Expanding Education
Work (v.): Using Reflective Writing to Develop Metacognition and Resilience in the Design Studio
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Sarah Young
When design students encounter the ambiguity inherent in the design process, it can cause stress, anguish, and feelings of inadequacy. However, these experiences of failure, dead-ends, and “stuckness” are often the ones in which students learn the most about designing. By prompting regular reflection on encountered challenges, students can reframe their attention, not on simply designing projects, but on learning how to design projects. This study compares reflective writing assignments and their effects in two contexts; a first-semester design studio and a final-semester architecture studio. These assignments seek to place the metacognitive processes necessary for independent design work (monitoring, evaluating, and planning) on equal footing with the cognitive and physical work produced in the studio classroom. To achieve this, the mental work behind the physical work is regularly recorded and discussed as part of the projects. Journals serve as a record of design intent, of feedback and responses to it, and of personal growth. Furthermore, they provide a platform for dialogue through which students can begin to see design challenges differently. “Stuckness,” for example, is often perceived as a private, personal problem indicating a lack of talent. Through discussion, it can be reframed as a common experience that designers share, one which can be overcome through various strategies. Metacognitive writing can have powerful effects; in comparison with students from past years, students who completed the newly introduced reflective writing assignment were more likely to develop critical friendships with their peers and face design challenges with more confidence and resilience.
Revaluing Aesthetic in the Curricula of Industrial Design Schools: Adoption of the Latest Technologies in Digital Design in Three-Dimensional Foundation Disciplines
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Claudio Magalhães, Daniel Vianna
Despite being vital to the formation of the industrial designer, the disciplines focused on three-dimensional studies are losing strength in the curricula of industrial design schools. The reasons for this are related to the devaluation of aesthetic aspects in favor of other aspects such as the functional, the methodological, the social, the political, the production, and the cultural. Especially in Computational Design, the ease of integration of these aspects into the design process and the non-adaptation of digital tools for the aesthetical integration further alienate the aesthetic aspects of these processes. In response to this situation, this study aims to revalue and prioritize aesthetic and three-dimensional foundations in the curricula of design schools. To this end, the authors point out two approaches by which three-dimensional disciplines could unite the latest technologies of Computational Design with the learning of three-dimensional fundamental disciplines. Specifically, we will use Professor Rowena Reed's methodology of the structure of visual relationships combined with technologies such as evolutionary algorithms, big data, and artificial intelligence. Although we recognize the importance of all aspects mentioned above, aesthetics aspects are the raison d'être of design. The negation of aesthetics can transform design into a practice subjected to other careers, which devalues the profession itself and the artifacts created by the designers. Finally, we believe the adoption of the latest technologies in digital design in three-dimensional foundation disciplines can propel the field to revalue the aesthetic aspects of design strengthening its identity.
Place Setting: Design as an Advocate for Campus Food Security
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Helen Turner
Food security among college students is a growing concern across the United States. In March of 2020, the University of Kentucky will host the Universities Fighting World Hunger (UFWH) Summit for students, faculty, administrators, and hunger activists to gather and undertake campus food issues. To understand the ways in which design can participate in the discourse as advocates for campus food security, a third-year studio explored humanitarian and sustainability principles to design conceptual installations that would engage visitors of the UFWH Summit. Subsequently, to pair theoretical exploration with practical application, the studio engaged campus stakeholders to redesign a classroom that was retrofitted as a commercial grade kitchen where a student-run program prepared and served students healthy meals made from recovered food that would otherwise be wasted. Recognizing that just as the size of a plate can influence the amount of food one eats, the character of a space can impact dining experience and demystify negative perceptions about free food programs, the studio relied on a transformative learning framework and evidence-based research to convert a ‘space’ into a ‘place’. Following the semester and receipt of positive feedback, faculty and students of Interior Design, Dietetics and Human Nutrition, as well as Writing and Rhetoric have achieved funding to continue design development and implementation. The process and outcomes intend to serve as an example and replicable model of how design can advocate for food security and social sustainability by helping related programs better express and promote their mission through experience of place.
