A Pedagogical Model For Design Education Driven By Learner-generated Contents

Historically, the heart of Design Education, whether it is in the master-apprentice system, the école des Beaux-Arts, the Bauhaus system, or the discipline education of modern design school, has always been a teacher-centered knowledge acquisition. Nowadays, the development of Internet and Information Technology not only provides unprecedented tools and means for learning and teaching design, but also offers Design Education an opportunity to shift its pedagogical paradigm. Based on such understanding, this study proposes a student-centered design pedagogy which enable design students to generate their own learning contents, utilizes the Learner-generated Contents to drive the teaching of design, and in this way, facilitates the paradigm shift of Design Education in Information Age. In order to prove the above proposition, this study employs action research, desktop research, questionnaire survey, experimental observ ation and case study to seek evidences both theoretically and practically, and investigates three major research questions as below:The first research question is why Learner-generated Contents could support design learning. To investigate this question, the study first evaluates the learning styles of design students with Kolb’s Learning Style Inventory(LSI), and then calrifies the meaning of “Learning by Doing” by examining the learning style shift of design students. Results of this research proves the legitimacy of utilizing Learner-generated Contents in Design Educaiton.The second research question is why a pedagogical model driven by Learner-generated Contents is necessary and feasible in Design Education. To investigate this question, the study first discusses challenges and opportunities of current pedagogical model, and then conduct an experimental observation of Design Fixation effect. Results of this research prove the feasibility of using Learner-generated Contents in learning and teaching design.The third research question is what kind of insight can be learned from previous efforts searching for new pedagogical model driven by Information Technology in Design Education. To investigate this question, the study conducts an action research on the Pedagogical Reform at School of Design, Hunan University, and discusses its internal conflicts, external interventions and actions taken to handle both. Results of this research explain why Learner-generated Contents could be the key to the paradigm shift of Design Education.The third research question is about the utilization of Learner-generated Contents in the practice of Design Education. To investigate this question, research focus has been put on case studies from Hunan University. Firstly, the study give a review of previous efforts having been made for new pedagogical model in design; secondly, a framework for utilizing Learner-generated Contents in Design Education has been proposed; and thirdly, through an examination on two specific projects from Hunan University, the pedagogical model driven by Learner-generated Contents and its applications in the future are explained.By investigating the above three research questions, this study not only theorically explains the educational value created by Learner-generated Contents in Design Education, but also presents a practical framework and case studies for design educator to utilize Learner-generated Contents. These insights will inspire design educators to initiate the paradigm shift of teaching design in Information Age and build a theoretical foundation to a data-driven Design Education.