creating student-centric learning experiences

Designing a Design Degree

redeveloping the bachelor of communication design for torrens university

The Bachelor of Communication Design had always been one of Billy Blue College of Design’s best assets. But changes in industry and the shift to online learning since becoming part of Torrens University meant that the course needed an overhaul. We needed to create a degree that equipped students with practical, industry-relevant skills. It needed to be easy for teachers to deliver online and face-to-face. We needed a user-centred approach to ensure it worked for a diverse audience of student and teacher end-users.

"If there is a better way (and let's face it, there is always a better way), Emma will initiate it."

—robyn latimer oam
associate dean, design and creative technology
torrens university

Over a year and a half, we tackled three subjects at a time. Each subject team included a Learning Experience Designer, teacher-turned Subject Writer, teacher-turned Subject Reviewer, Project Coordinator and Academic Product Champion. As the Academic Product Champion, I was the academic lead working across all three teams concurrently. We had twelve weeks to plan, write, review and finalise the assessment briefs, module content, resources and supporting documentation.

the challenge—

It was a huge task with unique challenges. Teams were spread across the country (and sometimes overseas) and everyone had other work commitments and different schedules. Hurdles arose thick and fast. Writers bailed on subjects part-way through. Early subjects were written at Masters level. Timelines massively blew out. Subjects were being taught while they were still being written. Writers became overwhelmed and burnt out. Time and time again, writers got to the end and swore they’d never do it again.
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I was lucky enough to work closely with an exceptional learning experience designer who was equally frustrated and driven to make change.

Writers became overwhelmed and burnt out

Constraints—

Writers constantly complained about the workload.

We asked for more time. (‘No.’) We asked for more money. (‘Also no.’)

We were a small cog in a big machine. The nature of design meant assessment briefs were more detailed and content was more diverse—we couldn’t just ask students to read a textbook and write an essay—so creating these took a lot of effort. But every other faculty had to work within the set timeframes and budgets, and so did we. The waterfall process we followed as part of the company-wide product team was non-negotiable.

We had to come up with guerilla tactics to relieve the pressure while working within the tight timeframe and budget.

streamline planning—

Pain point: Kick-off meetings took hours. Trying to make significant decisions in a group on a video call was stressful and inefficient. Writers wanted to get stuck into writing instead of spending hours planning.
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So we: got a head start on the planning before the cycle started. The Program Director and I gathered feedback, discussed objectives, drafted ideas and mapped a subject’s structure. I fleshed out the broad strokes with the writer and shared the groundwork with the team before kick-off.
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Which meant: that summits became an opportunity to build and refine, making them much more efficient. Everyone had a clearer idea of where we were headed. Writers could keep up the momentum and start on content sooner.

How might we leverage the strengths within our team and use them to plug each other's gaps?

team work makes the dream work—

Assessment briefs were the first deliverable. Assessments need to map to subject learning outcomes. Module content maps to assessments, giving structure to what students need to know when. They need to be bullet-proof—super clear, specific and stand-alone so that teachers know exactly how to direct students and students know exactly what they need to do.

Pain point: Writing assessment briefs is a mammoth task, especially for someone who has never written course content before. Learning experience designers don’t have design backgrounds and couldn’t advise on technical details. Rounds and rounds of revisions overwhelmed writers before we’d even started on the module content.
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So we: negotiated to allocate assessment writing from the writer to me. Writers instantly gained time and headspace for module content. I could use my skills and passion for crafting copy to write the briefs. We still collaborated asynchronously to maximise writers’ industry experience and learning designers’ expertise.
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Which meant: we were able to work on the briefs and module content in parallel. I developed a ‘recipe’ which gave briefs and their marking rubrics a consistent structure across subjects and made writing more expedient. Briefs were clear, specific and detailed. Students knew how to start, increasing engagement. Lecturers spent less time fielding questions. We received great feedback. Other learning experience designers adopted our approach for other faculties.

Reallocating assessment brief writing from the writer to the academic lead

Support where it matters most—

Subject writers are experts in their field, like typography or packaging. But their subject is one part of a broader learning experience for a student. Writers have a limited understanding of the broader context of the course, what students learn in other subjects, and the pathways of students from other disciplines who come in via electives.

Pain point: Writers become siloed. They risk making assumptions about students’ knowledge. They risk writing content that is duplicated in other subjects, like presentation techniques. Students get frustrated about being expected to deliver something without having the foundational skills, or covering (and paying for) the same content.

So we: mentored writers. I worked closely with them to give them the big-picture insights to guide the content. We collaborated on the subject structure. I reviewed content for the first few modules to identify challenges and build confidence early. We negotiated topics between subjects to avoid duplication. We wrote assessment briefs and content to be applicable for students from various disciplines to allow for elective pathways. We consulted academics from other disciplines for their insights.

Which meant: writers felt guided and supported. Subjects complemented each other, working cohesively as a whole course. Students had a better learning journey. We had a rock-solid course that gave students the knowledge and practical skills they needed to be sought-after, industry-ready graduates.

"Emma brought a fresh perspective to what had become a frustrating and laborious process. Rather than accept the status quo, Emma challenged existing frameworks and expectations to overhaul our course development life cycle.

With the perfect balance of empathy and pragmatism, Emma identified and removed pain points within existing practices, empowered stakeholders and achieved a level of cohesion—and success—that had previously been lacking."

—nathan scoular
program director, communication & graphic design
torrens university

the impact—

The redevelopment of the Bachelor of Communication Design has had a positive impact for the business in tangible and intangible ways.

According to Program Director Nathan Scoular, student satisfaction with the course’s subjects noticeably increased. Enrolment numbers and preference to complete the course online soared. Assessment moderation conducted each trimester revealed greater consistency across lecturer, location and mode thanks to clearer briefs and marking rubrics.

Some of the changes to the development cycle were adopted for the refresh of Diploma of Graphic Design subjects. Learning experience designers took some of the changes to ways of working into their work with other faculties extending the reach beyond a single course.

project team—

Program Director, Communication & Graphic Design: Nathan Scoular
Associate Dean, Design & Creative Technology: Robyn Latimer OAM
Academic Product Champion, Communication Design: Emma Kelson
Learning Experience Designers: Anuradha Khara, Jess O’Donnell, Zifen Su
Subject Writers and Reviewers: Juca Lopez, Francisco Neto, Reg Abos, Caro Koegler, Darren Taljaard, Chris Capetanakis, Paul Devonshire, Troy Sizer, Melanie Maher, Maria Tsudon, Lisa Molloy, Kuen Kam, Andy Wana, Leandi Newth
Project Coordinator: Jaki King