Diverse together: learn by collaborating

Historically, academic design education is delivered largely through active and collaborative learning modes, where students - working in small groups - learn to design by designing. Remaining implicit for a long time, the educational practices adopted by teachers today worth to be made explicit, to become an area of study and disciplinary discussion. In the contemporary scenario, active and collaborative learning are confronted with the phenomenon of the increasing cultural plurality of classes, due both to internationalization processes and to the enhancement of interdisciplinary paths. The practices proposed within Design studios must therefore address the presence of cultural plurality, as an element that enriches the teaching experience but, at the same time, determines greater barriers for collaboration and therefore for learning. This essay presents three cases of action research in the field of Design higher education in culturally plural contexts. In each case, explicit procedures for the formation of teams of students were defined and, in two cases out of three, a support activity for the teams was provided. The three different approaches were defined according to the peculiar characteristics of the classes and courses. The analysed experiences show that, to maximize the effectiveness of active and collaborative learning, it is important for teachers to explicitly refer to the skills that students should acquire through collaboration in plural contexts so as to encourage the development of students’ awareness. Teachers can therefore effectively contribute to the growth of their students in terms of transversal skills – both collaborative skills and cultural sensitivity - by taking a proactive role with respect to the formation of teams.