Online learning for design students

Abstract

During the last five years, many changes have taken place in undergraduate Design education in the UK. The main force behind these changes has been the dramatic increase in the number of students without a commensurate increase in teaching staff. Typically, many Design departments are now teaching at student-staff ratios of up to 50:1 compared with the 10:1 typical of Design courses only a few years ago. With the more recent reductions in highereducation funding, combined with the added pressures on staff to raise their research profile and also become income generators, the problems relating to increased student numbers have been further exacerbated. The authors of this paper believe that in the current educational climate, the only way to maintain and promote the quality of the educational provision is to make teaching and learning more productive and efficient by harnessing modern technology.DOI:10.1080/0968776960040111