Impact of and Inequities Caused by COVID-19 on Design Studio Learning Experiences
Description
We are both Assistant Professors of Visual Communication Design teaching core classes within the design program at a public university. Because of the region’s high cost of housing and living, our campus exemplifies the current housing and homelessness crisis in higher education. We are acutely aware of the impact of home environments and spatial needs on educational goals. Remote learning can be complicated for housing insecure students. However, there may also be benefits to shifting programs online for students with long commutes or other situational challenges. Our current research project focuses on hybrid design studio courses and their potential to meet broader student needs.
Prior to the pandemic, design programs were implemented within “hands-on” (active learning) spaces. These on-campus spaces emphasized prototyping, revising, and building using a variety of tools and technology. The shift to remote learning has limited access to these carefully designed on-campus learning environments. Many assignments planned for in-person environs were quickly revised and implemented online in new formats, with revised methods and outcomes. This has immediate impacts on pedagogical practices as well as student experiences of the design process and community learning environment.
The remote classroom allows for interesting new pedagogical approaches to the decolonization of the classroom setting, as the typical classroom setting has drastically changed. The pandemic is forcing studio faculty to creatively teach hands-on methods online—with new methods for teaching, new methods for social presence and community, and new ways of creating equity and accessibility. We would like to explore what can be borrowed from the virtual classroom to improve the in-person classroom, and vice versa. What are the best methods to support students experiencing barriers of access? How can the hybrid classroom be redefined in this unique cultural moment, looking toward potential needs of the future?
Interaction
What lessons have been learned about design studio classes (adaptation of tools, media interaction, design processes, time-based experiences, rubrics and assessment, assignment outcomes and formats, peer-to-peer engagement, classroom dynamics, and learning community) as a result of the shift to remote instruction due to the Covid-19 pandemic?
What methods have instructors used to support students impacted by COVID-19 related factors including job loss, technological barriers, and basic needs and housing instability?
What pedagogical interventions can be identified and developed to best support broadly accessible and equitable hybrid learning in studio-based classes in the future?
Outcomes
The facilitators of this Unconference are conducting a 2020–21 case study of the core visual communication design studio courses at our public university. Our study hopes to uncover specific pedagogical methods that work for students experiencing personal challenges while attending remote or hybrid studio classes. Through discussions with the broader design education community in this session, we hope to contextualize our case study and learn from the experiences at other campuses. We hope to identify broad pedagogical interventions that may be useful for a variety of educational settings as we move forward into the future of design education.