Abstract

The object of this paper is to propose a skill development framework for the assessment and the advancement of Tertiary Design Students’ skills in the practice of Design with Digital Media. The rationale for the proposal revolves around two assumptions. The first assumption recognizes that design with digital media student cohorts are increasingly defined by their cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary profiles and that this demands an additional scale and latitude in assessment, evaluation and skills development strategies. The second assumption suggests that the use of a flexible and customisable set of frameworks could support existing assessment and evaluation tools by substantiating the delivery of individual and targeted feedback to learners whose array of skills and cultural points of references are indeed diverse. The model of such a framework and a scenario for its application, in particular for diagnostic and summative assessments, is introduced and proposed for discussion in this paper. The proposed model, referred to as a Skills Development Framework, presents itself as a triptych of sub-frames; each of the three sub-frames ponders the ‘Level of Autonomy’ for a distinct ‘Facet of Practice’ in the realm of design with digital media: • Reflective Practice and Creative Process • Computer Literacy and Interaction with Technology • Purposeful Practice and Communication Objectives The main objective of this Skills Development Framework is first and foremost to verbalise and contextualize, from a learner-centered perspective, the incremental attainment of discipline specific targets based on a subject-centered curriculum. Its functional objective is to provide instructors with the latitude of an incremental ladder for the assessment and diagnosis of student skill levels and the subsequent delivery of consistent and constructive feedback. Finally, the informal objective of this Skills Development Framework is to acknowledge cultural and disciplinary differences by focusing on levels of student autonomy and different facets of practice in the realm of design with digital media.