Hello again Don
I think the Writing PAD project is interesting in regards what and how to teach in design, though it is narrow in addressing writing for designers specially. But I think there are some good approaches there on how to help design students to reflect and write.

www.writng-pad.ac.uk



-----Original Message-----
From: PhD-Design - This list is for discussion of PhD studies and related research in Design [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Ken Friedman
Sent: 27. april 2011 01:48
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Seeking recommendations for design curricula. Not philosophy -- actual courses

Dear Don (and all),

There is a useful study on design curriculum in undergraduate education
that I should have mentioned in my earlier response. In contrast with
curriculum plans and resources, this study is valuable as an empirical
case study: "Learning through projects is a common feature in
practice-based design education. While theory and case-based literature
on problem-based learning abounds, the project methods more familiar to
design education are rarely defined in practical curriculum development
terms. This paper outlines a study of project types in use in a faculty
of design. The study identified six project types, four domains and 11
sub-domains related to curriculum design and pedagogical strategies. The
resulting propositional typology is presented as a tool for
decision-making in project-oriented curriculum design. Also briefly
discussed are some significant areas of alignment difficulty found
during the study."

Lee, Nicolette. 2009. "Project methods as the vehicle for learning in
undergraduate design education: a typology." Design Studies, Vol. 30,
no. 5, pp. 541-560.

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.destud.2009.03.002

For those who may not have web access to Design Studies via Elsevier,
you'll find the author's final draft on the Swinburne Research Bank at
URL: http://hdl.handle.net/1959.3/52005

Watching Terry's thread unfold, it's worth noting that Nicki Lee does
empirical research on curriculum design and comparative studies in
different approaches to teaching and learning. For the past few years,
she's been working as Director of Swinburne Professional Learning, a
university-wide service center that supports innovation in curriculum.
In addition to supporting curriculum development, she's been working in
learning and teaching support and academic development for all six
faculties at Swinburne. She's been a working designer in industry, then
a staff member in the Faculty of Design. We've managed to get her back
from the university to take up the position of Associate Dean for
Academic Affairs and Operations.

With respect to Don's note to Terry, I'm rather pleased to say that two
of our four associate deans have done empirical research in curriculum
development, pedagogy, and education in addition to their
discipline-specific work in design and design management. Nicki Lee is
one. The other is Scott Thompson-Whiteside, our Associate Dean
International. The other two associate deans are equally well equipped.
Dori Tunstall is an anthropologist with a solid foundation in education
as well as in human-centered design. She is our Associate Dean for
Teaching and Learning. The last is Deirdre Barron, Associate Dean for
Research. She is a specialist in education and graduate-level curriculum
development who now focuses on research training - the faculty stole her
from a position in the university research office. This expertise shows
up in how we design our programs. The fact that our senior staff have
real training and expertise in all these areas gives us a foundation for
what we teach and experience in how to teach it well.

In case you're wondering, they are terrific advisers and consultants
and we're happy to lend them out. But you have to give them back ;)

We're not the only university with first-rate experts curriculum and
pedagogy -- the difficulty that many of the experts have is that
multiple research interests mean they often use their writing time on
other issues. Since this thread emerged, I've been looking at some
wonderful articles with useful material on curriculum, though admittedly
with an eye to PhD curriculum. The difficulty with respect to Don's note
on philosophy is that these articles generally entail a research
contribution (i.e., philosophy) as well as the nuts and bolts you need
for curriculum development. One of my all-time favorites is an article
by David Durling:

Durling, David. 2002. "Discourses on research and the PhD in Design."
Quality Assurance in Education, Vol. 10, No. 2, 2002, pp. 79-85.

It is available at the journal archive:
http://www.emeraldinsight.com/0968-4883.htm

Another example with significant curriculum implications is a terrific
article by Meredith Davis

Davis, Meredith. 2008. "Why Do We Need Doctoral Study in Design?"
International Journal of Design, Vol. 3, No. 2.

Available free on the IJD web site
http://www.ijdesign.org/ojs/index.php/IJDesign/article/view/481

This isn't specifically a curriculum article, but it identifies and
articulates many of the specifics needed for a successful doctoral
program, including: "pre-requisite[s], institutional conditions for
establishing and differentiating research-oriented master's and
doctoral degrees. These threshold criteria include: 1) institutional
research infrastructure; 2) faculty qualifications to provide curricular
leadership in research education; 3) library resources; 4) resources
under nascent design research funding models; 5) balance between
disciplinary research programs and interdisciplinary challenges; 6)
assessment of faculty and student research activity; and 7) research
publication and presentation imperatives."

Curriculum includes both the elements of the curriculum itself, and the
surrounding context that enable the curriculum to serve as the
foundation of courses and of programs. Between the philosophy of the
curriculum and the front-line curriculum itself, I'd argue that there is
a legitimate layer of enabling factors, and that is what many of these
articles consider. This is important in a field where many of our design
schools are still finding a way forward into robust curriculum
development -- and these do constitute recommendations for design
curricula.

But I see that I'm floating into Terry's thread here -- so I'll be back
when the sun is up in the sky on this autumn day in Melbourne.

Yours,

Ken

Professor Ken Friedman, PhD, DSc (hc), FDRS | Distinguished University
Professor | Dean, Faculty of Design | Swinburne University of Technology
| Melbourne, Australia | [log in to unmask] | Ph: +61 3
9214 6078 | www.swinburne.edu.au/design

Conference Co-Chair: Doctoral Education in Design - Practice,
Knowledge, Vision | Hong Kong Polytechnic University | May 22-25, 2011 |
www.sd.polyu.edu.hk/DocEduDesign2011