Everyday Routines and Material Practices in the Design Studio: Why Informal Pedagogy Matters

This study aims to improve understanding of the design studio as a setting where formal and informal pedagogies intersect. We argue that the informal dimension of learning has an essential but under-acknowledged role in contributing to the development of design students. Our research focuses on stud...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Design and technology education 2021-12, Vol.26 (4), p.144
Main Authors: Corazzo, James, Gharib, Layla
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
COVID-19
Creativity
Design
Distance Education
Ethnography
Foreign Countries
Informal Education
Learning Activities
Pandemics
Pedagogy
Peer Relationship
Proximity
Self Concept
Socialization
Space Utilization
Student Attitudes
Student Projects
Students
Studio Art
Teaching Methods
Undergraduate Students
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Summary:This study aims to improve understanding of the design studio as a setting where formal and informal pedagogies intersect. We argue that the informal dimension of learning has an essential but under-acknowledged role in contributing to the development of design students. Our research focuses on students' everyday routines and their associated material practices in both a proximate studio setting (physical), – such as making tea, speaking to peers, doing work – and in a distance (online) setting. We frame these activities as informal pedagogy that supports design learning and the development of designerly identities. While this study focuses on students' accounts of their everyday use of the physical studio (pre-pandemic), it is augmented with students' accounts of distance design education (during the pandemic). The disruption to studio practices, and the subsequent use of alternative environments to learn design, provided an opportunity to reconsider everyday routines and material practices at both proximate and distance settings. Supported by the infrastructure of the physical studio, we identify five 'functions' of informal pedagogy and use this to observe how these functions operated in distance settings. To understand the intersection between formal and informal pedagogy, we argue that binary terms are unhelpful and instead argue for an axis that runs from formal to structured informal to unstructured informal to social.
ISSN:1360-1431
1360-1431