Teaching design online becomes part of RMIT’s “new normal”

Teaching design online becomes part of RMIT’s “new normal”

Shifting creative study programs, such as design, into an online environment might be met with scepticism in conventional higher education, but the recent success at RMIT has subverted this idea.

We explored this topic with two academics from RMIT University’s School of Communication & Design: Head of School, Professor Julia Gaimster, and Design Studies Associate Lecturer, Chiat Teoh.

RMIT Head of School of Communication & Design Professor Julia Gaimster said the social aspect of the online teaching environment is just as important as the technical functions. RMIT Head of School of Communication & Design Professor Julia Gaimster said the social aspect of the online teaching environment is just as important as the technical functions.

Due to COVID-19, all courses at RMIT’s School of Communication & Design were taught online during Semester 1 of the 2020 academic year. Was it a difficult migration?

Professor Gaimster: We had identified early on that there may be a need to move online at short notice, so we were well prepared. Before the official online move in March, we were already engaging with students through a range of online activities including informal chat sessions and icebreakers so that the students could get to know each other during the campus closure.

The social aspect of the online teaching environment is just as important as the technical functions, and this is an area that we gave strong focus to in our approach to digital delivery.

We also implemented some guidelines for staff on how to effectively convert their classroom activities to an online environment and ensured they had opportunities to practice and get support before we moved entirely online.

What adjustments did you make to optimise the learning and teaching experience?

Ms Teoh: I speak from my experience teaching three online courses to first-year Bachelor of Design Studies students. The courses were diverse in that they covered everything from the more technical skills (how to use Adobe design software), to a practical understanding of the visual vocabulary (typography, colour and composition), and the more theoretical side of the history of design.

I quickly adopted many online tools and platforms to help me and my students communicate better in the virtual environment. For example, my students often needed hands-on support as they learned to navigate the different design software. So I made use of the remote desktop control function in Microsoft Teams to access my students’ computers and make a live demo on their working files.

Small-group tutorials also helped a lot in engaging the students. I kept the number of students at around five for each tutorial session, which allowed me to focus on the performance of each student and give them more space to contribute to the discussion.

What is the biggest change that the venture into full-time online delivery has brought to the staff and students at your school?

Ms Teoh: I was glad to see that my students improved their time management and independent study. To illustrate, I often posted lecture videos before each synchronous class and asked my students to go through the lecture slides in advance in order to have quality discussion during the online session. The students really embraced this. Some students who preferred to stay in their comfort zone at first began to appreciate and practice more discussion over time.

Professor Gaimster: I was amazed at how easily the staff moved into this new mode of delivery and how much additional effort they put into the preparation of their materials and interaction with students. Students appreciated their enthusiasm and benefited from staff collaborating to share best practices and tips with each other.

RMIT Design Studies Associate Lecturer Chiat Teoh recommended the use of small-group tutorials to engage online learning students. RMIT Design Studies Associate Lecturer Chiat Teoh recommended the use of small-group tutorials to engage online learning students.

From Semester 2 2020, your school is offering a number of courses online in addition to face-to-face (F2F). Would the same course be different when delivered online versus F2F in terms of quality and assessment?

Professor Gaimster: The quality of our online offer is as rigorous as the F2F mode. The students cover the same subject matter and have to achieve the same learning outcomes. We design the experience carefully to ensure that we are able to offer students a quality experience whatever the mode of delivery.

There are, of course, some adjustments that have to be made in terms of the type of learning activities the students undertake in order to suit the learning environment. But my experience has been that the outcomes and the quality of the student work are equally strong no matter if they are engaged in an online or F2F course.

When given the choice between online and F2F courses, why should students consider choosing the online mode?

Professor Gaimster: Students may choose the online mode for many reasons, for flexibility in managing their time, in order to fit study into other life commitments, or sometimes because they find this kind of delivery more suited to their style of learning. When you are studying online you do not have to travel and you can arrange your study time in a flexible manner. Not all students live near a campus so this can be incredibly helpful and allows for quality education to be more accessible. For some students, being able to revisit material multiple times is also a big advantage.

What do you think about the future of blended learning where F2F and online delivery will be combined?

Ms Teoh: It is a good opportunity for every student to experience blended learning during the course of their study. With the rise of remote working, I think the “new normal” is about combining working on-site and off-site. So, it is best for students to start familiarising themselves with the situation as soon as possible. Through blended learning, they can learn how to deliver their content clearly and convincingly in a virtual context, and down the line, this might help them close a deal with a client who is sitting on the other side of the world.

Professor Gaimster: All students are already engaged in blended learning whether they realise it or not. All students go online to do research, chat with other students, find resources etc. In classroom situations, I often see students clicking on links to resources suggested by the lecturer or looking for information and resources to complement what they are learning in the class. Formalising this process into blended delivery makes a lot of sense and mirrors the situation in a lot of professional environments.

Story: Ngoc Hoang

  • Digital

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