EXPERIENCES OF EMBEDDING BLENDED PHYSICAL AND DIGITAL MAKING INTO DESIGN EDUCATION

DS 82: Proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Engineering and Product Design Education (E&PDE15), Great Expectations: Design Teaching, Research & Enterprise, Loughborough, UK, 03-04.09.2015

Year: 2015
Editor: Guy Bingham, Darren Southee, John McCardle, Ahmed Kovacevic, Erik Bohemia, Brian Parkinson
Author: Townsend, Barney; Forkes, Andrew
Series: E&PDE
Institution: Royal College of Art, London South Bank University
Section: Technology and Knowledge Transfer
Page(s): 650-655
ISBN: 978-1-904670-62-9

Abstract

This paper considers modern concerns that a new generation of designers are rejecting traditional
methods in favour of purely digital ways of designing. The study is contextualized in some of the
relevant theory, and describes a selection of projects across academic levels from the design
curriculum at the authors’ institution that illustrate a blended approach to digital and physical design
pedagogy. Results are presented from a survey of final year students who have experienced this
approach, exploring the extent to which these methods are now embedded within their practice. The
results suggest that although CAD use is prevalent in their natural practice, and some of the
recognized problems associated with it are more evident than in professional CAD users, the students
have adopted our approach of designing across digital and physical platforms.

Keywords: Digital, physical, designing, making, blended learning

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