Connected2010.eproceedings.com.au

CONNECTED 2010 – 2ND INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON DESIGN EDUCATION 28 JUNE - 1 JULY 2010, UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES, SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, United States KEYWORDS: Design Education, Design Culture, Design Taxonomy, Design Communities, Cross-Cultural Design, Design Education Diversity programs, their curriculums don’t actually have much Today’s design education programs can differ in their core in common. As a result, there is inconsistency in the types of values, their teaching methods, and even the fundamental skills on which they focus. Every design program is unique What impact does this new design education paradigm and whether they are 60 miles apart or 6000 they are have on potential design students? What effect does it have producing very different designers. Prospective students may on companies looking for designers? These questions are be better served not by deciding which school has a stronger hard to answer as the term design is used to describe an program, but rather by what school better aligns with what increasingly broader range of education. Other educational type of designer they want to be. The lack of similarity programs, such as mechanical engineering, have been noted between design programs has created a range of graduates as having similar issues with students having different with different skills and a diverse set of job qualifications, yet concentrations, and are working in very different fields, but all holding the same general degree title. Through a have the same educational title (Zappe 2009, 2). qualitative study with students, professors, and hiring By studying the ecosystem around design education, we professionals in four different countries at a range of schools, have identified some of the factors shaping design education. this variance in design education can be traced to a set of We collected data in several countries at several universities factors that are not necessarily controllable. The role of that grant degrees in design. Figure 1 shows the three drivers geography, local culture, and history of a university strongly (the university’s history, geography and local design culture) that are creating the variance in design education and the influences their design education curriculum. These inherent three key stakeholders (professors, design students and factors impact important university characteristics, such as the companies hiring designers) within the design ecosystem that type of professors they hire, a program’s ability to adapt and change, the experience local companies have with hiring designers, and student access to designers as mentors. The result is very different design programs that aren’t meant to be the same but are nonetheless called the same thing-“design”. The goal of this research is to provoke further discussion and analysis around what a degree in design is and how to distinguish these very different programs for the benefit of all stakeholders involved. Design has been evolving since the 1960’s when schools like Stanford University in the United States and Technische Universiteit (TU) Delft in the Netherlands departed from the traditional way design was being taught. A design education paradigm shift occurred when programs began to depart from classic craft and art and started pairing themselves with architecture, engineering, computer science and today, even business. In China, the United States, and Europe, there has been a wave of universities launching new design programs to Fig. 1. Diagram of relationships between factors affecting design match the demand from companies for these modern hybrid designers. However, while these programs are called design Fig. 2. Breakdown of the different types of research completed for individual universities. Research included seven universities directly and their graduates, universities, and the design community. We surrounding ecosystems to better understand the organization describe the role of the local design community, the of design education. We conducted interviews with Deans, particular region in which the university is located, and the professors, students, hiring professionals and leaders of role of the university’s history in the way that their design professional organizations. Observation and fieldwork was done on some campuses to further understand the culture of A. Role of the Local Design Community design education. For the purpose of this research, design programs were not Access to the local design community can aid prospective chosen for their popularity. We began with examining over students by exposing them to the breadth of professional sixty universities with design programs and comparing them design careers before going to college. A common theme based on their longevity and the number of graduates, as a observed was that prospective students who did not have a proxy for the extent to which they have shaped the design working designer from whom to ask questions often did not culture of the region. The design programs we selected either understand what a designer did nor how to pick an have a long history and impact or are very new. Whether their appropriate school suited to their individual career goals. A programs are based in engineering, fine arts, computer student at San Francisco State University (SFSU) in the graphics, liberal arts or architecture, they are all producing Design and Industry program confessed that she did not know students that are being classified as designers. what type of designer she wanted to be, nor the program’s strengths and weaknesses at the beginning of her education. As a result, she was expecting to have to take subsequent classes post-graduation to get the Industrial Designer job she The taxonomy of current design program titles includes Product Design, Industrial Design, Industrial Design The local design community also creates the jobs that these Engineering, Interaction Design and in some cases, simply designers will ultimately fill. Students need to understand the Design. Though all the students are considered designers, variety in potential design jobs, many of which don't even they have little in common. University design programs range have the word design in the title. A professor at TU Delft in specializations, the skills they teach, their goals for explained that, “They [the Industrial Design Engineering students, and the types of jobs students attain. By looking at (IDE) students] will work in product design, marketing, the impact of a set of inputs into the design education communications or project management. There is no set role ecosystem at each university, the reason for the variance these students are created for but they certainly are not all going to be designers.” Only 20% of students in IDE will end Through this research, it becomes clearer why each design up working under the title of designer. If traditional design is program has come to educate students as they do. These the ultimate goal, some universities focus on those skills design programs, though grouped under the same discipline while others, like TU Delft, focus more on process and using the word design, are meant to be very different. The research stories and data surface major issues with the Beyond hiring designers, the local design community is universal categorization of design. Ambiguous classifications often involved directly in shaping university’s design of design degrees can cause problems for a range of programs. The MFA in Design program at California College of the Arts (CCA) in San Francisco has a Pro Council, which firm felt constrained from self-expression and were includes founders of local design firms, designers at large disappointed that their education misrepresented the type of corporations and design writers, that helps guide CCA's curriculum to match the needs of organizations that hire C. The Role of the University’s History designers. Many schools also hire local designers as adjunct faculty, allowing them to teach young designers the skills they Beyond the physical location, the longevity of a design are putting to use everyday in their own jobs. At CCA and program within a university, as well as the other types of Stanford, adjuncts make up a large portion of the teaching degrees offered, also have a strong influence on shaping staff. Stanford’s Product Design program is known for it's design education. These factors affect the types of professors strong connection with the local design consultancy IDEO they hire who then influence what skills are prioritized in a including adjunct faculty from IDEO and teaching a shared design process. This connection biases the career paths The education and background of professors can affect the students imagine for themselves, even though only about 5% types of students being admitted to programs. At CCA (CCA, of graduates actually do end up working in design 2010), a professor in the Graduate Program in Design didn't consultancies directly out of their undergraduate degrees. actually have a formal degree in design. Her education was in theatre design. She learned experience design and interactive story telling when she started her own company, and has The types of jobs designers have are also strongly linked to previous design education experience in other universities. the geography and history of the physical region in which a Her unique experience leads CCA to admit students with a university is located. The reputation and respect of design as range of backgrounds, knowing well that a background in a profession varies greatly from San Francisco to Beijing. In design is not necessarily a requirement for being a great San Francisco, design is pervasive. People are designing designer. CCA handpicks MFA students that are “already products, meetings, business structures, experiences and standing up” and are ready to do something innovative on a everything else you can imagine. For some Asian cultures, topic that engages the world. This can result in classes design is a relatively new concept. Korea and China, for sometimes being held back if students aren’t proficient with example, are in the process of developing their own styles. the background skills needed to do design at an art-based These Asian countries are looking externally for design school like CCA. The upside of the trade-off, however, is a inspiration to expand design beyond its traditional meaning in diverse group of students who are great at generating an interesting mix of ideas on multidisciplinary teams. CCA has Looking externally for design inspiration is reflected in the chosen to place priority on graduating students that change types of designers created in China. In just 1999, Tsinghua the world by introducing human centered design in the University (Beijing) established the Art & Design program organization in which they will ultimately work, not classic unifying Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA), a long- standing fine arts academy, and Tsinghua, to create a link In contrast, a priority for the IDE program at TU Delft is between the sciences and the arts (History, 2010). CAFA doing design research and publishing papers. To keep their launched their new School of Design in 2002. CAFA looks to reputation on par within the technical pedigree of TU Delft other cultures to define design education. Their professors are and other schools in Europe, the IDE faculty, most who have educated internationally and brought back to teach design or are working on PhDs, pride themselves on the over 100 with a hybrid mentality that mixes design from different papers they have published. The history of TU Delft regions of the world. A teacher at the CAFA Media Lab is a encourages them to hire mostly academics. Speaking with a perfect example. His education includes a Bachelors of Fine recent graduate who started a company based on his thesis Arts from Tsinghua, a Masters of Fine Arts (MFA) from project at TU Delft, the impact of the gap between the Birmingham Institute of Art & Design, Birmingham (UK), academics and the real world became evident. “You are still and a MFA in New Media from Academy of Art University working on that [product]?” was the skeptical question of his (San Francisco, CA). He sees Chinese design as a professors when he returned to TU Delft one and a half years combination of styles; a mix of modern design style from after graduation. The graduate was showing his professor the California and classic technical skills you would find in progress he achieved in getting the concept to market while Europe. With just a handful of graduates from the CAFA dealing with large-scale manufacturing issues in China. program a year, he can assure his students jobs when they Academic professors can have little understanding of what it graduate and he encourages them to go abroad and further is like to be an entrepreneur, actually get a product to market, or work in modern design. In comparison with the schools This educational mix across cultures, however, is not being previously mentioned that pride themselves with hiring met with the same enthusiasm outside of the university adjunct professors, the IDE program has created a strong setting. A young Chinese designer working at a fashion academic reputation where students are less exposed to design company in China discussed how her design program in France gave her freedom to express herself and her point of view. Unfortunately, this excitement and individual creativity was not welcomed at her firm because it was not seen as translating to “selling pants” in China. Many designers in the not clearly articulated and understood by stakeholders including students and hiring professionals, confusion, misconceptions, and disappointment can result. The grouping of all design programs into one category has As design education evolves there is a need to remain created problems when students start their career search and flexible and allow the discipline to grow organically, yet our can eventually damage program reputations. The professional research suggests that there also needs to be greater transparency between universities and students as well as with programs with broad or unclear goals. A design director of a hiring professionals as this process unfolds. A possible large corporation in China, and a graduate of the Graduate approach may be a mapping of the design programs around Joint Program in Design at Stanford, mentioned that people the world, for example, based on specific skills taught, types outside of Stanford do not understand what a B.S. or M.S. in of jobs students obtain after attending, academic experience Product Design is or the jobs for which the graduates are of professors, corporate connections and links to their local trained. The Vice President of an international design firm design communities. Such a task could be taken on by a stated that students from these new hybrid design programs professional society such as the Industrial Design Society of might be well suited to be project managers or team leaders. America (IDSA). In one of our interviews, a chapter leader However, students must first be hired as engineers, industrial of the IDSA stated that they play different roles around the designers or human factors specialists. Students who graduate world depending on the acceptance of design as a profession as simply designers need an additional depth that will get in a geographical region. It may be appropriate to broaden the them in the door before they can become the leaders their role of the IDSA or to develop new professional associations design programs have trained them to be. that embrace and help the community to make sense of these As companies look to hire for specific roles, these new and hybrid forms of design as programs and the generalist designers need to be distinguished from one designers they produce evolve. Our research suggests that a another. Hiring professionals regularly talked about design unified association rather than separate overlapping programs relative to another. A team leader at a corporation professional organizations would be more effective at in the Netherlands made several comparisons between design creating and maintaining the type of mapping we recommend. students from TU Delft and from TU Eindhoven. He By helping students, hiring professionals and universities discussed how TU Delft students were good at creative better match their vision and goals, we believe it can improve thinking and conceptual work, but lacked the strong technical the image of design as a profession and the experience of skills that he found in the students from TU Eindhoven. These universities, though of similar geographies and local design communities, have decided to develop curriculums that focus on different skills based on the university’s understanding of the demand for particular types of designers. This study was funded by a generous grant from the Hasso Criticism of schools producing designers that were “just Plattner Design Thinking Research Program to the second arms” with no human centered design skills, designers that author. We wish to thank Jean Hsu, Hyejin Kim, Lei Liu, could make beautiful things “if you gave them weeks,” and Joachim Lyon, Caroline O'Conner and Trista Shi for their schools that were just “design degree factories” came up help in the study design and data collection. We also regularly. These reputations are linked to the graduates of the sincerely thank all the educators, students and professionals program. TU Delft is graduating 250 Masters students a year, who gave their time to help make this research possible. while Stanford’s Masters program graduates 10-15. Being a large or small program has its pros and cons. Hiring professionals are more familiar with graduate programs of larger schools. However, the flipside is that larger schools California College of the Arts-Faculty, Webpage. have many more graduates and, due to sheer numbers, more http://www.cca.edu/academics/faculty/blaurel (last accessed, varied reputations that reflect on the program. Design and Industry Department, San Francisco State University, Webpage. http://design.sfsu.edu/about (last accessed, May History of Tsinghua Universtiy, Webpage. With the reputation of the university resting strongly with http://www.tsinghua.edu.cn/eng/about/history.htm (last its students, it is important that the goals of design programs be clarified and communicated. If students aren’t in programs Zappe, Sara. 2009. Describing Mechanical Engineering: Devising a that support their goals, or companies find that students don’t Strategy for Recruiting Underrepresented Student, ASME fit the qualifications they need, it can ultimately affect the International Engineering Education Conference. reputation of the program. Geography, local design culture and the pedigree of the university are shaping these unique design program's goals and vision. When this information is

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