Abstract:

Although virtually implicit since the advent of the internet, the dimension of online teaching has long remained for the most of us in the realms of the possible, failing to emerge as a practical alternative to real, face-to-face teaching.

In the context of the abrupt changes in organization recently occurred to our lives, the emergency linked to the pandemic has instead forced us to confront ourselves – under different conditions and with mixed results – with a completely new didactic dimension. In light of the exceptional experience of the world we experienced on a global scale for several weeks last spring, it makes sense to expect that, just as it will be for other aspects of our lives, our approach to teaching will not, after this test, simply go back to what it was.

By presenting two parallel experiences in this area, we wish with the present article to contribute to a reflection on the perspectives that the current state of affairs poses to design education, without underestimating, by doing so, the emergence of sensitive issues such as those connected with the sphere of academic design teaching, with the dimension of international competition among universities, and with a ‘rediscovered’ role of our profession as a bonding agent for our society.

The article focuses on the crucial topic of design education, on the grounds of those very particular experimental activities – the design practice and its teaching – that although not specific to design per se, are essential in defining the set of skills we usually associate with the design profession.

In this respect, the paper will primarily discuss how, in the astonishing situation in which we suddenly found ourselves in the early weeks of March’s lockdown, we sought for ways to respond to the challenges posed by an unexpected, and unique emergency by taking, as much as possible, the advantage of the situation. With the objective, in doing so, finding ways to re-enact the individual state of emotional participation, sense of belonging, tension and concentration span – that we have so far typically associated with the design studio and desk – to be inseparable from any serious approach to design education.

Far from pretending to get to a conclusive answer to the set of new problems facing us, this contribution moves from two experiences that in their differences, specificity and highly experimental character, complement each other, and have led to somewhat encouraging – although surprising – results. In light of such development, the article, therefore, aims at opening some key topics for a debate to come.

Keywords:

Distance learning, design in time of COVID, blended learning, design for emergency, teaching methods in design.