Digital story telling in Industrial Design

Abstract

With the massification of higher education (HE) globally, widening access to education has changed the face of the student population. Post-apartheid South Africa in particular has seen a rapid increase in so-called Non-Traditional Students (NTSs). These students are often first-generation HE matriculants, mature, juggling work, family and academic responsibilities, and viewed as academically underprepared. Most suggestions for dealing with NTSs are based on a deficiency model—offering remedial and additional support to struggling students. The authors suggest a move away from this deficit approach to one that focuses on designing and offering innovative teaching and learning practices that are meaningful and accessible to all students, including NTSs. This study examined how digital storytelling would mediate some of the challenges NTSs in a first-year Industrial Design course face. How did the digital storytelling practice help the students deal with some of the challenges they face? In particular, the elements of collaboration and flexibility stood out in terms of mediating the challenges the students reported. Instead of negatively labelling NTSs as problematic, the authors call for disrupting current teaching and learning, concluding that learning activities should be designed to engage all students, offer inclusivity, flexibility and choice.