The New Paradigm for Teaching Design: A reflection on innovation in materials teaching in the “Online Season”

Abstract: In Portugal, it´sa National Strategy, the innovation in teaching, the connection between Faculties and Research Center, being a social and academic responsibility, to the good training and qualification of students. This can be an extra motivating factor for the students performance of academic work and better preparation for working life.In March 2005, the Portuguese government launched the strategy plan for the creation of a Digital Portugal, which is based on three pillars, I: digital inclusion of people, II: Digital transformation of the business fabric and III: digitization of the state. According to this plan, Education and its digitization are part of the 1st pillar, which aims above all “The empowerment and digital inclusion of people emerge as imperatives to respond to the impact that digitization can have on the life of each individual, implying an integrated approach that ensures differentiated measures depending on the life cycle of citizens” (Portugal Digital, p.15), however, in 2020, when the pandemic began, several failures were verified in the digitalization of education, leaving students without conditions / without classes, being urgent for the development and training of students, tools to support the development of their work, however, Little has been done since then.In such a specific area as materials and technologies, the need to find support becomes even more urgent.The new materials and the technological systems, the evaluation of the programmatic contents, increasing the attention to teaching materials in design, offered by the Faculties of design, is an activity in constant update, forcing a better preparation of the contents taught in 1st cycle studies. This is proved by the actual situation promote by the pandemic of COVID19. Professors and Students are learning news ways to complete the academic year. in this study we intent to known how the students of 1st cycle of design courses, and their teachers, have been approached with materials, research and practical work, when we have been teaching and learning through virtual classes, and how they how they managed to work remotely, in this situation.The research team consider that it is extremely important to carry out a survey for students of 1st cycle of design courses, and to their teachers, on their approach with materials, research and practical work, as well as the relationship of practice with the theory given by the teachers, comparing with the initial survey, done by the author in 2018, abou the same theme.

Keywords: Teaching, Innovations, Materials, Design Teaching

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe1002391

Cite this paper:

​