Abstract
In an era characterised by global interconnectedness and complexity, integrating diverse perspectives through cross-pollinative design processes has become paramount. However, the unidirectional, the ubiquitous One-on-One Master-Apprentice design studio pedagogy has negated the potential of Social Support towards a divergent and explorative design process. This study discussed the impact of social support on academic scores of beginning design students in two district studio pedagogical frameworks: the traditional One-on-One Master-Apprentice model and the experimental Cross-pollinative Team Learning (CTL) studio pedagogy. With a longitudinal quantitative Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT) design, participants’ perceptions of Social Support as Teacher-student relationship (TSR) and Student-student relationship (SSR) were collected over four data points throughout the academic year. Results revealed that CTL students perceived greater levels of social support and outperformed academically across all assessments. SSR alone did not explain academic scores but suggests the potential to positively influence TSR for enhanced academic performance. These findings underscored the importance of a heterarchical learning environment that fosters collaborative engagement through social support. Given CTL’s potential in improving students’ academic scores by leveraging the social dynamics of the design studio environment, design tutors should reconsider moving away from traditional one-on-one engagements to foster more effective learning outcomes in design education.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drslxd.2025.014
Citation
liow, z.,and Zhang, Y.(2025) Let’s Figure This Out Together: Building Social Support Through Cross-Pollinative Design Studio Pedagogy, in Clemente, V., Gomes, G., Reis, M., Félix, S., Ala, S., Jones, D. (eds.), Learn X Design 2025, 22-24 September 2025, Aveiro, Portugal. https://doi.org/10.21606/drslxd.2025.014
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Conference Track
Full Paper
Let’s Figure This Out Together: Building Social Support Through Cross-Pollinative Design Studio Pedagogy
In an era characterised by global interconnectedness and complexity, integrating diverse perspectives through cross-pollinative design processes has become paramount. However, the unidirectional, the ubiquitous One-on-One Master-Apprentice design studio pedagogy has negated the potential of Social Support towards a divergent and explorative design process. This study discussed the impact of social support on academic scores of beginning design students in two district studio pedagogical frameworks: the traditional One-on-One Master-Apprentice model and the experimental Cross-pollinative Team Learning (CTL) studio pedagogy. With a longitudinal quantitative Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT) design, participants’ perceptions of Social Support as Teacher-student relationship (TSR) and Student-student relationship (SSR) were collected over four data points throughout the academic year. Results revealed that CTL students perceived greater levels of social support and outperformed academically across all assessments. SSR alone did not explain academic scores but suggests the potential to positively influence TSR for enhanced academic performance. These findings underscored the importance of a heterarchical learning environment that fosters collaborative engagement through social support. Given CTL’s potential in improving students’ academic scores by leveraging the social dynamics of the design studio environment, design tutors should reconsider moving away from traditional one-on-one engagements to foster more effective learning outcomes in design education.