Abstract
The Covid-19 pandemic accelerated the digitalisation of higher education globally in 2020, forcing institutions to adopt emergency remote teaching. This transition particularly challenged fashion design educators teaching practice-based modules. While some research has examined the shift to digital pedagogy in broader design education, limited scholarship specifically addresses fashion design educators’ preparedness, challenges, and development needs in digitalising practice-based modules. This study’s aim is to address this gap by exploring South African tertiary fashion design educators’ experiences implementing digital pedagogies for studio-based, practice-based modules.
The research explores South African tertiary fashion design educators’ preparedness and challenges in digitalising fashion design education, focusing on technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge in practice-based modules. The study addresses the following research questions:
How prepared were fashion design educators, and what challenges did they face regarding technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge?
What development opportunities can enhance the digitalisation of fashion design education?
The study is grounded in Koehler and Mishra’s (2006) technological, pedagogical and content knowledge (TPACK) framework, which examines the intersection of these three dimensions.
Using an interpretivist paradigm and qualitative approach, the research employed a case study research design. Employing a purposive sampling method, seven fashion design educators from various South African higher education institutions participated in individual virtual semi-structured interviews. Using a content method, data analysis followed Creswell and Creswell’s (2018) five-step process and Saldana’s (2021:13) “streamlined codes-to-theory model”.
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Findings revealed nuances in fashion design educators’ experiences with digitalisation. Alignment of participants’ preparedness with the TPACK framework suggested a lack of pedagogical understanding, potentially impacting the ability to incorporate technology into studio-based practical modules. Challenges emerged in translating hands-on demonstrations to digital formats, highlighting the need for specialised technological solutions. A key development opportunity emerged: producing recorded demonstrations of practice-based content, with educators requiring training to create professional video demonstrations.
This research contributes to the discourse on digitalising practice-based modules in fashion design education, highlighting the unique challenges and opportunities in this field. It emphasises the need for targeted training and support for educators to effectively integrate technology, pedagogy, and content knowledge in the digital teaching environment.