The Studio Lecture: Developing and Assessing Practice Based Learning Activities for Art and Design Courses Taught as a Lecture

Grant program: Teaching and Learning Development Grant (TLDG)

Grant recipient: Susan Clements-Vivian, School of Interactive Arts and Technology

Project team: Kathryn Ricketts, Teaching and Learning Centre Educational Consultant, and Adam Ashraf-Abadi, research assistant

Timeframe: May 2012 to April 2014

Funding: $9852.58  

Course addressed: IAT 110 – Visual Communication Design

Final report: View Susan Clements-Vivian's final report (PDF)

From the final report: "The most significant outcomes that arose from this work were the creation of the on-line repository and the formulation of a model that defines the Studio Lecture. " Read more >>

Description: The practice based learning of art and design education is primarily studio based, small group teaching and heavily critique oriented. It involves individuals and small groups of students presenting work to both peers and faculty.  In my previous Smaller Teaching and Learning Development Grants, I developed practice-based activities for large lecture groups (72 and 200).  Activities were designed to capture the active learning that takes place in studio courses. Students were asked to use simple tools to test theory as it was being taught in the lecture. The goal of this research was to a) lessen the learning experience difference between the lecture (passive) and the studio (active), b) to create a more engaged and exciting learning environment and c) for students to become more engaged with the theory in the course.  I call this style of classroom a “Studio Lecture.”

As a result of the intensive inquiry into Studio Lecture activates (we tried almost a dozen unique approaches and many more individual activities) an enormous amount of material has been generated. In this next grant, I will build upon and improve the work already completed. With this grant I will create Learning Outcomes, identify engagement triggers, test a tablet (iPad3) as a tool for giving real time feedback, compare and contrast predicated management issues with actual outcomes, and create a concept inventory of all materials.  The research will be applied to a new SIAT course IAT 110 Visual Communication Design launched Fall 2013.

Questions addressed:

• What are the learning outcomes for new activities? Do learning outcomes need to be revised for revised activities? Were there unexpected additional learning outcomes to those planned (such as language or team building in skills in activities that were designed to teach design theory)?
• Do the activities meet the defined Learning Outcomes?
• What are successful engagement triggers that motivate student involvement in practice based learning activities?
• What are mechanisms and methods for collecting, organizing, and responding to feedback? What tools can be used for timely feedback?
• What are potential classroom management issues and how can they be resolved??

Knowledge sharing: Results will be presented with SIAT including on-line access to materials. 

Clements-Vivian, S. (2014, May). The studio lecture: Designing and implementing activity-based lectures. Workshop conducted at the Symposium on Teaching and Learning: Provocative Pedagogy, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC.

Clements-Vivian, S. (2014, April). The studio lecture: Designing and implementing activity-based lectures. Pecha Kucha presentation at Art and Technology: Lean Into Learning Workshop, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, BC.