Master in Design

This program is intended to enhance the knowledge and skills of design professionals, and those of other disciplines, to enter or continue within diverse careers in the design disciplines, and other allied professional disciplines. The program extends the students' critical understanding of the historical and contemporary social, cultural, economic and political contexts of design, while providing advanced, state-of-the-art specialized training and experience —in design practice, processes and methods —necessary to undertake complex, multi-faceted design projects, and produce professional design outcomes and results to an international standard.

Graduates of the program will be imbued with the requisite knowledge and skills to continue their careers as successful practicing designers who are able to make a positive contribution to the community of designers, design stakeholders, and society at large. Graduates will also gain a rigorous scholarly grounding and experience appropriate for life-long learning and further doctoral education.

Program Prerequisites

The applicant is admitted in compliance with the Georgian Legislation.

Learning Outcome/Competencies

Knowledge and understanding

• Advanced knowledge and understanding based on re-analysis and re-evaluation of new interpretations on the interactions between design and society.
• Advanced knowledge and understanding based on re-analysis and re-evaluation of the state-of-the-art of disciplines closely associated to design, including ergonomics; sustainable design; management and design management.

Applying knowledge

• Able to independently plan and apply advanced creativity techniques, design methods, and innovation processes of the specialized fields of design, to a wide range of design problems, under varying conditions, using advanced state-of-the-art techniques, software and processes.
• Able to independently plan and carry out advanced research into ergonomics, to consider the relations between humans and other elements of systems, and to develop design outcomes that optimize human well-being and overall system performance, and to produce research outcomes and new knowledge that have a bearing on the body of knowledge at an international level.
• Applying advanced understanding knowledge of sustainable design to do research, and to develop design outcomes that address the problems of sustainability, and to produce research outcomes and new knowledge that have a bearing on the body of knowledge at an international level.
• Applying advanced methods from the social sciences, for example, anthropology, to do research, and for greater understanding, and to solve problems encountered by users and stakeholders, and to produce research outcomes and new knowledge that have a bearing on the body of knowledge at an international level.

Making judgments

• The broad education necessary to understand the social, cultural, economic and political forces shaping the design fields in contemporary society and how they impact design processes and outcomes.
• Critical understanding of the impact of design processes and outcomes on stakeholders and society at large and able to provide guidance to users and stakeholders on these issues.
• Able to analyze and interpret quantitative and qualitative data and form reasoned conclusions on their basis.
• Able to provide strategic business advice, to plan and implement business models, and to judge the value, appropriateness, feasibility, and other pertinent qualities, of design and business decisions.

Communication skills

• Able to communicate in written form and verbally with a variety of stakeholders, including clients, technicians and engineers, members of the public and officials; and undertake advanced research and write reports in English, and a second foreign language.
• Able to communicate in written form and verbally and to engage in thematic debates with colleagues from the international scientific community in English and a second foreign language.

Learning skills

• Able to reflect on design methods, design processes and outcomes of the design process and able to prescribe remedial action to address problems and one's own short-comings.
• Able to engage in life-long learning, self-directed research, and able to undertake further education, such as doctoral studies.
• Readiness to further develop new ideas or processes stemming from knowledge that is based on recent developments in the course of learning and professional activity, and in the course of research.

Values

• Able to engage in a reasoned debate within an international community of practitioners and scholars about the design disciplines, their effects, and the impacts of design activities and outcomes.
• Provide leadership in confronting the profound challenges brought on by sustainability and environmental degradation, and social and economic problems; while leading and enrolling colleagues from the design community in an inclusive, democratic, and open approach to applying the scientific approaches and research tools to addressing these complex problems.
• Creative, innovative and entrepreneurial leaders, employing design and intellectual property rights for wealth creation and other benefits.

Forms and Methods of achieving the learning outcomes

Lecture
Seminar (working in the group)
Practice
Laboratory Work
Field Work
Course Work/Project
Independent Work
Consultation

The most widely spread teaching and learning methods, as well as their definitions, are given below. A teacher should choose the proper method according to the concrete aim and problem.

1. Discussion/debates. This is the most widely spread method of interactive teaching. A discussion process greatly increases the quality of students’ involvement and their activity. A discussion may turn into an argument and this process is not merely confined to the questions posed by the teacher. It develops students’ skills of reasoning and substantiating their own ideas.
2. Cooperative teaching is a teaching strategy in the process of which each member of a group not only has to learn the subject himself, but also to help his fellow-student to learn it better. Each member of the group works at the problem until all of them master the issue.
3. Collaborative work; using this method implies dividing students into separate groups and giving each group its own task. The group members work on their issues individually and at the same time share their opinions with the rest of the group. According to the problem raised, it is possible to shift the functions among the group members in this process. This strategy ensures the students’ maximum involvement in the learning process.
4. Problem-based learning (PBL) is a method which uses a concrete problem as the initial stage both for acquiring new knowledge and integration process.
5. Heuristic method is based on the step-by-step solving of a given problem. It is realized by means of independent fixing of the facts in the teaching process and determining the ties among them.
6. Case study –the teacher discusses concrete cases together with the students and they study the issue thoroughly. E.g., in the sphere of engineering safety it can be a discussion of a concrete accident or catastrophe, or in political science, it can be a study of a concrete, e.g., Karabakh problem (Armenian-Azeri conflict).
7. Brainstorming –this method implies forming and presenting as many radically different ideas and opinions on a given topic as possible. This method sets conditions for developing a creative approach towards a problem. This method is effective in a large group of students and consists of the following stages:
   • using a creative approach to define a problem/issue;
   • for a certain period of time listing (mainly on the blackboard) students’ ideas on the problem without any criticism;
   • determining the evaluation criteria for stating the correspondence of the idea to the aim of the research;
   • evaluating the chosen ideas according to the previously determined criteria;
   • selecting the ideas that most of all correspond to the given issue by applying the method of exclusion;
   • revealing the best idea for solving the given problem.
8. Role-playing games and simulations –games played according to a previously prepared scenario enable students to estimate the problem from different standpoints. They help students to form alternative points of view. Such games, as well as discussions, help students to develop skills of independently expressing their own ideas and participating in discussions.
9. Demonstration method implies presenting information with the help of visual aids. It is quite effective in reaching the required result. It is frequently advisable to present the material simultaneously through audio and visual means. The material can be presented both by a teacher and a student. This method helps us to make different steps of perceiving the teaching material more obvious, specify what steps the students are supposed to take independently; at the same time, this strategy visually shows the essence of an issue/problem. A demonstration can be very simple.
10. Inductive method determines such a form of conveying any kind of knowledge when in the process of learning the train of thought is oriented from facts towards generalization, i.e. while presenting the material the process goes from concrete to general.
11. Deductive method determines such a form of conveying any kind of knowledge which presents a logical process of discovering new knowledge on the basis of general knowledge, i.e. the process goes from general to concrete.
12. Analytical method helps us to divide the whole teaching material into constituent parts. In this way the detailed interpretation of separate issues within the given complex problem is simplified.
13. Synthetic method implies forming one issue from several separate ones. This method helps students to develop the ability of seeing the problem as a whole.
14. Verbal or oral method comprises a lecture, narration, conversation, etc. During the process the teacher conveys, explains the material verbally, and students perceive and learn it by comprehending and memorizing.
15. Written method implies the following forms of activity: copying, taking notes, composing theses, writing essays, etc.
16. Laboratory method implies the following forms of activity: conducting experiments, showing video materials, etc.
17. Practical methods unite all the teaching forms that stimulate developing practical skills in students. In this case, a student independently performs different kinds of activity on the basis of the knowledge acquired e.g. field study, teaching practice, field work, etc.
18. Explanatory method is based on discussing a given issue. In the process of explaining the material the teacher brings concrete examples the detailed analysis of which is made in the framework of the given topic.
19. Activity-oriented teaching implies teachers’ and students’ active involvement in the teaching process, when practical interpretation of the theoretical material takes place.
20. Designing and presenting a project. While designing a project a student applies the knowledge and skills he has acquired for solving a problem. Teaching by means of designing projects increases students’ motivation and responsibility. Working on a project involves the stages of planning, research, practical activity and presenting the results according to the chosen issue. The project is considered to be completed if its results are presented clearly, convincingly, and correctly. It can be carried out individually, in pairs or in groups; also, within the framework of one or several subjects (integration of subjects); on completion the project is presented to a large audience.
21. E-learning implies using the Internet and multi-media means in the process of teaching. It comprises all the components of the teaching process (aims, content, methods, means, etc.); the realization of these components takes place through specific means. There are three types of e-learning:
    • Full-time tuition; when the teaching process takes place during teachers’ and students’ contact hours, and conveying the teaching material occurs through an e-course;
    • Distant learning implies conducting the teaching process in the absence of a professor. The teaching course is conducted distantly; in the e-format.
    • Hybrid (full-time/distant) –teaching is mainly conducted distantly but a certain part of it is conducted during contact hours.

Spheres of Employment

Specialists in Interior and Furniture Design

• construction industry.
• service industry.
• entertainment industry.
• leisure and the hotel trade.
• employed by construction companies and related organisations, advertising agencies, consulting design companies, or they may choose to be self-employed.

Specialists in Product Design:

• manufacturing industry.
• packaging industry.
• service industry.
• computer software and hardware industry.
• entertainment industry.
• employed by industrial companies manufacturing consumer products and capital goods and software and hardware, companies in the entertainment sector, consulting design companies.

Specialists in Transportation Design

• automotive and vehicle industries.
• service industry.
• entertainment industry.
• employed by industrial companies manufacturing consumer and commercial products, companies in the entertainment sector, consulting design companies.

Specialists in Visual Communication Design:

• publishing industry.
• advertising and packaging industries.
• media industries including the internet, television production and post-production.
• computer software and hardware industry.
• service industry entertainment industry employed by industrial and media companies, industrial companies producing software and hardware, advertising agencies, government agencies, NGOs, consulting design companies.