001) Conceptions of Research: a phenomenographic study. Studies in Higher Educations, 26, 271-285.

4 Drew, L. (2007). “Designing the Interface between research, Learning and Teaching.” Design research Quarterly 2:3(July).

5 Drew, L. (2000). A disciplined approach: Learning to practice as design teachers in the university. Paper presented at Reinventing Design Education conference, Curtin University, Perth, Australia.

6 Ramsden, P. (2003). Learning to teach in Higher Education. London, New York, RoutledgeFalmer.

The past week and now

For the last two weeks I have been busily working on a grant submission and a 63 pg contacts booklet for the state of Victoria. Because of certain deadlines, these have been my priorities. Although, I will admit that my research progress has been less than satisfactory I have been reading some articles and taking notes as well as progressing on my visualization of a “new learning approach” (see case study). Other than banging my head on my wall, everything is going fine. Lately, I have been trying to write a position statement for the New Views 2 Conference coming up in London next July. I will hopefully attend as I will be in Europe at the time. Even though its only 400 words I’m having a great deal of trouble finding resources for the topic I have chosen.

The “R” word
Is research the new taboo?
How do its connotations affect learning environments in graphic design education?

So, I might have to go back to something I have more info on and less of a “flashy” topic.  As far as my research, I’ve pin pointed some key areas that I will need to connect with in order to communicate this new learning approach. Some key areas are: assessment, methods, constructively aligned environment, deep learning, principle of alignment, establishing clear objectives, teacher’s delivery, surface learners, the students approach, participatory environment, research based curriculum. At the moment, I have divided these topics up into phases and modules and am looking at mapping them out as a visual project brief.  Times ticking…

Starting again

Ok…My last to-do list wasn’t quite accomplished but I ready to start again. Because now I’m a little too relaxed after the holidays I will get back into things by reading some of my old blog entries to refresh myself and try to find some concrete examples I can use towards my case study in some readings.

Coming next week

Here are some of the things I will begin to work on in the coming week.

1) Will diagram my learning approach post and others (advice to myself)

2) Take a 3rd person look to my reflections, assumptions and forces finding a way to communicate this information to “myself”

3) What “lenses” (surface/deep, student actions, teacher actions, research through design, etc.) can I use to look at the communication of all this information.

4) Collect information

5) Design a brief for new research course

The “R” word and related work

With all of this reflection going on I have been increasingly been subjected to the “R” word. Since the GRC two colleagues and I have been piecing together a proposal for a new research and participatory learning course hopefully to be implemented into the 3rd year of undergraduate (communication design) studies in the following year. The framework for the course is to create a reflective learning environment where invited practitioners will work with the students in developing their industry related research project. Lecturers and research assistants will be used to facilitate the learning and delivery of the practitioners through practice-led research. What we are trying to do is create a participatory environment where the student, practitioner and lecturer participate in the learning, understanding and reflecting. The research project will be based around the design industry, i.e the students will be required to research and understand a particular area of the design industry that they are interested in.

While we were discussing the plan for the course the “r” word came up constantly and not just because we are all doing design research but the use of the word in undergraduate education became a taboo. Teachers who mentioned research to students almost always received an automatic reply of research being “too boring”, “too academic” for communication design. It would be also safe to say that the word scares students because of its “undeveloped” connotations. Because of its historical background in the sciences and academia (Boyer) its no wonder students now are having trouble with the term. The discussion grew towards labeling it another name to avoid negative reactions from the students. Ah yes, a discovery of knowledge through the practice of designing. A little long. Maybe more time needs to be spent on how we can integrate research in early education so that its not just a separate part of design education (a research course) but a system in the entire curriculum. There are many references in communication design arguing the importance of practice-led research for both practice and education but there are few institutions really using design research as an integrated part of the curriculum. (Ill jump back here in a second) Maybe design research needs a good advertising campaign…

Speaking earlier about references:
I just finished co-authoring an abstract paper for a DRS (Design research society) conference. The paper is basically a stripped down version of what we are trying to do with the research course. While helping write the abstract there were many questions that came out of how we were positioning the paper and what exactly was the course about. Is it about research?, participatory learning? reflection? Through discussion I came to realize that we were not really building a research course but creating a pedagogical model using participatory learning. Through the learning of all parties, research would develop and be reflected on. The niche, lets say of the course is that it is bringing in practitioners to be involved in the learning and reflection. Too many big words here…

Anyhow, during this process I was thinking of some references to help back it all up. The key to all of this was participatory learning, which was something that I knew very little about. I found many cases regarding the model in sciences and medicine (wow) but very little directed towards communication design. I will admit though my search was very preliminary and on the surface. What I did find out was that it originated in Scandinavian countries mainly involving industry and not education. Some schools have used the model in their curricula, in fact Daria Loi at RMIT (industrial design) has used participatory learning and reflection as a core element for undergraduate teaching by introducing a group diary as part of the design process. Other institutes such as the New Jersey Institute of technology also are working to engage students as active participants in the design process by exploring, reflecting and questioning, allowing the students to create their own knowledge which also brings in a constructivists model of learning.
So once again my journey takes me into unknown territories.

What am I doing?

I feel stuck. I can’t think or express anything right now and feel like my research is standing still or even moving backwards. I’m not sure where all this reflection is going even though I feel I have made some good progress in the identification of the “forces at play” in my past curriculum design. But what next. I’m trying to piece together possible solutions, trying to read Biggs and Ramsden but every page feels like another block towards my research questions.
I guess we will see.

Reflection and Research Integration 2

This thought came up after reading a little of Paul Ramsden’s book “Learning to Teach in Higher Education” (2003)

How do we change the students’ learning approaches to graphic design subjects thus improving the learning and integration of research?

Does that make sense?

1) I think one point to make on this topic is getting students at an undergraduate level to be more reflective in their learning process. The ability to reflect creates an environment for deeper learning and understanding.(should back that up) One way that I have learned to push reflection is through assessment. Another would be establishing different criteria in project assignments.
For example: Designing a logo for company x
Concurrently with handing in thumbnails, brief, presenting comprehensives, and a final presentation, and assessment; the criteria could also include researching logotypes in the service of company x and design a mood board, self assess concepts early in the design process, and/or get the students to actively research the user’s perspective of possible comps using visual questionnaires, etc.

I think I’m going somewhere with this, but its late. I will continue tomorrow.

Its now tomorrow

I would like to frame my question (see above) now with one of the design courses I was teaching. It was essentially a course built to learn Photoshop and Illustrator. If I choose to not redevelop the entire graphic design program and focus on this course here are some possibilities I could have done to enhance deeper learning by changing the learning approach.

1) Background
Because one of the main goals of the course was to enhance technical skills class structure was founded on the classroom in a book tutorials. Each project progressed in difficulty and goals For example the first touched on the use of color, shape, form, ect (Creating a series of montages) 2nd, poster design and the use of type,ect. I would demo a tutorial, the students would practice the skill. The second half of the class was structured around informal discussions on design elements, principles and ways of communication and the students would work on their projects with one-to-one guidance and feedback. For assessment, student were asked to talk about their concepts early on in the design process and then a final presentation which in included a de-briefing paper. I could never get them to do a proper brief but for some reason a de-briefing paper, where they reflected on their project was more successful.

New learning approach:
I think I would keep the classroom in a book structure of tutorials because it gave the students a reference during demonstrations. I would change the structure of the assignment into three sections, all of them to be followed by an assessment (self and teacher) In phase 1 of the project the students goal would be of an investigator. I will deliver the message of discovery and knowledge. They would be asked to find out as much as they could on the subject. The students would informally present their findings to the class. The student would write a small description on what information they found useful and how they explored the process. In phase 2 the students will start initiating concepts for their projects, thumbnails, comps. the student would write a small brief on the process and reflect on the concepts. By one-to-one discussion the teacher could create a dialogue with the student creating an open environment for leaning and understanding. By adding the stop and reflect exercises and presentations I think it forces the student to understand a different way of viewing the task and hopefully create a space for deep learning.
One obstacle I see in this plan, is time. I spent a lot of teaching hours dedicated to producing “quality” work or acceptable design pieces for the school and for the students. But I think too much attention was spent on the aesthetic finishing of the projects instead of asking the question; what did that student learn? Are they aware of what they learned?

Reflection and Research Integration

This thought came up after reading a little of Paul Ramsden’s book “Learning to Teach in Higher Education” (2003)

How do we change the students’ learning approaches to graphic design subjects thus improving the learning and integration of research?

Does that make sense?

1) I think one point to make on this topic is getting students at an undergraduate level to be more reflective in their learning process. The ability to reflect creates an environment for deeper learning and understanding.(should back that up) One way that I have learned to push reflection is through assessment. Another would be establishing different criteria in project assignments.
For example: Designing a logo for company x
Concurrently with handing in thumbnails, brief, presenting comprehensives, and a final presentation, and assessment; the criteria could also include researching logotypes in the service of company x and design a mood board, self assess concepts early in the design process, and/or get the students to actively research the user’s perspective of possible comps using visual questionnaires, etc.

I think I’m going somewhere with this, but its late. I will continue tomorrow.

Solutions of reflected curriculum design

In my assessment post I made some huge revelations towards the importance of assessment and how it can be used to encourage a deeper learning environment. I also discovered some large holes in the designed curriculum one of which was that the program I built was not suitable for graphic design majors coming from North America. (see past posts) which were the majority of the enrolled students.

I have to admit with all this reflection and intermittent readings I am feeling quite scattered and lost of where this is all taking me.

1) Program was not built to host graphic design majors from North America
- Perhaps more suitable to Italian students in their first year of undergrad +

As discussed previously, the curriculum design did not take into account where the majority of students where coming from and their academic backgrounds. Most students came from North American universities looking for a semester study-abroad holiday earning graduation credits. While I was looking to introduce a new program to the private graphic design colleges in Florence, there seem to be a division in my mind in what I envisaged the program to be and how it would all work. I saw the program to bring deep learning into a system that was rooted in the transmission of information and not reflection. I was looking to introduce a comprehensive program (in the learning sense), where students could expect more than technical instruction but also discover other mediums of visual communication. I was dreaming and hoping big. One thing that this reflection has taught me is how many variables and external forces where involved in the design and a good curriculum design takes research and support to push ahead.

I have been thinking of some possible solutions to these set-backs that I have discovered.
I possibly see two solutions. 1) Since the school was most likely not going to change its advertising towards North American students there either had to be a change in the objectives of the curriculum itself or maybe even the curriculum to be stripped down to its minimum. I could have taken the single course of digital imaging (since it originally had high enrollment) and done some research on how I could have modified the course to fit the needed objectives.

1b) All courses in the program could have been directed towards (Italian/Florentine graphic design)
This would create a niche in the education market in Florence and quite possibly aid in the enrollment of North American students.

This could be done by:
- Establishing a stronger link with design studios in Italy.
- Creating a practice-based research component where it could be linked with the industry
- Adding elements of historical and contemporary Italian design where students would research the influences and styles

1c) The curriculum design could have been scraped and I could have focused directly on bringing research and deeper learning into one course (Digital Imaging) It also would have allowed me something more manageable considering the support system and a concentrated time of research for myself to gather necessary information.

This could be done by:
- Researching graphic design education models i.e (Basel, Bauhaus, American, Bologna, ect
- Investigated a literature review on learning and teaching in higher education, (Ramsden, Biggs, Dorst, ect)
- Structured the course to include assessment techniques such as self assessment, peer, ect to create and more reflective environment
- Divided the course into smaller modules that included writing and reading. The student would research information regarding their project, write about what they learned in the stages of the design process.

In a chapter of Paul Ramsden’s book “Learning to Teach in Higher Education” (2003) he mentions that a goal in teaching is to change the students’ approach to the subject matter they learn. He states it is “the key to improving their learning”, which is also the key to improve teaching in changing the way the process is understood.”

I think this is a great point to reflect on and how it relates to teaching graphic design specifically in this situation of the revaluation of a course. I’m trying to think now what could have been some ways to change the approach of learning technical programs in the (Digital Imaging course) so that students come away with a deeper knowledge of graphic design and the ability to communicate this knowledge through practice. AHHH! My head is going to explode!
or

next post (to be continued)

Graphic design and the learning of technical computer skills

Someone once told me “where would graphic design be now, without the use of the computer.” I think this is something very important to talk about because of its relationship with my topic. I think throughout history, the designer has used the tools around them to use for the communication of the message. From block type to hand placing film, at that time, those were the tools and they were used as best as possible. The computer has taken over design quite quickly over the years and there developed one major difference with cutting film, easy user learning and accessibility.

One of the points that I needed to reflect on in my past curriculum design was that I was trying to really push the program to encourage deep learning with and without the use of the computer. I was trying to develop a system of teaching and learning which would also break the dependencies of technology for the learning of graphic design that were prevailing. What I didn’t want in this new design was the tendency for private study abroad colleges to teach strictly technical skills in any medium. To develop a one year program introducing other elements such as research, reflection and assessment were at that time I was not thinking about too much which definitely disabled the outcome of the program. I have always had the firm belief that students should not study graphic design to learn programs, they can grab a book, or attend a focused workshop for that. Studying graphic design means learning about communication. Students need the ability to use visual cues, design elements, principles, and typography and express these elements in various mediums appropriate for the problem. A graphic design now, must be able to communicate in a social environment both verbally and writing. To obtain this, I don’t think that doing away with the computer in learning environments is the answer but to find other ways of its integration into learning through the use of using research and assessment as a method of pinning a foundation to design pedagogy. Maybe this doesn’t make too much sense right now so I will get back to it.

(Drew, 2000) (Biggs, 1999)
Argues that it is in the way teachers conceive of approach teaching that encourages deep learning and it is the overwhelming factor that individual learners.”

Florence and Design

In my opinion, simply, Florence does not engage in design for such as cultural city. Discussing this is quite important for my research because it relates to how I virtually ignored any integration of Florence’s design community (practicing studios, relevant research, history) in my curriculum design.
I was living in Florence for about five years. For the first year, I struggled to find the odd freelance job to carry me through the months. Luckily its a small city, I felt like a door to door salesman. Through friends, I finally landed a job for the Uffizi which gave me some publicity to find jobs easier. While like most cities, “word of mouth” rules the networking system for a freelance designer, in Florence the relationship and status you have with friends is the cue. For those of you who have visited the city, you will know that it is very old, and its foundation of its economy, other than tourism, was based through the fine arts and craft. Ah yes, beautiful but quite deceiving for the young North American graphic designer.

I’ve dubbed the city “never changing.” It is like most famous ancient european cities but its alarming rate of tourism and international students create a unique atmosphere for design. Observation: Florence lives on tourism. Tourists and students go to Florence to explore the ancient past in art and architecture (the Renaissance) Students mainly study in Florence to learn classical mediums, painting, drawing, ect. Businesses rely on tourism. Businesses keep the history of the city intertwined with their service/product.

The city is relatively small and their are a handful of design studios operating in the area. Most of these studios have established a monopoly with the larger companies in the area requesting design services. By talking to other Italian design students, most have told me that the turn over rate in the studios is very, very low and most studios when needing an extra hand in production leech on design students to work for no pay. (An internship in Florence) While I’m not suggesting that because the city is old their is no need for graphic design but what I am saying is that their is little room for growth. During my five years there I had to constantly explain to people and clients what is graphic design and what are the benefits. By the end I got so exhausted by the same questions I quickly stated ” you know advertising, poster, books and stuff” (In Italian of course) They understood that, barely. When the public university in Florence does not offer any sort of communication design program, other than electives, its no wonder their is a lack of understanding. Also, I found during the last years that many small print shops were offering “graphic design” services for as little as $15 per hour. I saw many potential clients go the the small print shop to get an (all-in-one) service or a friend who knew Photoshop. AHHHH! I can see why this creates a destructive design environment. Who will pay for the services of a graphic designer or communication designer when there are very few notable examples of the work in action.

Design symposiums: The city of Florence likes to think its great and modern by hosting “design trade-shows” I guess to keep up with their competition, Torino, Rome and Milan. Very few were good, other than offering key note superstar designers delivering another speech on creativity! Oh I’m ranting again. Back to the question.

Curriculum design:
While I believe I could have made a stronger effort to include whatever minimal design community there was in Florence at that time into my curriculum design thus creating a program more suitable for North American students (see assessment post), I feel that the unavoidable circumstances took the upper hand. A possible solution was to do some heavy research into what the studios in the area were doing and maybe create a link with practice and learning. This could have been expanded to a research component where students studied how practicing designers used research in their projects. All these “ifs” are great to reflect on but unfortunately I don’t see how it could have been possible to arrange within the time frame I had for the design of the new program. Now I believe that at least at an introductory level students were to be introduced to Italian graphic history such as the Futurists and then moved on to their play with typography, ect. While this may have given a technical and historical look into the Italian (Florentine) graphic design it would not fulfill the criteria of the integration of an practice-based research.