Can technologies transform design education? The DigiMooD experimentation

As a taught discipline, design is strongly rooted in studio-based learning, a pedagogical approach where the face-to-face relationship between teacher and learner is crucial to properly acquire taught skills and competences. This method is highly linked to the tradition of the master and apprentice, born in the arts and crafts tradition and evolved in Art and Design Schools. The ethos on the physical encounter, as well as on the hands-on spirit of learning has taught generations of designers how to do their job, and seems now challenged by the possibilities offered through the introduction of a new digital dimension in design education: advocates are looking at exploring these new possibilities, while critiques refuse the idea that design education might acquire a new virtual layer. While a number of studies recommend applying appropriate technologies to teaching and learning in the traditional classroom environment, little critical attention has been given to the use of technology in design education. Can technology really help studio-based learning take place also in virtual spaces? How? What would be the necessary conditions for success and the skills/motivations for teachers and students? Can online learning complement or replace face-to-face tutorials across different disciplines within design education? Can technologies transform design education? The paper proposes an exploration of these questions through the experience of DigiMooD, an ongoing research program co-funded by the European Commission and run by six partners to develop and test new pedagogical approaches through the development and introduction of MOOCs in a traditional design education curriculum. Focused on an interdisciplinary approach to educating in “Digital Entrepreneurship for the Creative Industries (CCI)”, the project experiments specifically with the education of future Fashion designers to teach them skills and competences to deal with the new digital dimension in diverse domains, from companies’ branding and narrative strategies to digital service models. In particular, the project aims to equip students in arts, creativity, business and technology with the knowledge they need to think and work across cultural and creative sectors and disciplines, while also testing and experimenting the establishment of innovative learning environments through a hybrid delivery methodology that includes the combination of MOOCs, Field Projects and Internships. Starting from the quali-quantitative research conducted to detect the digital skills gap in the specific educational area, the paper will explore the method adopted to deliver and test the experimentation, and the criticalities emerged in designing MOOCs (i.e., the translation of traditionally taught material into a digital format). This will result in the description of a skills’ gap framework for digital competences for the Fashion industry, a toolkit to design and develop MOOCs, and a harmonization strategy to guide practical experiments, that can be useful for experimentation also in other design education settings.