To Unveil and Motivate: Curriculum Principles and Case Studies Inspired by the Aspen Design Challenge

ABSTRACT

The INDEX:|AIGA ASPEN DESIGN CHALLENGE, Designing Water's Future, grew out of discussions held during the January 2007 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. At the Forum, global thought leaders noted that the global water crisis needed a visual identity. Undergraduate and graduate students were challenged to communicate the urgent complexities of the global water crisis to audiences separated by demographics, education, and immediate need. In February 2009, seven Finalist and ten Honorable Mention projects were selected from the submissions of 225 project teams from 28 countries and six continents.

Students at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design took ownership of their learning through the Aspen Design Challenge and moved naturally into constructivist learning modes (problem-based, collaborative, interdisciplinary, and self-directed) that are not always favored in traditional design education approaches. Students needed first to identify, define, and research their specific water issues; and then to create, test, and communicate their solutions. This paper presents three case studies that show how an external design competition can become a curriculum unit that meshes with a School's overall design curriculum and demonstrates the best practices in design education.

We prepare curricula that are integrated, interdisciplinary, globally focused, and collaborative. These emerging aims require design educators to rethink the problems we pose, the motivations we offer, the ways we teach students to collaborate, the role of outside resources, the value we place on service, and our methods of evaluation. Today's globally connected youth will respond enthusiastically when we do so.

The best education doesn't end on the last day of class. It is part of the holistic personal development of students we teach. Our classes can encourage young people to feel empowered to make a difference in our world.

Key Words:

• design education
• collaboration
• integrated learning
• service learning
• MIAD

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Anne Ghory-Goodman

ANNE GHORY-GOODMAN BIO

Anne Ghory-Goodman is a Professor at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design. She has participated in exhibitions, been included in publications, won awards, and lectured on design and photography in the U.S. and abroad. Last year, her posters were exhibited in Havana, Cuba and Lima, Peru. She was awarded Fellowships for both Photography and Design Arts, by the National Endowment for the Arts. She has notably won awards for the NYU Child Study Center website and from the Society of Environmental Graphic Design for the exhibit “Thinking and Making: An April Greiman Retrospective”.