Abstract:
Many design courses are now located in university
faculties, often taught by current or ex-design practitioners.
There are mandatory qualifications in educational theory and
practice required for teachers in most school systems, but
universities tend not to insist that staff have similar
qualifications. In both contexts teaching and learning
strategies are not necessarily informed by the latest
educational theory and research.
As both a design student and novice practitioner I was
mentored on a one-to-one basis. As a new university lecturer
the inclination was to teach as I had been taught. Faced with
increasing student numbers this strategy began to fail. In
seeking more viable approaches I decided to leave design
education for six months to undertake some serious study
with educational researchers in the UTS Centre for Learning
and Teaching.
It became clear that there were important understandings
and research about how students learn. In subsequent visits to
university design courses in the UK, US and Australia it was
also clear that there was little of this educational theory
filtering through to design lecturers responsible for
curriculum and assessment.
This dichotomy sparked a research journey implementing
educational research findings and concepts. Whilst applying
these to my own design teaching the attempt to involve
students in their development of ‘qualities’ or ‘attributes’
became a focal point for further research.
Software I designed to facilitate the integration of this
approach was adopted by UTS School of Design and is the
basis of a two year Carrick Priority Projects Grant involving
Business Faculties from four Australian universities.
This paper highlights the importance of a focus on graduate
attribute development and the difficulties of an integrative
approach. It draws conclusions about involving students in
self-assessment as part of a developmental progressive
process building over time and across subject boundaries.
