Reflections in design education using Visual technology

Abstract

Product design students are trained to express themselves through visual media like two - dimensional ( 2D ) and 3D drawing, prototyping, and digital media. Thus, written language is not always their first choice of communicati on. The aim of this study was to explore how multimedia can add to or broaden the scope within reflective work , and to identify the changes that may occur when product design students reflect through a visual and technological media like film instead of wr iting . Further, the disclosed findings are discussed through theory on reflection in education. Th e study was conducted via two workshops with product design students , participatory obs ervation , and questionnaire s . S har ing reflection through film introduce d a different process to the students. One element was that the participants reflect ed in groups ; this changed the process from individual to collective . Participants shared their reflections with others through both making and showing the film . Most of th e students preferred filmmaking to written reflection, but the research also indicate d that alternating between the two would be ideal. It was found that filmmaking increas ed the time and effort spent on reflection. Moreover, working in groups g ave the stu dents an arena to thoroughly discuss their discoveries and learn from each other. Exploring the potential of including several media adds to our understanding of reflection. As such, this paper sheds light on an alternative approach to reflection, and cont ributes a method of carrying out reflective work within design education and other educations using visual media and creative tools.