Skills for studying design and innovation
Do you have the skills needed to study design and innovation?
What do you think the key elements of studying design and innovation might be?
Draw a table like the one below (or print this page). Indicate how important you think each of the elements below is, using 1 for not important through to 5 for very important. In the right hand column show how confident you feel with each of these aspects at this moment. 1 for not confident through to 5 for very confident
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Importance 1-5 |
Level of confidence 1-5 |
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Drawing |
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Modelling |
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Writing |
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Critical analysis |
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Referencing |
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Presenting |
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Collaborating |
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Researching |
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Interviewing |
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Using I.T. |
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You may have realised that all of these skills are important for design and innovation:
Drawing Communicating ideas in hand or computer drawn form is a key part of designing
Modelling 3D models, however rough, are often used by designers to communicate their ideas
Writing The ability to write about ideas, to justify them and explain them as well as to demonstrate understanding is important for design students
Critical analysis Being able to look at objects and issues critically is important for any university level study.
Referencing Finding evidence to support views and proposals is a key part of university level study
Presenting The ability to put together a presentation to present an idea persuasively is important for any design student
Collaborating Working with others is a skill needed in many industries and businesses, opportunities to collaborate will be found at different points of your study
Researching Being able to thoroughly research a topic to ensure design and innovation decisions are based on sound information is very important
Interviewing Talking to people to understand a problem or area for development is key to finding solutions that meet real needs
Using I.T. Using I.T. is crucial in many professions and in designing it is particularly important as there are many software tools that help designers
Did you have lots of 1s and 2s in your confidence column? If so don’t worry, as you progress through the course you will develop these skills, the important thing is being willing to engage with them. If you begin the course by taking U101 Design Thinking then you will find that these skills are developed from the outset. However, if you would like a head start below you will find some resources to help you get a feel for some of these skills.
Drawing and Modelling
The following resources were created for OU design students and you may encounter some of them as you study, but if you want to get a head start do explore them now as the key to developing any skill is practice!
Core writing and reading skills
University level study requires some core skills to read and write in an academic context. The following link to general study skills resources may be particularly helpful if you have not studied for a long time or are not very confident about university level study. There are many topics covered in this Study Skills area so think about where you need to improve your skills and choose the topics that are most relevant to your current needs. You can always come back to this area whenever you need to during your studies and you will find a link to it from your StudentHome page.
Open University Study Skills Pages
Researching and interviewing
The ability to research design issues is important when designing. The link below gives you a taste of some of the methods that are used to find out about potential users to help the design process:
Study Skills including referencing
Finding published sources to inform your decisions and back up your arguments is important in any academic study. The following link to study skills gives you some ideas about how to do this, particularly in an online learning environment.
Study skills for online learning
General advice on report writing
Some general advice about report writing and referencing written by members of the qualification team
I.T skills
Quite a lot of your study will be online and you will also have to submit assignments digitally, so it is important to have a reasonable level of I.T. skills. The following links could help you if you need to boost your skill or confidence in particular areas:
Study skills for online learning
Go to Design Challenges