Abstract:
In a diverse student cohort, learning can be designed to encourage belonging
and celebrate identity in the classroom. However, in increasingly international
student cohorts, international students can find themselves displaced, living
and working in new environments, and might struggle to find their voice and
express their heritage in the context of their studies. By designing curricula
to encourage storytelling, educators can help students to find their voice and
identity as designers, and create a space for safety, vulnerability, and belonging
in the classroom. As such, this paper is situated in the context of graphic
design higher education and takes the form of a critical reflection, comprising
a self-evaluation of the use of storytelling in the classroom based on the
author’s teaching experience. Rhizomatic learning (Cormier 2008) is discussed
in relation to its application in the context of a graphic design classroom and
its relevance in a curriculum designed to support storytelling. The critical
reflection follows Brookfield’s (2017) model for critically reflective teaching
and takes the form of a series of vignettes featuring student projects – part
of an editorial design project run annually for final-year students in the BA
Information Design programme at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. In
addition to these vignettes, the critical reflection references a design research
workshop run for students of MA Graphic Design at the University for the
Creative Arts in the United Kingdom.
