Bernasconi, Claudia, Mariarosaria DiPalo, and Alena Bower
The research project involved the development, enactment, and assessment of new service learning opportunities in design education, with emphasis on community project-based instruction. Research on service learning for design education provided the foundational knowledge to define a new course that allowed UDM students to understand important fundaments of design pedagogy while teaching middle school students from Detroit Community Schools. A key aspect of the study was the definition of educational tools and projects as well as ad hoc assessment tools. The objectives within the overall goals were: 1) to understand key findings from current literature review, develop a theoretical framework, and define targeted outcomes for the served population and the group administering the teaching (i.e. the UDM students); 2) to develop a new community based service-learning curriculum and new assessment tools (i.e. written and visual surveys) in order to test the effectiveness of the new curriculum; 3) to identify key outcomes for both the population served and the group administering the teaching; and 4) to define teaching/learning recommendations and future directions for service-learning in design education. Preliminary results will be presented, providing new insights on service learning outcomes within the field of design pedagogy.