VIRTUAL: Learning. Life. Work.
Abstract
Today’s students are faced with a widening range of choices that are disrupting the traditional student experience in higher education. These new opportunities are benefiting students, allowing them to participate in a wide range of courses, enroll in multiple minors, or complete course certifications beyond their major-specific coursework. However, this benefit also holds an unconsidered cost. The student experience has become disrupted, irregular, and often confusing. Broadening the range of choice has removed the ‘curated’ student experience. To address this issue, the Department of Design at The Ohio State University engaged in a multi-year effort to re-imagine three popular courses that are part of the Design Thinking minor course track. The aim of this work is to bridge student experiences between their core learning courses and elective courses. This resulting redesign significantly changed the role of homework. Rather than traditional ‘outcome-based’ assessments (where work is uniformly prompted and comparatively assessed), the new approach focuses on ‘tool-based’ assessment, for which design-related content develops ‘tools’ for students to master their major-related learning. Assignments in this new study-led model focus on open-ended prompts. Students have the flexibility to determine the direction in which they demonstrate an understanding of the ‘tool’. The open-ended prompts encourage a direction in which students apply the tool in a context that is familiar to them (existing knowledge from their major, scenarios from another discipline, or even hobbies). Students are able to successfully blend ideas, skills, and processes of multiple disciplines to form a unique hybrid educational experience.
Zach Winegardner is a lecturer in the Department of Design at The Ohio State University where he instructs courses for Design Foundations and the Design Thinking minor. He also works with Littleseed LLC as an interactive designer building educational applications for a variety of organizations. His research interests examine how creative exploration and playful inquiry with digital tools can reveal new information and inspire new questions surrounding classical artwork. Portfolio: https://zachwinegardner.design/
Adam Fromme is an Assistant Professor of Teaching in the Department of Design at The Ohio State University. He teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in Design Thinking, Design Research, and Visual Communication design. Adam has worked in the design industry for over 20 years as a graphic designer. His work seeks to better understand how the design of environments and information can address quality of life, healthy-supportive environments, access to health care and provide basic needs. He also serves as a periodic guest writer for Brand New, a leading industry source for reviews of corporate and brand identity work.