Underlying knowledge-knower structures in graphic design: Contributing to establishing a cohesive language for use in graphic design education

摘要

Providing a cohesive language for graphic design, which can be utilized in the production of knowledge and the generation of theory specific to that sub-discipline of Art and Design, is a challenge that is often obscured by the very practical nature of the field. As practice-based problem-solving is at the core of graphic design, application often supersedes meta-level theoretical engagement when it comes to educating undergraduate students. In this article, the underlying structures of graphic design pedagogy are explored through sociology of knowledge theories. We demonstrate how these theories enable the identification and analysis of those underlying structures, both epistemic and social, which influence how knowledge and the knower is constructed, taught and assessed in this sub-discipline. Applying these knowledge-knower structuring theories to analyses of empirical data collected from curriculum documentation and assessment events, we draw comparisons with data generated from formative and summative assessment practices. It is our intention that, through articulating a language of description and providing this example of the application of such methodological procedures for investigating such knowledge, a cohesive language may be shared that holds the potential to better inform curriculum development of the sub-discipline in higher education.