As an educator in an institution with the goal of placing designers in the industry I have long worried about some of the Pygmalion-esque aspects of our endeavor to, within a short time, give students all of the skills needed to be professional.
In many fields questions about hegemony, power, privilege, and the like serve to slow the process of creating professionals. In design education, if we place a high value on such discourse it is easy to see how industry would look somewhat skeptically on those coming out of colleges and universities. On the other hand, a purely technical program may provide doers, but it may not produce thinkers.
I agree with previous comments that the contexts of statements that denigrate education are important. I've heard some professionals say, "Yes, students can sort of think when they get out of school, but they are completely unprepared to deal with all of the things that go along with workflow. They don't know how to process or perform a set of tasks."
In terms of education, I don't know if we can do a lot about some issues such as these. For graphic designers we aren't going to say, "Here are 500 images. Prepare them for print by 5:00." Usually that is what internships are all about. In fact, it is my belief that the person who spoke to me wanted education to prepare students for the internship so he could get free labor without doing any training.
I think it is always a question - is it better to separate tasks or to integrate tasks within a simulated work environment? Most schools are not prepared for the latter, and most accrediting bodies aren't prepared to evaluate and certify such a radical break from the traditional classroom.
-Alan Murdock
Department Director
Design Management
The Art Institute of
-------------- Original message --------------
> Off list:
>
> Hi, Deana, Hope all is well over theree.
>
> Design education can be now viewed as a useful broad education like studies
> in other subjects than a vocational one. How many Physics graduates end up
> in labs etc.?
>
> A comment on this worthy of reflection regarding the designer in the
> art&design design sector:
>
> "......given the fact that are at best 15 to 20 percent of our undergraduate
> design students are going to end up in professional designers. ......we have
> to get well beyond the idea that design education is like it was at the end
> of the 80s and early 90s, where most students would go into the profession –
> they don’t any longer."
>
> Professor Mike Press within DDR4 Event, 20 March 04, Q5:Afternoon Question
> Session, at www.dmu.ac.uk/4dd/DDR4/
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Alec
>
> PS Give my regards to David Weightman.
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Deana McDonagh
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Sent: 27/07/2005 04:06
> Subject: Re: Phd Design Subscribers
>
> Hi
>
> I would like to contribute to this discussion about the value of design
> education.
> There are many dedicated educators, who work closely with industry to
> ensure
> that the students are equipped, prepared and ready for their roles as
> design
> practitioners. I think that is it very disheartening to hear that such
> broad brush
> stokes are being made. As an educator these comments can be extremely
> useful as they help us reflect and refine what we offer the students
> during their
> educational journey with us. What would be more helpful to any further
> discussions would be what design companies and practitioners feel are
> essential
> and desirable skills.
>
> I thought that we were a team – give educators something to work with.
>
> Best wishes
>
> Deana McDonagh
> Associate Professor of Industrial Design
> School of Art + Design
> University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign