Design Research: History, Theory, Practice - Histories for Future-focused Thinking
Re-integrating Design Education: Lessons from History
Peter A. Hall
Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London
peter@peterahall.com
Keywords: education; reform; futuring; interdisciplinarity
Abstract
Throughout its short history, formal design education has struggled to find a balance between imparting technical skills and fostering bigger picture, critical and conceptual thinking; and also between notions of passive and active learning. As educators become ever cognizant of a future marked by environmental crisis and accompanying complex problems of population flux, civil unrest, pollution and waste, achieving a balance between “know how” and meta-level thinking has become more pressing. The premise of this paper is that a 21st Century design education can further this goal by confronting the productivist entanglements of its past. It will argue that the lessons of its turbulent relationship with industry provide the seeds for an approach to learning that is better integrated with industry and society than conventional hypothetical studio assignments allow.
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Cite this paper: Hall, P.A. (2016). Re-integrating Design Education: Lessons from History. Proceedings of DRS 2016, Design Research Society 50th Anniversary Conference. Brighton, UK, 27–30 June 2016.
This paper will be presented at DRS2016, find it in the conference programme