DesignwithDigitalMedia

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DESIGNPrinciples & Practices:
An International Journal
Volume 4
Design with Digital Media: A Skills Development
Framework Model
Ron Keller

DESIGN PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES: AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL
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Design with Digital Media: A Skills Development
Framework Model
Ron Keller, University of Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
Abstract: The object of this paper is to propose a skill development framework for the assessment and
the advancement of Tertiary Design Students’ skills in the practice of Design with Digital Media. The
rationale for the proposal revolves around two assumptions. The first assumption recognizes that
design with digital media student cohorts are increasingly defined by their cross-cultural and cross-
disciplinary profiles and that this demands an additional scale and latitude in assessment, evaluation
and skills development strategies. The second assumption suggests that the use of a flexible and cus-
tomisable set of frameworks could support existing assessment and evaluation tools by substantiating
the delivery of individual and targeted feedback to learners whose array of skills and cultural points
of references are indeed diverse. The model of such a framework and a scenario for its application,
in particular for diagnostic and summative assessments, is introduced and proposed for discussion in
this paper. The proposed model, referred to as a Skills Development Framework, presents itself as a
triptych of sub-frames; each of the three sub-frames ponders the ‘Level of Autonomy’ for a distinct
‘Facet of Practice’ in the realm of design with digital media: • Reflective Practice and Creative Process
• Computer Literacy and Interaction with Technology • Purposeful Practice and Communication Ob-
jectives The main objective of this Skills Development Framework is first and foremost to verbalise
and contextualize, from a learner-centered perspective, the incremental attainment of discipline spe-
cific targets based on a subject-centered curriculum. Its functional objective is to provide instructors
with the latitude of an incremental ladder for the assessment and diagnosis of student skill levels and
the subsequent delivery of consistent and constructive feedback. Finally, the informal objective of this
Skills Development Framework is to acknowledge cultural and disciplinary differences by focusing
on levels of student autonomy and different facets of practice in the realm of design with digital media.
Keywords: Design, Digital Media, Tertiary, Cross-cultural, Cross-disciplinary, Assessment, Evaluation,
Diagnostic, Development
Introduction
“As the unity of the modern world becomes increasingly a technological rather than a
social affair, the techniques of the arts provide the most valuable means of insight into
the real direction of our own collective purposes.”
Marshall McLuhan
T
EACHING DESIGN AT tertiary level has become at least as complex as designing.
This is in large part due to the increasingly cross-disciplinary and cross-cultural
composition of contemporary Design student cohorts and their unencumbered
movement across all disciplines, cultures and mediums, for reference, inspiration
and praxis. In the classroom, Design often becomes an exercise in simulating problem-
solving (or re-representation) rather than an informed attempt to solve a problem. In the age
Design Principles and Practices: An International Journal
Volume 4, 2010, http://www.Design-Journal.com, ISSN 1833-1874
© Common Ground, Ron Keller, All Rights Reserved, Permissions:
cg-support@commongroundpublishing.com

of digital media, the proliferation of disembodied and fragmented information carried by
multimedia artefacts is accelerated and multiplied in a mass mediated and cross-cultural
context. The elliptical repetition of simulated content is doomed to be redundant and mean-
ingless.
Concerns about such a phenomenon and its unfathomable sociological consequences
where first expressed in the seventies through the post-modern notion of Semiurgy (Berger,
1972) and further pondered by Mc Luhan.
In design theory this Semiurgic acceleration must be countered by increasing the level of
awareness and recognition of the phenomenon itself and the cultural responsibility that comes
with it. In the context of academia, this compulsive need to explore, amalgamate and recon-
figure technology, content and meaning drawn from an array of disciplines and cultures is
ethically unconventional. It demands a greater flexibility in terms of assessment, evaluation,
feedback and skill development.
The proposition made here is to supplement existing academic protocols with a flexible
tool that could deal with shifting layers of disciplinary and cultural complexity, whilst also
providing a framework for consistent and coherent skill development.
The case for such a tool is made in this paper by exploring the adaptability of the Research
Skill Development concept (Willison and O’Regan, 2007) for a Master of Design in Digital
Media program. The form, content and application of such a conceptual framework model
are discussed in this paper.
Cross-cultural and Cross-disciplinary Student Cohorts
Over the last 10 years the acceleration, in terms of performance, manageability, distribution
and meaning, of digital media content production methods and tools, has generated a much
wider appeal of design in digital media studies for prospective graduate students from other
disciplines. Visualisation, 3D modelling, interactive presentations, dynamic content for
websites, DVD authoring & publishing, graphical user interface design, mobile user applic-
ations, gaming environs, digital animation, etc. are all part of a growing cluster of digital
media forms that have become essential for the virtual existence of companies and individuals
in new media channels and outlets. Consequently, a growing range of skills associated with
digital media content development, production and publication have also become relevant
and desirable for graduates from nearly all other disciplines.
Progressive universities and schools of applied sciences are reshaping their design programs
and broadening their entry criteria to absorb this increasing demand. The phenomenon of
cross-disciplinary and cross-cultural proliferation is further exacerbated by the appeal and
facilitation of international studies. In Europe and elsewhere, the effects of the Bologna
Declaration are apparent, notably with the generalisation of the Bachelor and the Master
Degrees. Institutions across participating countries are noticing an increase in vertical mobility
in higher education where students complete a Bachelor degree in one institution and a
Masters Degree in another (Dufour, 2008).
The long-term implications of this trend for tertiary design education are difficult to anti-
cipate and substantiate for lack of adequate data and data analysis. However, because of its
particularly strong cross-disciplinary appeal, the impact on the Digital Media stream in
Design education is already perceptible. The Master of Design in Digital Media (MDM)
program at the University of Adelaide in South Australia exemplifies this need for new

strategies because it attracts students and post-professionals from various disciplines and
backgrounds. As a result, student cohorts engaged in the program reveal disparate levels of
competence, knowledge, praxis and skill, characterised by a heterogeneous blend of cultural,
political and ethnical sensibilities.
Whilst this eclecticism can stimulate creativity, it is also problematic for existing assessment
and evaluation protocols tailored to support academic guidelines, graduate attributes, course
attributes and a subject-centered curriculum. In such a configuration, disciplinary and cultural
differences often remain implicit throughout the learning period - and are in effect destined
to be ironed-out rather than acknowledged as a resource, to be monitored and consistently
developed as assets.
A Case for a New Pedagogical Tool
“I am interested in ideas, not merely in visual products.” Marcel Duchamp
The Master of Design in Digital Media is a progressive program that combines the introduc-
tion of new digital media paraphernalia with the study of traditional methodologies and
principles of reflective practice. The curriculum is structured around Design theory, Design
process and Design outcome, combined in a modular structure and delivered through weekly
lectures, tutorial sessions and Design studio sessions over a period of 2 years.
Figure 1: A Basic Synoptic Overview of the Design Program
Assignments or projects support the subject-centred core of the course and provide the context
for the practice-based Design Studio. In the Design Studio, instructors foster the development
of design skills and autonomy through practice, notably by engaging learners in a regular
dialogical exchange. This contextual and repeated dialogical interaction between instructors
and learners is of paramount importance for design instruction and reflective practice.
Dialogical events are traditionally and by definition conducted orally. At their best, they
are focused, meaningful and effective. At their worst, they can be erratic, incoherent or un-
requited. Bearing in mind disciplinary and cultural differences, the latter can occur even if
the curriculum is well designed and instructed, because subjective imponderables such as
motivation, connivance, eloquence, and language, can all impair the quality of the exchange.
These imponderables are often the result of, or are further exacerbated by, layers of discip-
linary and cultural complexity that characterise contemporary design student cohorts.
RON KELLER

Although the occurrence and frequency of such discrepancies and misunderstandings can
be noted, they can also often seem of minor importance and trivial. However, it is arguable
that their cumulative effect is likely to become visible, and thus detrimental, only at the end
of the learning period.
For example in the particular context of a final presentation, a great concept, the result of
a solid development, could well be undervalued if misrepresented (e.g. poor oral skills or
wording), and by the same account, a stylish but superficial idea could well be valued too
highly (e.g. spectacular visuals but poor site architecture).
Assessment criteria for final presentations are designed to measure the degrees of success
or failure of the visible outcome of a learning period and although they may include an
evaluation of the process, as in a reflective journal, in the immediacy of a final presentation,
it is literally face value that counts. As a result, when cognitive and volitional values, ex-
pressed by distinctive learners, are slightly different or even conflicting with those embedded
in assessment criteria, they impact on grades but are left unanswered in the often formulaic
prose of final presentation feedback.
Consequently, the acquisition of new skills during the learning period and more particularly
the discerning use and development of existing skills by the student can be compromised
and his potential unfulfilled.
The objective of the Skill Development Framework is then to provide teachers and students
with an alternative student-centred protocol that offers the latitude to measure and develop
individual skills within the program curriculum. The context of the Design Studio, and more
particularly the dialogical event in its traditionally oral form, is the natural premise for the
introduction of the Design Skill Development Framework concept as a consistent and coherent
reference tool for both teacher and student.
Towards a Working Model for a Design Skills Development Framework
To be effective and functional as a consistent reference for teachers and learners in the context
of a dialogical exchange the framework should be visualised as a synoptic map of a design
skills continuum. From a diagnostic point of view, the framework could be seen as a map
of the design continuum (as a reflection of the curriculum) to chart the position of individual
learners throughout the learning-period and even beyond. As such it has a starting point and
an end point, but while movement from and in between these points is not necessarily incre-
mental it should always be coherent. In terms of practice at Master’s level, this movement
can perhaps be described as the movement from talented to adroit to highly-proficient and
in terms of autonomy it could be described as the movement from dependent to independent
to reflective.
As a starting point for the elaboration of such a map, general design skills should be seen
as a cluster. In the first round of refinement, this cluster is reduced into 2 groups; one group
is dedicated to subject-centred skills and the other to student-centred skills. In this case, the
first group refers directly to skills related to design in digital media and is aligned to the ex-
isting curriculum. The second group on the other hand should anticipate on the variety of
cross-disciplinary and cross-cultural skills related to design in digital media and could be
aligned with the entry requirements to the program (e.g. portfolio benchmark). Following
the original RSD model, the first group will be further refined as Facets of Practice and the
second group expressed as Levels of Student Autonomy.

Figure 2: A Breakdown of a Design Skills Cluster towards Subject and Student-centred
Topics
Levels of Autonomy
Autonomy is widely acknowledged and documented as an important aim in education (Boud,
1981). For Willison and O’Regan – autonomy ranges from student engagement with closed
assignments directed towards a pre-determined outcome, involving a high level of structure
and guidance, using prescribed methods and processes, through to open assignments involving
high levels of autonomy and self-determination in terms of what is produced and for what
purpose – and although they are referring to research, this is also relevant for students in a
Design program. However, to answer for the explicit objective of alleviating cross-cultural
and cross-disciplinary differences, more context-specific levels must be built into the
frameworks. The scission into three distinct facets of practice will also help to achieve this,
particularly where cross-disciplinary skills are concerned.
Facets of Practice
The second round of refinement identifies three key topics as the essential and distinct facets
necessary for the practice of design in digital media. By making a distinction between these
key-topics, the framework is made more functional as a tool and can be applied more effi-
ciently and consistently during the dialogical event. Each of the three facets represents a
string of topical items that refer directly to the Curriculum.
• Reflective Practice and Creative Process (e.g. methodology, ideation, ethos, rules and
contingency, praxis, etc.)
• Computer Literacy and Interaction with Technology (e.g. visualisation, workflow,
compositing, programming, GUI, etc.)
• Purposeful Practice and Communication Objectives (e.g.concept development, visual
communication, causal representation, narrative, etc.)
RON KELLER

Each facet of practice is described in its own framework and is pondered against levels of
student autonomy. The Design in Digital Media Skill Development Framework is represented
as a triptych.
Figure 3: A Synoptic View of the DDMSD Triptych Framework Structure
In its initial version, the declination of facets and levels through the framework would follow
the original model, i.e. Facets of Reflective Practice and Creative Process from A to F,
pondered against 5 degrees of student autonomy, as successive levels from 1 to 5.
Figure 4: Topical Synoptic View of the Triptych
How this tentative model might be used in practice can be demonstrated briefly by comparing
the acquired skills level (related to design in digital media skills) of three different types of
students enrolled in a Master of Design in Digital Media program and reflecting on how this
affects their positioning inside the Design Skills Continuum of the Design (in Digital Media)
Skills Development framework.
Student A is a Fashion Design Graduate, student B is a Computer Science Graduate and
student C is a continuing Design Studies Graduate with a major in Landscape Architecture.
In a pre-semester diagnostic assessment based on their transcripts, portfolio(s) and an inter-

view, one could anticipate the following: that student A is at ease with notions of style,
sketching, seasonal colour palettes, has a strong tactile connection to his medium and has
some experience with CAD; that student B is at ease with standard programming protocols,
working with a rule-driven system, is a consummate gamer and relates to his medium via a
customised graphical user interface; and that student C is at ease with the concept of building
a sustainable environment, on site surveying, sketching and recording of flora, and basic
computer operation and publication of multimedia presentations.
While these are admittedly stereotypical descriptions, they are evocative of the variation
in acquired skills that are brought to a program by Master of Design in Digital Media students.
All three students enter the program at the same time, yet the skills they need to develop
during the initial learning period will be quite different. In effect, student A is likely to rate
well in facets of Reflective Practice and Creative Process with an intermediate level of
autonomy. On the other hand the same student will probably rate low in facets of Computer
Literacy and Interaction with Technology and show a low level of Autonomy.
The framework is then used at regular intervals, first to determine the position of each
student and subsequently to monitor their movement within the Design Skill Continuum.
During the dialogical event, each student is encouraged to discuss and ponder this diagnosis
and elaborate, together with the teacher a strategy for skill development and the acquisition
of new skills. In effect, students are made aware of what is expected and what they can
achieve. This is also an opportunity to acknowledge their individual skills (disciplinary and
cultural) and discuss their relevance to the program. Whilst the element of evaluation and
assessment is not removed from the discussion, the design skills continuum described in the
framework gives the latitude, to both teacher and learner, to discuss individual skill develop-
ment and the acquisition of new skills.
Furthermore, whilst cultural differences are not to be discounted from this argumentation,
it is not the role of the skill development framework to include allusions to ethnographic
differences in the practice of design in digital media. However, because the framework would
provide a consistent textual support for a regular dialogical exchange between student and
teacher, students may find it easier to express themselves in this regard, while teachers have
the opportunity to acknowledge and comment on relevant issues. Dialogue in this instance
should not be seen as a solution in itself, but at the very least it can inform students and
teachers alike by initiating discussion, debate and communication outside of the pressures
and constraints of assessment and evaluation criteria.
Afterword
The architecture of a student-centred pedagogical tool that could supplement existing assess-
ment and evaluation protocols for tertiary design studies and its objectives are outlined in
this paper. Admittedly, some of the reflections are speculative and are to be reconsidered in
light of a practice-based research project. The development of a working model for a specific
Design Studies program is the next phase of this project. Subsequently, such a working
model should be tested in practice to be substantiated by data, surveys and regular adjustments.
Such a study could also contribute to the sociological debate on the notion of Semiurgy from
the point of view of those who are responsible for at least one aspect of the acceleration and
proliferation of signs.
RON KELLER

The intended outcome is a higher degree of specialization, proficiency and discernment
for finishing students, and a better degree of preparation for the professional practice of
design in a hyper-mediated and global market where contemporary communication in terms
of Design, has essentially become an exercise in Simulation (or re-representation) rather
than Information.
References
Berger, René. La Mutation des signes, 1972. Paris: Denoel, 1972
Duchamp, Marcel. The Museum of Modern Art Bulletin, New York: The Museum of Modern Art,
1946, pp. 19–21.
Dufour, Nicolas. “Bologne-HES: De nouveaux cursus, un nouveau paysage académique”. Le Temps
(18 March 2008)
McLuhan Herbert Marshall, Transcript from Speaking Freely hosted by Edwin Newman features
Marshall McLuhan 4 Jan 1971, Public Broadcasting/N.E.T.
McLuhan Herbert Marshall. “Magic that Changes Mood.” In The Mechanical Bride, New York:
Vanguard Press,1951. Gingko, 2002.
Willison, J. and O’Regan, K. (2007). “Commonly known, commonly not known, totally unknown: a
framework for students becoming researchers”. Higher Education Research and Development
(December 2007) 26 (4) pp393-409.
About the Author
Ron Keller
After obtaining an undergraduate degree in Business Administration in 1989, I was hired
by multinational company Philip Morris International based in Lausanne Switzerland where
I spent 5 years working in sales, promotion and marketing for the domestic market. When
in 1994 the ArtCentre College of Design Europe accepted my application I resigned from
my position as Posm & Marketing Coordinator to enrol in the Bachelor of Fine Arts program.
In 1996, I transferred to the Los Angeles campus of the ArtCentre College of Design in
Pasadena and in 1998 I graduated with a Bachelor Degree of Fine Arts in Graphic Design
and Packaging. After a few years of freelance work and participation in various visual arts
projects - I moved from Los Angeles to Copenhagen and eventually back to Lausanne,
Switzerland whilst always working in the realm of Visual Arts. In 2005, a growing interest
in Digital Media prompted a move to Adelaide, South Australia, where I renewed old family
ties and studied for a Master Degree in Design Studies - Digital Media at the University of
Adelaide. Graduating in 2006 he then worked as a freelance designer for the School of Ar-
chitecture, Landscape Architecture and Urban Design and the School of Computer Science
- also enjoying regular casual stints as a demonstrator, tutor and lecturer in Digital Media
for the former. Continuous exposure to an academic environment both as a Student and a
Lecturer gave me some insight into the difficulties of teaching design to a cohort with diverse
cultural and disciplinary backgrounds. To consolidate my qualifications as a University
teacher I enrolled in a Grad. Cert. of Higher Education course where I came to study Cur-
riculum Design, Assessment and Evaluation techniques and eventually develop some ideas
of my own by adapting a model of the Research Skill Development Framework (Willison
and O'Regan - 2006) for a Masters Course in Digital Media.

EDITORS
Bill Cope, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA.
Mary Kalantzis, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA
EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD
Genevieve Bell, Intel Corporation, Santa Clara, USA.
Michael Biggs, University of Hertfordshire, Hertfordshire, UK.
Thomas Binder, Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Jeanette Blomberg, IBM Almaden Research Center, San Jose, USA.
Eva Brandt, Danmark Designskole, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Peter Burrows, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia.
Monika Büscher, Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK.
Patrick Dillon, Exeter University, Exeter, UK.
Kees Dorst, TUe, The Netherlands; UTS, Australia.
Ken Friedman, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia;
Denmark’s Design School, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Michael Gibson, University of North Texas, Denton, USA.
Judith Gregory, IIT Institute of Design, Chicago, USA; University of Oslo,
Oslo, Norway.
Clive Holtham, City of London University, London, UK.
Hiroshi Ishii, MIT Media Lab, Cambridge, USA.
Gianni Jacucci, University of Trento, Trento, Italy.
Klaus Krippendorff, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA.
Terence Love, Curtin University, Perth, Australia.
Bill Lucas, MAYA Fellow, MAYA Design, Inc., Pittsburgh, USA.
Ezio Manzini, Politecnico of Milano, Milan, Italy.
Julian Orr, Work Practice & Technology Associates, Pescadero, USA.
Mahendra Patel, Leaf Design, Mumbai, India.
Toni Robertson, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
Terry Rosenberg, Goldsmiths, University of London, London, UK.
Keith Russell, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, Australia.
Liz Sanders, Make Tools, USA.
Maria Cecilia Loschiavo dos Santos, University of São Paulo,
São Paulo, Brazil.
Lucy Suchman, Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK.
Ina Wagner, Technical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
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