The University of New South Wales
UNSW Art & Design
This interdisciplinary, qualitative study is the first to map the role of spirituality in contemporary art museum education from the educator’s perspective. The thesis makes an original contribution to a spiritual approach to art museum... more
This interdisciplinary, qualitative study is the first to map the role of spirituality in contemporary art museum education from the educator’s perspective. The thesis makes an original contribution to a spiritual approach to art museum education by acknowledging an interplay between worldview, core values, educational goals, learning theory, and educational practice. Based on a holistic worldview of the profound interconnectedness of all life, spirituality is proposed as a nonreligious and nonsectarian category concerned with an individual’s experiential journey in search of purpose, meaning, and connectedness with self, others, nature, and the transcendent.
The case study that underpins this project focused on three significant groups of educators: art museum educators, high school visual art teachers, and prospective visual art teachers studying at university. Data from qualitative questionnaires and semistructured interviews was triangulated among the groups, to map participants’ views about spirituality in teaching high school groups visiting art museums.
My analysis of the qualitative data revealed that all participants made a distinction between spirituality and religion. However, in their teaching some used spirituality as a transcendental concept, others as nontranscendental. Further, visual art emerged as a secular field particularly well suited to engaging students with existential and spiritual questions. For example, art museum educators described art museums as places of slowing down—referring to a state of heightened presence and concentration, fruitful for immersive experiences, and for potentially opening to spiritual questions.
Another key finding is that all participants were hesitant to embrace a spiritual dimension to art education. One way to encourage more spiritual dialogue would be to clarify the contemporary, secular interpretation of “spiritual” across art museum education, the visual arts syllabi, and teacher training. Greater clarity may inspire educators to integrate spiritual explorations into art museum education.
The study concludes that art museums present a potentially powerful learning environment for young people to engage with reflective and existential questions of self and world. In this context, contemplative pedagogies, including the integration of mindfulness and body–mind practices, may provide novel and meaningful strategies to invite young visitors to explore the spiritual.
The case study that underpins this project focused on three significant groups of educators: art museum educators, high school visual art teachers, and prospective visual art teachers studying at university. Data from qualitative questionnaires and semistructured interviews was triangulated among the groups, to map participants’ views about spirituality in teaching high school groups visiting art museums.
My analysis of the qualitative data revealed that all participants made a distinction between spirituality and religion. However, in their teaching some used spirituality as a transcendental concept, others as nontranscendental. Further, visual art emerged as a secular field particularly well suited to engaging students with existential and spiritual questions. For example, art museum educators described art museums as places of slowing down—referring to a state of heightened presence and concentration, fruitful for immersive experiences, and for potentially opening to spiritual questions.
Another key finding is that all participants were hesitant to embrace a spiritual dimension to art education. One way to encourage more spiritual dialogue would be to clarify the contemporary, secular interpretation of “spiritual” across art museum education, the visual arts syllabi, and teacher training. Greater clarity may inspire educators to integrate spiritual explorations into art museum education.
The study concludes that art museums present a potentially powerful learning environment for young people to engage with reflective and existential questions of self and world. In this context, contemplative pedagogies, including the integration of mindfulness and body–mind practices, may provide novel and meaningful strategies to invite young visitors to explore the spiritual.
Alternative worldviews bring forth alternative visions of education. This article sheds light on one contemporary approach to a spiritual worldview and its implications for secular art education. It proposes that high school visual art is... more
Alternative worldviews bring forth alternative visions of education. This article sheds light on one contemporary approach to a spiritual worldview and its implications for secular art education. It proposes that high school visual art is a particularly conducive environment to engaging teenagers with existential and spiritual questions. An approach to spirituality grounded in a worldview of “profound interconnectedness” and “other-than-ego consciousness,” rather than religious systems, offers a timely basis for renegotiating the spiritual in secular art education settings. Through five concepts, the article bridges broader discussions on spirituality with concrete learning and teaching in the art classroom. For example, it suggests the integration of contemplative methods into art education as a compelling way forward, with the potential to encourage a new type of experiential, embodied learning and complementary way of knowing.
Alternative worldviews bring forth alternative visions of education. This article sheds light on one contemporary approach to a spiritual worldview and its implications for secular art education. It proposes that high school visual art is... more
Alternative worldviews bring forth alternative visions of education. This article sheds light on one contemporary approach to a spiritual worldview and its implications for secular art education. It proposes that high school visual art is a particularly conducive environment to engaging teenagers with existential and spiritual questions. An approach to spirituality grounded in a worldview of “profound interconnectedness” and “other-than-ego consciousness,” rather than religious systems, offers a timely basis for renegotiating the spiritual in secular art education settings. Through five concepts, the article bridges broader discussions on spirituality with concrete learning and teaching in the art classroom. For example, it suggests the integration of contemplative methods into art education as a compelling way forward, with the potential to encourage a new type of experiential, embodied learning and complementary way of knowing.
The shifting forms and colours visible on the inside of our eyelids in a darkened room are produced by phosphenes -- particles of light emitted from cells within the retina, which are detected by the optic nerve and imaged by the visual... more
The shifting forms and colours visible on the inside of our eyelids in a darkened room are produced by phosphenes -- particles of light emitted from cells within the retina, which are detected by the optic nerve and imaged by the visual cortex. In this presentation, we briefly review how phosphenes have been the subject of contemporary artworks and are hypothesised to have inspired Palaeolithic cave art. We then introduce "Phosphene Expressionism", one of the contemplative practices that make up The Playful Eye, an interactive experience designed for art museum visitors, which we have delivered in physical and virtual art museum spaces in the United States, Germany and Australia. Conference participants will be invited to experience the practice for themselves, preparing the ground for the final section, in which we discuss the implications of the phosphene phenomenon for understanding the ontology of the artwork; the roles of artist and art museum visitor; the relationshi...
- by Nico Roenpagel
- •
The education systems of today greatly influence the world and values of tomorrow. On the one hand, this means that education is a key vehicle for creating a more compassionate and sustainable future. 1 On the other hand, an increasing... more
The education systems of today greatly influence the world and values of tomorrow. On the one hand, this means that education is a key vehicle for creating a more compassionate and sustainable future. 1 On the other hand, an increasing number of scholars question whether the value system currently underpinning education will be successful in reconciling the world of tomorrow (
This project aims to gain an understanding of the relationships people have with everyday, domestic objects inside their urban living spaces using Do-it-Yourself (DIY) furniture making projects. Throughout the project, new knowledge is... more
This project aims to gain an understanding of the relationships people have with everyday, domestic objects inside their urban living spaces using Do-it-Yourself (DIY) furniture making projects. Throughout the project, new knowledge is generated using hands-on making activities
as a form of Research through Design (RtD). The primary objectives of this research are to open up and encourage these kinds of Do-it-Yourself, experiential learning activities as resources for people to draw on in their
everyday lives. By innovating design interventions related to personal well-being and satisfaction with our objects, this project has led to the development of concrete design research exemplars demonstrating how DIY projects can operate as creative resources for everyday design. Through the design, implementation, and study of the artifacts created for DIY home customization, this research aims to support people in experiencing increased levels of self-satisfaction, well-being, and sense of value with their belongings. This investigation focuses on aspects
of a domestic object’s importance, becoming an ‘Everyday Designer,’ customization, personalization and their respective relationships to consumption and material culture. As a result of this research, multiple DIY furniture projects and instructional booklets have been created to provide opportunities for everyone from non-designers to experienced makers to conduct a personal material exploration. Together with this creative act of hands-on making, everyday design practices allow people to reflect on the objects they own and why, while also achieving an
increased sense of well-being and agency towards their domestic objects.
as a form of Research through Design (RtD). The primary objectives of this research are to open up and encourage these kinds of Do-it-Yourself, experiential learning activities as resources for people to draw on in their
everyday lives. By innovating design interventions related to personal well-being and satisfaction with our objects, this project has led to the development of concrete design research exemplars demonstrating how DIY projects can operate as creative resources for everyday design. Through the design, implementation, and study of the artifacts created for DIY home customization, this research aims to support people in experiencing increased levels of self-satisfaction, well-being, and sense of value with their belongings. This investigation focuses on aspects
of a domestic object’s importance, becoming an ‘Everyday Designer,’ customization, personalization and their respective relationships to consumption and material culture. As a result of this research, multiple DIY furniture projects and instructional booklets have been created to provide opportunities for everyone from non-designers to experienced makers to conduct a personal material exploration. Together with this creative act of hands-on making, everyday design practices allow people to reflect on the objects they own and why, while also achieving an
increased sense of well-being and agency towards their domestic objects.
This research interrogates assumptions around sustainable maker practices within the maker movement. It challenges the understanding of maker practice using 3D printing technology and bioplastic 3D printer filament as sustainable by... more
This research interrogates assumptions around sustainable maker practices within the maker movement. It challenges the understanding of maker practice using 3D printing technology and bioplastic 3D printer filament as sustainable by accounting for the more-than-humans in design networks – and by extension maker practice. This research reports on my analysis of my practice-based research experiment called Biorecycling Machine within an Actor-Network Theory (ANT), Co-design and critical making framework. This research draws on ANT concepts through Co-design to reconceptualise the outcomes of design practice from mere artefacts to interconnected socio-material ‘design things’. I evaluate the idea of sustainable making using bioplastic materials and its long-term implications and interrupt the individualism inherent at the core of much debate in maker movement groups. I reframe maker practices as material-semiotic constellations of interactions constantly in flux. This research develops a methodology that combines Co-design – adapting the Science and Technology Studies framework of ANT for the field of design – and critical making – that combines hands-on making with critical reflection. In so doing, my project Biorecycling Machine re-evaluates widespread home 3D printing technology to intervene in the scale of waste produced in domestic manufacture with plastic.
This research proposes practice-based models for examining the perceptions of 3D printing as entrepreneurial, accessible and environmentally sustainable. The dissertation and practice-based research argue that these popular perceptions... more
This research proposes practice-based models for examining the perceptions of 3D printing as entrepreneurial, accessible and environmentally sustainable. The dissertation and practice-based research argue that these popular perceptions limit the potential of 3D printing, and maker culture more generally, because of their overemphasis of human agency in maker culture. The research contends that such perceptions have arisen because of misunderstandings about the agency of the materials and technologies engaged in 3D printing networks, the failure of maker culture to make 3D printing accessible to an audience beyond the typical readership of maker magazines, and the failure to account for the significant environmental dangers of the plastic filament that construct 3D printed objects. Tracing maker culture’s initial commitment to anti-consumerist principles that no longer prevail – DIY culture of the 1960s and 70s and hacker culture of the 1980s and 90s – the practice of 3D printing has instead become a black box. In this research, I define black boxes as objects, systems, or processes whose inner workings become hidden because of their own success and so, black boxes are typically understood by their inputs and outputs. To open up the black box of 3D printing, the research reflects on a series of material experiments with 3D printing that are informed by critical making, co-design and speculative critical design within an Actor-Network Theory (ANT) framework. Through the ANT concept of generalised symmetry the research argues for the importance of ascribing agency to the more-than human actants in the maker practice networks of 3D printing, and provides documentation of the critical making project titled Dissolvable Furniture as a model. An investigation of contemporary challenges to participating in maker culture, framed within the ANT concept of translation, was conducted through online co-design workshops on 3D printing and identified barriers to inclusive maker culture. Subsequent to the workshops further investigation of the agency of 3D printing materials, titled Co-created Ceramic Objects, provides a model for the disposal of PLA through incineration in a kiln. The final exploration of a model for un-black boxing 3D printing, specifically addressing claims that PLA is environmentally sustainable, demanded a provocation that unsettled complacency about the dangers of plastic. Based on extensive research on the waste management practices of plastics the research documents the practice-based model of the speculative critical design titled Biorecycling Machine. These projects address the long-term implications of entrepreneurial, accessible and environmentally sustainable practices of maker culture and interrupt the individualism at the core of much debate in maker movement groups by reframing maker practices as material–semiotic constellations of interactions of human and more-than-human actants that are constantly in flux. The research concludes with recommendations for areas requiring further study, including the need for better protection of the intellectual property of makers, the necessity of creating more accessible maker cultures, and the urgent need to address the environmental dangers of 3D printing materials.
Motivated by prior work on everyday creativity, we adopt a design-oriented approach seeks to move beyond designing for explicit interactions to also include the implicit, incremental and, at times even, unknowing encounters that slowly... more
Motivated by prior work on everyday creativity, we adopt a design-oriented approach seeks to move beyond designing for explicit interactions to also include the implicit, incremental and, at times even, unknowing encounters that slowly emerge among people, technologies, and artifacts over time. We contribute an investigation into designing for slowness grounded in the practice of making a design artifact called Slow Game. We offer a detailed critical-reflective accounting of our process of making Slow Game into a research product. In attending to key design moves across our process, we reveal hidden challenges in designing slow technology research products and discuss how our findings can be mobilized in future work.
Slowness has emerged as a rich lens to frame HCI investigations into supporting longer-term humantechnology relations. Yet, there is a need to further address how we design for slowness on conceptual and practical levels. Drawing on the... more
Slowness has emerged as a rich lens to frame HCI investigations into supporting longer-term humantechnology relations. Yet, there is a need to further address how we design for slowness on conceptual and practical levels. Drawing on the concepts of unawareness, intersections, and ensembles, we contribute an investigation into designing for slowness and temporality grounded in design practice through two cases: Olly and Slow Game. We designed these artifacts over two and a half years with careful attention to how the set of concepts influenced key design decisions in terms of their form, materials, and computational qualities. Our designer-researcher approach revealed that, when put into practice, the concepts helped generatively grapple with slowness and temporality, but are in need of further development to be mobilized for design. We critically reflect on insights emerging across our practice-based research to reflexively refine the concepts and better support future HCI research and practice.
This paper discusses the author’s practice-led research concerning drawing and the moving body. In this research drawing is a form of annotation that provides a material and conceptual starting point for diagramming movement. Drawing is... more
This paper discusses the author’s practice-led research concerning drawing and the moving body. In this research drawing is a form of annotation that provides a material and conceptual starting point for diagramming movement. Drawing is also distinct from narrative, representative and figural formats. Rochelle Haley uses a live method of drawing the movement of dancers in real time to explore how the drawn line is embedded with past movement in lived space and potential for future movement in volumetric space. The research demonstrates the transformability of movement through bodies, surfaces and spaces. Diagrammatic visualisations in the discipline of dance can be traced from Rudolph Laban’s drawn Kinespheres to Trisha Brown’s mapping of the architectural continuity of the body in her work Locus 1975. Trisha Brown’s use of the imaginative processes of drawing to create a choreographic score for her work Locus serves as an example alongside Haley’s own practice involving the drawing of an immaterial cube. This comparison will show how drawing can enact, rather than merely concretise, movement. Both aspects support an understanding of drawing as a medium of conceptual action that becomes a document of the immaterial object of dance.
Online technologies are pushing design educators to teach students in ways that mirror contemporary design processes. This paper reflects on implications, challenges and opportunities for design educators by using the recent Omnium... more
Online technologies are pushing design educators to teach students in ways that mirror contemporary design processes. This paper reflects on implications, challenges and opportunities for design educators by using the recent Omnium Research Group Creative Waves Project - Collabor8 2008 as a case study examining the online interactions of ninety-four graphic design and visual communications students from universities and colleges in Australia and China. Data was collected through observation, questionnaire, student discussions, and the integration of specific research tasks into design briefs in the study.
Keywords: design education, cross-cultural, collaboration, online, China, Australia
Keywords: design education, cross-cultural, collaboration, online, China, Australia
- by Ian W McArthur
- •
Could you trust someone you had never physically met to successfully collaborate with you on a design project? As online communication technologies rapidly evolve, the creative industries continue to move towards globally networked... more
Could you trust someone you had never physically met to successfully collaborate with you on a design project?
As online communication technologies rapidly evolve, the creative industries continue to move towards globally networked and interdisciplinary modalities of practice. These inescapable shifts in the ways designers work have challenged many long held assumptions about the nature of individual design processes.
Such revolutionary changes mean that designers must increasingly master new skills to effectively communicate and collaborate in online environments with colleagues from different cultures, disciplines and locations world-wide. Since they may never meet face-to-face, the success of this new working methodology relies on high levels of trust between practitioners, both personally and professionally in order to achieve effective design outcomes.
In turn the need for design educators to equip students with skills to thrive in the face of this new industrial paradigm is highlighted. Trust is integral to developing the personal and professional relationship building and collaborative skills necessary for contemporary digital working practices. By being sensitive to, and cognisant of these issues, educators can initiate and implement strategies that help create the right conditions for trust to emerge between participants in online learning scenarios.
In reality however, the relative suddenness of this shift has seen some educationalists engage in unconsidered responses to this challenge. In the rush to embrace online technologies, the social and cultural dimensions of online pedagogies are often neglected while the relative functionality of digital tools and spaces is given prominence.
Drawing upon three specific case studies of very different applications of online learning in a design context, this paper aims to highlight the impact that fostering positive, interpersonal, interdisciplinary and transcultural relationships between students in online design education can have upon their levels of trust and the effectiveness and outcomes of their online collaborative processes. The projects examined were conducted by COFA Online and The Omnium Research Group at The College of Fine Arts (COFA), University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. Each case study examines particular dynamics associated with global, local and cross-cultural contexts. They include:
• Global - Fully online Masters of Cross Disciplinary Art and Design
• Local - Blended Learning at The College of Fine Arts
• Cross-Cultural (Australia and China) - The Collabor8 Project, East-West online design collaboration
By triangulating data that examines student/teacher experiences through online surveys, interviews, responses to targeted online discussions and peer reviews, this paper outlines online pedagogical approaches that have successfully engaged students in active, collaborative and trust building online learning environments. It also pinpoints problems that can occur in online teamwork related to trust, communication and interpersonal relationships, and investigates several potential solutions.
If strong human-to-human relationships are seen as the foundation for effective collaborative design practice online, educators will be helping emerging generations of designers maximise their creative potential in a globally competitive market where online collaborative, cross-cultural, interdisciplinary creative skill-sets are demanded as the ‘norm’.
Keywords: online, collaboration, pedagogy, cross-cultural, blended learning
As online communication technologies rapidly evolve, the creative industries continue to move towards globally networked and interdisciplinary modalities of practice. These inescapable shifts in the ways designers work have challenged many long held assumptions about the nature of individual design processes.
Such revolutionary changes mean that designers must increasingly master new skills to effectively communicate and collaborate in online environments with colleagues from different cultures, disciplines and locations world-wide. Since they may never meet face-to-face, the success of this new working methodology relies on high levels of trust between practitioners, both personally and professionally in order to achieve effective design outcomes.
In turn the need for design educators to equip students with skills to thrive in the face of this new industrial paradigm is highlighted. Trust is integral to developing the personal and professional relationship building and collaborative skills necessary for contemporary digital working practices. By being sensitive to, and cognisant of these issues, educators can initiate and implement strategies that help create the right conditions for trust to emerge between participants in online learning scenarios.
In reality however, the relative suddenness of this shift has seen some educationalists engage in unconsidered responses to this challenge. In the rush to embrace online technologies, the social and cultural dimensions of online pedagogies are often neglected while the relative functionality of digital tools and spaces is given prominence.
Drawing upon three specific case studies of very different applications of online learning in a design context, this paper aims to highlight the impact that fostering positive, interpersonal, interdisciplinary and transcultural relationships between students in online design education can have upon their levels of trust and the effectiveness and outcomes of their online collaborative processes. The projects examined were conducted by COFA Online and The Omnium Research Group at The College of Fine Arts (COFA), University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. Each case study examines particular dynamics associated with global, local and cross-cultural contexts. They include:
• Global - Fully online Masters of Cross Disciplinary Art and Design
• Local - Blended Learning at The College of Fine Arts
• Cross-Cultural (Australia and China) - The Collabor8 Project, East-West online design collaboration
By triangulating data that examines student/teacher experiences through online surveys, interviews, responses to targeted online discussions and peer reviews, this paper outlines online pedagogical approaches that have successfully engaged students in active, collaborative and trust building online learning environments. It also pinpoints problems that can occur in online teamwork related to trust, communication and interpersonal relationships, and investigates several potential solutions.
If strong human-to-human relationships are seen as the foundation for effective collaborative design practice online, educators will be helping emerging generations of designers maximise their creative potential in a globally competitive market where online collaborative, cross-cultural, interdisciplinary creative skill-sets are demanded as the ‘norm’.
Keywords: online, collaboration, pedagogy, cross-cultural, blended learning
- by Karin Thiele Watson and +2
- •
- Design, E-learning, Curriculum Design, Design education
"2009 Icograda Education Network World Design Congress Education Conference Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA), Beijing, China Watson, K., McIntyre, S., McArthur, I. Could you trust someone you had never physically met to... more
"2009 Icograda Education Network World Design Congress Education Conference Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA), Beijing, China Watson, K., McIntyre, S., McArthur, I.
Could you trust someone you had never physically met to successfully collaborate with you on a design project?
As online communication technologies rapidly evolve, the creative industries continue to move towards globally networked and interdisciplinary modalities of practice. These inescapable shifts in the ways designers work have challenged many long held assumptions about the nature of individual design processes.
Such revolutionary changes mean that designers must increasingly master new skills to effectively communicate and collaborate in online environments with colleagues from different cultures, disciplines and locations world-wide. Since they may never meet face-to-face, the success of this new working methodology relies on high levels of trust between practitioners, both personally and professionally in order to achieve effective design outcomes.
In turn the need for design educators to equip students with skills to thrive in the face of this new industrial paradigm is highlighted. Trust is integral to developing the personal and professional relationship building and collaborative skills necessary for contemporary digital working practices. By being sensitive to, and cognisant of these issues, educators can initiate and implement strategies that help create the right conditions for trust to emerge between participants in online learning scenarios.
In reality however, the relative suddenness of this shift has seen some educationalists engage in unconsidered responses to this challenge. In the rush to embrace online technologies, the social and cultural dimensions of online pedagogies are often neglected while the relative functionality of digital tools and spaces is given prominence.
Drawing upon three specific case studies of very different applications of online learning in a design context, this paper aims to highlight the impact that fostering positive, interpersonal, interdisciplinary and transcultural relationships between students in online design education can have upon their levels of trust and the effectiveness and outcomes of their online collaborative processes. The projects examined were conducted by COFA Online and The Omnium Research Group at The College of Fine Arts (COFA), University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. Each case study examines particular dynamics associated with global, local and cross-cultural contexts. They include:
• Global - Fully online Masters of Cross Disciplinary Art and Design
• Local - Blended Learning at The College of Fine Arts
• Cross-Cultural (Australia and China) - The Collabor8 Project, East-West online design collaboration
By triangulating data that examines student/teacher experiences through online surveys, interviews, responses to targeted online discussions and peer reviews, this paper outlines online pedagogical approaches that have successfully engaged students in active, collaborative and trust building online learning environments. It also pinpoints problems that can occur in online teamwork related to trust, communication and interpersonal relationships, and investigates several potential solutions.
If strong human-to-human relationships are seen as the foundation for effective collaborative design practice online, educators will be helping emerging generations of designers maximise their creative potential in a globally competitive market where online collaborative, cross-cultural, interdisciplinary creative skill-sets are demanded as the ‘norm’.
Keywords: online, collaboration, pedagogy, cross-cultural, blended learning "
Could you trust someone you had never physically met to successfully collaborate with you on a design project?
As online communication technologies rapidly evolve, the creative industries continue to move towards globally networked and interdisciplinary modalities of practice. These inescapable shifts in the ways designers work have challenged many long held assumptions about the nature of individual design processes.
Such revolutionary changes mean that designers must increasingly master new skills to effectively communicate and collaborate in online environments with colleagues from different cultures, disciplines and locations world-wide. Since they may never meet face-to-face, the success of this new working methodology relies on high levels of trust between practitioners, both personally and professionally in order to achieve effective design outcomes.
In turn the need for design educators to equip students with skills to thrive in the face of this new industrial paradigm is highlighted. Trust is integral to developing the personal and professional relationship building and collaborative skills necessary for contemporary digital working practices. By being sensitive to, and cognisant of these issues, educators can initiate and implement strategies that help create the right conditions for trust to emerge between participants in online learning scenarios.
In reality however, the relative suddenness of this shift has seen some educationalists engage in unconsidered responses to this challenge. In the rush to embrace online technologies, the social and cultural dimensions of online pedagogies are often neglected while the relative functionality of digital tools and spaces is given prominence.
Drawing upon three specific case studies of very different applications of online learning in a design context, this paper aims to highlight the impact that fostering positive, interpersonal, interdisciplinary and transcultural relationships between students in online design education can have upon their levels of trust and the effectiveness and outcomes of their online collaborative processes. The projects examined were conducted by COFA Online and The Omnium Research Group at The College of Fine Arts (COFA), University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. Each case study examines particular dynamics associated with global, local and cross-cultural contexts. They include:
• Global - Fully online Masters of Cross Disciplinary Art and Design
• Local - Blended Learning at The College of Fine Arts
• Cross-Cultural (Australia and China) - The Collabor8 Project, East-West online design collaboration
By triangulating data that examines student/teacher experiences through online surveys, interviews, responses to targeted online discussions and peer reviews, this paper outlines online pedagogical approaches that have successfully engaged students in active, collaborative and trust building online learning environments. It also pinpoints problems that can occur in online teamwork related to trust, communication and interpersonal relationships, and investigates several potential solutions.
If strong human-to-human relationships are seen as the foundation for effective collaborative design practice online, educators will be helping emerging generations of designers maximise their creative potential in a globally competitive market where online collaborative, cross-cultural, interdisciplinary creative skill-sets are demanded as the ‘norm’.
Keywords: online, collaboration, pedagogy, cross-cultural, blended learning "
- by Karin Thiele Watson and +1
- •
The rapid emergence of the global, digital workplace within contemporary design practice has raised questions regarding the educational implications of professional collaboration across cultural, geographical and disciplinary borders. Are... more
The rapid emergence of the global, digital workplace within contemporary design practice has raised questions regarding the educational implications of professional collaboration across cultural, geographical and disciplinary borders. Are we effectively preparing students for this new creative paradigm? Educationalists are responding by implementing more face-to-face team-based approaches, but the potential of online learning - the medium ideally suited to this new international digital work environment - has largely been overlooked.
COFA Online has been creating, evolving and evaluating fully online art and design courses for the last three years in response to these questions. By triangulating data from a series of online case studies, teacher and student experiences, and three years of evaluations, this paper highlights specific online pedagogical approaches that have successfully engaged students in an active, collaborative online learning environment. It also pinpoints problems that can occur in online teamwork, and investigates several potential solutions.
If carefully considered, online team-based learning can parallel contemporary collaborative work practices within the global design industry, and can help equip students with the collaboration and communication skills they need in order to work successfully in this professional environment. This paper highlights the need for educationalists to continue to pursue higher levels of understanding of online collaborative learning in the context of design, and offers suggestions on how to move forward.
COFA Online has been creating, evolving and evaluating fully online art and design courses for the last three years in response to these questions. By triangulating data from a series of online case studies, teacher and student experiences, and three years of evaluations, this paper highlights specific online pedagogical approaches that have successfully engaged students in an active, collaborative online learning environment. It also pinpoints problems that can occur in online teamwork, and investigates several potential solutions.
If carefully considered, online team-based learning can parallel contemporary collaborative work practices within the global design industry, and can help equip students with the collaboration and communication skills they need in order to work successfully in this professional environment. This paper highlights the need for educationalists to continue to pursue higher levels of understanding of online collaborative learning in the context of design, and offers suggestions on how to move forward.
- by Simon McIntyre and +2
- •
- Design, Art, E-learning, Technology Enhanced Learning
Could you trust someone you had never physically met to successfully collaborate with you on a design project? As online communication technologies rapidly evolve, the creative industries continue to move towards globally networked and... more
Could you trust someone you had never physically met to successfully collaborate with you on a design project?
As online communication technologies rapidly evolve, the creative industries continue to move towards globally networked and interdisciplinary modalities of practice. These inescapable shifts in the ways designers work have challenged many long held assumptions about the nature of individual design processes.
Such revolutionary changes mean that designers must increasingly master new skills to effectively communicate and collaborate in online environments with colleagues from different cultures, disciplines and locations world-wide. Since they may never meet face-to-face, the success of this new working methodology relies on high levels of trust between practitioners, both personally and professionally in order to achieve effective design outcomes.
In turn the need for design educators to equip students with skills to thrive in the face of this new industrial paradigm is highlighted. Trust is integral to developing the personal and professional relationship building and collaborative skills necessary for contemporary digital working practices. By being sensitive to, and cognisant of these issues, educators can initiate and implement strategies that help create the right conditions for trust to emerge between participants in online learning scenarios.
In reality however, the relative suddenness of this shift has seen some educationalists engage in unconsidered responses to this challenge. In the rush to embrace online technologies, the social and cultural dimensions of online pedagogies are often neglected while the relative functionality of digital tools and spaces is given prominence.
Drawing upon three specific case studies of very different applications of online learning in a design context, this paper aims to highlight the impact that fostering positive, interpersonal, interdisciplinary and transcultural relationships between students in online design education can have upon their levels of trust and the effectiveness and outcomes of their online collaborative processes. The projects examined were conducted by COFA Online and The Omnium Research Group at The College of Fine Arts (COFA), University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. Each case study examines particular dynamics associated with global, local and cross-cultural contexts. They include:
• Global - Fully online Masters of Cross Disciplinary Art and Design
• Local - Blended Learning at The College of Fine Arts
• Cross-Cultural (Australia and China) - The Collabor8 Project, East-West online design collaboration
By triangulating data that examines student/teacher experiences through online surveys, interviews, responses to targeted online discussions and peer reviews, this paper outlines online pedagogical approaches that have successfully engaged students in active, collaborative and trust building online learning environments. It also pinpoints problems that can occur in online teamwork related to trust, communication and interpersonal relationships, and investigates several potential solutions.
If strong human-to-human relationships are seen as the foundation for effective collaborative design practice online, educators will be helping emerging generations of designers maximise their creative potential in a globally competitive market where online collaborative, cross-cultural, interdisciplinary creative skill-sets are demanded as the ‘norm’.
Keywords: online, collaboration, pedagogy, cross-cultural, blended learning
As online communication technologies rapidly evolve, the creative industries continue to move towards globally networked and interdisciplinary modalities of practice. These inescapable shifts in the ways designers work have challenged many long held assumptions about the nature of individual design processes.
Such revolutionary changes mean that designers must increasingly master new skills to effectively communicate and collaborate in online environments with colleagues from different cultures, disciplines and locations world-wide. Since they may never meet face-to-face, the success of this new working methodology relies on high levels of trust between practitioners, both personally and professionally in order to achieve effective design outcomes.
In turn the need for design educators to equip students with skills to thrive in the face of this new industrial paradigm is highlighted. Trust is integral to developing the personal and professional relationship building and collaborative skills necessary for contemporary digital working practices. By being sensitive to, and cognisant of these issues, educators can initiate and implement strategies that help create the right conditions for trust to emerge between participants in online learning scenarios.
In reality however, the relative suddenness of this shift has seen some educationalists engage in unconsidered responses to this challenge. In the rush to embrace online technologies, the social and cultural dimensions of online pedagogies are often neglected while the relative functionality of digital tools and spaces is given prominence.
Drawing upon three specific case studies of very different applications of online learning in a design context, this paper aims to highlight the impact that fostering positive, interpersonal, interdisciplinary and transcultural relationships between students in online design education can have upon their levels of trust and the effectiveness and outcomes of their online collaborative processes. The projects examined were conducted by COFA Online and The Omnium Research Group at The College of Fine Arts (COFA), University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. Each case study examines particular dynamics associated with global, local and cross-cultural contexts. They include:
• Global - Fully online Masters of Cross Disciplinary Art and Design
• Local - Blended Learning at The College of Fine Arts
• Cross-Cultural (Australia and China) - The Collabor8 Project, East-West online design collaboration
By triangulating data that examines student/teacher experiences through online surveys, interviews, responses to targeted online discussions and peer reviews, this paper outlines online pedagogical approaches that have successfully engaged students in active, collaborative and trust building online learning environments. It also pinpoints problems that can occur in online teamwork related to trust, communication and interpersonal relationships, and investigates several potential solutions.
If strong human-to-human relationships are seen as the foundation for effective collaborative design practice online, educators will be helping emerging generations of designers maximise their creative potential in a globally competitive market where online collaborative, cross-cultural, interdisciplinary creative skill-sets are demanded as the ‘norm’.
Keywords: online, collaboration, pedagogy, cross-cultural, blended learning
The rapid emergence of the global, digital workplace within contemporary design practice has raised questions regarding the educational implications of professional collaboration across cultural, geographical and disciplinary borders. Are... more
The rapid emergence of the global, digital workplace within contemporary design practice has raised questions regarding the educational implications of professional collaboration across cultural, geographical and disciplinary borders. Are we effectively preparing students for this new creative paradigm? Educationalists are responding by implementing more face-to-face team-based approaches, but the potential of online learning - the medium ideally suited to this new international digital work environment - has largely been overlooked.
COFA Online has been creating, evolving and evaluating fully online art and design courses for the last three years in response to these questions. By triangulating data from a series of online case studies, teacher and student experiences, and three years of evaluations, this paper highlights specific online pedagogical approaches that have successfully engaged students in an active, collaborative online learning environment. It also pinpoints problems that can occur in online teamwork, and investigates several potential solutions.
If carefully considered, online team-based learning can parallel contemporary collaborative work practices within the global design industry, and can help equip students with the collaboration and communication skills they need in order to work successfully in this professional environment. This paper highlights the need for educationalists to continue to pursue higher levels of understanding of online collaborative learning in the context of design, and offers suggestions on how to move forward.
COFA Online has been creating, evolving and evaluating fully online art and design courses for the last three years in response to these questions. By triangulating data from a series of online case studies, teacher and student experiences, and three years of evaluations, this paper highlights specific online pedagogical approaches that have successfully engaged students in an active, collaborative online learning environment. It also pinpoints problems that can occur in online teamwork, and investigates several potential solutions.
If carefully considered, online team-based learning can parallel contemporary collaborative work practices within the global design industry, and can help equip students with the collaboration and communication skills they need in order to work successfully in this professional environment. This paper highlights the need for educationalists to continue to pursue higher levels of understanding of online collaborative learning in the context of design, and offers suggestions on how to move forward.
What happens when students in Sydney are immersed in a multidisciplinary collaborative process with their Chinese counterparts to address urban issues in downtown Shanghai? A Chinese-born Australian faces a previously rejected cultural... more
What happens when students in Sydney are immersed in a multidisciplinary collaborative process with their Chinese counterparts to address urban issues in downtown Shanghai?
A Chinese-born Australian faces a previously rejected cultural background by bathing in clay. Mapping the city a local and a visitor explore a dialogue through which a mutual understanding of the city emerges. An architect and a designer wander Puxi throwing chopsticks to the ground to divine the site of their next urban intervention.
In 2009 PorosityC8 e-SCAPE Studio challenged sixty art, design, and architecture students, practitioners and academics from The College of Fine Arts (COFA) and Donghua University (DHU) to interact online in a process culminating in an intensive two-week studio at DHU. This paper presents case studies highlighting profound transformations made real through blended cross-cultural studio collaboration.
Globalised economic and urban territories linked by network technologies and reconfigured geopolitical relationships impel art and design educationalists to develop innovative pedagogies relevant to the needs of students, the world community, and as yet unforeseen industries. Using integrated, adaptive processes, the teaching and learning model presented provokes students to share cultural identity and methods of practice to find the common ground shared by young and old cultures.
Key words: Education: cross-cultural multidisciplinary collaboration blended online
A Chinese-born Australian faces a previously rejected cultural background by bathing in clay. Mapping the city a local and a visitor explore a dialogue through which a mutual understanding of the city emerges. An architect and a designer wander Puxi throwing chopsticks to the ground to divine the site of their next urban intervention.
In 2009 PorosityC8 e-SCAPE Studio challenged sixty art, design, and architecture students, practitioners and academics from The College of Fine Arts (COFA) and Donghua University (DHU) to interact online in a process culminating in an intensive two-week studio at DHU. This paper presents case studies highlighting profound transformations made real through blended cross-cultural studio collaboration.
Globalised economic and urban territories linked by network technologies and reconfigured geopolitical relationships impel art and design educationalists to develop innovative pedagogies relevant to the needs of students, the world community, and as yet unforeseen industries. Using integrated, adaptive processes, the teaching and learning model presented provokes students to share cultural identity and methods of practice to find the common ground shared by young and old cultures.
Key words: Education: cross-cultural multidisciplinary collaboration blended online
"Over two intensive weeks during September 2011, students from The College of Fine Arts (COFA) at The University of New South Wales (UNSW) and Donghua University (DHU) engaged in creating dynamic content together using a live database.... more
"Over two intensive weeks during September 2011, students from The College of Fine Arts (COFA) at The University of New South Wales (UNSW) and Donghua University (DHU) engaged in creating dynamic content together using a live database. RARE EARTH: Hacking the City aimed to forge an open-source space in Shanghai for experimental improvisation that accentuated use of interactive media and mobile technologies to facilitate cross-cultural design collaboration. The studioLAB encouraged students to use Shanghai as a laboratory for investigating, sharing, and amplifying ideas for the future of cities, immersive interactive environments, and cross-cultural co-creation. The project’s interdisciplinary focus attracted involvement from students and practitioners working in architecture, design, photography, sculpture, social innovation, art theory, curating, media arts, programming, and language translation.
RARE EARTH was conceived around an Interactive Media Platform (IMP) integrated into the studio as a means to document and exhibit the diverse work being carried out. The participants uploaded and tagged their content to a live Flickr database that regularly updated the IMP. The database of image, sound and video content produced describes the creative processes, social and studio encounters, and the outputs of students and other actors involved in the project. RARE EARTH offered students opportunities to think ‘beyond possibilities’ (Wood, 2012) in exploring the significance and implications of culture amid the emergence of complex network technologies, Asia’s rapid urbanisation, and this century’s reconfigured geopolitical relationships.
However, despite technological interconnectedness, collaboration between people from different cultures is subject to communication breakdowns because our realities are comprised of differing norms, symbols, and representations reinforced through education (Snow 1993, Sussman 2000). Additionally, opportunities for students from West and non-West to engage in dialogic, co-languaging processes that deconstruct cultural difference remain uncommon, and educators and practitioners face significant communication challenges that limit the complexification of creative solutions. Building on an existing body of research , this paper discusses the opportunities, constraints and outcomes of the studio. A model for Cross-Cultural Interdisciplinary Collaboration (CCIC) is proposed as pliant methodology advocating sensitivity to divergent institutional expectations, language difference, culturally based assumptions about learning, and the potential of interactive media platforms as intercultural communication and collaborative tools. This highlights the crucial role for open, technologically augmented laboratories in creating adaptive, interdisciplinary design pedagogy where students may be empowered to reflexively explore meaningful ways designers from different cultures might work together in a ‘joined up’ way to envisage our as yet unimagined collective futures.
Key words: design education, cross-cultural, interdisciplinary, collaboration, interactive media"
RARE EARTH was conceived around an Interactive Media Platform (IMP) integrated into the studio as a means to document and exhibit the diverse work being carried out. The participants uploaded and tagged their content to a live Flickr database that regularly updated the IMP. The database of image, sound and video content produced describes the creative processes, social and studio encounters, and the outputs of students and other actors involved in the project. RARE EARTH offered students opportunities to think ‘beyond possibilities’ (Wood, 2012) in exploring the significance and implications of culture amid the emergence of complex network technologies, Asia’s rapid urbanisation, and this century’s reconfigured geopolitical relationships.
However, despite technological interconnectedness, collaboration between people from different cultures is subject to communication breakdowns because our realities are comprised of differing norms, symbols, and representations reinforced through education (Snow 1993, Sussman 2000). Additionally, opportunities for students from West and non-West to engage in dialogic, co-languaging processes that deconstruct cultural difference remain uncommon, and educators and practitioners face significant communication challenges that limit the complexification of creative solutions. Building on an existing body of research , this paper discusses the opportunities, constraints and outcomes of the studio. A model for Cross-Cultural Interdisciplinary Collaboration (CCIC) is proposed as pliant methodology advocating sensitivity to divergent institutional expectations, language difference, culturally based assumptions about learning, and the potential of interactive media platforms as intercultural communication and collaborative tools. This highlights the crucial role for open, technologically augmented laboratories in creating adaptive, interdisciplinary design pedagogy where students may be empowered to reflexively explore meaningful ways designers from different cultures might work together in a ‘joined up’ way to envisage our as yet unimagined collective futures.
Key words: design education, cross-cultural, interdisciplinary, collaboration, interactive media"
RARE EARTH: Hacking the City is an open studioLAB encouraging students from China and Australia to collaborate using Shanghai as a laboratory for investigating ideas for the future of cities, immersive interactive environments, and... more
RARE EARTH: Hacking the City is an open studioLAB encouraging students from China and Australia to collaborate using Shanghai as a laboratory for investigating ideas for the future of cities, immersive interactive environments, and cross-cultural co-creation. This paper discusses the opportunities, constraints and outcomes of the studioLAB and proposes insights pertaining to a pliant model for Cross-Cultural Interdisciplinary Collaboration (CCIC).