The Future of Education

The studio is many things. It is a space, a class, and a method of instruction. Studio-based learning is the preferred pedagogy for art and design education. It is where students integrate knowledge with application, and prepare for their profession upon graduation. Students often are given an ill-defined problem to solve, one that has multiple acceptable solutions. Several iterations of a design solution will be done, to narrow down the final solution. Students are given a limited time to explore the design problem and present their solutions at a final presentation. This is done at the end of the semester in a public juried event known as a critique or “crit”. A crit differs from a single act of criticism because it is a community event meant to help the student improve his work. The instructing faculty invite a group, or jury, of experts to form a collective judgment of the work and provide opportunities for students to learn the knowledge and attitudes of a design discipline. This critique relies heavily on the judgements of these invited reviewers who are assumed to be disciplinary experts. Yet what qualifies them as an expert? Seldom is the jury process and reviewers questioned or challenged. This study investigates how design instructors select their studio reviewers. In a case study at a large design school in the United States, studio instructors in architecture, industrial design, interior design, landscape architecture, and graphic design responded to open-ended questions about how they, and their colleagues, determine studio reviewers. Benefits to using a studio-based learning method will be discussed; results of the case study will be conferred; and suggestions will be provided for how faculty can better select expert reviewers to aid in student assessment.

Keywords: Pedagogy, Art and Design, Studio Education.

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