ELEARNING IN ART AND DESIGN: THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM

Despite the numerous national and international policies that highlight the benefits of elearning for<br>Higher Education (HE), in general art and design education lags behind other disciplines in this<br>respect. The widespread use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and Virtual<br>Learning Environments (VLEs) in the sector has done little to address this issue; elearning is the<br>elephant in the room, it remains for art and design an area that is unaddressed, under-utilised and<br>under-researched. There is some anecdotal evidence about the reasons for this situation, and this revolves around the notion that studio-based disciplines have a contextual instructional dimension that is incompatible with elearning. This paper explores some of the reasons for the resistance to the introduction of elearning in art and design. Firstly, it highlights the need and rationale for embedding elearning in the respective curricula. Secondly, it elaborates on a threshold concept, vis-à-vis elearning in art and design; a change of perceptions by faculty on the actual role and contribution of elearning in having transformative potential and triggering innovative instructional approaches. It is proposed that the challenge for art and design education is to perceive elearning through the principle of functionalism (form follows function), and thus come up with a variety of useful and relevant applications that can enhance the respective curricula

尽管诸多国家及国际政策均明确了电子学习（elearning）对高等教育（Higher Education, HE）的积极价值，但总体而言，艺术与设计教育在电子学习应用方面仍落后于其他学科。信息与通信技术（Information and Communication Technologies, ICTs）与虚拟学习环境（Virtual Learning Environments, VLEs）在该领域的广泛普及，并未有效改善这一现状；电子学习俨然是艺术与设计教育领域的"房间里的大象"，仍是一个未被充分探讨、未得到充分利用且研究匮乏的领域。目前仅有少量关于该现状成因的轶事证据，其核心论点均围绕以下观点展开：以工作室为依托的学科，其情境化教学属性与电子学习模式并不兼容。本文旨在探讨艺术与设计领域抵制电子学习推广的若干成因：首先，阐明在相关课程体系中嵌入电子学习的必要性与理论依据；其次，针对艺术与设计领域的电子学习，阐述一项阈值概念（threshold concept）——即教职员工需转变认知，重新审视电子学习所具备的变革潜力，以及其对催生创新性教学方法的实际作用与贡献。本文提出，艺术与设计教育所面临的核心挑战，在于需依据"形式追随功能（form follows function）"的功能主义原则来认知电子学习，进而开发出一系列能够优化相关课程体系的实用且贴合场景的应用方案。