Philosophy
The emerging context of education in the development of digital information technology can be summarized and characterized by the keywords of accessible, flexible, virtual, ubiquitous, connected, collaborative, authentic, and learner-centered. This conceptual frame for understanding the world can be linked to design education and practice.
The education model for the Industrial Design (ID) program at the Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture focuses on addressing a new structure of learning by connecting and integrating design knowledge in new, useful and meaningful ways for the student. The ID program emphasizes the learner’s generative and discovery-oriented learning, explained in the following design pedagogy:
1. Integrated Learning
Today’s rapidly changing world demands that industrial design students possess a broad base of cross-boundary knowledge and skills enabling them to deal with complex problems more effectively. Integrated learning clarifies the blurred boundaries between design studies and design activities, which include a wide spectrum of social acts and its process.
2. Collaborative Learning
Collaborative learning is defined as a learning process that emphasizes cooperative efforts between instructors and students. Collaborative learning is an important cognitive strategy based on the social construction of knowledge, which leads to deeper processing and understanding than learning without collaboration.
3. Project-oriented Learning
Design learning emphasizes process-oriented problem solving as reflective practice. The practical and pragmatic aspect of design knowledge can be enhanced by a series of workshops and industry sponsored projects. Implementing design knowledge comes from “learning by doing.”
