Independent Study - Understanding Studio Culture through critical analysis of existing scholarly work

Focus

Art and design education has typically included a studio, which encompasses a physical space and social context in which education occurs, a style of master/apprentice teaching and learning, and projects that require making artifacts (both physical and digital). While a professor is an assumed figurehead in a traditional lecture environment, students often work in a studio without the physical presence of an instructor. What are the activities, events, experiences and interactions that happen in the studio when the professor isn’t there, and how do these contribute to the development of creative skills and creative confidence?

In this independent study, I will explore existing scholarly research related to the relationship between students and a studio with a primary focus on studio culture, absent a professor. I hypothesize that this is an area of design education that has not been studied extensively. My exploration, then, will be broad enough to potentially explore:

• The holistic studio experience for design students
• The physical, social and cultural environment of the studio as habitus
• Social interactions in studio-based learning
• Power dynamics in the studio

While the focus of this study is on experiences that occur in design studio, art education also has a firm historic footing in studio culture, and so literature focusing on art education may be selectively included.

I will do my best to avoid including these topics, although I recognize that they will inevitably show up:

• Artificial Intelligence
• Remote or hybrid learning
• Digital tools for studio learning
• Architecture studio, as it is materially different than design and art
• Critique, except as it is influential in student-to-student experiences

I will also identify different research methodologies that have been used to study this type of immersive educational experience, or similar educational experiences where context is unique and important.

Additionally, I will develop a research plan to leverage in future quarters to research this topic empirically.

Value

The value of this independent study is to:

• Establish a working definition of the phrase studio culture
• Gain knowledge about aspects of studio culture and the student studio experience that have been already explored through a scholarly lens, as well as the methods used in those existing studies to gather data
• Identify aspects of these topics that have been ignored or underconsidered in existing research
• Serve as a core focusing and grounding element of my doctoral work, identifying:
• A focus for future ethnographic research related to this topic
• Inclusion/exclusion criteria for the type of contexts, participants, and disciplines to be included in future research

Activities and scope

During this independent study, I will perform these activities:

• Identify a body of existing research related to the student experience of learning within a studio culture
• Read and critically analyze these texts
• Write a paper describing the results of the analysis
• Write an outline of a study that can be performed to gather empirical data on this topic (to be conducted in future quarters)

Deliverables

I plan to produce the following as key deliverables/outcomes of the independent study:

• Paper Summaries. Short summaries of each selected text, identifying its primary contributions, both in terms of content as well as methodology (summaries of up to 12 texts)
• Critical Analysis. A critical reflection and interpretation of existing texts related to studio culture, representing synthesis and interpretation, and indication of opportunities for further knowledge production (5-10 pages)
• Research Study Workplan and Outline. A workplan and outline of a potential research study that can be performed in future quarters, to explore studio culture in an ethnographic, qualitative style (3-5 pages)