The workshop as exemplar for flexible learning

Education was adapting to the digital world long before Covid 19 but, as with so many other human activities, the pandemic has given learning a huge shove towards the virtual. Overnight, schools and universities closed and teachers and students had to find ways to do what they do exclusively via the internet. Covid highlighted how critical the social aspect of learning is, and that something extra happens when students and their teacher share a physical space. education needs to be more adventurous and captivating – and, above all, more flexible. To achieve this, three major changes should happen: The first concerns the content, which should emphasise such things as creativity, critical thinking and entrepreneurship, rather than collecting and storing information. The second is that students should have more control over their learning, with the teacher’s role shifting from instructor to curator of learning resources, counsellor and motivator, or "active learning" where students learn in a hands-on way – through discussion and interactive technologies. Thirdly, students learn better from their own or others’ failed attempts to solve a problem, before or even instead of being told how to solve it. Indeed, design education already embodies these proposed changes. For example, the studio/workshop space, essential to creativity, active learning and experimentation, does not and cannot exist apart from the events and activities within which it is implicated. That is, as a socially and culturally produced space, the studio combines the cognitive, the physical and emotional.constituted by human experience, attachment and involvement. Or, simply, design education as a vehicle for learning through the lived experience. Reference: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/nov/08/the-big-idea-should-we-leave-the-classroom-behind