VIRTUAL: Learning. Life. Work.

Abstract

In this paper, we will present the outcomes of our funded research project titled ” Wearable Design for Mental Health: What Does Highly Interdisciplinary Experiential Learning Look Like?” and it’s contribution to the contemporary scholarship on hybridized approaches to post-secondary education and STEAM. Through a detailed analysis of student interviews, projects and evidence of process, our study explores nature of learning within Art 465: Wearable Design for Mental Health, a highly transdisciplinary undergraduate course we designed for the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada. Weaving theory and methods from art, design, psychology, computer science, engineering and entrepreneurialism, the course supported students in the research, design and hands-on creation of fully functional wearable prototypes to aid in mental health, which students presented publicly to a variety of stakeholders including community mental-health advocates and leaders in the field of psychology and wearable tech. In our paper, we will discuss how multi-modal artifacts of learning (i.e. student design sketchbooks, mind-maps, and student videos of in-process experiments) can provide meaningful tools for understanding the intricacies of student learning within hybridized academic approaches like STEAM in higher education and beyond. Additionally, we will showcase how multi-modal artifacts of learning are advantageous to supporting both students and teachers within hybridized online/offline educational delivery models. Last, we will identify how the cultivation of entrepreneurial approaches to the creative design and research process, enabled students to develop skills that include and span beyond work-integrated frameworks of education.