I believe the point is not that Design comes from the Arts... the real fact,
is there are not many real pedagogues dedicated to Design Education. Or the
other way around, Design educators that prepare themselves for teaching in
higher education. I challenge you to find well constructed curricula with
courses that build on one another and that have clear lesson
plan<https://helpdesk.bcit.ca/fsr/teach/teaching/ja_lessonplans.pdf>s
and syllabus that contain concrete and actionable learning
outcomes<https://helpdesk.bcit.ca/fsr/teach/teaching/ja_learningoutcomes.pdf>and
related grading
rubrics<http://www.ncsu.edu/grad/preparing-future-leaders/evaluation-and-grading.html>.
How many teaching portfolios can we count among the Design Teaching
Community?
Best,
On 26 April 2011 16:24, Don Norman <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> just to you, Terry
>
> Applause!
>
> Yes, that is precisely my concern and why i asked for examples of real
> curricula. it is amazing how many of the documents sent to me are actually
> only about the philosophy of the curriculum. I specifically said I wanted
> courses. as far as I can tell, designers (at least on PhD design) like to
> talk, argue, and be philosophical. Don't any of them do real things and
> teach real subjects?
>
> The HCI community as I stated and as you demonstrated puts real meat in
> their stuff. Hmm, HCI comes from engineering. Design comes from the arts.
>
>
> Don
>
> .
> Don Norman
> *Nielsen Norman Group
> *[log in to unmask] www.jnd.org
> http://www.core77.com/blog/columns/
> Latest book: "Living with Complexity <http://www.jnd.org/books.html#608>"
> KAIST (Daejeon, S. Korea). IDEO Fellow.
>
>
> On Tue, Apr 26, 2011 at 8:00 AM, Terence Love <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> > A couple of days ago, Andrew Jackson pointed to the UK Quality Assurance
> > Benchmark for undergraduate design education in the UK.
> >
> >
> http://www.qaa.ac.uk/academicinfrastructure/benchmark/statements/ADHA08.asp
> >
> > It's an interesting to read it with a critical eye about whether it
> > specifies the quality of performance of Design graduates.
> >
> >
> >
> > Some snippets:
> >
> >
> >
> > 1. Undergraduate Art and Design education in the UK is only for
> > creating *visual culture* (section 3), except it includes products as
> part
> > of that visual culture. Weird. For example, the chap down the road will
> be
> > using his bobcat (a designed product) to rearrange some house foundations
> > tomorrow. What matters is that the bobcat is designed so it can safely
> > move dirt - lots of dirt and very accurately and safely. I'm pretty sure
> he
> > (or I) doesn't mind at all what the visual culture affects of the bobcat
> > are
> > compared to whether it will stay the right way up and move a lot of dirt
> > very accurately to level. Similarly, I'd expect designers of surgical
> > equipment to view them in other ways than as part of visual culture
> >
> > 2. As the core of the Quality Assurance, there are broad bush
> > definitions (sections 4 and 5) of subject-specific knowledge '.ability
> to
> > generate ideas.' 'employs convergent and divergent thinking.' etc; and
> > generic knowledge '..ability to study independently.'. 'formulate a
> > reasoned
> > response.' etc. Nowhere, however, in the document does it specify any
> > standards or specific competences or even levels of competence or skills
> > that can be assessed in terms of whether the person unarguably has got
> the
> > skills/knowledge or not;
> >
> > 3. The actual benchmark standards are in section 6. It is this
> > section
> > that one would expect to accurately define what a graduate is able to do
> on
> > successful completion of the program (which would also define what is
> > taught
> > and how it is assessed). The information in this section, the benchmarks,
> > are as loose and unspecific as the earlier sections. For example
> 'presents
> > evidence of an ability to generate ideas.', 'will be able to use
> materials.
> > methods.. associated with the discipline studied and familiar with good
> > working practices.'
> >
> >
> >
> > Nowhere in this UK QAA quality assurance benchmark does it indicate the
> > standard, any standard, or specific level of skill or knowledge to be
> > expected of a Design graduate.
> >
> >
> >
> > Mischievously, it's possible to take the words used in this QAA for Art
> and
> > Design and ask 'Could a primary school program accord with the wording
> of
> > this honours degree Quality Assurance for a UK Design degree?' It might
> be
> > possible. Certainly a secondary-school Design course might easily fulfil
> > this wording for UK Design degree quality assurance.
> >
> >
> >
> > Contrast the QAA Design degree spec with, for example, a specification
> of
> > what is expected of a Human Centred Design professional as described in
> ISO
> > 134087
> > (
> >
> http://www.usabilityprofessionals.org/upa_projects/body_of_knowledge/certif
> > ication_project/files/competence_v0.7.doc )
> >
> >
> >
> > Am I missing something in expecting a design degree to specify the level
> > of
> > skills and knowledge that graduates will possess? Without it, it seems
> that
> > there is no real basis for a claim for professional standards in Design.
> Is
> > the UK's Art and Design university education really essentially only
> > interested in designing everything in terms of visual culture? If so,
> where
> > is the UK Design education program that teaches people to design things
> > that work?
> >
> >
> >
> > Best wishes,
> >
> > Terry
> >
> >
> >
>
--
Constanza S. Miranda M.
PhD Student NCSU-Design
www.innovacionsocial.cl
www.facebook.com/designforsocialinnovation
"Develop Design, Design to Develop"
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