How Design is Taught? A Survey of Approaches, Models & Methods

Design Education: Approaches, Explorations and Perspectives, 2014

Design Education: Approaches, Explorations and Perspectives documents diverse approaches and practices in design education situated in local, national and international contexts. Bringing together contributions from six design academics, researchers and graduate students this publication includes in-class case studies, long-term research studies, and graduate research projects. There is growing recognition from both within the field and from other areas of the unique and critical role that design can play in addressing major issues facing society. Design educators must take a leading role in pushing the field of design, through innovative thinking and action, to address these serious and substantial concerns. Design Education: Approaches, Explorations and Perspectives contributes to the growing discussion on human-centred design education, research and practice.

This Study explores the extent to which the changes brought by new socio-economic paradigm shift and its influence on social and economic behaviour in the last 20 years are reflected in design education and practice. Furthermore, this Study attempts to identify the root causes of design education and design curriculum content maladjustment to the needs of contemporary era. It also identifies the current challenges design education is facing today. Theoretical and empirical research results, particu - larly in the form of knowledge, skills and competencies, served as the ground for proposing appropriate guidelines for the improvement of current design education and the content of the design curricula. The results of the Study reveal theoretical and empirical evidence that confirms the assumption about the current mismatch between knowl - edge and skills acquired in formal design education and skills needed in current and future design practices. This mismatch is mostly related to the managerial and social skills needed for solving problems and demands of real life design practice and to a smaller extent, to practical design knowledge and competencies. Therefore the Study argues that design education should be carried within a multidis - ciplinary context, which will embrace all necessary knowl - edge, skills and competencies needed for future successful professional design practice, and that design education should be more practice-based oriented, allowing students Abstract to work on specific real life projects. Since the evidence suggests that educational institutions in their attempts to provide additional skills and competencies are faced with financial and bureaucratic constraints, which create a gap, or lack of professionals from other specialist disciplines, design education institutions should consider finding alter - native sources for financing those specialist and alternative ways of training students in deficient disciplines or skills. Furthermore, the Study argues that there is a need for finding more ef fective way of transferring economic knowl - edge to design students and that the business sector and other interested parties need to better learn each other ’s languages in order to achieve more productive communi - cation. Design educational institutions should present their students the importance of business management and raise awareness of the business sector about the value of design. Key words: Design Education, Design Practice, Skills, Competencies, Challenge, Knowledge Society

LearnxDesign2015=Design in Kindergarten Through Higher Education Welcome to the volume 3 conference proceedings themed ‘LearnXDesign2015’ a comprehensive engagement of topics across design pedagogy and research. The papers delivered at the 3rd International Conference for Design Education Researchers, co-organized by DRS, CUMULUS, and DESIGN-ED, are the focus of these volumes. The conference was graciously hosted by the School of the Art Institute in Chicago. Highlighted at the heart of the conference were varied presentations and workshops. To prepare for the conference, we asked design researchers to submit their work for consideration. Scholars proposed 289 paper abstract, 31 workshop and 2 symposia submissions. The International Scientific Review Committee invited 243 paper abstract submissions to proceed into the next stage to submit as full papers. After double blind full paper review by the International Review Board, a final 106 full papers will be presented at the conferenc...

The Design Journal, 2017

Considering the need for curriculum reform of the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Lisbon, as it is today, we look at the best practices of design schools around the world to produce a work tool to help in the creation of what could be the DESIGN FOR NEXT EDUCATION. This research builds on gathering information regarding: 1) the guiding principles of the faculties regarding their philosophy and practices; 2) the curricula of courses; 3) the permeability of multidisciplinary between programs and subjects of the curricula that colleges offer; 4) the degree of innovation from the perspective of design for sustainability; 5) the type of collaborative networks that operate within each institution, between institutions and civil society. This set of inputs analysed allows us to contribute to the creation of a macro view of design teaching, where it is possible to build innovative strategies for the DESIGN FOR NEXT EDUCATION.

We are surrounded by examples of things that have been designed, the clothes we wear, the cars we drive, the towns we live in. Design can be seen everywhere and is an integral part of the very human need to create and be creative, and can be seen as a creative problem solving process.. This desire has been a part of our makeup since ancient humans first picked up a stick and designed a use for it. As humans we are all continuously designing our environment from what we are going to wear today to what to have for dinner. However design and creativity are looked upon as a mystical gift bestowed upon a selected few, even though the ability to be creative, design and problem solve is to be human. This skill comes naturally to all of us. Technology in the New Zealand Curriculum became mandatory for all schools in February 1999 (Jones, 2003). This essential learning area is now being taught in Primary Schools right through to Bursary level. This has seen the development of a number of different models and ways of teaching design and design processes in order to help teachers assess and teach design in Technology classrooms. There is however an increasing literature and evidence about the shortcomings of the use of step by step models of design and how they can even hamper the learning of design and students' creativity. Despite this growing evidence in the literature there is still a strong presence of a systematic "one size fits all" model of how design should be presented in schools. This paper investigates how design is presented in schools and compares the designing practices of professionals in their fields with design by students.

Proceedings of DRS2018 - Catalyst , 2018

The present paper intends to present an overview the status quo of design education, pointing out aspects from its creation and evolution over timed. It was made a short analysis that confronts the teaching model with the dynamics in which the world is today. It also pointed out the characteristics of a "new" designer, active in the creative economy, but not yet trained in educational institutions. Finally, it presents possible solutions for the remodeling of the teaching and learning process with focus on projects and real problems and points to a new role of the teacher and the learning environment.

Engineers, architects, and computer scientists all engage in design upon graduation. Yet, up to now, there has been little emphasis in pos t-secondary education in helping students learn the ins and outs of doing design successf ully. Capstone projects provide too little design experience and come late in the curri culum. Freshman design experiences, when in place, tend to emphasize the design experi ence itself, often without helping students reflect on and understand what the experien ce is teaching them. Even when both components are in place, there is little c onnectivity between these early and late experiences. Georgia Tech is taking the lead nationally in creating a design curriculum that helps students learn the skills involved in doing desi gn and that is integrated throughout their undergraduate years. In EduTech's design focal group, faculty representing the full variety of design disciplines are working along with cognitive scientists in an attempt to list the compo...

This paper discusses our claim that teaching in the design studio can be more effective if accompanied by debates, lectures and self-evaluation. To do this, we first have to speak about design itself. We present the method we have developed so far, and the first set of results.

2015

The question is an old one. How do you teach in a way that students actually learn something? In a way that they actually acquire knowledge? And what does it mean to acquire knowledge?

Advances in Early Childhood and K-12 Education, 2018

Design education is interdisciplinary by nature and provides a platform for students to learn different knowledge and skills and then apply them to solve design problems. It is inspirational and innovative at many different educational levels. However, the curricula of design education may not be aligned at different levels. To investigate this issue, Hong Kong is chosen to be the case because of its uniqueness in the development of its design education. This chapter discusses this issue by reviewing the design curricula in secondary school education and tertiary education. This review provides an overview of how students learn design thinking and problem solving in design education. The problems of the transition from one curriculum to another are highlighted. It is suggested that better communication between the curriculum developers is needed to cultivate a smooth transition so that the students of design can enjoy a better learning experience.