DESIGNING TOMORROW: ADAPTING CURRICULA TO THE CHALLENGES OF A RAPIDLY CHANGING WORLD
Year: 2024
Editor: Grierson, Hilary; Bohemia, Erik; Buck, Lyndon
Author: HALBE, PRASANNA PRAKASH
Series: E&PDE
Institution: Symbiosis Institute of Design, Symbiosis International (Deemed University), Pune, India
Page(s): 372 - 377
DOI number: 10.35199/EPDE.2024.63
ISBN: 978-1-912254-200
ISSN: 3005-4753
Abstract
The ongoing information revolution has undeniably influenced the design field, which is characterized by technological advancements and unprecedented access to information. These developments have influenced designer creation and fundamentally transformed the concept of the design itself. Consequently, design practices have accelerated, offering designers a wide range of information, tools, and resources, leading to innovative approaches, methodologies, and possibilities. This academic discussion highlights a significant shift in design practice since the early 1900s, challenging the established curricular principles rooted in the era of mass production. To meet professional and societal requirements effectively, it is imperative to recalibrate curricula to address the design field’s educational needs. The current design tasks are complicated and require designers to possess a diverse range of skills and knowledge. Consequently, curricula must be expanded to include a broader range of experiences and expertise, encouraging designers to pursue different educational paths to meet industry demands effectively. Emphasizing a higher-level understanding of system interactions, viewed through goal-oriented lenses, allows designers to focus on specific objectives and outcomes, promoting thorough knowledge and design of complex systems. The demands of this new era also highlight the importance of taking immediate action to address environmental concerns. Designers are encouraged to go beyond superficial environmental aesthetics and to identify tools, methods, and metrics that contribute substantively to sustainable practices. The emergence of the product-service hybrid field emphasizes that products are integral parts of larger systems that include services and experiences. Therefore, the evolution of design education must reflect this shift by cultivating expertise in physical product design and creating associated services and experiences. Ethical considerations play a subordinate role in the future of design education, necessitating the exclusion of ethics from curricula and principles. This integration extends beyond a mere post-production checkpoint. It requires the identification of value-oriented concerns within each discipline, thereby establishing ethics and values as integral aspects of design education. Notably, the envisioned design curriculum empowers designers to address real-world problems through active collaboration with practitioners. By fostering ongoing partnerships with professionals in the field, design education can bridge the gap between theory and practice, facilitating robust discussions, experimentation, and adaptive improvements in response to the dynamic nature of the design practice landscape.
Keywords: Design Education, Paradigm Shifts, Ethical Integration, Information Revolution, Curriculum Transformation, Theory-Practice Gap