A design learning cycle: Transforming experience into foundational design learning through reflection

Abstract

The practice-led structure of design education necessitates consideration of experience and experiential learning. Furthermore, the design studio is recognised as an active educational environment where experiential learning can occur. In this vein, this dissertation aims to reveal how first-year design students transform design education experiences into design learning by reflecting on their experiences. In essence, this study raises the question: "How do first-year design students transform their learning experiences into design learning through reflective diaries and journals within the framework of Kolb's (2015) learning cycle?" In line with this aim and scope, a first-year design studio and its stakeholders were thoroughly described using unsolicited reflective diaries during the 2021-2022 academic year at Istanbul Technical University, through the first case study, which is researcher-centred research. Then, the content and function of the reflective notebook were tested by hybridising the solicited reflective diary and weekly journal methods via the second case study, which is student-centred research. For students to reflect deeply on their experiences and gain awareness, metacognitive processes are required. In this context, diaries and weekly journals have been utilised as reflective practices—serving as relatively long-term research and learning tools that enable students to engage in deep, action-based reflection on their experiences, become aware of their learning, and share their insights. The diary section of the notebook is unstructured and serves as source material for the weekly journal section. The weekly journal section, on the other hand, is structured around the learning cycle, a fundamental component of Kolb's (2015) experiential learning theory. Consequently, this dissertation adopts Kolb's (2015) learning cycle, which comprises the stages of concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract conceptualisation, and active experimentation, as a theoretical framework. Based on the findings from these two case studies, I conducted the third case study, a student-centred research project, during the spring semester of 2023-2024. This case study lasted 13 weeks and involved 12 students from two pre-disciplinary first-year design studios, comprising students from the Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Industrial Design departments at Istanbul Technical University Faculty of Architecture. Reflective notebooks were conveyed to students every Monday morning, and the previous week's notebooks were collected. Thanks to this systematic process, the reflective notebooks, which included diary and structured weekly journal sections, went beyond being a medium for voluntary students to document their learning; they triggered metacognitive actions and functioned as part of the learning process. Thus, it was possible to collect student-centred, reflective data to understand and interpret the experiential learning journeys of the volunteer design students, ultimately revealing how they learnt through reflection on their experiences in written and visual forms. A total of 114 notebooks collected from students over an academic semester were analysed using the reflexive thematic analysis method developed by Virginia Braun and Victoria Clarke in 2006. The four stages of the experiential learning cycle were used both in designing the structured weekly journal and as a theoretical framework during the analysis. The entries in the diary section of the notebook served to clarify and elaborate on the statements in the weekly section and were included in the analysis. The four stages of the experiential learning cycle—concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract conceptualisation, and active experimentation—were revisited in the context of first-year design education, and four themes related to these stages were developed: "constructing the grammar of design language" for the concrete experience stage; "observing through comparison, sympathy and empathy" for reflective observation; "three components of conceptualisation: self, critique and self-critique" for abstract conceptualisation; and "inferences and acquisitions within limits" for abstract experimentation. The concrete experience phase comprises "making, research, and collaboration;" the reflective observation comprises "comparison, sympathy, and empathy;" the abstract conceptualisation comprises "self, critique, and self-critique;" and the abstract experimentation comprises "limits, inferences, and acquisitions." As a result, the experiential learning cycle has been revisited in the context of foundation design education, utilising four themes and their notions, which have resulted in the development of a design learning cycle. The design learning cycle consists of four stages, similar to the learning cycle developed by David A. Kolb. However, unlike the learning cycle, this model comprises four bipolar tensions that define the relationships between the three notions in each stage and the relationships of each notion with the notions in the previous and subsequent learning stages. The design learning cycle is not singular like the learning cycle; it is three-layered because it contains three notions specific to each stage, in other words, it contains three cycles. The first cycle, "interpretation of limits," consists of the notions of making, comparison, self, and limits. With this cycle, first-year design students define design and design learning and, as a result, construct their identity as design students. The second cycle, "plans and decisions," consists of the notions of research, sympathy, critique, and inferences. Through this cycle, students gain social benefits, particularly in relation to design learning. The third cycle, "constructing new attitudes," consists of the notions of collaboration, empathy, self-critique, and acquisitions. Through this cycle, students structure critical perspectives that transcend the boundaries of design learning and reshape their attitudes from the past. In summary, the design learning cycle is a detailed version of the learning cycle, a key component of experiential learning theory, within the context of first-year design education. This cycle serves as a theoretical model for explaining how first-year design students learn through reflecting on their experiences. The design learning cycle has the potential to inform the curriculum of the first-year design studio. Therefore, it can serve as a basis for developing project briefs through action research. Furthermore, it can guide the design of learning cycles specific to upper years of design disciplines and other disciplines besides design. Finally, with further studies, incorporating Likert-scale survey questions specific to the design learning cycle into this theoretical model could provide the design learning cycle with a quantitative feature, resulting in a hybrid structure. In this way, it may be possible to identify the dominant learning stages and cycles in each student's learning and develop design learning cycles with different quantitative values specific to each student. Thus, students' design learning can be examined comparatively through quantitative values that differ in design learning stages and cycles.