In catching up today after the break, I see there’s been a number of off-list comments to my enquiry about the kind of curriculum for a PhD student in design, as well as some public discussion. Also some resources. I will outline some of these comments, and possible responses to them, in this and perhaps another note covering the different aspects of what has been generated so far. Here goes...
Off list comments
Among suggestions so far:
- classes that gave a good understanding of ontological and epistemological aspects of research, these perhaps mandatory
- need for elective classes in teaching methods
- need for elective classes in statistics
- need for writing skills
I’d be grateful for comment on these suggestions
PhD and teaching
The idea of teaching about teaching has been mentioned. Presumably this could be teaching undergraduate design students and taught masters, but the teaching of doctoral students - supervision - is also ill prepared in the PhD curriculum.
It seems inadequate that a PhD offers little or no training in teaching. Apart from experiencing directly a PhD study, many doctoral courses seem to provide nothing on the supervision of other doctoral students. This is an area of considerable skill that is not addressed formally. My own PhD study - excellent though it was in other ways - gave me no inkling of the skills needed for supervision. I learned all that I know on the job. I pity my early students, though they seem to have made good careers for themselves in spite of my shortcomings.
Some years ago when I worked in London, the university introduced a new PhD scheme in product design engineering. If I remember it correctly, the scheme was:
- for a funded PhD student to undertake a 5 year programme of study
- part-time study while employed as a lecturer
- more study time at the start
- more teaching load towards the end
- teacher training was a compulsory part of the curriculum
I understood that in this case the intention was to train PhD candidates to enter the teaching profession as fully skilled researchers and university teachers. My impression of the early graduates was that they were very competent. I don’t know if the scheme is still running. Perhaps someone on the list will have more up to date knowledge?
However, I too am curious about the notion that a PhD is the licence to teach other PhDs in a self perpetuating system. This seems to me to be a rather out of date view of the benefit of a solid research training.
Aside from teaching, perhaps it would be healthier for design (and various economies) if more designers with research degrees found their way into industry instead of an emphasis on academic teaching. Some do, of course, but maybe a curriculum should also provide some relevant context to employment outside the university, in the way that [some] professional doctorates do rather well.
kind regards
David
___________________________________________________________________
David Durling HonFDRS PhD
Professor of Design Research
Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Coventry University, UK
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Vice President IASDR iasdr.org <http://iasdr.org/>
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