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INTERDISCIPLINARY
MODELS
Melissa
Niederhelman, Moderator
Those who attended the panel on Interdisciplinary Models gained a brief look into the stories, projects and experiences of four design educators working to encourage cross-fertilization. In doing so, they shared with us interdisciplinary collaboration on a variety of levels (student and faculty), in multiple dimensions (2-D, 3-D, 4-D) and through a diversity of methods (learning and teaching). As graphic design continues to respond to an economy and world that is not longer discipline specific, this panel was a unique opportunity to investigate the importance and challenges of teaching outside our comfort zones.
Paula Curran, Associate Professor, Graphic Design and Katherine Hannigan, Assistant Professor, Art & Design Foundations, both from Iowa State University, gave the first presentation. In their talk Visual Designers and Artists in Service to the University: Educating the Educators of First Year English Composition Courses, Paula and Katherine introduced an interdisciplinary initiative to improve the overall communication skills of undergraduate students. Their goal, by working closely with the English Department at Iowa State, was to place greater emphasis and understanding on all forms of communication in composition classes including written, oral, visual and electronic. This project was supported by a University grant enabling Paula and Katherine to hold workshops for "educating" other educators on incorporating visual communication into their curriculum as well as help develop meaningful and appropriate assignments for first year English Composition Courses. One of the unique aspects of this project was the successful collaboration of interdisciplinary teams on a faculty level. So often our emphasis on interdisciplinary process falls on students when, as clearly documented in Paula and Katherine's presentation, even we as teachers have a lot to benefit from a team approach.
The second Panelist, Alicia Bellini Sobchak who teaches undergraduate foundation courses in graphic design and is completing her masters thesis at Florida Atlantic University, presented a new course model for design education that addresses communication design beyond the printed surface. In her presentation Design 3: Design Across Multiple Dimensions (2-D, 3-D, 4-D), Alicia responds to the changing multidimensional atmosphere of design today where graphic designers are required to communicate across diverse medium, dimensions and surfaces. This course introduces students to new and often unfamiliar disciplines as they explore everything from packaging and websites, to wayfinding and experience. In the process, analysis is required to uncover the relationships and differences across disciplines. Based on Alicia's presentation, it was obvious that this course is enormously content rich and almost daunting in the number of topics needing attention in graphic design education today. Her curriculum in this case begins to shed light on a multidimensional definition of design and the responsibility of design faculty to bring this exposure to their students.
The third presenter, a self-proclaimed "outsider" as an Interior Designer, was Janetta McCoy, Assistant Professor of Interior Design at Arizona State University. But as her talk clearly revealed, her teaching and experience with the interdisciplinary process was anything but foreign. In her talk Creating Interdisciplinarity, Janetta addressed the often overlooked question when it comes to developing courses and curriculum that works across disciplines: how? How do teachers create projects and dialogue that are relevant and meaningful to a variety of students including both design and non design majors? In answering this question, Janetta turned to principles of Learner-Centered Education. Through this model and the support of Faculty Development funds from Arizona State, Janetta conducted a weeklong team workshop for creating interdisciplinarity. The participants in this workshop, five masters students from five different areas of design, worked together to develop assignments and projects for Janetta's Human Needs and Behavior class and the broad range of students enrolled in it. Through what turned out to be both an exhausting and fulfilling week, the workshop produced adaptable and innovative assignments for her class by using a learner-centered model. But more importantly, this workshop, and Janetta's presentation, revealed the need for enhancing cross-disciplinary learning and exchange in our programs. In this case the roles of learning and teaching were seamlessly connected.