 |
 |
Jason, This might be useful to you ..... > You wrote.... > My questions for the list follow from the summary just given: > > - Is there a researched (or even identified) discipline-specific pedagogy > of (engineering) design? If so, where would one go to find it? I think teachers in various disciplines have sought to find uniqueness in their own teaching area by assuming the demands of the subject must somehow mean the teaching/learning is unique. In whatever discpline, the teaching and learning are underpinned by a range of common theories. Sure you use different strategies for different kinds of learning outcomes and different learners prefer to learn in different ways. This means that design education will have its own particular characteristics but this does not to say that it is unique. > - Is there a community of researchers focusing on the discipline-specific > pedagogy of design? If so, where are they hiding? There are couple of organisations in the UK you could try. Firstly SEED (Society for Education in Engineering Design) They used to run annual conferences and may still do. There will at least be a back catalogue of conference presentations. A lot of it is not research however. Discipline based pedagogical studies are often based on anecdote rather than real research. I don't have a contact address for SEED - try an internet search. Secondly the Learning and Teaching Support Networks. Discipline based, to support University lecturers in their practice and importantly to increase and share research information. There is a design one and an engineering one. Their website is LTSN.ac.uk Thirdly, many design conferences and journals publish papers on education. As said above a lot of it is not really research. I went to a conference in December at Delft University in Holland where there was a section on design learning. Many of the presenters were from a systems design background. Find further info on oi.tudelft.nl/research/dic/ > - Are there institutions that offer research degrees in the > discipline-specific pedagogy of design? Pass. My own PhD is in Design Education. I did it here at Staffordshire University. Guess you want US institutions > - Is there a community of researchers focusing on the intersection of > design, systems, complexity, and engineering? This is more a question than an answer... You do not fully explain the link between soft systems and education. Do you wish to investigate the education environment as a soft system, include this in the engineering design curriculum as a topic or prepare students for soft systems thinking in the context of engineering problems? I don't think Peter Checkland would have anticipated any of these applications and might be somewhat surprised by them - he is of course concerned with researching and understanding organisations. Still its an interesting to speculate whether engineers would be comfortable with the concept of soft systems bearing in mind what I would expect to be their preference for 'hard' and clearly defined environments. Dr. Philippa Ashton School of Art and Design Staffordshire University UK