A dialogical model for studio critiques in Design Education

Abstract

In this study I present a model of feedback typologies for design education to support sustainable assessments during critique sessions and the results of a qualitative research conducted to evaluate the model impact on the student body. I argue that critique should function as a public social reality where student and faculty meet to talk about Design; it has to be built together within a dynamic exchange of arguments and feedback. The role of critique in design education, in fact, transcends its assessment function. Studio critiques are the moment in which students learn to become members of a community of practice, where the relationships between different members of that community are negotiated, where the ethos of an individual as a designer is voiced, where independent thinking is nurtured, where the culture of egalitarian working space can emerge, where social relationships and professional identities are developed and where self analysis and reflection are mastered.