Investigating the means utilized by the supporting staff in design studio courses: An interview study

Abstract

The teaching and learning of design is grounded in studio education. The pedagogical dynamics of design studio education is also related to the social learning theories stemming from the dialogue between the interaction of teachers and students. When we deep dive into these participants, we can come across the supporting staff taking part in the design studio courses. They are actively involved in the pedagogical practice, which has a direct influence on design students' learning processes. More specifically, supporting staff in Turkey, called research assistants, are influential players of the education system and have a great responsibility in design studio education. Their pedagogical impacts on students' learning process are crucial but neglected in design literature. To understand their pedagogical means in design studio education, an interview study was conducted with 26 volunteer research assistants. The findings show that various means can be preferred and utilized by supporting staff in the design studio for different purposes. As descriptive research, this chapter discusses the means in a pedagogical manner.