Contextual Background
BA Textile Design students are introduced to Adobe Illustrator at different points, depending on their chosen specialism chosen out of Weave, Print, Stitch, or Knit. Currently, Stitch students are inducted in 3rd year, resulting in insufficient time to develop their digital embroidery software skills. A process which ideally requires prior knowledge of vector-based software.
Evaluation
Currently, the digital embroidery software works as a plug-in for Adobe Illustrator, hence the importance of prior knowledge. Authentic assessment is used when identifying a student’s ability to use the digital embroidery software by setting them an induction task of designing a digital embroidery file of a name badge. However, once the session begins, I then assess the students’ abilities with Adobe Illustrator itself and I often discover the skill levels vary within a group. Therefore, additional support for teaching Illustrator must be spontaneously factored into the induction.
Moving forwards
Implementing illustrator inductions in Ba2
Due to increased student numbers and other sessions taking precedence in the technical timetable, these sessions have been inconsistently placed over BA2 and BA3 in past years. Going forward, I will advocate for Adobe Illustrator inductions with Digital Textiles to take place within BA2. A stable timetable is necessary to confidently facilitate student’s exploration and experimentation to develop their skillset.
Making the skill relevant
In past years students were inducted in Adobe Illustrator in BA2. However, when students were introduced to the Digital Embroidery process in BA3, engagement was still an issue. ‘Individuals are rarely interested in information and activities that have no relevance or value.’ (Cast, 2018) and developing skills within Adobe Illustrator currently has little relevance to Stitch students in BA2. I propose timetabling a series of technical workshops that provide an authentic activity to garner interest. This would include a workshop with Digital Textiles on Adobe illustrator, a laser cutting workshop with the 3D Workshop Technician, followed by a Stitch workshop where students will experiment with combining their laser cut elements with stitch explorations. ‘Authentic assessment can drive curriculum design by backwards design, shaping what tasks students will perform to demonstrate their mastery, then developing the curriculum to ensure students acquire the essential knowledge, skills and experience to perform those tasks well.’ Wiggins and McTighe (2005, cited in Farrow 2019).
Adobe Illustrator inductions with a Digital Embroidery focus
The fruition of the strategy I have suggested above is dependent on many factors, such as agreement with academic staff, feasibility of timetabling for the 3D workshop, and more. Nevertheless, the issue remains that students need a source of motivation to develop Adobe Illustrator skills. Alternative ways to aid this could be for Digital Textiles to deliver the Adobe Illustrator induction alongside a Stitch Technician, utilising the digital embroidery samples to implement a haptic learning element. Showing students techniques within illustrator alongside corresponding samples would give them a real sense of what they can achieve by developing their skills and would “highlight the utility and relevance, of learning” Cast, 2018). To make the complexities of the software less intimidating, the focus would be on using Illustrator freely, encouraging experimentation and sketching booking ideas within the software.
Preliminary tasks before Digital Embroidery Workshop
Another way to help aid engagement is to make sure to communicate in advance with students regarding their Digital embroidery induction, prompting them to use learning materials for Adobe Illustrator and to arrange sessions with Digital Textiles if they require support.
References:
CAST (2018). Universal Design for Learning Guidelines version 2.2. Optimize relevance, value, and authenticity. Available at: http://udlguidelines.cast.org (Accessed: 24/03/2024)
Farrow, S. (2019) Authentic Assessment. Available at: https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/centre-for-innovation-in-education/resources/all-resources/authentic-assessment.html? (Accessed: 24/03/2024).