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- Volume 20, Issue 2, 2021
Art, Design & Communication in Higher Education - Volume 20, Issue 2, 2021
Volume 20, Issue 2, 2021
- Editorial
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- Articles
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A personal perspective on pedagogical structures and strategies that uphold Indigenous ways of knowing
More LessThis article gives a brief background of where I come from and how my experiences in Africa and North America have framed the ‘philosophy of teaching’ that defines me as a visual art educator. I reflect on the postcolonial concept of ‘decolonization’ as a means to identifying possible pedagogical alternatives of practice. Acknowledging that my knowledge embraces both ‘western’ and ‘Indigenous’ ways of knowing, poses a question for me as an art educator about ways to design and implement pedagogies that embrace contextualized experiences in order to achieve meaningful learning within formal education. I conclude by stating that nothing will effect change within Uganda’s education sector, particularly in reference to visual art education and practice, without educators having a firmer grasp of their scholarly standpoint on knowledge and learning. Development of concrete ways of bringing together diverse ontological, epistemological and axiological positions of western and Indigenous knowledge systems as well as art pedagogies to facilitate learning, will require educators to develop structures and strategies that progress from the bottom up in order to benefit from the values, beliefs and ways of knowing within diverse local communities.
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Undergraduate creative arts students’ perceptions and attitudes toward disability: Advancing a critical disability studies informed curriculum
By Beth PickardThis study reports on the unanticipated findings of a small-scale, evaluative research project. Further to a pilot iteration, a cohort of undergraduate art students engaged with an immersive, inclusive arts curriculum informed by critical disability studies. Students’ perceptions and attitudes about disability were recorded at the outset and conclusion of the pedagogical project, through a qualitative questionnaire. Thematic analysis was employed to surface patterns in the cohort’s responses at both points in their learning journey. While the findings evidenced the anticipated shift from individualized perspectives about disability to an increasingly social, interactional perspective, the full extent of the medicalized gaze and internalized ableism at the outset of the study was unanticipated. This realization has been influential in developing the pedagogical approach and the framing of the content taught, and has exemplified both the potential and the need to learn about disability, disablement and diversity through art education.
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Block teaching in art and design: Pedagogy and the student experience
By Tom SlevinThis article contextualizes and evaluates the pedagogical efficacy of a ‘block’ curriculum structure at Level 4 of a UK art and design degree course. The year has a distinctive, unique structure compared to its HEI’s central model of three concurrent twenty-credit modules. The article considers the block approach unfolding from the contextual changes at national and institutional levels that provided complex, multiple shifts and challenges. This article evaluates block pedagogy through considering course data, students’ critical reflections of their experience and external examiner comments. The evidence suggests that block pedagogy supports students – of which a significantly higher proportion are from lower-privileged backgrounds – and their outcomes, whilst improving retention, progression and overall satisfaction rates.
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Designing filmmaking: Shaping first-year curriculum for transition, progression and effective collaboration
By Jenny HoltThis article evaluates a transition intervention project aimed at first-year undergraduate filmmaking students in the Manchester School of Art. In response to recently identified shifts in confidence and resilience linked to an increased rate of withdrawal, a Scholarship of Teaching and Learning research project was undertaken to address the issue and develop a transition strategy to promote engagement, confidence and progression. Research into studies of first-year transition and retention, and an analysis of both the pedagogical context of the course and wider ecology of the discipline, informed a remodelling of the autumn term curriculum with a focus on the first six weeks of study. The research revealed key themes of consequence to first-year curriculum design, including the impact of art and design’s ‘pedagogy of ambiguity’ and the significance of belongingness and community to filmmaking students.
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Developing pedagogy for plant study in art and design1
More LessThis practice-based research project involved creating and using a set of teaching resources to engage undergraduate art and design students with plants. The resources addressed learner preferences for engaging with different modes of representations and involved three types of visual encounters with plants. Students engaged with realistic representations, botanically accurate illustrations and actual plants themselves. The use of these resources drew attention to the distinction between botanical and artistic understandings of plants and highlighted the relevance of considering multiple modes of engagements while designing pedagogical initiatives to study plants through art and design.
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A framework for managing conceptual design process
More LessAddressing the conceptual design stage as a significant part of design management, this article introduces a framework for concept generation and development in architectural design. Evolving throughout eleven years of experimentation, the framework is formulated as a graphical template to plot eight methods of concept generation, and multiple figurative and operative models for concept transformation and development. The framework is intended to be flexible and supportive of iterative cycling, while also offering an explicit, structured and systemized approach to broaden the solution scope and enhance creativity in the proposed alternatives. Developing language-based structures, the research addresses knowledge management in the initial stages of designing using interdisciplinary knowledge mapping. The research comprises a research-through-design methodology for framework development, and questionnaire surveys for its testing. The findings indicate that the framework helps designers initiate their designing process, guide them throughout the process, and generate a wide variety of creative concepts. Furthermore, the findings demonstrate that the analogy-based method is the most common one in shaping the final design products. Despite its contribution, the framework was criticized for generating too many alternatives that consume time and make decisions more difficult to make.
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Celebrating the variety, fighting the confusion: An integrative review of the design teacher’s pedagogical roles
Authors: Pelin Efilti and Koray GelmezIt is difficult, but crucial, to understand the roles of design studio teachers to facilitate the learning processes and improve the teaching approaches. In this respect, the roles of design studio teachers in design education literature are seen rather dispersed. In this study, an integrative literature review of studies was conducted by examining pedagogical roles of design teachers within the frame of the learning processes (cognition, affection and psychomotor). This systematic review aims at wrapping up the literature on the design teacher’s pedagogical role and scrutinizing and mapping the contribution of the design teacher’s pedagogical role in learning processes. The articles reviewed were analysed in terms of their importance given to learning processes through the radar charts. With a critical lens, this review is expected to contribute both to nurture the practice of design teachers and to inform design education literature. Via this, design teachers can get informed and through the mappings offered in this study, and they can also explicitly appreciate their roles and strategies in their design studio courses.
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- Acknowledgements
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Volumes & issues
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Volume 22 (2023)
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Volume 21 (2022)
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Volume 20 (2021)
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Volume 19 (2020)
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Volume 18 (2019)
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Volume 17 (2018)
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Volume 16 (2017)
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Volume 15 (2016)
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Volume 14 (2015)
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Volume 13 (2014)
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Volume 12 (2013)
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Volume 11 (2012)
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Volume 10 (2012)
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Volume 9 (2010)
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Volume 8 (2009)
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Volume 7 (2008 - 2009)
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Volume 6 (2007 - 2008)
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Volume 5 (2006 - 2007)
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Volume 4 (2005)
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Volume 3 (2004)
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Volume 2 (2003 - 2004)
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Volume 1 (2002 - 2003)