Art, Design & Communication in Higher Education - Volume 1, Issue 1, 2002

It is clear from recent research studies that art and design higher education has the potential to develop capable, flexible, adaptable, lateral thinking and creative individuals, but students do not necessarily recognize these positive outcomes. They also lack essential professional skills and an understanding of the industry they are entering. Yet, this is a growth sector of the economy and people working in the creative industries have shown that they can evolve thriving businesses. This paper explores how these industries work and what the requirements are, what the main concerns are for graduates entering the workplace, and why students find it difficult to make the connection between what they are learning and work. Finally, a student evaluation of the learning outcomes of an assignment, focusing on small creative businesses, provides some insights into how students can develop confidence and professional skills, as well as an understanding of how small creative businesses operate.

Media studies and its related areas such as communications, cultural studies and film studies are frequently the subjects of ill-informed attack, both inside and outside the academy. This article offers a series of reflections on some of the key issues facing the subject area including its status and disciplinary formation, the tensions and possibilities of the theory/practice mix on many courses, questions of vocationalism and the views of students. Although the article tries to set the record straight in some areas, it is essentially a personal and sometimes polemical view which seeks to generate further discussion.

This paper is part of continuing research into electronic learning in specialist Initial Teacher Training. It argues for a broader approach to the art and design curriculum that facilitates questions related to established content, systems and methods of teaching and learning. Advocating a more experimental and analytical approach to the study of the subject, the research has supported both technical skills acquisition and the application of classroom discussion. More importantly, it has provided teaching models and methods that utilize digital technology as a visual research tool. It could be argued that Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is a potentially powerful means of questioning, critiquing convention, orthodoxy and the general predictability of much of what counts as school art practice.

A Handbook for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education: Enhancing Academic Practice Edited by Heather Fry, Steve Ketteridge and Stephanie Marshall

Improving the Quality of Argument in Higher Education; Final Report (A project funded by the Leverhulme Trust) by Sally Mitchell and Mike Riddle

Conference Report The Integration of Practice, Theory and Education in Art: The 9th Symposium of the Tohoku Art and Culture Society 8 September 2001 Hotel Metropolitan, Sendai, Japan