My second post for the ELIA conference:
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Today began with a presentation by Meredith Davis, where she provided many details about her institutions approach to design education. Meredith explained how mapping is a tool that is as important for today’s design student as drawing, as we are able to better understand the problem space before work begins. She saw managing complexity as the essence of design, and called for greater collaborative activity in design education to meet the changing needs of the design student of the 21st Century.
At our round table discussion, there were many opinions, and I was often asked for my opinion and understanding of different issues, so it was a great opportunity to speak and share with a group of amazing people.
Some voices at the table were concerned that if the design curriculum becomes too streamlined and prescribed, it would lose much of its abstractness, and ignore it’s rich history. Others explained their frustration over the amount of say industry and unions have over their design curriculum, but everyone seemed to be on the same page when it came to the fact that they were all interested in how they could meet (and exceed) the needs of today’s student.
We questioned the relationship between design and other disciplines, and called for more collaboration. We also touched on how to deal with students demanding a greater depth of knowledge in some areas and a broad reach over others as well. Should students be able to focus in on one area? Should there be a dual curriculum offered? Is there enough room for students to reflect on their process? These are all hard questions, and certainly require more time that we were allowed for today to answer in full – if an answer can even be found!
When we started to talk about students being advocates of education, I began to wonder if students were being provided with the skills they needed to think and write critically. I kicked myself for not asking Meredith how her school teaches students to express their opinions on the changes design is undergoing. Sitting here now, I wonder who will be the Meredith Davis of tomorrow, who will bring in a new form of co-creation, a new tool kit, a new version of the T-shaped designer, and what will these things look like in the next 5-10 years? Perhaps that is a question for the next ELIA conference…
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