Exploring Writing‐To‐Learn in Design

ISSUE: Of the various communication methods used by interior designers, interior design students focus on visual presentation methods. Written materials accompany design solutions, but classroom emphasis is seldom placed on articulate writing in design. GOAL: The goal of the project was to redesign DHA 1101 Introduction to the Designed Environment to improve students' writing and learning. The research question was: Did the changes in the writing aspects of this course result in an improvement in students' learning or in their ability to articulate key theoretical concepts? APPLICATION: A quasi-experimental method that reflected a pretest, treatment, posttest strategy is used to explore writing-to-learn in design. Student learning from two groups, a control group and an experimental group, was compared to determine if writing-to-learn strategies influenced their ability to articulate theoretical constructs. The treatment consisted of revised writing assignments and increased class time devoted to writing. DESCRIPTION: A writing assignment from each group was scored by trained raters to identify a score for various components of the assignment as well as overall writing skill. Findings showed that the experimental group showed significant increases on overall learning; ability to articulate key concepts of a theoretical framework; writing skills; and the combined effects of final exam, course grade, and paper grade. CONCLUSION: Writing-to-learn strategies employed in this study increased students'learning of important course concepts as well as increased their abilities to articulate those concepts. The value of this study lies in the implications for refined methodology for studies of this nature as well as the documentation of strategies that may increase writing-to-learn in design.