Uncovering problematics in design education - learning and the design entity

This paper attempts to articulate some of the challenges for the curriculum, teaching methods and assessment in design education arising from research currently underway in London and Australia. Taking a phenomenographical approach, the research asks whether the experience of learning and teaching in design education, both for students and teachers, is consistent with conceptions shared, within the educational community, about the professional world of designers. We believe that there is substantial variation in the conceptions held by both students and teachers about what design is and how it should be learned. These variations in conceptions have a significant impact on how students learn and how teachers teach

Teachers' and students' conceptions of the professional world

In the original 'Improving Student Learning' project led by Prof Graham Gibbs in 1991, one of the case studies focused on approaches to learning on a BA(Hons) Graphic Information Design course. The case study, led by Allan Davies, had the modest intention of trying to determine whether a particular curriculum innovation encouraged a deep approach to learning. Our only significant tool then was Bigg's SOLO taxonomy. Eleven years later and the innovators have moved on, the course has disappeared and the research context and methodologies have developed. During this period, research has suggested that both teachers and students describe their understanding of teaching and learning according to their perception of the teaching/ learning environment (Ramsden, 1992; Prosser & Trigwell, 1999). Studies have identified variation in the way that teachers experience teaching (Samuelowicz & Bain, 1992; Prosser, Trigwell & Taylor, 1994 for example) and variation in the way teachers experience student learning (Bruce & Gerber, 1995). More recently, Reid (1997) has widened the context of research by examining the relation between the experience of work and teaching/learning within the music discipline. In further research (Reid 1999), relations were found within the music discipline where teachers' and students' experience of one of three defined dimensions was strongly related to the ways in which they understood teaching and learning music. The musicians (and their students) described their experience of the professional world in three hierarchically related ways. This constitution has become known as the 'Music' Entity. In 1999, following a fortuitous meeting at the ISL conference in York, Davies and Reid conducted a joint enquiry, using a phenomenographic approach, to determine the 'Design' entity (Davies and Reid, 2001). This research focused on discerning the critical differences, or variation, in the way teachers and students experience and understand their subject and its relation to the professional design world. The outcomes of this research has, consequently, begun to impact on student learning through course design and, in particular, assessment. This paper will be a comparative study of the research already carried out by the authors in a number of disciplines in which the same focus and methodology has been used

Rescaling climate justice: sub-national issues and innovations for low carbon futures

Climate justice is emerging as a discourse for mobilising activism around the globe. The language of justice is less explicit as a policy principle despite long standing attention to negotiating responsibilities for causing climate changes and bearing costs related to reducing climate change emissions. Nevertheless there are significant justice issues in terms of how mitigation and adaptation will have differential impacts for people in different places. Even where responsibility and equity negotiations have taken place they have tended to occur at the nation state scale through global institutions and events. However, justice implications of climate change are much more socially and geographically variegated than this would suggest. This paper will examine the arena of beyond-national climate justice issues and actions specifically highlighting the range of beyond-national innovations that seek just transitions to low carbon futures. It will examine the regulatory conditions for supporting such initiatives and relate these findings to the current Irish rhetorical commitment to a green economy.Climate, justice, Ireland, NGOs

The Opacity of the Intergalactic Medium Measured Along Quasar Sightlines at z∼6z\sim 6

We publicly release a new sample of $34$ medium resolution quasar spectra at $5.77\leq z_{\rm em}\leq6.54$ observed with the Echellette Spectrograph and Imager (ESI) on the Keck telescope. This quasar sample represents an ideal laboratory to study the intergalactic medium (IGM) during the end stages of the epoch of reionization, and constrain the timing and morphology of the phase transition. For a subset of $23$ of our highest signal-to-noise ratio spectra (S/N$>7$, per $10\,{\rm km\,s^{-1}}$ pixel), we present a new measurement of the Lyman-$\alpha$ (Ly$\alpha$) forest opacity spanning the redshift range $4.8\lesssim z\lesssim6.3$. We carefully eliminate spectral regions that could be causing biases in our measurements due to additional transmitted flux in the proximity zone of the quasars, or extra absorption caused by strong intervening absorption systems along the line of sight. We compare the observed evolution of the IGM opacity with redshift to predictions from a hydrodynamical simulation with uniform ultraviolet background (UVB) radiation, as well as two semi-numerical patchy reionization models, one with a fluctuating UVB and another with a fluctuating temperature field. Our measurements show a steep rise in opacity at $z\gtrsim5.0$ and an increased scatter and thus support the picture of a spatially inhomogeneous reionization process, consistent with previous work. However, we measure significantly higher optical depths at $5.3\lesssim z\lesssim5.7$ than previous studies, which reduces the contrast between the highest opacity Gunn-Peterson troughs and the average opacity trend of the IGM, which may relieve some of the previously noted tension between these measurements and reionization models.Comment: accepted for publication at Ap

Recent Developments in Banks' Funding Costs and Lending Rates

The global financial crisis has affected the cost and composition of Australian banks’ funding, with flow-on effects to their lending rates and net interest margins. Since mid 2007, Australian banks’ overall funding costs have risen significantly relative to the cash rate, mainly reflecting the higher cost of deposits and long-term wholesale debt, and changes in their funding mix. Australian banks’ lending rates have also risen significantly relative to the cash rate. For the major banks, the increases in lending rates have more than fully offset their higher funding costs, with their net interest margins in late 2009 about 20–25 basis points above pre-crisis levels. Since then, margins may have narrowed slightly.banks; funding costs; lending rates; net interest margins; global financial crisis

How to Build a Museum

Who are museums for? This question drove our research. Originally motivated by a Travel-Learning Course in Spring 2017 to Manchester, London, and Liverpool, this project seeks to explore the narratives, motivations, and cultural implications for museum exhibits. We focused particularly on art museums. Our primary inspiration was the International Museum of Slavery at the Maritime Museum (Liverpool) and the London, Sugar and Slavery exhibit at the Museum of London Docklands (London). While both historical exhibits, we wanted to examine the symbolism and motivations for creating these exhibits as a form of public history and consciousness in Britain, and apply it to an American political climate. We used our research to create an art museum titled “Culinary Routes/Migratory Routes” at the Ross Art Museum from October 25, 2018 to December 13, 2018. Our exhibit was part of the 2018 Sagan National Colloquium, “Arts and Activism,” and focused on the migration/immigration process through the context of food. We performed academic research during the Spring 2018 semester as part of an independent study, in which we studied modern aesthetic theory behind museum layout, accessibility, and narrative structure. We also contacted local galleries and researched art that would fit our theme. We then applied these theories to drafting publicity information, introductions, and captions/curriculum material for our own exhibit over the summer. During the Fall 2018 semester, we prepared tours and presentation materials for our exhibit’s launch to the Delaware and OWU community. This presentation explains our academic research, process of selecting art, and application of theory into practice on OWU’s campus. It also serves as a celebration of liberal arts principles, as our project was a collaborative effort between Dr. Nancy Comorau (English Literature), Anna L. Davies ’19 (English major), and Erin Fletcher (Director of the Ross Art Museum)