Teaching Trends
Instructional Design at the Intersections of Gender
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Katy Campbell
For at least forty years scholars from many disciplines have brought a gendered lens to instructional design theory and practice, the design of physical learning environments, and learning processes from multiple perspectives, including access, accessibility, usability, effectiveness, inclusiveness, and sociocultural and political perspectives (c.f. Ball, 2007; Littlejohn, Foss & Oetzel, 2017). More recently, critical scholars have become interested in intersectionality, in which “multiple oppressions” influence each other and create learning environments that exclude or marginalize various learning communities of women and girls, among them adults and youth whose native language is not English, who are living in poverty and/or in rural areas with limited access, indigenous females, and so on (c.f. Belkhir & McNair Barnett, 2001; Morse, 2003; Li & Kirkup, 2007; National Science Foundation, 2004). Using gender as a defining lens, we must also consider gender identity, a political, social, and cultural challenge that becomes a design consideration. What do we know about gender and learning with technology, and what questions still need to be asked? Has new research identified new challenges, new understandings; new directions? Has this knowledge affected how we design learning environments? This study provides a quick review of research since 1990, contrasting more recent research addressing questions and implications of intersectionality and design such as inclusion of sociocultural factors like first language, geopolitical context, gender identity, and indigeneity.
Economic Form in Teaching Design, between Aesthetics, Engineering, and Technologies: Some Recent Experiences in Design Studio
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Spartaco Paris, Francesco Romeo
“Ours is an economically oriented age. In earlier times, word-view was more important. Today, nobody can exist without considering economics: we are concerned with economic form. (..) Economic form arises out of function and material. Study of material naturally precedes understanding of function.” (J. Albers, Teaching Form Through Practice, 1928) Some of the most advanced research and teaching methods in prominent international departments and schools of design highlight a rising and renewed integrated approach among human and scientific disciplines in the design process; thus being implemented in the activity of teaching within studio and laboratories of research. In a sustainable approach in the design of artifacts , the integration between the aesthetical and morphological requirements and the opportunity driven by the structural and mechanical behavior of materials, is an interesting field of experimentation and investigation. Through the contribution of researchers from different scientific disciplinary sectors, integrated design allows new strategies of structural control, which can contribute to the elaboration of the forms and are not subordinated to the mere verification subsequent to the definition of the formal model. Through the practice experiments and trials within the Msc in Product Design developed at Sapienza Università di Roma, the aim of the contribution is to enhance the role of technological and structural design by developing an integrated activity between formal design and mechanical behavior of structures. The new technologies and tools, if handled with knowledge, could drive the morphological definition of sustainable elements and product systems for the contemporary habitat.
Don't Get Off Your Phone - Find Your Purpose : Curriculum and Course Design
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Linh Dao
For a majority of undergraduate design students, their education will lead them to a professional career in design firms and in-house studios. Others find their path as creative professionals working in different fields using the technical and critical skills learned in school. While most curricula have been designed with the focus on giving them the skills to success, there is also a lack of understanding what students need to have fulfilling careers that need to be changed. Students need to have clear purpose in their design, and that should be implemented in every single client-based project that they take on from the client selection phase to the end of the design process that is the delivery phase. This paper explores how a upper level graphic design course can be built on the flexibility of both the instructor and the students using the vast resource that is social media, and various online platforms for matching volunteers with non-profits and social enterprises. I offer a course syllabus with a fourteen-week course structure, reading list, evaluation criteria, tools suggestion, and sample project brief, as well as in-class handouts.
