Art, Design & Communication in Higher Education - Volume 4, Issue 3, 2005

This study investigates the promotion of learner creativity in the United Kingdom's post-compulsory art and design education sector. The impetus for the research came in part from Teresa Amabile's suggestion that a bridge was needed between conceptual and operational definitions of creativity (Amabile, 1996). Traditionally, art and design educators gain their understanding of teaching creativity from reflective experience rather than empirical research. Conversely, the majority of research studies into learner creativity are laboratory-based, producing results which are reliable and valid in their own terms but which are seldom tested within the complex richness of a real-world learning environment. The intention, therefore, was to cross-reference psychological and sociological theories of learner creativity against the evidence from pedagogic practice, and vice versa. The findings suggest that there is substantial agreement between theoreticians and practitioners regarding the factors that promote, or inhibit, learner creativity. These findings are further supported by evidence from learners and from material outcomes.

This article examines the attitudes of students to working in groups within a class studying for an MA in Publishing at Oxford Brookes University. The class is highly international with 20 nationalities represented. Comparative data was collected within the same cohort at different stages of the academic year, and from a separate, more homogeneous class at undergraduate level. The findings showed more positive attitudes to group work amongst the international class alongside student concerns over language levels and free-riding. Appropriate interventions are discussed as well as the value of group work for students' social interactions and employability.

A new study has recently been completed investigating current attitudes towards drawing and drawing tuition among senior academics in design education in higher education institutions (HEIs) in the United Kingdom. This study examines some of the main aspects of existing educational practice while also exploring academics' aspirations for ideal drawing tutors and drawing studios. It forms part of an extensive research programme conducted over twenty years on the role of drawing in design practice and its implications for design education, earlier findings being used here for comparison. Primarily based on interviews with deans and programme leaders from HEIs in England and Scotland, and supplemented by interviews with senior design researchers, views on the forms of drawing ability crucial to today's designers, the impact of computer-based technology on the role of drawing in design, the curriculum structure and content with regard to drawing studies, and the use of academic resources are discussed.

This article examines the impact of digital media on architectural design education based on teaching experience in the e-studio. The primary goal of the estudio is to teach students how to think and design using digital media as the only design medium. The article reports on e-studio practices, discusses the pedagogical implications of the studio and contributes to understanding the relationship between digital media, design practices and education. It reveals that digital media as used in the e-studio can bring important changes to the architectural design process, the design studio praxis, the design outcome and the way in which students envision and describe architecture. The article highlights the ambivalent nature of digital media as design tools and shows the need to reconsider our traditional understanding of the design studio culture.

Review of the second annual International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning conference, October 2005, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Tom Hunter - Living in Hell and Other Stories The National Gallery, 7 December 2005 - 12 March 2006 Jeff Wall - Photographs 19782004 Tate Modern, 21 October 2005 - 8 January 2006