Supporting Fragility in Distance Design Education

Abstract

This paper outlines work in progress that seeks to support and develop online distance design education for adult learners. At the core of this paper is the belief that design thinking is fragile and the systems we create to support design thinking are fragile. This has important implications for those seeking to implement immersive environments for teaching and learning in disciplines such as engineering, product design, environment design and architecture. This paper suggests we need to look backwards in order to look forwards; that by examining the characteristics of the traditional ‘atelier’ model of art and design education we might observe clues to a framework of teaching and learning in design that can embrace the opportunities presented by new digital technologies. The paper focuses on the use of Second Life as a component of a wider virtual design atelier and explores how Second Life might potentially offers a means of addressing fragile collaborative learning.