This morning's presentation to the review panel went really well, and I think it said broadly what the Graphic Design program is all about, although I am well aware of the cracks that lie beneath.
It is an excellent process to have to do deep reflection, to really think about what it is that we do as a team, as a program and as individuals. Sometimes we don't like what we find, but there is potential growth in actually knowing, in taking the temperature, seeing where the flaws are and where we should be doing what, better.
One of the learnings for me was that as design educators, we need to take a very "far" or 'distant" view of what we are doing, to see how what we do feeds the economy, supports cultures, habits and practices, and sustains old ideologies. We routinely keep on doing things the same way, unquestioningly, because we were taught those things, or that way. The challenges lie in three areas, as I see it.
One, technological developments and the speed of these, mean that we are teaching students to use things we don't know terribly well, and the output (print or web/digital) may also be subject to rapid change. We simply cannot adapt fast enough, so we need to equip students to see beyond these variable outputs to understanding HOW we humans see, how we read messages, how humans like to interact with media as a core part of the curriculum, and then have adaptable technology components of the curriculum, that teach rapid skill with technology, but keep humans and reception of information at the core, more.
Two, we can't hold on to everything we teach, because we don't have ten years to educate a student: we have three or four.
We need to recognise that no-one can master everything anymore, so we need subtler tools to diagnose a student's strengths. We need to allow for greater, deeper, longer, specialization, as the superficiality of a curriculum without this means exactly that. Superficially broad.
Three, the interdisciplinarity of design doesn't mean that everyone can or must do or be able to do everything. Interdisciplinary means that students need to be knowledgeable about their own skills to function as a valuable part of a team of DIFFERENTLY SKILLED experts. Interdisciplinarity can refer to a process of working together, by which I mean collaboration, NOT we can all do everything.
Okay that's it. I'm off my pony. Neighborhood exercise this evening, accompanied by a daring skateboarder. Thanks Nic.
No comments:
Post a Comment