Dear All,
Reading my way forward through the thread, I read Stefanie di Russo’s
comments on universities where a student DOES get good practical
training based on professional experience.
While this is less common than it should be, there are schools where
students have the benefit of strong practical experience and skilled
practitioners. I wrote earlier, “The case seems to be that too few
design schools teach the kinds of skills and wisdom students get on the
job,” and I’d argue that this is the case. In visits to many design
schools over the past four decades and studies on several hundred more,
my experience is that fewer than ten or fifteen percent of all schools
emphasize regular teaching based on significant professional experience.
Far more offer good guest lecture programs, but that’s a few hours of
one-way communication a year, as contrasted with the regular contact,
interaction, and coaching that leads to skills development.
When we prepared our report on the Victorian Design Research
Infrastructure, we made a point of listing the clients, companies,
organizations, and projects with which our professional design staff
have worked over the years. When we hire new staff, we seek people who
are “bilingual,” people who speak the language of professional
design practice and the language of serious research.
In reviewing my reply to Don, it may be that I was not clear enough on
an issue of agreement: we need this kind of education in design schools.
My mild disagreement involved the question of having too many
researchers. I’d argue that we have too few solid researchers with a
serious PhD. While the numbers are growing, the growing number of
researchers is not somehow crowding out a vast and neglected population
of strong design professionals with up-to-date skills and outstanding
experience. There are also too few of those, and we need more of both.
It’s a lucky student who finds a school where both are available –
and the students who benefit from teacher with a dual foundation in
strong professional practice and strong research are particularly
fortunate.
Yours,
Ken
Professor Ken Friedman, PhD, DSc (hc), FDRS | University Distinguished
Professor | Dean, Faculty of Design | Swinburne University of Technology
| Melbourne, Australia | [log in to unmask] | Ph: +61 3
9214 6078 | Faculty www.swinburne.edu.au/design
Stefanie di Russo wrote:
—snip—
I can't speak on behalf of all universities in Australia, but my
experience to what has been described or argued on this list is the
complete opposite. During my education across three major universities,
I had core subjects that taught the fundamentals in professional
practice by well respected industry professionals who had mastered their
craft. This covered the finer details in practice that students would
not think they need to know until faced with the issue. At the same
time, I had taken theoretical subjects by academics (usually with a PhD
in a related field) and who had less 'practical' experience but offered
a deeper and more meaningful insight into the profession i was learning.
I could not imagine graduating with practice and no theory and vice
versa.
—snip—
|