Dear Terry,
H'mmm - strong words you choose - ehtical, preferable!
Well yes, your suggestion is possibly also one way of "experimenting
with students".
I prefer to consider (your quote) "...to quess and experiment on lots
of students..." as exploring new possibilities in "collaboration" with
the students.
As far as I know there are no fixed procedures for dealing with design
education.
Until there is a theory of design learning or an application of
general learning theory to the field of design education that can help
us towards a deeper understanding of what actually happens when one is
coaching or tutoring design students, which unfortunately there isn't,
then I really do think that it is our responsibility to "experiment"
with "ways" of giving design students the best learning experience they
can have. And this is possible - I have my experience and the
experience of others to go by. If we didn't experiment we'd still be in
the mental mode of the Bauhaus or in the grips of cognitive science
doing usability testing.
Maybe mistakes will be made - we are only human after all. But new ways
"are" found. As longs as the students gain by learning something new
that they can use in their design studies and in particular learn to
develop in themselves, then I feel ok about that. Most of the students
who I have had contact with have expressed a feeling of having
understood design and design practice on a level that they can identify
with and use. Many of them have also gone on to be well functioning
professional designers.
I prefer to take their word for it!
Best regards,
Chris.
On Friday, August 29, 2003, at 01:37 PM, Terence Love wrote:
> Dear Chris,
>
> Looking at the biology of physically creating the neurological bits
> and
> pieces associated with new learning one would expect a time threshold
> ( I seem to remember around 2 weeks is typical). You might like to
> check
> journals such as Cerebral Cortex on physiology of memory. If you know
> how long the tyoical is time required needed for the physical changes
> that
> are the actuality of learning then you can start designing
> appropriate course and
> curriculum using those insights.
>
> If it is possible to identify the typical learning time threshold from
> the
> physiological knowledge then this seems ethically preferable
> than to guess and experiment on lots of students until you find out.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Terry
>
>
-------------
from:
Chris Heape
Senior Researcher - Design Didactics / Design Practice
Mads Clausen Institute
University of Southern Denmark
Sønderborg
Denmark
http://www.mci.sdu.dk
Work @ MCI:
tel: +45 6550 1671
e.mail: chris @mci.sdu.dk
Work @ Home:
tel +45 7630 0380
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