A STUDY OF STUDENTS' LEARNING APPROACHES IN UNDERGRADUATE INDUSTRIAL DESIGN EDUCATION

Abstract

This study is aimed to investigate the influence of teaching approaches on students’ learning approaches in undergraduate industrial design education. The relationship between teaching and learning is one of the most important topics in educational research. In recent decades, a shift of paradigm from Instruction Paradigm to Learning Paradigm has been discussed a lot. Learning approaches are used to describe the qualitative differences in students’ learning and have been studied in many disciplines. Very few studies have been undertaken regard to learning approaches in design disciplines. This study applied cross-sectional studies to explore the possible changes of students’ approaches to learning in a full undergraduate industrial design programme at NUS. The results showed that there is an increasing trend in students’ deep approach to learning. Students’ average score of deep approach is higher in studio setting than the overall score. A longitudinal study is needed to further exam the relationship between Learning Paradigm and Deep Approach to learning in design discipline.