Arts and Letters, School of

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Building Craft and Creativity Through the Virtual World for Design Education
(Indiana University Southeast, 2022-09-03) Yousuf, Aliya
Visual art has undergone significant changes during the last century in terms of material and technique, so much so that the new media also play a major role in the purpose of art making. It is not only the visuals that have changed, but the ideas that an artist wants to communicate and share the manner in which the idea is propagated. Art and art objects have become an important medium of exchanging ideas between people and technology, where changes in art are the reflection of changes in society. Both of these changes have influenced art education, as well society, as both serve an almost serviceable, consumercentric purpose. An artwork is a cumulative outcome of concept, skill, craft, and visual metaphors it produces. These four aspects are equally important in shaping the outcome from these processes. However, they take precedence over each other depending on the nature of the message that the artist wants to communicate. All of these aspects have their own challenges that need to be resolved to produce the artwork. Skill and craft play an important role in art making, in how it allows the concept to come through, and how it informs and discovers the visuals. This paper aims to explore how the changes in learning methods and teaching pedagogies have influenced the process of art making and vice versa, and how this lack of hands-on engagement has affected the craft-based art making practices and where it is accustomed and where it defines the boundary between the digital technology in the art world. This is in no way a critique of modern technology and advancement of digital gadgets, but of the manner in which it is used in art education.
Can high school educators bridge the gap?: Message construction as a process of anticipatory socialization for marginalized students’ transition to higher education.
(American Psychological Association, 2022-08) Sousa, Alexandra
Previous research has identified the important role high school educators play in the postsecondary advancement of racially marginalized students. However, research has yet to examine how educators construct messages to facilitate these students’ transition from high school to college. Therefore, this study explores how teachers make sense of factors impacting postsecondary advancement and, as a result, how they construct messages about higher education for diverse students. In-depth interviews with educators from three school districts in central Texas revealed several perceived factors, including the equalizing effect of SES across racial lines and a colorblind mentality towards student advancement. Educators constructed a variety of messages about higher education, including both generalized and individualized messages about the more pragmatic aspects of college (e.g. the application process, study habits, daily life), and motivational messages meant to encourage college decision-making. Based on these findings, I make suggestions for future research about higher education messaging for racially marginalized students.
Empathizing Virtually -- Developing Future Forecasting Skills
(Indiana University Southeast, 2022-09-03) Akhtar, Haseen; Janakarajan, Ramkumar
Time-shift Alert: “Put yourself in the shoes of the user” to “Imagine yourself in the shoes of the user.” Empathy is the core of any design activity. It is said to be done by immersing oneself in the context of the user. It is best practiced by putting oneself in the shoes of the user, experience their circumstances, problems, barriers and then identify opportunities by gathering insights. Time has changed. We are experiencing the new normal which is a hybrid of less physical and more virtual. There is a need to swiftly transition to the virtual methods for carrying out design activity in this ever-demanding technology driven world. Before pandemic, empathy study can never be imagined to be done virtually. Although researchers have started doing empathy study virtually, but it lacks the essence. The insights which one can get from being in the context of the user is far more deeply and closely rooted to the problem than the insights gathered virtually which ultimately lacks the core user values. It is not possible to gather the exact same insights virtually than being physically present in the user’s context, but we need to get as close as possible by devising efficient virtual methods. The main question which is addressed in this study is: How design pedagogy can be changed to adapt to the present virtual era? How will be the new discourse of design activity in educational institutes? What are the different feasible methods in the premise of design teaching and learning? What could be the different methods to do empathy study in different context with different set of user groups? To answer the above intriguing questions, this study explores possible ways in which one can do empathy study in different context. Two methods were employed for the study. In the first method, early researchers, design students, academic professionals, and industry experts was asked to come up with new post-pandemic ways of doing empathy study in their own design problem which they are working for thesis. In the second method, we have used Futures Thinking technique developed by Jane McGonigal, a research director at the Institute of Futures, Palo Alto, California, USA. Ideas were brainstormed with focus 47 groups. Ideas from both the methods were analyzed on some defined parameters for its feasibility in the present scenario. Thus, a set of ideas were proposed for carrying out empathy study for different type of design problem for different type of user groups to be studied. It is therefore concluded that, Futures Thinking technique is an effective way to forecast future of design activities and design education in general. “Future is already here; it’s just not deeply imagined of.” - Author
Exposure of Design Education to School Students: A Case Study
(Indiana University Southeast, 2022-09-03) Pagaria, Pawan; Gupta, Nikhil; Kumar, Jyoti
Design as a domain caters to both the analytical and creative aspects of the brain, which is in line with the 21st-century skill requirements proposed by various forums like p21.org, World Economic Forum to name a few. This paper investigates the level of engagement and learnability of school students when they are given an exposure of design as a subject. The study also analyzes the likability of design subjects which they were being taught. To answer this question, school students (n=12) from class 6 to class 10 were given an online design education for three months, which consisted of one class per week. This study reports feedback of 6 participants. Our results suggest that the students enjoyed and were highly engaged throughout the course. The students claim that there was an increase in their learning level after the course and the sessions on color theory, pattern, and drawing were most liked.
Learning Through Conversations - The Rishi Way
(Indiana University Southeast, 2022-09-03) Srivastava, Abhishek; Atreya, Sonal; Sharma, Arunima
As the dynamics of offline and online classrooms are evolving, ensuring student engagement and learning has become paramount and challenging. Research into the Vedic period literature indicates that the teaching method used by our ancient Indian Rishis emphasized conversations or conversation-based learning, thereby not just engaging learners actively but can also imparting knowledge of the content with the additional attributes of learning. The paper shall present the role of conversations in complimenting learner’s engagement and the benefits of conversation-based learning. Through examples from ancient literature, the article also looks at this approach of learning from the perspective of ancient Rishis who used it in a much more comprehensive way. The interesting observation from these examples is the additional attributes of learning like - interdisciplinary perspective, creative outlook, learning through relatable examples etc. which one can derive besides the resolution of the query.
Remodeling: From Education to Creative Independence
(Indiana University Southeast, 2022-09-03) Bahl, Ruchira
Lessons from the pandemic have realized that the education needs to become more predictive to withstand future uncertainties. It has made us lookout for options beyond online or offline learning spaces to a more flexible learning environment. Future forecasters suggest that transformation and remodeling of the learning environment is the only way to meet future education needs. New tools, approaches, and models to design learning experiences will increase our capacity to personalize learning and maximize teaching effectiveness in different learning environments. This research investigates a model that integrates a virtual learning environment and practical hands-on execution in a real-world scenario done remotely by the students of Interior design. Interior Design is a field wherein creativity, knowledge construction, and skill-building go hand in hand; therefore, learning combines these aspects for a better experience and understanding of the learner. The research takes a case study approach in an interior design and construction studio class (balcony makeovers), wherein the inputs are delivered asynchronously, and the feedback is given synchronously in the virtual learning environment. After that, they execute their learnings in a practical, real-world scenario remotely from their own homes. The virtual interactive platform used was Blackboard Collaborate. The virtual learning environment gave them better control of their learning at their own pace, space, and a one-on-one discussion with the tutor, while the practical hands-on implementation enabled them to develop the skill set required to handle materials, people, and sites. The shift from knowledge transfer to an experiential, interactive method of learning enabled the students to make informed decisions regarding the design and execution of the project on-site. Results depict that the students were engaged and receptive to this hybrid approach to learning. The knowledge gained in this process was comprehensive as it taught them the technical know-how and the soft skills required in the profession. Apart from gaining knowledge of the subject matter, this approach also enhanced the learner's ability to think critically and engage with the various stakeholders. It also helped them learn to organize 95 resources and materials and deal with the challenges on the site, thus creating a more holistic learning environment for a skill-based course like interior design. While we do not know how the future unfolds, we, as drivers of change, can strategically design flexible and adaptable learning models which would work well for all kinds of learners. At adversity, one can switch from one mode to another without pausing in the students' learning graph whether they are in a face-to-face, virtual, or remote learning environment. By reimagining and designing alternate models for education, we will be able to develop a more responsive and agile education system prepared for any future crisis.
Strategies for Teaching Design Prototyping in Virtual Mode
(Indiana University Southeast, 2022-09-03) Gupta, Richa
Prototyping is an ever-evolving medium that enables designers to bring their ideas to life. It plays an integral role in the design thinking process as well as in design education. However, in virtual or remote learning environments, teaching and learning a predominantly in-person hands-on course has not been investigated much. But due to the pandemic induced lockdown, this need became more evident which has motivated present work. This work presents a set of pedagogical strategies for teaching prototyping to undergraduate design and engineering students and a preliminary evaluation of the said strategies in a qualitative survey taken by the students of “Prototyping Interactive Systems” being offered at Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology Delhi (IIIT Delhi), India. The results demonstrate the potential of such strategies to effectively engage and teach prototyping methods and related processes in virtual mode.
Tools for Virtual Brainstorming & Co-Creation: A Comparative Study of Collaborative Online Learning
(Indiana University Southeast, 2022-09-03) Dhaundiyal, Dhriti; Pant, Richa
Collaboration is an intrinsic part of design education. Studies have shown that diversity of skill and composition of design teams is key to innovation and the creation of new knowledge. The unforeseen global coronavirus pandemic precipitated the adoption of many virtual learning tools that existed before but had low uptake. Teamwork and collaboration proved to be one of the toughest stipulations in the forced adoption of online learning. Our study presents a comparative analysis of three web-based applications used for online classes during this period. We recorded insights from the online classes, corroborated by a questionnaire post course completion. We found that easy learnability was a crucial factor for early adoption, but eventually, cross-functional features were given more importance. The flexibility of the tool adopted also affected student learning outcomes. Empathy with teammates and co-creative approaches were the two areas that were found deficient in the absence of live class interactions in the virtual learning mode.
The Younger, The TikToker: Investigating Social Media Ad Platforms for Young American and Chinese Users
(Routledge, 2023-09-09) Choi, Yunmi; Shim, Sungwook; Jeon, Minhee
With video-based social media platforms such as TikTok and Douyin gaining increasing popularity among young people, it is imperative for advertisers and social media practitioners to understand the role of these platforms before placing an advertisement. This experimental study examined four social media platforms (TikTok and Facebook for American users, and Douyin and WeChat for Chinese users) to analyze how young social media users perceive advertisements on each platform. The findings showed that social media users in the US are more critical of video advertisements on TikTok than on Facebook. In addition, the study found that American users are more generous than their Chinese counterparts while rating the personalities featured in advertised brands

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