Abstract:

The present work has, as its main objective, to examine how the interaction between fashion design online learners and course content can be improved and streamlined to provide a learning experience more centred on the learners’ needs and aligned with the requirements of these students as future professionals in the fashion industry. The goal is to hone the learning experience into a powerful and transformative education capable of supporting students’ development, fostering lifelong learning, entrepreneurial initiatives, and innovation.

The investigation has been developed through observing the implementation of a new online learning platform that created a more student-centric experience. As a result, access to course content was improved, a direct relationship between the content and assignments was established, and the navigation through the platform was streamlined. Furthermore, we developed a quantitative study to identify how students evaluate the course materials and understand their studying habits, learning goals and expectations of the course.

The paper builds on a literature review on Heutagogy and other adult learning theories to discuss the learner's placement at the core of the learning process and in control of their learning. We also reviewed Moore’s framework of interaction to understand the role played by course content in students' satisfaction. This theoretical framework oriented the case study of the project Athena and instructed the discussion and interpretation of the survey results to identify strengths and weaknesses that can be used to create a learning experience more focused on the student’s perspective, a step forward in providing a learning programme that is powerful and transformative and that fulfils students' expectations.

By studying the impact of the changes on the access and format of course content and measuring students’ satisfaction, this paper contributes to the development of engaging learning environments capable of promoting a more heutagogical model, which is student-centred and focused on self-determined learning, where students can learn, explore and collaborate effectively, and that enables co-creation and innovation. It can also contribute to the expansion of fashion design educational methods.

Keywords:

Online learning, heutagogy, students’ satisfaction, course materials, instructional design, fashion design education.