Reflection

I remember last semester when there was a backlash against the state of design studio 3 Soumitri mentioned to me that he felt that studies was our most important class. I’d never really considered studies as important as studio. After all studio was where all the money was, all the work for your portfolio to bring with you out to the real world.

Last semester there was a significant change in my whole approach to the course and this came about through design studies 3. I was really fortunate to be part a small but vibrant community of dissent. My peers drove me to question my work and to act rather than talk.

Now this small community has expanded into a massive network of blogs and I feel saddened that I am looking upon it with a sense of loss, like the feeling you get as a child when you realise you have grown out of something. What has happened? This was after all the vision behind the learner centred project. I didn’t stop being as active online because I felt superior, but rather it was because I was trying to hold on to something from the past.

Last semester felt like a culture of change was taking hold and there was an excitement to the work being created and the discourse that was developing. The walls were painted red like a bright clean slate and then what happened? Studies this semester lacked excitement and it lacked debate. There was only a small amount of peers actively participating through the semester. It is understandable that some people don’t like talking to a large group but there should have been other ways of facilitating discussion. Perhaps a series of mini submissions presented to a small group where you can discuss and defend it. This happened briefly when we finished the response to a text and I felt that there was a greater dynamic in those smaller groups. If there was something like that every few weeks that would encourage more expression over the semester rather than just at the end.

There was a great deal of significance in Kate Archdeacon’s comment after we finished presenting submission 3 to the class. She pointed out how interesting the submissions were and how we should establish a time when we can present elements of our research to one another. This was in essence what the semester should have been about. Our personal research should have been at the forefront rather than being conducted concurrently with a general reading/activities schedule. This would be beneficial in numerous ways. Not only would a greater range of knowledge be shared, but also a consistent presentation of our research, perhaps each fortnight, would create a more dynamic class and encourage a lot more discussion. It would also ensure that people were at class on a regular basis.

This is in no way a personal critique of the teaching staff, nor is it an excuse for not being as active this semester as I would have like to have been. I am making the assumption that studies hasn’t been as successful on a whole this semester. If Project Ginger is to be as active as hoped then the approach to Studies 4 Tutorial 2 needs to be rethought for the next group to take it.