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April 06, 2008
Glenn Platt on Graphic Design in the context of Digital Media Programs
Glenn Platt is the Director of Interactive Media Studies at Miami University of Ohio:
Graphic Design & Digital Media Programs: Obstacles and Opportunities
Obstacle
- Curricular Territory
- FTEs
- Facilities
- Faculty Lines
- Promotion & Tenure
- Enrollment Threats
- Funding
- Politics
Opportunity
- Leverage Other Curricula | More With Less
- Cross-Listing
- Use As A “Carrot”
- New Models For Appointments
- Create P&T Committees By Contract
- Require Double Majors
- New Opportunities As Partners
- Establish A Value Proposition
Graphic Design & Digital Media Programs: Questions For Consideration
Isn’t this a systems design problem at its heart? The fact that we even have to place “graphic design” and “digital media” in oppositional terms belies the fundamental problem of institutional structure. As long as we have traditional silo departments in divisions, can there even be resolution to this potential conflict?
Does the redefinition of Design (capital D) to capture the social, technical, visual, auditory, motion, human, and political system-based problem solving, set us up with an impossible task: an academic domain too broad to cover? Consider this: can you prepare a student for the breadth and depth required by an Institute without Boundaries and The Barbarian Group?
Does it demand partnerships that we have not considered?
Co-creation. Non-linear curriculum. No one owns an academic domain. Faculty as partner, not expert. We are our network... This all requires quantum, not incremental, change. Can we do this? Can we afford not to?
Top Down? Bottom Up? Left to Right? Right to Left? Who moves first?
Posted by SWEAT at April 6, 2008 05:00 AM