83. An Exploratory Study on the Changing Modes of Imparting Design Education and Its Effect on Communication Design Outcomes of Students

The past three years has seen a proliferation in the embracing of digital modes of collaboration and interaction in all spheres of one’s life the world over. COVID-19 saw Design schools adopting combination modes of virtual and physical teaching, contradicting the basic premise that “Design as a discipline requires a hands-on face-to-face approach”, by imparting training and teaching through the digital platform. Previous research has shown how different modes of delivery in teaching methodologies have influenced factors like student motivation, course outcomes and creative output, but there has not been much deliberation upon communication design teaching. This paper studies the different modes of imparting design teaching in the traditional face-to-face hands-on training as well as on an online digital platform. The design outputs are studied to discern advantages and challenges of curriculum delivery and student learning, by gauging various parameters. This study compares how design subjects when taught via various modes of delivery like completely offline, completely online, and a combination mode, affect students’ learning outcomes, by documenting and analyzing the design assignments of UG communication design students taking the course. The methods and techniques of the curriculum delivery were examined along with innovations devised for student engagement, the assignments design, etc. The study helped to draw out the key heightening factors of the various modes of imparting communication design and its effect on students’ design-output from the observations and documentation of the tasks performed. Thus strengthening the view that a mixed mode of physical and virtual teaching can benefit communication design students’ design-output. The study proposes a pilot implementation for a few selected subjects of communication design to ensure the best possible student learning and design development through this teaching modality.