Abstract
An English art and design college was the setting for this project which aimed to improve the transition of Access students into design Higher Education (HE). The Access course is made up of non-traditional, mature students who may have no previous formal qualifications. They come from diverse backgrounds, ethnicities and nationalities; often overcoming barriers to education in order to fulfil their ambitions to study on a design degree. Previous research had discovered that Access students were susceptible to dropping out during the first year of their degrees. In order to improve the critical thinking and resilience of Access students staff from both sectors worked together to develop the pedagogy of studio critiques. This project was based on two theoretical principles. The first was assessment for learning where formative assessment can be a very effective teaching strategy. The second was joint practice development (JPD) which is an approach to course improvement through cross-sector collaborative activities. The research used a case study methodology to identify and evaluate JPD activities across the two sectors that were both effective and sustainable. This project is situated within the changing context of Further Education (FE) where technical-managerial models potentially conflict with democratic and professional values.
Keywords
Research informed designed education, Design education informing research, Assessment
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/learnxdesign.2013.018
Citation
Broadhead, S.,and Garland, S.(2013) Mind the Gap: an evaluation of joint development practice between FE and HE tutors within art and design, in Reitan, J.B., Lloyd, P., Bohemia, E., Nielsen, L.M., Digranes, I., & Lutnæs, E. (eds.), DRS // Cumulus: Design Learning for Tomorrow, 14-17 May, Oslo, Norway. https://doi.org/10.21606/learnxdesign.2013.018
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Included in
Mind the Gap: an evaluation of joint development practice between FE and HE tutors within art and design
An English art and design college was the setting for this project which aimed to improve the transition of Access students into design Higher Education (HE). The Access course is made up of non-traditional, mature students who may have no previous formal qualifications. They come from diverse backgrounds, ethnicities and nationalities; often overcoming barriers to education in order to fulfil their ambitions to study on a design degree. Previous research had discovered that Access students were susceptible to dropping out during the first year of their degrees. In order to improve the critical thinking and resilience of Access students staff from both sectors worked together to develop the pedagogy of studio critiques. This project was based on two theoretical principles. The first was assessment for learning where formative assessment can be a very effective teaching strategy. The second was joint practice development (JPD) which is an approach to course improvement through cross-sector collaborative activities. The research used a case study methodology to identify and evaluate JPD activities across the two sectors that were both effective and sustainable. This project is situated within the changing context of Further Education (FE) where technical-managerial models potentially conflict with democratic and professional values.