Innovating Design Education in Hybrid Contexts: Social Channels as Communication Drivers

Abstract

The School of Design of the Politecnico di Milano has recently experienced, like other design schools, a sudden acceleration in the use of technology. All degree courses, with disciplinary differences, have started teaching experiments to verify the effectiveness of modern teaching approaches by exploiting the capabilities of technological systems, platforms and channels. The article presents some results of ongoing experimentation within fashion design courses on using a social platform, Instagram, as a channel to support teaching activities. Instagram, used as a highly visual medium, stimulated student learning and facilitated teaching through dialogue, engagement, and interaction. Finally, the article reflects on hybrid learning contexts as a possible future context for expanding experimentation in design education. Physical space, digital space, and time become components of a fluid creation of knowledge.