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Tracing design students’ affective journeys through reflective writing

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Abstract

Affection in learning embraces emotions, attitudes, values and beliefs that emerge during the learning process, and it is a vital and hidden element of learning. Studies focusing on affective, or emotional, aspects of design learning in the context of design education underscore the significance of the affective process and inform us of the connection between the creative dimension and emotions during a design activity. To this point, this paper addresses the following research question: to what extent does reflective writing disclose design students’ affective journeys throughout a semester? An empirical study is conducted to observe first-year industrial design students’ affective processes during a semester using their structured reflective diaries. The longitudinal study results show that the students exhibit certain tendencies in terms of the affective processes throughout a semester. The findings of this study are discussed in reference to peak points, anomalies and tendencies of the affective processes observed based on excerpts from the diaries. It is concluded that affective responses in design learning are multidimensional and wide-ranging.

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Notes

  1. Excerpts from the diaries were translated from Turkish to English by the researcher. Information given in brackets shows the order and date of the class described.

  2. Italics were added for emphasis.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to express our gratitude to Prof. Dr. Murat Günel, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Şebnem Timur Öğüt and Assist. Prof. Dr. Özge Merzali Çelikoğlu for their invaluable comments. We are grateful to the anonymous reviewers for their constructive critiques, which helped us to improve the manuscript substantially. We would also like to thank the students who participated in our study. As a part of a Ph.D. thesis, this study was supported by Istanbul Technical University (ITU) Scientific Research Projects (BAP).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Industrial Product Design, Istanbul Technical University (ITU), Taskisla, Taksim, 34437, Istanbul, Turkey

    Koray Gelmez & Humanur Bagli

Authors
  1. Koray Gelmez
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  2. Humanur Bagli
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Koray Gelmez.

Additional information

This study is based on a Ph.D. dissertation entitled as “Delving into Curriculum Content and Pedagogy of the First-year Industrial Design Studio through Reflective Writing: A Study on Cognitive and Affective Processes”, conducted at Istanbul Technical University, Industrial Product Design Programme in 2016.

Appendix

Appendix

Class

Date

Design problem

1

13 Sep 2013

P0: Express the given object with your body language in groups

2

17 Sep 2013

3

20 Sep 2013

P1: Fill your area with a continuous line using vertical and horizontal axis

4

24 Sep 2013

P2: Divide your area into two. Left: Fill your area with continuous straight line. Right: Fill your area with continuous straight line without intersection

5

27 Sep 2013

P3H: Summarize the Problem 1 in 9 movements.

P4: Make a composition by emphasizing spaces in P3

6

01 Oct 2013

P5: Make two compositions by emphasizing contrasting themes of “dynamic” and “static”

7

04 Oct 2013

P6: Reproduce Picasso’s drawing (Igor Stravinski) upside down

8

08 Oct 2013

P8: Make a composition which emphasizes symmetrical and asymmetrical balance using triangles out of black cardboard

9

11 Oct 2013

P9H: Make a composition which emphasizes symmetrical and asymmetrical imbalance using triangles out of black cardboard

P10: Make a composition which emphasizes repetition with identical triangles

10

22 Oct 2013

P11H: Find examples for symmetrical/asymmetrical x balance/imbalance

P12: Make a composition which emphasizes repetition with a given shape

11

25 Oct 2013

P13H: Make a composition which emphasizes hierarchy with a given shape

P14: Make a composition which emphasizes hierarchy with a given shape and another you created

12

01 Nov 2013

P15H: Find examples for hierarchy

P16: Make a three-dimensional composition with three tetrahedrons

13

05 Nov 2013

P17H: Take photographs of your three-dimensional composition from 4 characteristic views

P18: Transform your three-dimensional composition into two-dimensional one by emphasizing light and shadow in 4 views

14

08 Nov 2013

P18: Transform your three-dimensional composition into two-dimensional one by emphasizing negative space in 4 views

15

12 Nov 2013

P19H: Prepare color wheel

P20: Summarize an Impressionist painting in 9 color areas

16

15 Nov 2013

P21: Transform P20 to a three-dimensional abstraction using 3 geometrical closed shapes

17

19 Nov 2013

Presentation: Color Theory

18

22 Nov 2013

Jury: Impressionism

19

26 Nov 2013

Jury: Impressionism

20

29 Nov 2013

P22: Make a structure carrying an apple 10 cm high

21

03 Dec 2013

P23: Make 4 different two-dimensional abstractions of a pinecone

22

06 Dec 2013

P24: Make a functional object by abstracting a pinecone

23

10 Dec 2013

Project: Invitation

24

13 Dec 2013

Presentation: Gestalt

25

17 Dec 2013

Preliminary Jury: Functional object

26

19 Dec 2013

Preliminary Jury: Functional object

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Gelmez, K., Bagli, H. Tracing design students’ affective journeys through reflective writing. Int J Technol Des Educ 28, 1061–1081 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10798-017-9424-1

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