Art, Design & Communication in Higher Education - Volume 1, Issue 2, 2002

This paper reports the results of a pilot study of variation in design teachers' approaches to teaching. It contains a comparison between the literature reports of qualitative descriptions of design teaching and variation obtained using a quantitative method (the Approaches to Teaching Inventory). The quantitative approach revealed that, as in other teaching contexts, there is significant variation in descriptions of how design teaching is approached but that overall, the approaches adopted by design teachers are described as being more student-focused than in most other areas of higher-education teaching. The results also suggest that when design teachers describe their approaches as more student-focused they are more likely to say that they learn more during the teaching of their subjects and are more likely to give students the opportunity to explore their own creative ideas. The Approaches to Teaching Inventory was found to be a useful indicator of qualitative variation in teaching approaches in creative fields such as design.

This article describes a study exploring the range of variation in the way twenty-one students studying in four UK universities approach learning through the design project. It draws on the theoretical framework and phenomenographic methodology from Marton and Saljo's (1976) seminal study into students' approaches to learning with texts. Features of the deep/surface variation of approach found in this and many subsequent studies are described in terms that do not map easily onto practice in art and design. An aim of the study was therefore to define features of approaches that might be more recognizable to the discipline. Initial findings suggest that learning in the context of the fashion design project evinces four approaches, two of which share features with those described for deep and surface approaches in the literature. The additional variation is found where there is an intention to develop the design process either through rehearsal and repetition or through experimentation. Further research is required to explore the identified approaches, and to discover whether other art and design students show a similar range of variation in approach.

A major barrier to learning for students in the field of fine art is the extent to which their established perceptions can inhibit their ability to transform their understanding. To transform perceptions it is necessary to challenge existing frameworks, but such challenges can have dramatic psychological and social consequences both for the student and the artist/teacher. This paper explores learning in the discipline of fine art and highlights problems for learners and teachers when learners are challenged to explore their socially constructed views on the nature of reality.

This paper reviews the three QAA subject benchmarks in Art and Design; History of Art, Architecture and Design, and Communication, Media, Film and Cultural Studies by comparing and contrasting key subject definitions from each statement. It looks first at the use of the key terms, creativity, professionalism and culture, then notes some distinctive features and absences of each statement and finally turns to the core rationales offered for the contemporary social purpose of each subject. It concludes that such comparative analysis of the benchmark statements can create the conditions for serious cross-disciplinary debate, which may ultimately prove to be the most valuable outcome of the QAA benchmarking exercise.

Data from a study of non-completion in England showed some noticeable differences between Art and Design and other subject areas. These related particularly to the quality of the student experience, and prompt a number of questions about the way in which higher education in Art and Design might evolve, given sectoral developments such as the widening of participation and modularization.

Problem-based Learning in Higher Education: Untold Stories by Maggi Savin-Baden Edited

Problem-based Learning: case studies, experience and practice Editors: Peter Schwartz, Stewart Mennin and Graham Webb

Online Learning and Teaching with Technology Case Studies, Experience and Practice Edited by David Murphy, Rob Walker and Graham Webb

A Transactional Perspective on Teaching and Learning: A Framework for Adult and Higher Education by D. Randy Garrison and Walter Archer

Feminist Media Studies (Volume 1 Numbers 1, 2 and 3 March, July and November 2001) Edited by Cynthia Carter and Lisa McLaughlin