[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-seo-601176-105":3,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":81,"doc-detail-601176-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"ok",{"site_id":7,"language":8,"slug":9,"title":10,"keywords":11,"description":12,"schema_data":13,"social_meta":74,"head_meta":76,"extra_data":78,"updated_unix":80},105,"en","reflection-making-little-things-visible","Reflection: Making little things visible","","The text examines how the 2020 coronavirus pandemic reshaped design education, particularly the shift from studio-based teaching to distance modes. It argues that the crisis made “little things” visible—shared rhythms, student interactions, ambiguity, sensory affect, serendipity, and tacit practices that underpin effective studio learning. The article questions whether the studio can be replaced and suggests that recognizing these micro-affordances is crucial for teaching, scholarship, and research, while warning that comparisons across learning modes are non-trivial.",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/","Research & Report",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/reflection-making-little-things-visible/601176/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/reflection-making-little-things-visible/601176.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"LangkahRina","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-29","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":55},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",6,{"@type":57,"mainEntity":58},"FAQPage",[59,65,69],{"name":60,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":62},"Why does the author say 2020 left a lasting impression on education?","Question",{"text":63,"@type":64},"The pandemic forced a rapid transition from traditional to distance teaching, which was especially challenging for studio-based design education. The disruption revealed limits and possibilities in existing teaching modes.","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"What does the text mean by “little things” in studio learning?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"It refers to often-overlooked events and interactions that support teaching and learning in studios, such as noticing confusion, shared sketching, the “buzz” of a space, and serendipity. These micro-contexts enable learning conditions that are hard to replicate remotely.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"Can traditional studio activities be directly transferred to distance learning?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"No. The text emphasizes that an instructional activity cannot be simply moved across modes because key properties that matter for learning—like serendipity, embodied cognition, and social learning—are difficult to transfer.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":75,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":77,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":79,"site_id":7},601176,1792910267,{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":83},"success",[84,88,92,96,101,105,110,114,119,122,126],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":85,"show_sort_weight":86,"slug":87},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":89,"show_sort_weight":90,"slug":91},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":93,"show_sort_weight":94,"slug":95},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":97,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":98,"show_sort_weight":99,"slug":100},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":55,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":102,"show_sort_weight":103,"slug":104},"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":106,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":107,"show_sort_weight":108,"slug":109},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":111,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":112,"slug":113},8,30,"research-report",{"id":115,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":116,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":118},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":117,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":120,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":121},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":123,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":123,"slug":125},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":127,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":128,"show_sort_weight":97,"slug":129},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":131},{"doc_id":79,"user_id":132,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":111,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":55,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":33,"language":139,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":143,"read_time":123},962090893776,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_155a257f0dc6eb9ab79c44ca47cae57d","Reflection: Making little things visible  \nDerek Jones, The Open University, UK  \nThe response to the coronavirus pandemic of 2020 (Covid-19) will leave a lasting impression on all sectors of education. For design educators especially, the rapid transition from traditional to distance modes of teaching was, and still is, particularly challenging. Design, and especially studio-based education, remain predominantly physically focused and located practices. Moving out of the studio takes away far more than just a space for teaching; so much so, that the initial response to the response to the shift has been compared to that of grief (Brown, 2020) .  \nBut what has 2020 revealed about our discipline? About the state of our teaching and learning? About the resilience and legacy of our modes of education? Has the studio, as a fixed space, proven to be impossible to replace? Or will some of the affordances and opportunities experienced become part of future curricula? What does the response say of design education research and knowledge?  \nOur experiences during 2020 allow a unique opportunity to explore these questions simply because we have all had to confront them in some way. The reflexive nature of our subject has had to be applied to our learning and teaching practices and some of this reflection and learning will be captured in a forthcoming Special Issue in DTEIJ through a special issue and call for papers (see the Journal website for details) . The call particularly welcomes insightful reflection on the transitions of the last year and what this might tell us about design education practice and research. In the meantime, this article presents a few observations from the past year.  \nThings made visible  \nOne thing the crisis did was make certain things visible: things we rarely pay attention to or have taken for granted because they are simply there. Among these are the many events, interactions, connections, and so on, that educators rely on in traditional settings to support teaching and learning: noticing a student’s expression of confusion; the serendipity of a student seeing another’s work and thinking…; the ‘buzz’ or ‘rhythm’ of a shared space as a deadline approaches; the simple act of a shared sketch; etc.  \nThese ‘little things’, it turns out, are really quite important when it comes to studio as a mode of learning, many of which we are either completely unaware of or have so tacitly embodied that we rarely ‘see’ them at all. The studio provides the affordances and conditions for this range of ‘little things’ to take place, as has been observed in many studies, whether this is uncertainty and ambiguity (Orr & Shreeve, 2018); sensory affect (Marshalsey, 2017);  \nserendipity (Makri et al., 2014); or even extending our cognition (Radzikowska et al., 2019) . Such studies often focus on particular details and provide interesting and unique glimpses of such ‘little things’. As design educators, we read about them, nod in agreement, and continue to rely on them taking place daily in our own studios. But we rarely ask how we would recreate  \nthese little things deliberately, or ask what would we do if we no longer had a physical studio to rely on to allow them to emerge?  \nHistorically, design educators have not really had to interrogate such details too closely. As Doblin, quoted in Dilnot (2017), observes,“design was what you did without knowing what you did”, which can be immediately extended to design education: if designers continue to come out of the design education process then it’s working. The nature of tacit knowledge is such that it offers the option to simply be left unexamined on the condition that it continues to be‘transferred’ and produce the desired results. So, when tacit facilities or affordances are suddenly removed, it’s perhaps unsurprising the disruption is far greater than imagined.  \nIf you think that these ‘little things’ are the preserve of traditional design courses moving online, you’d be wrong:","cbCainnSCyta1HPS","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCainnSCyta1HPS","pdf",212728,"English","# Things made visible\n# Understanding ‘little things’","[{\"question\":\"Why does the author say 2020 left a lasting impression on education?\",\"answer\":\"The pandemic forced a rapid transition from traditional to distance teaching, which was especially challenging for studio-based design education. The disruption revealed limits and possibilities in existing teaching modes.\"},{\"question\":\"What does the text mean by “little things” in studio learning?\",\"answer\":\"It refers to often-overlooked events and interactions that support teaching and learning in studios, such as noticing confusion, shared sketching, the “buzz” of a space, and serendipity. These micro-contexts enable learning conditions that are hard to replicate remotely.\"},{\"question\":\"Can traditional studio activities be directly transferred to distance learning?\",\"answer\":\"No. The text emphasizes that an instructional activity cannot be simply moved across modes because key properties that matter for learning—like serendipity, embodied cognition, and social learning—are difficult to transfer.\"}]","Reflection: Making little things visible | PDF",1792092124]