Foundation studies in Design education

Unique features of Design education
Design education is practice based, responding to the now with proper theoretical backing. This demands the designer to be constantly on their toes, learning all the time, being attentive to what is going on with total openness and flexibility.
Design education and design as a profession demands creativity, sensitivity, empathy from the practitioner and this can be only achieved by a shift from the way one has been educated in the school.
Design education demands the designer to have holistic over view- a balance between (1) art/ culture (2) science/ technology (3) finance, management and (4) humanities (anthropology, history, sociology, psychology) (5) communication (language and other means like computer etc) and holistic abilities -development of physical skills- making, drawing etc as well as intellectual abilities. Even more interesting is the need innovation/creativity on one hand and practicality on the other.
Ability to observe, comprehend, articulate and communicate is very crucial for designers.

Foundation program
Regular education does not prepare the student to be an authentic and independent learner. Foundation program is specially designed to meet this demand. Design education demands fundamental shift from the way students have been studying in school. As the shift is fundamental and demands habits and attitudinal changes. The foundation program in general and orientation program in particular the foundation will be geared towards achieving this. In the process the students will also get a glimpse of various design streams and the particular skills each of them demands.
Foundation program is the most important program in the making of a designer as foundation program helps the student to become a learner, one who creates knowledge instead of merely receiving knowledge. Design education demands abilities, attitudes, skills and qualities that have not been developed in the regular education and foundation program is required to meet this needs.
Foundation program in design/architecture and early childhood education are similar in many ways. Both are about 'foundations' and need to be very sensitively handled and proper time should be allowed for formation and strengthening of aptitude, attitude and skills. This also demands not just time but also proper space- physical and psychological.
Both are about childlike qualities. One is for retaining and the other is for regaining. In fact foundation studies are like a second birth and the womb needs to be sensitively handled.
We mess up in both situations as the need for foundation is the proof that we haven't handled the 'early childhood education' well.
Children are born to learn and our job is to ensure that their ability to learn is retained. But we teach, instruct, control, coerce, and test and mess it up. In fact we 'give' freedom and mess them up psychologically forever. 

The foundation will explore and open the door way for students the take interest in the 5 streams mentioned.( (1) art/ culture (2) science/ technology (3) finance, management and (4) humanities (anthropology, history, sociology, psychology) (5) communication (language and other means like computer etc))

Orientation Program

Foundation of the foundation program
The orientation program is like the foundation program of the foundation program which prepares the student to 'learn' design. This two weeks program is for addressing the habits and attitudes that had been formed from schooling.

Assessment of Design student

The learner must have ability to judge themselves and this needs to be considered while developing the assessment system. Ability to learn, reflect, explore, be open, divergence, accommodative, ....

Qualities of Design educator

Having the tag of being creative, the design educator must also be creative about developing content, developing ways of awakening student's interest and learning process. Thus the teacher also has to become a reflective practitioner and this demands constant observation of what is being taught, how students respond, documentation and constant appraisal. The educator must aim at transforming their students into their teachers so that the ambiance becomes learning ambiance

Importance of studying the 'process' in Design education

Design education, the way it is conducted should be studied very deeply so that it can become the 'way' to study all other 'subjects'.

Real potential of foundation program in Design education

Some basic aspects of Design education can be used as a means to repair and correct the damages inflicted by the modern schooling to some extent. Of course design education as it is practiced today will need few fundamental changes.  The ambiance- pedagogy, process and content- in design schools in general if organized sensitively has the potential of awakening a deeper process.

1. body mind integration due to practice based education.

2. to design demands observation- observation of form, function, process, materials, people, society etc- awakening of senses, being present

3. to design new demands to leave the 'known' and go into the 'unknown'. ability to hold doubt, to make mistake, to be uncertain, to be open, to see the un seen.......

4. to design means to leave the noun and be in process or to be in verb.

5. Design education also awakens the aesthetic sensibility as aesthetic experience is the need of the body to be in aptness.

6. to design brings playfulness and makes alive the child in you

7. Design also demands socio cultural understanding and hence demands one to engage with society.

8.  ..........................................

The most important aspect of design education is that it has the potential in making the learner ‘present’ to the concreteness of the world around. It also has the potential in approaching designing as if one is encountering the issues for the first time. One needs to start from a clean slate all the time which makes the design apt. One has to go in to realm of unknown instead of taking things for granted.