MANAGING COLLABORATION: A NEW LEARNING AND TEACHING MODEL FOR DIGITAL MEDIA DESIGN IN HIGHER EDUCATION

Recent studies show that a large proportion of current higher digital media design education fails to equip students with the expertise and skills suited to the requirements of the digital media design industry. This is a result of design education largely adhering to a curriculum model developed for and applicable to multimedia design practice in the 1990s. Utilisation of this model persists, although it has become increasingly unviable due to rapid technological advances and a resultant shift in the industry away from the individual designer and towards design within collaborative teams.

In response to the increasing complexity of design technology, attempts have been made to introduce multidisciplinary learning and teaching in design education. These attempts have however been sporadic and have had no enduring effect on design education adjusting to the ongoing dynamics of the digital media design market.

Currently under development and testing an Australian university, is a new learning and teaching model, referred to as the POOL Model. This new model is a multidisciplinary system of interdependent collaboration and expertise exchange across university, industry and community sectors, implemented as an integral part of the curriculum at undergraduate level in order to prepare students for collaborative multidisciplinary practice and meaningful careers in industry.

The POOL Model consists of a Teaching Pool and a Learning Pool containing specialists (students, academics and industry professionals) from diverse but connected disciplines. The Learning Pool facilitates discipline-specific learning while simultaneously engaging students in multidisciplinary research, learning and practice. Students can develop deep discipline-specific skills, an understanding of professional requirements in adjacent areas, interpersonal skills, community awareness and an understanding of their social responsibility.

People external to the university are part of the teaching pool, such as industry professionals, and the community - as clients, advisors, experts or sponsors. This integrated collaboration between industry and design education ensures the relevance of content in today´s fast changing technological environment.