Abstract:

Teaching is delivering and transmitting information/knowledge, and/or to facilitate/help students to grow/learn/change their own conceptions of the subject matter (Fox, 1983; Martin, 1990; Dall’ Alba, 1990; Samuelowicz & Bain, 1992). Teachers/lecturers commonly teach in a transmissive way, which places greater emphasis on teaching rather than learning (Prosser & Taylor, 1994). This teaching & learning method appears to be student-driven, and with a little interaction between the tutor and students; however, this is likely to stifle creative thinking, and may not be suitable for design education (Ann, 2003).
Switching from lectures to design workshop, a curriculum developed in BSc product design course that takes students’ prior knowledge into account, and values the students’ world views or conceptions of the subject matter rather than the teachers’ own conception or the texts’ concepts. The curriculum design seeing the teacher as helping the students acquire these concepts and relations between them and/or facilitating the students develop their concepts in terms of further elaboration and extension (Prosser & Taylor, 1994). This teaching & learning method combines 1) transmissive lecture and 2) design workshop at different stages within the curriculum, aims to help the students learning theoretical knowledge via a practice-based approach, and bridges new concept to their previous experience/perception.
1) Lecture is to introduce the new concept (new knowledge in product design semantics) to students at beginning; then a weekly based assignment was given to the student at the end of each lecture to discover/understand/visualise the theory.
2) Design workshop. Each week (from week 2) the students are required to present their assignments (e.g. created/downloaded images together with a brief description) to be exemplified. Each assignment is due & will be discussed on the following week after lecture. For example, whilst one student present his/her assignment, others will share learning experience, challenge/debate his/her perceptions & insights.
In response to criticism & in the service of clear communication, students are allowed to revise & improve their examples throughout the module.
The curriculum focuses on project-based learning as a pedagogical platform, was used as the primary research method. This research aims to examine human factors as it informs the design process, and as a tool to maximize the physical and psychological aspects of design toward the establishment of a human centred design. Frameworks of industrial design philosophy, research methods, standards and data, human issues, cultural context, and design outcomes.
The findings indicated that this approach leads students to a more holistic communicative understanding. Furthermore, using student-driven processes resulted in better communicative insight than teacher-driven processes. The processes did not necessarily lead to increased semantic awareness; however, the course created an arena where students could adjust their semantic perceptions. Both student- and teacher-driven processes created engaged students and the possibility to build individual strength in students through conquering fears and attaining the satisfaction.

Keywords:

Product design, product design engineering, design education, pedagogy, teaching and learning, curriculum design