Investigating the Progression of Students’ Designerly Capability in Technology Education through a Grounded Theory Project

Abstract

Technology education strives to foster active citizens who have an appreciation and understanding of the made world and the impact of the use, modification and manipulation of technology towards positive change. Being designerly has been identified as a central attribute to this shared goal, where possessing designerly capabilities will enable active participation and engagement in society. Design holds a significant position within technology education internationally and this recognition is evident in curricula and research activity, although there still exists a lack of consensus towards a shared understanding of what it means to be a designer that designs, how designing unfolds, and how designerly capabilities can be fostered.

This paper presents a point during the second phase of a grounded theory project where the central research objective is to investigate the complexities of learning through designing with the following research question: what does the progression of designerly capability look like for students in technology education? Two technology education academics with experience in design and one design education academic were theoretically selected. Unstructured interviews were conducted and analysed according to the principles of classical grounded theory, where both open coding was utilised for this initial analysis. In this paper, key findings identify the transferability of designers, the assessment barrier and the future of design education. These insights provide further focus for future data collection of this phase, to investigate the progression of students’ designerly capability.