Proceedings of The 7th World Conference on Teaching and Education
Year: 2024
DOI:
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Hands-on Learning for Interior Design Students
James Julian Rennie
ABSTRACT:
Reading a recipe from a cookbook versus watching a YouTube clip of someone preparing the same recipe is different in absorbing the same information. Likewise, with tertiary-level Interior Design student learners watching a tutor partially construct a 3D model in front of the cohort seems to be a much better way of transferring information, including tips and tricks of physical model-making. Learning methods set within the early stages of the current AI world revolution must continue to encourage individual authorship, offering fair formative and summative outcomes based on real-world learning. This paper sets out a new assignment related to an Architectural Technology course for Residential Interior Design Students (abandoning the previous essay writing), substituting the construction of a scale model of a partial Bathroom Interior, complete with scale-modelled timber framing (to hold wall-hung wash-hand basins). Each student was allowed to design (and construct) their bathroom interior, whilst the framed-up backside of the 3D model is the assessed component. This seems to transform the assignment from a chore to an enjoyment. During the period of model making, each student could, (if they chose to), bring in their partially completed model for verbal feedback before the final hand-in. For the tutor, these models provide rich material for their formative and summative assessments. This paper will unpack this hands-on learning method, referencing known pedagogy texts to ground this as a valid way of providing an experiential way of learning for the Interior Design student.
keywords: Experiential Learning; Handcrafting; On-the-fly-feedback; Real-world Learning; Active Learning