Making meaning: developing an understanding of form in distance design education

Design education throughout the world provides students with a variety of experiences that help them develop an understanding of form and shape. The conventional model of such education requires students to participate in studio and workshop-based projects to develop skills through the creation of models and prototypes. However, with the increase in distance education worldwide we need to explore new ways for students to create and manipulate form remotely. This paper presents new work at the Open University, UK which set out to engage design students in form-making from a distance. Participants were given access to technical and design support that took rough sketches of chair designs and converted these into tangible scale models which were mailed back to the students. Several cycles of this activity generated data on how such supported modelling activity stimulated students' creative ability, design knowledge and motivation. This paper proposes new priorities for distance design education

Graduating product designers and their attitudes to design responsibility: A survey

The notion of responsibility in designing is one that is becoming increasingly important, underlying significant areas of design activity. The research reported in this paper presents the results of a questionnaire study of 50 graduating product designers from 11 UK Universities. We find that students are focussed on environmental issues, have a very clear idea about where their responsibilities end for the products they design, but who display significant differences between the ideas about responsibility they espouse and their practice

Utilising Flash Meeting software in collaborative design-learning

In this paper, we describe a case study of computer-supported collaborative learning in design using FM (FlashMeeting), a Web-based video-conferencing tool offered freely on OpenLearn. This 6-week experiment, involving Open University students and staff, aimed to explore the capabilities of FM software to support several phases of the design process including formulating a design brief, discovering user requirements, setting design specifications, concept generation, design embodiment and implementation of proposed concepts. We conclude this paper with lessons learned from using FM in a design e-learning project

The Language of Design: Drawing on a Profound Resource

Design education has made enormous strides in the past two decades. Many teachers and lecturers have sought to articulate the nature of the relationship that exists between the various components of designing activity. The wide scope of this activity today necessitates that the analysis is maintained. While bodies such as the Design Council and Sharing Experience in Engineering Design (SEED) have done much to present a formalisation of the process, there are serious gaps in our body of knowledge. One of these gaps concerns the role of drawing strategies in the design process and has inspired a current piece of research that received· the 1987 bursary jointly sponsored by the National Society for Education in Art and Design and Berol Ltd. This paper briefly presents this area of concern and focusses upon drawing as the essential language of design. It proposes that education seriously undervalues the potential of this profound resource

White working-class neighbourhoods:common themes and policy suggestions

What does it mean to be white and working class in modern Britain? The Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s studies of traditionally white estates in Bradford, London, Coventry and Birmingham are part of a growing body of research into ‘white identities’. This paper: • identifies common findings from JRF research into traditionally white estates, in the context of other similar work; • suggests how issues of white identity can be better understood and makes recommendations for policy and practice. Key points: • Profound economic and social change has increased isolation and fear in traditionally white estates. Residents often claim that things were better in the past. • ‘Estatism’ refers to specific social dynamics associated with council estates and prejudice towards residents based on where they live. This can result in lowered self-esteem and reluctance to participate in community campaigns. • People on traditionally white estates often feel they are not listened to by outside agencies. Consultations can raise hopes but ultimately reinforce disengagement. Initiatives to ensure equality have become associated with political correctness (‘PC’). • White working-class people feel they are bound by values of hard work, reciprocity and support. They are frustrated by the closure and lack of access to community facilities. The social class system simultaneously disadvantages the working class while giving advantage to other classes. • There is a strong desire for allocation of resources to be fair, with a widespread perception that minorities are given preference. Blaming incomers for decline is common, with the target of blame differing between sites. Participants did not want to be considered racist and felt that labelling ideas as racist prevents discussion. Similarly, the term ‘PC’ can also be used to shut down debate. • Recommendations include community-twinning, new ways of accessing local authorities, involvement from the private sector in disadvantaged areas and local panels to define and develop the ‘Big Society’. Initiatives aimed solely at white working-class people are unlikely to be successful

Effects of mimic artificial oyster reefs on the ecology of juvenile fishes in marsh ponds: a before-after-control-impact analysis

I sought to assess the enhancement potential of mimic artificial oyster reefs (MAORs) on trophic dynamics of juvenile estuarine fishes in marsh ponds. Tropic dynamics were investigated by determining the impacts of MAOR addition on meiofauna and macrofauna and then comparing these results to the gut contents and condition of four abundant estuarine fishes: Atlantic croaker (Micropogonias undulatus), bay whiff (Citharichthys spilopterus), sand seatrout (Cynoscion arenarius), and pinfish (Lagodon rhomboides). Samples were collected every other month for two years (March 2009 – 11) employing a Before-After-Control-Impact (BACI) design. Halfway through the experiment (March 2010), two mud sites in two marsh ponds were converted to MAORs and samples were collected for the remaining period of study. Meiofuanal communities were numerically dominated by infaunal nematodes and harpacticoid copepods, which showed order of magnitude declines in response to MAOR addition. Shannon-Weaver diversity indices (H´) increased significantly at MAOR sites from six to 13 taxa with SIMPER analyses indicating that nematodes, copepods, tanaids, gastropods, and ostracods contributed to ≥ 95% of the cumulative dissimilarity between periods and habitats. Macrofauna communities were numerically dominated by grass shrimp (Palaemonetes pugio), blue crabs (Callinectes sapidus), and white shrimp (Litopenaeus setiferus), all of which decreased in density in response to MAOR addition. Shannon-Weaver diversity indices for macrofauna decreased at MAOR sites declining from 21 to eight species. Of the eight species present at MAOR sites only blue crabs, estuarine mud crabs (Rithropanopeus harrisii), naked gobies (Gobiosoma bosc), pinfish (Lagodon rhomboides), gulf toadfish (Opsanus beta), and sheepshead (Archosargus probatocephalus) showed increased mean densities, lengths or weights at MAOR sites. Based upon percent IRI, fish diets were dominated by insect larvae, calanoid copepods, amphipods, mysids, and polychaetes, but the relative proportions of each prey item differed among species. Statistical analyses of gut contents from each of the four fishes showed no significant effects associated with MAOR addition, but energy density analyses showed a significant effect of MAOR addition for pinfish. Energy densities were similar or higher at MAOR sites after addition and when compared between habitats. These data suggest little community level enhancement attributable to MAORs in marsh ponds. However, some specially adapted, reef-associated fishes may be able to effectively utilize MAOR-associated resources to enhance feeding or condition

Supporting shape reinterpretation with eye tracking

It has been argued that reinterpretation is an essential process in design generation and idea exploration. However, computational design tools, such as computer-aided design systems, offer poor support for shape reinterpretation, and as such are not well suited to ideation in conceptual design. One of the key difficulties in implementing computational systems that support shape reinterpretation is the issue of interface – how can a user intuitively guide a system with respect to their interpretation of a designed shape? In this paper, a software prototype is presented that uses an eye tracking interface to support reinterpretation of shapes according to recognised subshapes. The prototype is based on eye tracking studies, and uses gaze data and user input to restructure designed shapes so that they afford manipulation according to users’ interpretations

Place, ethnicity and poverty in England’

Examination of the relationship between ethnicity, poverty and place has tended to focus on the spatial distribution of minority ethnic groups. This summary paper reviews some key themes in this literature, in order to review the following key questions: •Where are different ethnic groups located, and how does this location relate to their experience of poverty? •Is clustering a good or bad thing, and what is the role of location – regardless of concentration – in terms of impacts on access to housing, employment, and other resources? However, it is notable that existing research in this area continues to present ethnicity as a factor that shapes outcomes only for minority ethnic groups. A wider discussion increasingly recognises the working of ethnicity in the lives of majority communities. Some of the most consistently impoverished areas in Britain, for example, are in regions with relatively small minority ethnic communities. For example, examinations of poverty in Cornwall (Cemlyn, et al., 2002) and Wales (Kenway and Palmer, 2007) identify longstanding concentrations of poverty and social exclusion among relatively static populations. Instead of assuming that ethnic identity influences propensity to poverty when concentrated in particular places, the experiences of Cornwall and Wales encourage us to consider the manner in which places of poverty also have an ethnic character and the impact of this in the wider experience of poverty. In what follows, and in order to reflect the existing literature, we review key points in the debate about the spatial concentration of minority ethnic groups and the impact of this concentration on experiences of poverty. Where possible, we seek to extend these ideas to consider possible implications for spaces of poverty characterised by concentrations of majority ethnic groups

Core Design

This article examines the role of 'Core Design' within the first year studies of the Design and Technology Degree Course. Core is followed by students on both 3 year degree and the 4 year 'with education' course. It reveals the debt owed to a variety of 'Core' studies in design whilst indicating the contemporary requirement for a 'newfoundation' within the degree of Design and Technology at Loughborough. This requirement is highlighted through case studies of students and their work within 'core'