Douglas Seidler / Publish

Presentation

Paper Abstract

Issue

Constructivist education theory suggests that learners construct new knowledge around prior ‘zones of knowledge’. As educators, we can increase retention of new concepts and ideas by creating direct connections or bridges to our students’ prior knowledge.1   In the instance of digital representation in Interior Design Education, it is imperative that we shape our curricula to help adult learners identify and understand the merit of manual representation while also creating direct connections between manual representation and digital representation.  This presentation will detail how the Author applied this education theory to two aspects of digital design education: (1) a learning unit on creating perspectives in SketchUp, and (2) the modification of the AutoCAD curriculum at the Author’s University.

Context

The Author teaches Interior Design to both graduate and undergraduate students.  Using constructivist education theory, the Author created new learning environments that help students understand the importance of hand drawing (prior knowledge) while learning new techniques in digital drawing and representation (SketchUp and AutoCAD).  

Creating Strong Interior Perspectives using SketchUp

SketchUp is an intuitive three-dimensional modeling software that allows students the ability to design, shape, and understand interior space.  Unfortunately, most students are unsuccessful as they attempt to create printable perspectives that clearly communicate their spatial ideas.  The Author has created a learning unit that helps students better understand the role of the digital interior perspective by creating bridges to concepts on composition discussed in a prior Perspective & Rendering course at the University.

Modification of an existing AutoCAD curriculum

Most AutoCAD textbooks and curricula teach through rote memorization and repetition. It was the Author’s experience that through these methods of instruction, Interior Design students could complete and pass these AutoCAD courses with little or no understanding of how to use the software to communicate interior space.  The Author modified the AutoCAD curriculum, instruction, and grading criteria to help students create stronger connections between their existing knowledge of hand drawing and the new knowledge of digital drawing. Through these connections to hand drawing, students deepen their digital drawing (AutoCAD) knowledge and apply it in future design studios. 

Summary

The Author has identified (1) that by creating a bridge between digital and manual representation, students construct a deeper understanding of digital technology in Interior Design, and (2) that through this deeper understanding, students are better equipped to transfer this knowledge from the technical studio to the design studio. By creating direct and clear connections between pre-requisite manual courses and digital communication courses, the Author both validates the purpose of pre-requisite courses and helps students better understand how to use digital tools to communicate in Interior Design.

1 David Ausubel identifies two things that are necessary for understanding to occur: (1) the content must be potentially meaningful, and (2) the learner must relate it in a meaningful way to his or her prior knowledge.  Both are developed from John Dewey’s early research on the role of ‘prior experience’ in education. 

References

Dewey, J. (1916). Democracy and education: an introduction to the philosophy of education. New York: Macmillan.

Reigeluth, Charles M. (1999). Principles for Learning Meaningful Knowledge: How does understanding occur? Retrieved May 7, 2007 from the University of Indiana’s Instructional-Design Theories website: http://www.indiana.edu/~idtheory/methods/m6c.html