Bruce Snaddon Investigating Transformative Pedagogic Practices

This PhD research project seeks to examine transformative pedagogic processes within a design faculty in a South African University of Technology. More specifically it aims to investigate transformative spaces for design learning in the context of sustainable futures, through a series of experimental design projects carried out by faculty staff and students.

The study positions itself in a socio-cultural framing of the changing multiliteracies of design pedagogy. It draws on the intersections of higher education design pedagogy in transition, designerly ways of knowing, design and learning spaces out in the world. The domain of design central to the curriculum innovations and the doctoral research is sustainable futures.

The core research question is: How might current design pedagogy transition into emerging and complex contexts through designerly curricular experimentation that addresses sustainable futures? Secondary questions are: In what ways may learning in spaces out in the world facilitate understanding of the situatedness of designerly ways of knowing, being and doing? How can design as speculation and foresight be understood better within design education and its pedagogy? What new literacies are becoming relevant to design education, and how may they be incorporated into the curriculum?

The PhD project is a practice-based study of three exploratory events that have transformative spaces for design learning in the context of sustainable futures at their core, and it aims to bring the emergent design education knowledge, critical perspectives and insights into the design education research domain.

This PhD research project will take the form of a thesis manuscript by compilation with three articles and a final exegesis. 

Institute of Design / Andrew Morrison (Supervisor)

PhD started in 2015