Recognition of Problem Insufficiency: A Proposed Threshold Concept Emergent in Student Accounts of Memorable Interior Design Educational Experiences

Abstract

Students striving to gain design expertise are likely to face significant barriers, some of which may be specific to a given individual, while others are likely shared among many novices in a discipline. Identifying recurrent patterns of such barriers may inform design pedagogy and indicate larger threshold concepts functioning as portals to disciplinary expertise. In this paper, 38 interior design students in their final required studio, representing three different cohort groups, participated in interviews regarding their design school experiences. From these student accounts, themes pertaining to difficulties which may have functioned as barriers in design expertise development were identified. This paper explores two central themes that are the focus of this inquiry: difficulty in seeking out standards to judge the quality of design work and difficulty in time management. Interview excerpts are used to illustrate how these issues were presented by participating students and the interaction of these factors is examined.

Towards Pedagogical Content Knowledge in Logistics

“…Smith (2013) describes a case where thresholds in design education were identified. Students in the final stage of their education were interviewed regarding their experiences.…”

A game-based design studio: An exploration of an interior design studio environment for implementing game-based learning

“…The time allocated for studio sessions within the curriculum for different design disciplines has been continuously questioned and criticized (K. M. Smith, 2013Smith, , 2015Yurtkuran & Taneli, 2013). The nature of the studio process forces students to commit their time and effort on semester basis leading to wasting too much time in the studio session itself (Kuhn, 2001;Moore, 2000).…”

“…Therefore, reflection and collaboration, which are critical aspects of experiential learning in studios (Schön, 1984), are not performed which contributes to less than an effective learning experience (Groat, 2000). According to a study by Smith (2013), interior design students have "overwhelmingly identified that getting studio projects done within the time permitted was one of the major difficulties they faced through-out their undergraduate design education experience." The mismatch between the workload and the time allotted is obvious (K. M. Smith, 2015), which adds to the inefficiency of the traditional design studio format.…”

“…The subjectivity of the assessments conducted in design studios makes it difficult to translate instructor feedback into the traditional grading system (D. Smith & Lilly, 2016). According to Smith (2013Smith ( , 2015, students in an undergraduate design program seemed to view their grades as the only reliable yet incomprehensive form of feedback. This results in an inaccurate personal view and estimation of students' abilities and skills (Micklethwaite, 2005).…”

“…Design education that is based on the master apprentice model has proved to be problematic over the years, especially in terms of the structures of studio courses and how they affect student time management (Belluigi, 2016;Boling & Smith, 2013;Edstrm, 2008;Findeli, 2001; D. Smith & Lilly, 2016;K. M. Smith, 2013;Wang, 2010).…”