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New Learning Environments in Design and Craft Education - Acknowledging the 'Learning' of Design Literacy

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Title: New Learning Environments in Design and Craft Education - Acknowledging the 'Learning' of Design Literacy
Language: English
Authors: Hanna Hofverberg
Source: International Journal of Art & Design Education. 2024 43(2):320-332.
Availability: Wiley. Available from: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030. Tel: 800-835-6770; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: https://www.wiley.com/en-us
Peer Reviewed: Y
Page Count: 13
Publication Date: 2024
Document Type: Journal Articles
Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education
Postsecondary Education
Descriptors: COVID-19, Pandemics, Educational Environment, Handicrafts, Woodworking, Design Crafts, Blended Learning, Home Programs, Problem Solving, Student Teachers, Skill Development, Universities, Electronic Learning
DOI: 10.1111/jade.12505
ISSN: 1476-8062
Abstract: The aim of this paper is to contribute to the concept of design literacy by exploring what it means to learn design literacy through making. To support my argumentation, I draw on a case study where I followed two student teachers of design and craft as they learned design literacy through woodworking. Due to COVID-19, the learning environment was located at the students' homes rather than the design and craft studio at the university. Two research questions guide the case study: What stories does the student recall from learning woodworking and what do these stories provide that are relevant for learning design literacy? Three 'making' stories are presented from the case study: (1) Making with the unknown, (2) Making alone educationally, and (3) The affective and embodied making. These stories provide numerous making skills that are relevant when teaching and learning for design literacy, which is further discussed in the paper.
Abstractor: As Provided
Entry Date: 2024
Accession Number: EJ1423759
Database: ERIC
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  Value: <anid>AN0177114564;q0t01may.24;2024May10.06:20;v2.2.500</anid> <title id="AN0177114564-1">New Learning Environments in Design and Craft Education – Acknowledging the Learning of Design Literacy </title> <p>The aim of this paper is to contribute to the concept of design literacy by exploring what it means to learn design literacy through making. To support my argumentation, I draw on a case study where I followed two student teachers of design and craft as they learned design literacy through woodworking. Due to Covid‐19, the learning environment was located at the students' homes rather than the design and craft studio at the university. Two research questions guide the case study: What stories does the student recall from learning woodworking and what do these stories provide that are relevant for learning design literacy? Three 'making' stories are presented from the case study: (<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref1">1</reflink>) Making with the unknown, (<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref2">2</reflink>) Making alone educationally, and (<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref3">3</reflink>) The affective and embodied making. These stories provide numerous making skills that are relevant when teaching and learning for design literacy, which is further discussed in the paper.</p> <p>Keywords: crafting; design literacy; learning; learning environments; woodworking</p> <hd id="AN0177114564-2">Introduction</hd> <p>During the last decades, there has been a significant shift in learning environments for design and craft. With the widespread availability of internet resources and online tutorials, it has become easier than ever to learn new skills and techniques from home. This shift in learning environments has also impacted formal education, with teachers exploring new ways to incorporate online resources and digital tools into their practices as well as developing distance teaching and learning. But what happens to the learning process of making in formal education when the physical setting changes from a craft studio to a home studio? This question is explored in this paper with the aim of contributing knowledge about learning design and craft, specifically to the concept of design literacy.</p> <p>As a case study, the paper presents the experiences of two students taking a woodworking course from home, due to the COVID‐19 lockdown in the spring of 2020. The course incorporated some online teaching but they were learning at home for the majority of time. By acknowledging design literacy as a process of answering to the world rather than acting upon the world, the paper sheds light on the learning process of design literacy through woodworking. Theoretically, the argument builds upon on Tim Ingold's ([<reflink idref="bib12" id="ref4">12</reflink>], [<reflink idref="bib13" id="ref5">13</reflink>]) making theory – that we learn to tell stories about the world by answering to the world in correspondence. Two research questions guide this case study: What stories does the student recall from learning woodworking at home and what do these stories provide that are relevant for learning design literacy?</p> <p>Firstly, I present past research on design literacy through making, which is followed by the theoretical stance of design literacy as a making activity. I then present the case study and the methodology used in the paper before reporting the case study results where the making stories are outlined. Drawing on the results of the case study, the paper concludes by discussing the challenges and opportunities of learning design literacy that the making stories provide.</p> <hd id="AN0177114564-3">Design literacy through making</hd> <p>The original definition of literacy is the ability to read, but over the past few decades the meaning has expanded significantly and new literacies have been developed, such as information literacy (Greene <emph>et al</emph>. [<reflink idref="bib7" id="ref6">7</reflink>]), technological literacy (Barnett [<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref7">1</reflink>]), eco‐literacy (Orr [<reflink idref="bib19" id="ref8">19</reflink>]) and so forth. In his work, Gee ([<reflink idref="bib6" id="ref9">6</reflink>]) presents a definition for the concept of 'new literacy studies', aiming to offer a holistic comprehension of literacy encompassing diverse dimensions like cognitive, social, interactional, cultural, political, institutional, economic, moral and historical contexts. The topic of design literacy can mean many things. In her research, Lutnæs ([<reflink idref="bib16" id="ref10">16</reflink>]) identifies four 'narratives' for design literacy. They are (<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref11">1</reflink>) awareness through making, (<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref12">2</reflink>) empower for change and citizen participation, (<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref13">3</reflink>) address complexity of real‐world problems and (<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref14">4</reflink>) participate in design processes. For this paper, the first narrative is of particular interest as the input for learning is through making. Lutnæs contends that in the process of making, makers transform materials to externalise ideas, and in the making, they connect both to the physical reality and the conceptual to articulate meaning.</p> <p>In the process of making, researchers argue that certain skills are learnt. For example, Nielsen & Brænne ([<reflink idref="bib18" id="ref15">18</reflink>]) argue that engaging in hands‐on making with physical material enables students to grasp both the temporal and energetic dimension associated with production. Similarly, Marchand ([<reflink idref="bib17" id="ref16">17</reflink>]) addresses in various ways how craftwork is a process of problem‐solving and recognises the methodologies of craft making through which challenges arise, are sought, conceptualised and ultimately resolved. The way in which craft making is learnt, however, is not always an easy path. Illum ([<reflink idref="bib8" id="ref17">8</reflink>]) shows how craft making is a dialogue through hearing, feeling and touching. The knowledge is thus learnt through bodily experiences, but as Illum & Johansson ([<reflink idref="bib11" id="ref18">11</reflink>]) show, the teacher's experiences are also very important in the learning process as s/he guides the students in dialogue with the material to acknowledge the bodily knowledge of what, for example, 'soft enough' feels like. Regarding the acquisition of knowledge through hands‐on experiences, Johansson & Lindberg ([<reflink idref="bib15" id="ref19">15</reflink>]) demonstrate through empirical examples from teaching and learning craft that understanding certain aspects evolves with accumulating experience, using the straight line in a fabric when making clothes as an example. The researchers assert that it is within moments of uncertainty that novel experiences and the acquisition of new insights take shape. The uncertainties, however, may also bring emotions of both pleasure and displeasure, which Westerlund ([<reflink idref="bib20" id="ref20">20</reflink>]) illustrates in her research, dependent on the student's control of their process. A key issue when teaching design and craft, according to Westerlund, is the ability to stay in the emotional practice and to work with the four different stages of emotions: repudiating, insecure, accepting and incorporating the emotional practice (Westerlund [<reflink idref="bib20" id="ref21">20</reflink>]).</p> <p>In summary, when learning design literacy through making, makers transform materials and connect both to the physical reality and the conceptual to articulate meaning. In the embodied experience of learning craft – where the maker is directed in dialogue with the material – the teacher's experiences are important to guide the student. In addition, the students' capability to embrace uncertainties is also of great value in the learning process. But <emph>how</emph> these making skills are learned is not as thoroughly researched, especially when the learning process does not have a teacher or master. Therefore, this case study can help us provide further insights into what it means to learn design literacy through making at home. This knowledge should interest those who care about educating for design literacy in general and those who are interested in the changing landscape of new learning environments.</p> <hd id="AN0177114564-4">Theoretical framework: design literacy as a practice of correspondence</hd> <p>As a theoretical framework, the examination draws on Ingold's ([<reflink idref="bib12" id="ref22">12</reflink>]) concept of making and specifically his concept of making as a practice of correspondence (cf. Hofverberg [<reflink idref="bib9" id="ref23">9</reflink>], [<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref24">10</reflink>]). A common notion when designing and making products, according to Ingold ([<reflink idref="bib12" id="ref25">12</reflink>]), is that the process of making begins with a cognitive idea, which is then imposed upon the material. However, Ingold advocates a different perspective on the matter, namely that making is a process of growth where the maker is placed among materials, and in the making process the maker 'joins forces' with the materials (2011, p. 21). Rather than acting upon the material, the maker answers to the materials, which Ingold defines as a practice of correspondence. In this paper, I will use the term correspondence to describe how students interact with the world, or <emph>transact</emph> as Dewey ([<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref26">3</reflink>]; cf. Ingold [<reflink idref="bib14" id="ref27">14</reflink>]) defines it. When a person 'joins forces' with a material in the making activity, it is not a case of 'two closed parties connecting with some kind of bridging operation' (Ingold [<reflink idref="bib13" id="ref28">13</reflink>], p. 107; cf. Dewey & Bentley [<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref29">4</reflink>]). Instead, correspondence implies that the parties are open to each other and thus correspond or to use Dewey's term, they transact. This line of thought, the practice of correspondence, has important implications for design literacy, as it emphasises learning through actions with materials (answering to them) rather than learning about material through observation and representation. The way we talk about this phenomenon can, however, trick us here. Ingold writes:</p> <p>We say ′the wind is blowing′, because the subject‐verb structure of the English language makes it difficult to express it otherwise. But in truth, we know that the wind is its blowing. Similarly, the stream is the running water. And so, too, I am what I am doing. I am not an agent, but a hive of activity. (2011, 17)</p> <p>From this stance, a maker is what s/he is doing and from actions the maker produces knowledge from within. It is also, according to Ingold, this process of actively engaging with the world that we generate knowledge by developing our ability to tell stories. To tell stories about the world involves both the ability to recognise subtle cues in the environment and respond with judgement and precision. Thus, learning design literacy as a practice of correspondence is defined as learning to tell stories from within as one is answering to the world in correspondence.</p> <hd id="AN0177114564-5">The case study – students learning woodworking at home</hd> <p>To contribute with knowledge about learning design literacy in a new learning environment, the paper presents findings from a case study in Sweden conducted in the spring of 2020. Rather than learning in the studio at the university, the students were required to take the course via distance study due to COVID‐19 restrictions. The course was offered to second‐year student teachers in craft education and each student received a box with hand tools for woodworking and wood, from which they were instructed to design and craft products. The course assignments were to design various products and, for this paper, I follow the making of one of them, namely the making of an automation – a self‐operating machine with two moving elements. The project lasted about 5 weeks during which time the students met on Zoom with the course teacher who demonstrated some key techniques. The students could also view numerous instructional videos, such as Paul Seller's videos that show woodworking techniques. Participation in the research project was voluntary, which resulted in two students signing up. The researcher was not teaching or taking part in the course.</p> <p>Given the COVID‐19 restrictions and since the assignment was carried out in the students' homes, the learning environment can be said to be similar to the type of learning environment that has increased in the last decade, where many people learn design and making at home with instructions from the internet. For this paper, I draw on empirical data produced from four interviews with two students and their video diaries filmed during the process. The interviews were conducted on Zoom, and each interview was about one‐hour long. The first interview was at the beginning of the course and the second after the automation assignment was completed. The video diaries consisted of shorter film clips, where the students filmed themselves working and talking about what they were doing and how the processes were evolving. The main source for this paper is the interviews. However, the interviews are informed by the video diaries, which gave insight into the process, and could recall some of the actions, emotions and happenings that appeared in the video clips. As the researcher did not take part of the course, the interviews became quite informal, where two people met to talk in the moment about how this new experience of learning at home evolved. As a researcher, I felt curious about the whole project and my experience was that the students wanted to share their experiences too, as this had never happened before.</p> <p>The analysis is grounded in a content analysis (David & Sutton [<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref30">2</reflink>]) and deductive coding using Ingold's ([<reflink idref="bib12" id="ref31">12</reflink>], [<reflink idref="bib13" id="ref32">13</reflink>]) practice of correspondence as a theoretical guide when generating the stories (Ingold [<reflink idref="bib13" id="ref33">13</reflink>]). To generate stories, I watched the video clips and interviews and selected sections and transcripts where the student talked about or expressed learning with the material. For example, when the student talked about how s/he felt encountering the material, that transcript was selected. In the second step, stories were identified that the student recalled from the design and making process and how s/he moved forward through encountering and responding to the material. Therefore, in the transcript it was the correspondence – the back‐and‐forth actions between student and the material – that were selected. For example, when something did not evolve as the student wanted or expected, and importantly, how s/he continued and answered to the material despite this. These selected transcripts were grouped together based on similarities and differences (Esiasson <emph>et al</emph>. [<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref34">5</reflink>]), and the stories were given a name based on content. To make these stories relevant for design literacy and give further insights on what it could mean to learn to 'read the world', I looked for specific qualities expressed in the stories to identify what I call the 'making skill' that the stories give witness to. This is the third step of the analysis. For example, one of the students talked about how the absence of a bodily experience with the material provided constraints for her to move forward and that she needed to overcome these experiences of not knowing what to do. In this step, I identified the making skill when learning to answer to the world in the results described in Table 1. Together, these analyses answer the research questions: What stories does the student recall from learning woodworking at home and what do these stories provide that are relevant for learning design literacy?</p> <p>1 TABLE A summary of the stories, examples and the making skill that emerged from the case study</p> <p> <ephtml> <table><thead valign="bottom"><tr><th align="left">Story</th><th align="left">Example</th><th align="left">Making skill</th></tr></thead><tbody valign="top"><tr><td align="left">Making with the unknown</td><td align="left"><list list-type="Bullet"><list-item><p>Alone with the material</p></list-item><list-item><p>Making a draft is impossible</p></list-item><list-item><p>Give the process time</p></list-item></list></td><td align="left"><list list-type="Bullet"><list-item><p>Dare to enter the unknown</p></list-item><list-item><p>Learn through bodily experiences what to pay attention to</p></list-item><list-item><p>Dare to give the process time</p></list-item></list></td></tr><tr><td align="left">Making alone, educationally</td><td align="left"><list list-type="Bullet"><list-item><p>The time and care it takes to make something well</p></list-item><list-item><p>Difference between the visual and the physical in making</p></list-item></list></td><td align="left"><list list-type="Bullet"><list-item><p>Know what to pay attention to and give the critical moments careful time</p></list-item><list-item><p>Patience and knowing that the making will take time, i.e. a skill of slowness</p></list-item></list></td></tr><tr><td align="left">The affective and embodied making</td><td align="left"><list list-type="Bullet"><list-item><p>Experiencing emotions: frustration, anger, relief, happiness, exhaustion, performance anxiety</p></list-item><list-item><p>Experiencing identity work through making</p></list-item></list></td><td align="left"><list list-type="Bullet"><list-item><p>Show the capability to work it through with emotions</p></list-item><list-item><p>Learn what one can and cannot do</p></list-item><list-item><p>Accept the limitations of what one can do in a specific moment</p></list-item></list></td></tr></tbody></table> </ephtml> </p> <hd id="AN0177114564-6">Three stories of making, emerging in home learning environments</hd> <p>From the empirical data, three stories of making were possible to identify. These three stories are as follows: (<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref35">1</reflink>) <emph>Making with the unknown</emph>, (<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref36">2</reflink>) <emph>Making alone</emph>, <emph>educationally</emph>, and (<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref37">3</reflink>) <emph>The affective and embodied making</emph>. In the following section, I describe these stories in more detail and what making competences they give witness to.</p> <hd id="AN0177114564-7">Making with the unknown</hd> <p>The first story recalled by the students, <emph>Making with the unknown</emph>, is about not knowing what one needs to know and working from there. The unknown becomes something that affects the learning process. For example, in the first interview, the first student states that she is not a craftsperson, comparing herself to her classmates and how they approach the design process differently, as the classmates seem to know more about wood and woodworking techniques. For the first student, the visual realm has been her closest medium rather than working with physical materials. I ask her, 'What does it mean to be a craftsperson and how would you describe the differences?'.</p> <p>Student: Not everyone is a craftsperson (in the class), but some of them are, and they have another way to approach the design assignment. Their approach is more ... like explorative with the materials, while I am more about ideas. That, I am actually very good at, and fast too, as I have worked a lot with developing ideas. But it is something else to develop ideas with materials.</p> <p>Me: How so? Has it to do with the experience with materials, or?</p> <p>Student: Yes, that might be the case. In the beginning, I wasn't very comfortable... for example, when we had an assignment where we could choose freely what materials to use, I chose wood. Then I remembered how I got a kind of adrenaline rush when I entered the woodworking studio on my own, because I was not used to the environment. (Interview 1)</p> <p>She explains that the adrenaline rush came from the uncertainty of not knowing and the experience of not knowing. She comes back to this story of not knowing what she should know when she talks about the design process involving the automation design. She explains that they were asked to make a sketch from three perspectives, which aimed to show if the automation would work or not. But, for her, this was impossible, as she did not know what to look for. Therefore, she changed her strategy and made a prototype in wood. As she continues to talk about her design and making process, it turns out the design was too complicated. The mechanics had too many functions, and in combination with the location of the gearwheels, it caused friction in the spinning. To really understand the making and to be able to design a product that would function, she decided to make another one. This time, she knew what to look for and what to be careful about. This resulted in her making a bigger product with fewer mechanics. She says:</p> <p>I did the first one and felt, yes... okay, now I get it. I wasn't super happy with the result. But then I made a bigger draft [of the second product], and then I really got it. So, I made a bigger product with far fewer functions. It is only this fish [which is in her design] that goes back and forth, and then it can't get stuck. (Student 1, Interview 2)</p> <p>In a similar way, the second student also recalls the story of the unknown. But for him, the unknown was handled by giving the process time. Time to be with the unknown. He tells me how he absolutely loves to give time to the process of designing and crafting. When learning design and craft in school, however, lack of time is often the case and I ask him what he thinks becomes lost when time is limited:</p> <p>Student 2: If you have a time limit you are forced to get things done. But still, what I like the most with craft is the time you have to give to the problem‐solving aspects, and that you have time to test things, and work with trial and error. /.../ I don't like to force things in terms of what to do. I need to live with the process and often the best ideas come when I do something else. (Student 2, interview 1)</p> <p>The student recalls the story of giving the process time and having to both think and work with problem solving. That is how the unknown – what to do – emerge into ideas of what to do.</p> <hd id="AN0177114564-8">Making alone, educationally</hd> <p>When watching the students' video diaries, it is obvious that the first student is struggling. The material is given resistance, and when I meet the first student for the second interview, I ask her about this, since I can see that she is struggling. She agrees with my observations and tells me about the challenges and how she sometimes hated the automation assignment. I ask about how she overcame the struggles and she tells me about how she had to look for tutorials and that the Paul Seller videos were very educational. One making story arising from this activity is the capacity to be patient and careful. She explains how she experienced time in a new way while watching the instructional videos. Careful time emerges as something that affects her learning process. She describes the time it takes to make something well and gives Paul Sellers' instructional video of a dovetail joint as an example. She describes watching the video as a real 'aha' moment, realising how hard it is and the amount of time and care needed to make a perfect dovetail joint. She emphasises that Sellers' video is 40‐minutes long but Sellers had not edited the video, which gave her an understanding of how much time it takes to make <emph>one</emph> dovetail joint. She says,</p> <p>It was so cool ... or actually, I was completely drowned afterwards, as the video was 40 minutes long. But that was also the exact amount of time it takes /.../ If I had not seen him do it, only the shorter clips, then I might have thought that the time it takes decreases with experience. (Student 1, Interview 2)</p> <p>What is interesting here is her realisation about the time it takes, regardless of one's amount of experience. Even when you are very experienced, like Paul Sellers, making a dovetail takes 40 minutes. She continues to talk about how she learnt to be careful. She says, 'I have to do a tiny cut, turn it over, do a tiny cut, turn and so forth to be able to keep focus' (Student 1, interview 2). She continues to explain how she has learnt where the critical moments are and what you need to do to make it perfect, as well as her limitations. One such insight is not to do it all in one take:</p> <p>If I should make one of these joints, then I must be very careful and take a little at time. If you hit too hard, it will break. So, I really have to concentrate and make it in steps to be able to keep focus. (Student 1, interview 2)</p> <p>Student two also expresses how he paid attention to how to make the joints and that these moments were the most critical moments in the craft process. Unlike the first student, making a prototype in wallpaper worked for him and, based on his previous experience of woodworking, he understood what the critical moments could be. The 3D prototype thus became his educational input:</p> <p>I have never done an automation before, but I have made many mistakes while woodworking, and as I did the 3D prototype I could see that there were two critical moments. The first thing is to make a hole here, in the end of the wood, which is critical as it easily breaks, and the second thing is how to make the joints by using a chisel. (Student 2, interview 2)</p> <p>He explains how he has developed the product extensively, and how he had to give the critical moment attention and time. So, in his story, the educational moment was to pay attention and give the critical moments careful time. He also says that a trick has been not to glue anything so he could continue to adjust all the parts.</p> <p>Another example of the story, <emph>Making alone</emph>, <emph>educationally</emph>, that the first student discusses is the difference between seeing and making.</p> <p>Student: You think that you can learn at the same time as you watch [the video] with all your senses ... but I've worked a lot with this in my previous work /.../ I am used to taking in a lot of information, but it is a completely different thing to do this through making with material than designing visually with the computer. It takes so much more energy to do it physically. (Student 1, interview 2)</p> <p>From this, we can see how she has experienced that it is separate thing to design visual aspects compared to physical designs. When I asked her what she did to work through it, she told me that she needed to take many pauses and that she slept much more due to the extremely exhausting experience of the assignment. She also had to take a break when she was stuck. Even when she tried to analyse what was wrong, she sometimes needed to go for a walk to figure out what to do next: 'I had to pause it a bit and let it go'. (Student 1, Interview 2)</p> <p>Another story of <emph>Making alone</emph>, <emph>educationally</emph>, that student two recalls is the environment. It is as if the environment could be described as educator and emerges as something that is affecting his learning process. He describes how the environment of being at home has provided him with new ideas, for example, that leftover wood can be useful when planting and that smaller pieces of wood can be useful to mend or fill small holes in the products he is making. Still, he also finds it demanding due to all the cleaning.</p> <hd id="AN0177114564-9">The affective and embodied making</hd> <p>The third story the students recall involves times when they had to handle and cope with emotions and identities of being a maker. When I watched their video diaries, I could, for example, see a lot of frustration and anticipate anger in the first student, but I also saw relief and happiness. When I tell her about my observations, she agrees and adds two other emotions – exhaustion and performance anxiety. Regarding the latter, she describes how the feeling came when she had finished her first automation. Realising that it looked as if a child had made it she wondered if she could show it to anyone. She describes how she felt as if the product she had crafted did not correspond with her own identity. Student two describes a similar experience of how to handle and cope with emotions and identities of being a maker. He describes how he struggled with what level he should craft, as the product he made also reflected his identity. He says he thinks of himself as a creative person and wants to express creativity. But due to limitation of time, he had to adjust his creative ambitions and 'lower' them. What these examples show us is that when designing and crafting the students' identities are also 'crafted' and shown to the world.</p> <p>The first student also describes how many kinds of emotions are present in the making and that one must learn to handle them somehow. These emotions affect the learning process. Student one describes that it often starts with the emotion of joy in making something, before realising the difficulty involved and emotions of despair and frustration develop. The most present emotion, however, is that it is fun to make things. She says, 'It is always fun to do things. I can really feel that. Through making, I have also gained self‐confidence that I can actually make things' (Student 1, Interview 2). When we talk, I ask her if she ever felt like she wanted to give up, given that resignation was an emotion I recognised when I watched her video diaries. Her response was that she must learn this, as she is about to become a teacher (Student 1, Interview 2). This discussion about emotions resulted in us talking about emotions when learning design, both at university and in school. In her experience, learning design and craft are very emotional, and we pondered what would happen if we did not give this any pedagogical attention. One result she mentioned is how a student in the (design and craft) classroom may receive blame for altering the nice and calm working environment, even though the student is just letting out frustration. She explains, 'It is about affect and the feeling the student might have about not knowing if they will be able to make it and therefore doesn't want to give it a try' (Student 1, Interview 2).</p> <p>The results that have been outlined above answer the first research question, namely what stories does the student recall from learning woodworking at home? The stories provide further insights regarding the learning of design literacy through making, which is summarised in Table 1 and answers the paper's second research question – what do these stories provide that are relevant for learning design literacy?</p> <hd id="AN0177114564-10">Education for design literacy</hd> <p>In this final part of the paper, the challenges and opportunities of learning design literacy that the stories of making provide are discussed.</p> <p>The first story, <emph>making with the unknown</emph>, highlights a process in which one does not know what one should learn. This story appears while the students are learning at home, where there are no teachers or classmates to ask. In other words, the home environment provides little guidance of what to do and to start making with the unknown. To start making with the unknown, the students must dare to try on their own. This experience might be stressful, as the first student in the case study experienced. She describes feeling an adrenaline rush and much uncertainty. The way student two deals with the unknown is to give it time. Time to be in the process and time in terms of pauses. The time aspect is something he talks about based on previous experiences, describing how the pauses were important and the occasions where he realised the ideas of how to continue. Acknowledging these two aspects of making with the unknown – dare to try and give the process time – could provide valuable insights for teaching design literacy. The story thus adds to what Lutnæs ([<reflink idref="bib16" id="ref38">16</reflink>]) identifies as awareness through making by demonstrating how awareness can be learned. Learning design literacy can be emotionally demanding and requires ample time, and these two aspects need to be addressed in the teaching process. Perhaps some students need support to handle their emotions, while others may require assistance in gaining confidence in the process and giving it sufficient time. The story of making with the unknown also adds to Marchand's ([<reflink idref="bib17" id="ref39">17</reflink>]) research on craft as problem‐solving and represents an opportunity for learning design literacy. The story of making with the unknown is an example of how to identify challenges and how the challenges shift from arising, where the students do not know what to do, to how the challenge is sought, conceptualised and ultimately resolved by daring to try and giving the process time.</p> <p>The second story, <emph>making alone</emph>, <emph>educationally</emph>, highlights the educational value of learning alone at home. Here, I would like to highlight two aspects that become clear in the story. The first aspect is identifying the critical moments and the skill of slowness related to it, something that student two expresses as a strategy. He draws on previous experiences and knows where he must be very careful, for example, when making the cut for the dove joints. He has, as Johansson & Lindberg ([<reflink idref="bib15" id="ref40">15</reflink>]) describe, accumulated experiences which help him in the process. In comparison, student one describes how she is struggling to answer to the material in correspondence – as the material constantly gives her resistance. She does not know from the beginning what the critical moments are. Instead, she had to learn this by trial and error. She also describes how her learning process involves watching instructional videos, which gave her an 'aha' moment as they showed the time it takes to craft something well. Also, the activity of watching the video was very exhausting as she had to concentrate so much. Specifically, she describes the differences between doing something visual in 2D and making something in 3D; that her body was exhausted and she had to sleep much more due to the assignment. This first aspect of the <emph>making alone</emph>, <emph>educationally</emph> story teaches us that to learn design literacy though making can be exhausting and one must learn what is possible to do and not do. It demonstrates the skill of slowness, which should not be mistaken for exactitude, softness or laziness, but rather as a state of focus and concentration needed to craft carefully.</p> <p>The second aspect of the story <emph>making alone</emph>, <emph>educationally</emph> that I wish to discuss is the learning environment at home and how that affected the learning process. The story shows how the home environment inspired new ideas of what to make with the leftovers, for example, while also highlighting the importance of figuring out how to deal with the excess. It is obvious that the students' apartments were not equipped for crafting activities. This was indeed a challenge for the students in terms of what to do with the leftovers as well as dealing with all the dust the woodworking activity produced. On the other hand, it also gave new insights of what to craft. As such, the home environment provided both challenges and opportunities. The new ideas it provided made the student recognise home‐related cues in their environment and respond to them with judgement and precision, as Ingold would put it. What can be learnt from this is that the place of learning environment effects what and how it is possible to craft. Learning at home also meant that there were no teachers or classmates around, which also affected the learning process. According to research regarding the learning process of craft (Illum [<reflink idref="bib8" id="ref41">8</reflink>]; Illum & Johansson [<reflink idref="bib11" id="ref42">11</reflink>]; Johansson & Lindberg [<reflink idref="bib15" id="ref43">15</reflink>]), the teacher has a very important role to play when learning the bodily dimensions of craft, which the students had to figure out on their own. When teaching design literacy though making, this aspect needs some serious consideration, in terms of how to construct the making activity and providing support to students if learning is not taking place at the university or in the school.</p> <p>The third story, <emph>the affective and embodied making</emph>, highlights how design and craft is not only about creating products but also the making of the maker. Both students discuss their relationship to the products they created and how the products reflected their identity and aspirations. This story has both opportunities and challenges for teaching and learning design literacy. For example, student one describes how she enjoys crafting products because it provides a sense of empowerment, despite the emotions she had to navigate. This sense of empowerment does not come easily, and rather, she crafts with all the emotional practice. Westerlund ([<reflink idref="bib20" id="ref44">20</reflink>]) identifies: repudiating, insecure, accepting and incorporating the emotional practice. When student one succeeds, she feels empowered. This ability of making is a significant opportunity when learning design literacy through making. However, recognising the emotions that follow from the learning process can also be a challenge. Students may become emotionally frustrated or even apathetic and may not want to express their emotions in the teaching and learning situations. It is, perhaps, during these moments of negative emotions that questions such as, 'What is the purpose of making this?' or 'Why should we learn design and craft?' are more likely to arise. However, as Johansson & Lindberg ([<reflink idref="bib15" id="ref45">15</reflink>]) point out, it is during the uncertainties that new things can be learnt.</p> <p>Learning design literacy though making is not only about reading the world in all its complexity but also how we come to learn about ourselves and who we are, as we learn to answer to the world and tell stories of the world. You will learn what you do not know, what your limitations are, what to pay attention to and how to move forward with emotions and, from that sense, a making is always a remaking of who we are. In this paper, I have sought to show a glimpse of this designing and crafting activity and specifically what <emph>learning</emph> design literacy through making could look like when students are learning woodworking at home. The three stories tell us something about what is at stake.</p> <hd id="AN0177114564-11">Acknowledgements</hd> <p>None.</p> <ref id="AN0177114564-12"> <title> References </title> <blist> <bibl id="bib1" idref="ref1" type="bt">1</bibl> <bibtext> Barnett, M. (1994) Literacy, technology and "technological literacy.", International Journal of Technology and Design Education, Vol. 5, No. 2, pp. 119 – 37.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibl id="bib2" idref="ref2" type="bt">2</bibl> <bibtext> David, M. & Sutton, C. D. (2004) Social Research: The Basics, Vol. 74. Sage.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibl id="bib3" idref="ref3" type="bt">3</bibl> <bibtext> Dewey, J. (1938 /1997) Experience and Education. New York : Touchstone.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibl id="bib4" idref="ref14" type="bt">4</bibl> <bibtext> Dewey, J. & Bentley, A. F. (1949 /1991) Knowing and the Known. Boston, MA : Beacon Press.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibl id="bib5" idref="ref34" type="bt">5</bibl> <bibtext> Esiasson, P., Gilljam, M., Oscarsson, H., Towns, A. & Wängnerud, L. (2017) Metodpraktikan: Konsten att studera samhälle, individ och marknad [Methodology in practice: the art of studying society, individuals and market]. 5. uppl. Norstedts Juridik.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibl id="bib6" idref="ref9" type="bt">6</bibl> <bibtext> Gee, J. (2015) Social Linguistics and Literacies: Ideology in Discourses. Routledge.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibl id="bib7" idref="ref6" type="bt">7</bibl> <bibtext> Greene, J. A., Yu, B. & Copeland, D. Z. (2014) Measuring critical components of digital literacy and their relationships with learning, Computers & Education, Vol. 76, pp. 55 – 69.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibl id="bib8" idref="ref17" type="bt">8</bibl> <bibtext> Illum, B. (2006) Learning in practice – Practical wisdom: The dialogue of the process, Journal of Research in Teacher Education: Theme Slojd: Tradition in Transition, Vol. 16, No. 2–3, pp. 106 – 27.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibl id="bib9" idref="ref23" type="bt">9</bibl> <bibtext> Hofverberg, H. (2019) Crafting sustainable development. Studies of teaching and learning craft in Environmental and Sustainability research. Doctoral thesis, Uppsala University.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Hofverberg, H. (2020) Crafting sustainability. Student's encounter with materiality, Environmental Education Research, Vol. 26, No. 9, pp. 1281 – 93.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Illum, B. & Johansson, M. (2009) Vad är tillräckligt mjukt? Kulturell socialisering och lärande i skolans slöjdpraktik [What is soft enough? Cultural socialisation and learning in educational sloyd], FormAkademisk – Research Journal of Design and Design Education, Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 69 – 82.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Ingold, T. (2011) Being Alive – Essays on Movement, Knowledge and Description. London : Routledge Taylor and Francis Group.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Ingold, T. (2013) Making – Anthropology, Archaeology, Art and Architecture. London : Routledge Taylor and Francis Group.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Ingold, T. (2018) Anthropology and/as Education. New York : Routledge.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Johansson, M. & Lindberg, V. (2017) Att lära sig se trådraken – Om tvekan och fokusförskjutning på väg mot förändrat kunnande [Learn to see the straight grain – About hesitation and shifting in learning], Techne Serien A, Vol. 24, No. 1, pp. 1 – 16.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Lutnæs, E. (2021) Framing the concept design literacy for a general public, FormAkademisk, Vol. 14, No. 4, pp. 1 – 13.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Marchand, T. H. J. [Ed] (2017) Craftwork as Problem Solving: Ethnographic Studies of Design and Making. Routledge.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Nielsen, L. M. & Brænne, K. (2013) Design literacy for longer‐lasting products, Studies in Material Thinking, Vol. 9, pp. 1 – 9. Retrieved March 10, 2023 from: https://materialthinking.aut.ac.nz/papers/125.html</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Orr, D. (1992) Ecological Literacy: Education and the Transition to a Postmodern World. New York : S.U.N.Y. Press.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Westerlund, S. (2015) Lust och olust: Elevers erfarenheter i textilslöjd [Pleasure and displeasure: Students' experiences in textile sloyd]. Doctoral thesis, Umeå University.</bibtext> </blist> </ref> <aug> <p>By Hanna Hofverberg</p> <p>Reported by Author</p> <p></p> <p>Dr. Hanna Hofverberg is Associate Senior Lecturer at Malmö University, Sweden, at the Department of Natural Science, Mathematics and Society. She has a PhD in Educational Science with a specialisation in Environmental and Sustainability Education (ESE) and Design, Technology and Crafts Education. Her research interest focuses on sustainability and aesthetics, with a specific focus on teaching and learning. She has also a research interest in new materialism and socio‐material learning.</p> </aug> <nolink nlid="nl1" bibid="bib12" firstref="ref4"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl2" bibid="bib13" firstref="ref5"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl3" bibid="bib19" firstref="ref8"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl4" bibid="bib16" firstref="ref10"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl5" bibid="bib18" firstref="ref15"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl6" bibid="bib17" firstref="ref16"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl7" bibid="bib11" firstref="ref18"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl8" bibid="bib15" firstref="ref19"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl9" bibid="bib20" firstref="ref20"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl10" bibid="bib10" firstref="ref24"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl11" bibid="bib14" firstref="ref27"></nolink>
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  Data: The aim of this paper is to contribute to the concept of design literacy by exploring what it means to learn design literacy through making. To support my argumentation, I draw on a case study where I followed two student teachers of design and craft as they learned design literacy through woodworking. Due to COVID-19, the learning environment was located at the students' homes rather than the design and craft studio at the university. Two research questions guide the case study: What stories does the student recall from learning woodworking and what do these stories provide that are relevant for learning design literacy? Three 'making' stories are presented from the case study: (1) Making with the unknown, (2) Making alone educationally, and (3) The affective and embodied making. These stories provide numerous making skills that are relevant when teaching and learning for design literacy, which is further discussed in the paper.
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