Thirteenth International Conference on Design Principles & Practices

Abstract

Higher education in the twenty-first century faces challenges, changing contexts, and opportunities. To respond to these issues academia has looked to incorporate new learning and teaching practices including attempts to: increase interdisciplinary learning opportunities; create increased collaborative learning situations; and, ensure students have quality curricular experiential learning to ground and extend their education. A common factor is that these practices—and others—are central within design education. In this paper I argue that Design Studio-Based Learning (DSBL) offers unique teaching and learning practices to non-design areas and in fact can serve as a model educational framework. DSBL commonly employs a range of robust learning and teaching practices including: Students assuming a critical stance; Learning though problem-focused scenarios; Employing a variety of alternative communication methods; Interdisciplinary and interprofessional learning; Collaborative learning situations; Curricular and co-curricular experiential learning experiences; A focus on hands-on creation and making where students learn through doing. While common to DSBL, these pedagogical practices are often at the cutting edge of other academic disciplines. This paper articulates the benefits of applying DSBL to other academic disciplines, the positives discovered, and the challenges encountered. If we conceptualize of design in a broad sense—and after Simon—as the changing of existing situations into preferred ones we must engage with the edges of our discipline. By examining the contexts of, and possibilities for, design education we provide potential futures and directions for higher education and practice pushing both into the twenty-first century.