This licentiate thesis is based on visual art didactics and the school subject visual art, but focuses on the design process in a college design education. The aim is to explore and understand the innovative and exploratory learning processes and the importance of visual mediation in this context. With a phenomenological approach the study focuses on design students experiences in this context. These experiences are made subject on reflection and formulation, through phenomenology and visual semiotics. The empirical materal of the study consists of interviews and sketches and images collected from student workbooks. The results of the study show that the design process does not occur by itself among the students. It must be learned. The need for learning probably also applies to the processes of creative learning in other fields. Furthermore, the results indicate that the process is best understood and appropriated in pragmatic learning situations. Three kinds of visual representations of the basic aims of process work are identified in the analysis: images for communicative purposes, images for reference and discussion purposes and images as a support for one's own thinking. From the perspective of visual art dididactics the results of the study reveals four important dimensions, wich may be of relevance as a fundamental didactic structure in efforts to promote understanding of a practice-oriented learning in context of visual mediations. Together with a split vision guiding principles, existing premises and action-based learning processes may provide a supporting unit in this structure. Based on the results, it seems important that pupils and students have the opportunity to learn to master and appropriate the creative process in order to use it in an investigative purpose. Considering the structure of the process, a didactic model can facilitate learning and at the same time provide a valuable complement to the subjective approach of inspiration in the aestetic learning process. In summary, the results of the study indicate that the fields of design and didactics are related to each other and that the field of design training can bring knowledge and experience of exploration and creative learning processes to the school subject visual art.

This project was created to develop a database for students and teachers to allow accurate, efficient and reliable tracking of student's academic information. The database was designed specifically for faculty and students within the Master of Arts in Education, Instructional Technology Program at California State University, San Bernardino.

The primary purpose of this project is to develop an online forum to facilitate communication among educators, parents, and students resulting in an open environment for more informed decisions by all those involved in the educational process. The second purpose is the personal development of an electronic learning application using online tools needed for an effective online learning environment that will cost the school district little or nothing.

<p>Critique is an essential skill of professional designers to communicate success and failure of a design with others. For graphic design educators, including critique in their pedagogical approaches enables students to improve both their design capability and critique skills. Adaptive Comparative Judgment (ACJ) is an innovative approach of assessment where students and instructors make comparisons between two designs and choose the better of the two. The purpose of this study was to investigate the differences between instructors’ and students’ critiquing practices. The data was collected through think-aloud protocol methods while both groups critiqued the same design projects. </p> <p>The results indicate that it took students longer to finish the same amount of critiques as those completed by instructors. Students spent more time describing their personal feelings, evaluating each individual design, and looking for the right phrases to precisely express their thoughts on a design. Instructors, with more teaching experience, were able to complete the critique more quickly and justify their critique decisions more succinctly with efficient use of terminology and a reliance on their instincts. </p>

While industry is looking to graphic design education for the next top designers who have the knowledge and skills to be successful in their field (Bridges, King, Brown, & Luedeman, 2013), graphic design instructors often have a limited time to teach students the knowledge and skills they need to become successful designers (Landa, 2010; Kennedy et al., 2012; Liu, & Tourtellott, 2011). Most university-level graphic design courses, the traditional preparation pathway for future designers, focus on improving student’s design ability through hands-on projects that teach students how to use graphic design technology (Motley, 2017). In addition to hands-on graphic design experiences, many classrooms also use peer critique to allow students to critique and give feedback to peers while identifying the positive aspects of a design and suggesting improvements to be made (Motley, 2017). Students tend to improve their design when a classroom implements critique, including self and peer assessment, into the curriculum (Wanner, & Palmer, 2018). However, little is known about the relationship, if any exists, between a student’s ability to design and a student’s ability to critique. Therefore, this study will investigate the correlation between student critique and student design abilities with the intent of improving graphic design educational practices. Understanding this correlation may assist those involved with graphic design education to better prepare students for future employment by assisting instructors in using their limited teaching time most effectively. Specifically, a relationship between graphic design critique and graphic design skill may suggest that the limited time available for teaching should emphasize improving critique skills with the goal of also improving graphic design abilities. If no relationship between critique and design abilities exists, this may suggest that limited time should be spent engaging students in critique and other forms of teaching should be emphasized.

The human body has been considered to be an active element and is a common starting point of fashion design processes. However, during these processes, understanding of the body and how it is used to design is often confined by the body’s standard spatial and structural characteristics. The research presented in this thesis aimed to examine body alternatives in fashion design processes in order to explore and open up for alternative body expressions for developing silhouettes for clothing.  Alternative aesthetic approaches and understandings of the body as a design tool were researched through experimental explorations, reflections, dialogue, and discussions. These created an embodied dialogue between thought and execution which was further developed and informed by the EDI (Embodied Design Ideation) framework for analysing and refining understandings of the interactions between the body, materials, and movement. These explorations and their outcomes bridge the theory of research for the art and research for art and design.   The explorations were based on the varied ways in which the body is perceived during body-material interactions, and were explored through movement, human-technology interfaces, and an exploratory workshop conducted at the Swedish School of Textiles. These explorations expanded our understanding of the body’s aesthetics in relation to material interactions and embodied experiences. The explorations questioned our preconceived conceptions of the body and facilitated a process of re-learning these through fashion design.  The results of the explorations were alternative methods and tools that use the body as a central variable in fashion design. The research culminated in the development of conceptions of the body in design processes that increase the design possibilities by introducing new concepts, tools, and methods. The body alternatives developed provide an openness in terms of design thinking and introduce conceptions of the body that can facilitate or improve design practice. The results have implications for design methods and contribute to methods in general and fashion design education programmes in terms of how they facilitate design processes.

[pt] Esta tese apresenta uma proposta de ensino-aprendizagem de Design de Interfaces Físicas em um curso de graduação em Design, com base na metodologia da Prática Reflexiva definida por Donald Schon (1983). O estudo trata da definição, concepção e implementação de um ambiente de ensino-aprendizagem de Design de Interação. No estudo explora-se o contexto da Ubiquidade Computacional definido por Marc Weiser (1991), estabelecendo-se uma relação entre este contexto e o campo do ensino de Interfaces Físicas (O SULLIVAN, 2004), área emergente do Design de Interação. Propõe-se um ambiente de ensino-aprendizagem de Interfaces Físicas a partir de um conjunto de iniciativas como o desenvolvimento de disciplinas em um curso de graduação em design; processos colaborativos inter, multi e transdisciplinares para experimentação e desenvolvimento de projetos e a criação de um laboratório de ensino. Subsequentemente, apresenta-se uma discussão sobre alguns resultados decorrentes da criação desse ambiente. Na discussão, são investigados como e porque a experiência no ambiente de ensino-aprendizagem proposto foi determinante na definição dos processos metodológicos de Design utilizados, e busca-se compreender quais são as características destes processos e de seus resultados. / [en] This thesis presents a proposal for the teaching of Physical Computing in an undergraduate Design course, based on the Reflective Practice methodology defined by Donald Schon (1983). The study comprises de definition, conception and implementation of a Physical Computing learning environment. In the study, the context of Ubiquitous Computing defined by Marc Weiser (1991) is explored, and a relation between this context and the field of knowledge of Physical Computing (O SULLIVAN, 2004) as an emerging area of Interaction Design is established. The Physical Computing Learning Environment is proposed after a series of initiatives that comprehend the development of academic disciplines, interdisciplinary collaborative processes, and the creation of a laboratory. Subsequently, we present a discussion about the results of the creation of this environment. In the discussion, we investigate how and why the experience in the Physical Computing learning environment was determinant in the definition of the methodological Design processes used, in order to understand what are the characteristics of such processes and its results.

Die umfassende ökologische Krise erfordert es, den Lebenszyklus von Artefakten und Prozessen bereits im Entwurf zu integrieren. Design spielt deshalb eine zentrale Rolle in der anstehenden Transformation der Gesellschaft und Produktionssysteme (Irwin, 2015). Design vermag Umweltauswirkungen zu senken und vereinfacht die Umsetzung von Kreislaufstrategien. (Desing et al., 2021) Zirkuläre Designmethoden schließen Aspekte wie Reparierbarkeit, Wiederverwertung sowie alternativ angelegte Nutzungskonzepte mit ein. Sie sind inzwischen in vielen Curricula integriert.

Gemäß dem ‚Circular Gap Report 2020‘ wird weltweit nur 8,6 % des Materials zirkulär genutzt. Die Tendenz ist sinkend: Zwei Jahre früher waren es noch 9,1%. Die Weltwirtschaft benötigte im Jahr 2019 insgesamt 100,6 Gigatonnen Material (de Wit et al., 2020). Trotz großer politischer, gesellschaftlicher und wirtschaftlicher Aufmerksamkeit rund um die Thematik einer dringend benötigten nachhaltigeren Wirtschaft zeigt sich, dass wir mit der Materialzirkularität insgesamt nicht auf Kurs sind. Wie kann die Materialzirkularität aus der Perspektive von Designer:innen – als Akteur:innen, die gemäß Literatur ‚over 80 % of all product-related environmental impacts‘ verantworten – verbessert werden? (Graedel et al., 1995)

The perceived value of interdisciplinary design among designers and the application of the design process was investigated. The research was designed to determine if interdisciplinary design was perceived to be beneficial to practitioners and educators. An 11-item survey was produced by the researcher and consisted of general demographic information, undergraduate education and training, and the benefits of interdisciplinary design. The sample was composed of representatives of the top 100 interior design firms of 2003 and members of the Interior Design Educators Council (IDEC). Respondents indicated training in Architecture, Graphic Design, Interior Design, and Industrial/Product Design, with Architecture and Interior Design comprising the majority of responses. The greater part of those surveyed indicated training in only one discipline. Results showed that interdisciplinary design is perceived to be beneficial; specifically, interdisciplinary design education makes designers professionally more marketable.