REFLECTION AND REFLEXIVITY ABOUT AN INTRODUCTORY DESIGN COURSE
Year: 2016
Editor: Erik Bohemia, Ahmed Kovacevic, Lyndon Buck, Christian Tollestrup, Kaare Eriksen, Nis Ovesen
Author: Høiseth, Marikken; Verhulst, Elli
Series: E&PDE
Institution: Department of Product Design, Faculty of Engineering Science and Technology, NTNU, Norwegian University of Science and Technology
Section: Programmes
Page(s): 644-649
ISBN: 978-1-904670-62-9
Abstract
We are two female academics, both educated as industrial designers with subsequent completion of a PhD degree. Although we both have quite a few years of experience with supervising students, we are relatively new in the role as educators with course responsibility. With a genuine desire to evaluate our work on planning and running an introductory design course, we initiated this paper as a means to learn about our own and the students’ experiences with this first bachelor course in design. We use an educational approach called through-the-mirror writing to fosters both reflection and reflexivity.
Based primarily on educator-educator dialogues, complemented by two educator-student dialogues, we present and analyse a number of excerpts capturing important learning moments and conclude by suggesting implications for the running of future introductory design courses. Our main motivation is to learn more about how the course was perceived – what worked well and what can be improved?
Keywords: Design course, reflection, reflexivity, through-the-mirror writing.