DEL Conference

Join us for a welcome to DEL 2024 from Jerry Soo Tah Keng (Vice President (Academic) & Provost, Nanyang Academy for Fine Arts). About Jerry: Recipient of the Merit Award for the Singapore Furniture Industries Council Furniture Design Competition in 2000, Jerry Soo, a multi-disciplinary designer, has a wealth of experience working in the building,… Read More »Welcome to DEL 2024

Title: Fashion Futures: Design-Led STEM and blended learning for creative innovation Conventional learning and teaching methods are often based on linear thinking following systematic progression. In contrast, design processes are reflective with considerations from multiple perspectives. Design-led STEM curriculum merges creative practice with technological knowledge to foster adaptive problem-solving skills pertinent to real-world challenges. This… Read More »Opening keynote

Environmental education about climate change and adaptation strategies do not have reliable behavioural effects due to the topic’s distance from immediate concerns and reliance on understanding negative consequences that are tangibly felt. To show students how climate futures can be made tangible, we designed a curriculum that creates scenarios for building interactions that express climate… Read More »A Tangible Future: Climate Change Education Using Physical Computing-based Design Provocation

This session explores the transformative journey of a large photography course towards an asynchronous learning mode, showcasing a shift in creative education pedagogy. It explores the adaptability and engagement of students in a predominantly digital learning environment, highlighting the course's evolution from traditional methodologies to a flexible, student-centred approach. By presenting the challenges, strategies for… Read More »Reimagining Creative Education: A Case Study of Transforming a Photography Course to an Asynchronous Learning Mode

Media and content creation classes are available at most higher learning institutes, with assessments and final projects leading to a barrage of student films, ranging from short fiction dramas to feature documentaries. However many of these film projects end up being simply technical exercises and are limited in future use. What if these student film… Read More »Social Documentary Student Film Projects as a Voice for the Under-presented and Vulnerable Groups

This case studies look into enhancing blended learning within the context of General Studies at the Faculty of Art & Design. The objective is to raise passing rates above 85%, adopting Kolb’s experiential learning cycle, with Canvas quizzes as strategies to simplify the submission process, enhancing engagement, and streamlining grading and performance tracking. The application… Read More »Improving Blended Learning with online performance statistics.

An increasingly alienating 21st century has been exacerbating the fragmentation of values, with cultural capitalism eroding the critical power of art. To disrupt this vicious economy of credit (cf. institutional accreditation), debt (cf. psychosomatic indebtedness), and equity (cf. moral validation), let’s make time to consider what can be shared, shouldered, and sustained in common. This… Read More »Beyond Survival: Tactile Technologies and Tentacular Thinking in A Thriving Digital

In the ever-changing landscape of technology, young generations navigate the complexities of a technological world; hence, it is imperative that we, the educators, understand the conditions that foster enriched learning environments that are truly diverse, equitable, and inclusive. As new technologies emerge—such as Mix Reality, the Metaverse, and AI—we must rethink the educational paradigm; however,… Read More »Osmotic Sensoria – a Neurodiverse Learning Space: Cognitive Flexibility through Guided Play

AI in Education has been a growing hot topic over the past several years. But how do you learn to navigate it in a sector where original thinking and creation is key to success? In this session, we’ll explore and discuss a case study about the creation and development of an asynchronous course designed for… Read More »AI for Educators: Creating and curating an open-access asynchronous course

This paper explores the creative potential of using computational graphic art and artificial intelligence (AI) to generate data-driven self-portraits that reveal insights about the individual and the broader human experience. Through the "Data Self-Portrait" project, we examine how students collaborate with AI assistants like ChatGPT to not only collect, analyse, and visualise personal data but… Read More »Data Self-Portrait: Representing Self and Others Through Computational Graphic Art with AI Collaboration

Today’s UI design landscape is rich in ever-evolving visual sensibilities and considerations for emerging designers. Amidst the backdrop of visual appropriation juxtaposed against established design norms propagated by Big Tech, young designers are discovering an unexpected sense of solace and assurance in Brutalism. But what makes Brutalism so appealing, and why are so many digital… Read More »Decoding Brutalism in UI Design: Trend or Timeless? Exploring its Pedagogical Significance, Appeal and Application.

Digital learning is an important way for students to learn alongside in-person sessions, but students can be reluctant to participate in digital learning environments. Asynchronous learning can be key to inclusive, flexible, accessible teaching, supporting peer to peer interactions and reinforcing learning. To explore student engagement in digital learning this case study presents the development… Read More »Activating Digital Learning: A Case Study of an Interactive Pre-sessional Online Module

This case study delves into three noteworthy graduation projects amalgamating entrepreneurship, sustainability, and craft practice within a fashion education context. The projects epitomize groundbreaking strides in social collaboration and digital platforms. Insights from alumni shed light on project motivations and educational strategies fostering student development. Fashion education's blend of tradition and innovation equips students for… Read More »Crafting the Future: Exploring Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Sustainability in Fashion Education

In this interactive session, participants will be guided through a behavior design exercise to create healthy habits that reduce faculty stress. Using a framework developed by Stanford University researcher B.J. Fogg, PhD., faculty will learn the key steps in behavior design and the Fogg Behavior Model. Trained by BJ Fogg, the presenter will help faculty… Read More »Using Behavior Design to Reduce Faculty Stress

During the pandemic I considered we were engaged in an accidental form of the therapeutic practice of self-mirroring; observing ourselves and our teaching through live synchronous video platforms, which is now ubiquitous. (mirǒur: a mirror, a lens, to examine oneself) The potential impacts of this self-observation on our future teaching practice and academic identity are… Read More »Mirǒurnauts: exploring reflective and creative digital practice to navigate pedagogy, academic identity and professional change in the era of artificial intelligence and spatial computing.

This session explores a key question: are we preparing students for an unknown future? It argues that embracing new technologies, like AI and GenAI, is crucial. Case studies will showcase programmes integrating these tools, highlighting how AI can personalise learning, enhance critical thinking, and develop responsible digital citizens. The presentation will explore both the benefits… Read More »Crystal Balls & Classrooms: Can We Prepare Students for the Unknown?

The launch of a new academic model in a specialist postgraduate institution provided an opportunity to ‘try the possibilities of things’ through the introduction of a core unit that invites over 2,200 students to respond to wicked global problems on themes such as Being Digital; Caring Society; Climate Crisis; Justice, Equality and Misinformation. This case… Read More »The possibility of things: A teaching case study on addressing global responsibilities in postgraduate education through an interdisciplinary, collaborative, large scale, and blended learning unit.

Hybrid and Blended learning has seen growth following the COVID-19 pandemic, as traditional learning methods need to be resilient in emergency situations. Therefore, education must be prepared for such circumstances. This case study serves as an example of how workshops between Singapore and Thailand were conducted during the most severe outbreak since the beginning of… Read More »Exploring Learning Strategies in a Digital Age

The explosion of generative AI tools and immediate access to generative AI image software at the end of 2022 sparked seemingly new and urgent conversations about the role of images, the maker and our networked cultures. Would humans now be sidelined? How would we discern what was real? And what of the potential for AI… Read More »“Still You Bloom in this Land of No Gardens”: The Black Female Artist in the Age of AI

Questions around our bodies are constantly evolving. Within the fine arts, life drawing practice and the study of the nude form has had a long pedagogical history, tracing back to Pliny the Elder’s recounting of Zeuxis and his models. While classical academic training has lost relevance in the post-modern art education, life drawing practice continues… Read More »A Teaching Case Study: Expanded Life Drawing

Digital tools and artificial intelligence are disrupting and transforming pedagogies in higher art and design institutions. In this session, we introduce research that advances the notion of 'online dexterity,' framing the technological proficiency of university educators and students not as fixed abilities but as immediate, flexible responses to the evolving landscape of online learning. Utilising… Read More »Online Dexterity—Applications for Enhancing Teachers’ and Students’ Competence and Confidence in Online Spaces in Tertiary Art and Design Education

Authorless Futures" examines the evolving role of AI in art and design, presenting it as a pivotal partner in creative processes. It scrutinizes the impact of synthetic creativity on authorship and artistic expression, envisioning a future where AI and human creativity merge, blurring traditional roles and boundaries. This study advocates for a paradigm shift towards… Read More »Authorless Futures: Redefining Authorship. AI, Synthetic Creativity, and the Future of Design.

Global megatrends predict that virtual reality will transform numerous facets of human existence. Sculpting is currently feasible with the aid of this technology. Could the spatial interaction capabilities of virtual reality be advantageous in the context of sculpting? By employing a practice-based methodology, the investigator has constructed a virtual reality sculpting framework in this investigation.… Read More »Fabricating ‘the skull of Thotsakan’ using virtual reality sculpting