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.