Drawn together: student views of group work in design studio

Brief observations

Group-work provides design students with some clear benefits. One is the ability to “bounce ideas” off other students, and to gather immediate, frequent, and raw criticism about their project work. Students in a studio typically have worked together for an extended amount of time, and “strong cohesion among students and a sense of responsibility for one another over years of collegial enterprise” leads to an environment where students trust one-another. This trust supports that direct peer criticism, and also offers a difference in structure than the “normal asymmetrical power relation between student and teacher,” particularly when students work in groups within the larger studio cohort.

Research Value

The value of this work in informing my own research is that it:

• Offers a reference to the group bonding that occurs over the course of studio
• Presents a student-centric perspective on group activity in studio