Interest in EIT’s project-based arts and design degree has triggered Government-funded research aimed at helping other tertiary educators develop similar programmes.
EIT’s ideaschool designed and introduced its project-based approach for Bachelor of Visual Arts and Design students starting their degrees this year.
“We expected it to work well, but the restructured degree has exceeded all expectations,” says ideaschool head Dr Suzette Major, who spearheaded the change.
The project-based learning degree is the first of its kind for arts and design schools in New Zealand, although the approach is gaining momentum with leading educators overseas.
Reviewing ideaschool’s newly-developed degree, New York-based Director of Contemporary Art Projects at Saatchi and Saatchi Worldwide Jane Sutherland said it was “engaging, intelligent and compares favourably with innovative programming at a number of progressive art/design institutes internationally such as Parsons/The New School in New York, Rhode Island School of Design, MIT in Boston and CalArts.”
Suzette said ideaschool’s project-based arts and design learning was achieving outstanding results.
“The work produced by our first-year students is breathtaking. They are fully engaged with the holistic approach to learning and that’s reflected in record attendances and completion rates.
“The energy and enthusiasm generated by staff and students in the classroom tell us this is working for everyone associated with the degree.”
Students build up the skills needed in the creative industries by undertaking a series of real-life projects designed to develop practical expertise, techniques and theoretical knowledge.
Suzette said hard evidence showed project-based learning was proving its worth in arts and design schools worldwide.
“I’m proud that ideaschool is leading the way in introducing this to New Zealand. Other institutes from around the country have heard about our approach and want to work out how to do it.
“Recognising that, Ako Aotearoa, National Centre for Tertiary Teaching Excellence in New Zealand’s tertiary sector, has come on board with funding for an in-depth research project aimed at capturing what’s happening.”
Entitled Project- Based Learning in Arts and Design: What makes it Work?, the project is being led by Hawke’s Bay-based consultant Elly Govers.
“The aim is to write a manual on project-based learning in arts and design to help other institutes seeking guidance on how to introduce their own programmes.”
Suzette said ideaschool’s project-based learning degree was attracting enrolments from throughout New Zealand.
Next year – the second in the roll-out of the restructured degree – students will increasingly take skills they are learning off campus, painting public art murals, undertaking community projects and submitting their work in real-world design competitions.
In their third year, they may be asked to promote the potential of their ideas in Dragons Den-like scenarios, take on internships and participate in gallery exhibitions.
“All their learning is extremely holistic,” Suzette says. “They are not passively taking in information delivered in lecture halls. Rather, they learn by doing, by engaging in real-world projects, learning real-world skills.
“The ability to think and be creative is the essential skill needed to thrive in the rapidly changing 21st century.”
The Ako Aotearoa/EIT-funded research project will be completed by February next year.