Teaching with style: computer aided instruction, personality and design education

The investigation reported in this thesis concerns the possibility of automatically matching the learning styles of design students with appropriate styles of computer aided instruction (CAl). Individual adult learners exhibit preferences for the way information is presented and for the ways in which they are taught. These preferences arise from characteristics known as cognitive styles which are associated with personality. Cognitive dissonance occurs when there is a mismatch between styles of teaching and styles of learning. Under these conditions some students will be discouraged. A survey of students on typical design courses showed them to have particular learning preferences. In this respect they are differentiated from tutors who may prefer to teach in a different style. CAl systems also exhibit styles. These are manifest in features such as the computer's control of learning interactions and the form of information which the system delivers. Computer-based training has often been of a sequential, drill-andpractice kind which encourages rote learning. This style has met with limited success, and it is shown to be unsuitable for most design students. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is used to classify the psychological types of design students. Evidence of learning preferences from the MBTI and from related sources is given. From a theoretical description of learning episodes, a computer-based model is developed that provides CAl treatments matched to sixteen learning styles. It is concluded that CAl-based teaching of technological information to design students can be more optimally matched. The principles established have wider implications for communications between designers and others

Reviews

Researching into Teaching Methods in Colleges and Universities by Clinton Bennett, Lorraine Foreman‐Peck and Chris Higgins, London: Kogan Page, 1996. ISBN: 0–7494–1768–4, 136 (+ vii) pages, paperback. £14.99

Insight into trade‐off between wood decay and parasitism from the genome of a fungal forest pathogen

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/91191/1/j.1469-8137.2012.04128.x.pd

Insights on the Evolution of Mycoparasitism from the Genome of Clonostachys rosea

Peer reviewe

Editorial. Special edition of the ADCHE Journal, on best practice in the PhD in Design

This output refers to a special edition of the journal Art Design Communication in Higher Education, published by Intellect on behalf of the national HE Academy for Art Design and Communication. Durling and Friedman were invited to edit a special edition to highlight best practice in the PhD in design internationally. A substantial editorial introduces, discusses, and evidences the background and issues arising. A number of key authors in the field were invited to submit papers dealing with a spread of topics including: the role of the artefact; characterising creative-production; the future of the practice-based doctorate; and a comparative study of a successful professional doctorate. This was one of two journal special editions at the time, the other being Durling, Friedman and Gutherson. Editors. (2003) Special edition of the International Journal of Design Sciences and Technology, on doctorates in design, 10(2). Europia: France. ISSN 1630-7267. This also contains a substantial evidenced editorial titled 'Debating the practice-based PhD'

Discourses on Research and the PhD in Design

Durling's other main scholarly interest is in PhD studies for designers, and in developing the quality of doctoral supervision, training, and resources. This output relates to an invited paper on doctoral studies in design, located in an education journal. The paper gives an overview of the beginnings of doctoral studies in design, especially in the UK, and deals with the nature of PhD research and issues of doctoral standards arising from practice-based PhDs and their supervision. It draws upon and references international debates around these issues, concluding with a case study for design PhD process which was adopted as a university model of best practice. Durling has had a long association with addressing standards in doctoral studies. He has organised 2 of the conferences 'Doctoral Education in Design' (La Clusaz 2000, and Tsukuba 2003), spoken on the subject by invitation at many symposia (for example: Brazil 2001; IDSA 2002; AHRB 2002; NAFAE 2004; MIRIAD 2004; DRS 'Rising Stars' 2005; 'In Theory' 2007), and edited special editions of peer reviewed journals on the subject. He has helped foster an international debate by founding the PHD-DESIGN discussion list http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/phd-design For several years he has organised doctoral training events culminating in the Design Advanced Research Training (DART) collaborative training scheme, together with building resources for doctoral students in design

The role of emotion in visual communication of risk - Differences between designers and users

The primary aim of this study was to determine whether there are differences in emotional responses between designers and users when interpreting visual messages about health risks. Six graphic warnings for cigarette packets will be introduced in Taiwan to increase public awareness of health risks associated with smoking, and these formed the materials for this study. Emotional responses elicited by these graphic warnings in both designers and users were measured using a Chinese translation of the abbreviated PAD Emotion Scales. The results suggest there are differences between the emotional responses of designers and users. A significant difference was found on the Arousal scale, with users scoring higher. In addition, differences between the groups were observed in 5 out of 12 individual items, and there were some effects of participant sex