The case for greening the fashion education classroom across the curriculum

This paper contributes to the current debate as to whether sustainability should be taught as a stand-alone course or be integrated across the design curriculum as a means of enhancing the overall learning experience. Fashion and design teaching is increasingly moving towards a multi-disciplinary approach based
on the understanding that these sustainable practices impact on local and global economies and the environment. Yet, the redesign of the fashion curriculum has seen mixed success and questionable impact on imparting relevant knowledge by randomly inserting sustainability topics in the curriculum. Using a case study
approach, the paper reports on the holistic integration of sustainability
into a fashion course focused on marketing fashion concepts using a sustainability workshop containing a series of student-led exercises. This was premised on acquainting students with key issues underlying sustainable fashion, their implications, the need for change and the knowledge and skills to effect that change – in this case professional communication skills. In addition, sustainability issues covered in the workshop were threaded through each
subsequent lecture within a 14-week, semester-long fashion communication
class in a Hong Kong higher education institution at undergraduate level. This learning was also sustained by ensuring that the students reflected on, and shared their takeaways from the workshop based on the outcomes of in-class exercises using an educational social media site as a form of blended learning
with the intention of informing their future professional practice as fashion marketers.of the article. Rote learning is widely utilized in Asian education systems and gives excellent results (Li, 2005). Experience from our classrooms show that to articulate deep creative concepts, in a fashion design context, memorisation techniques are not efficient. It is essential for students to be able
to construct arguments rather than present already composed written arguments to enable them to liberate their creative potential. The purpose of this study was to examine the use of Pecha Kucha presentation style in a fashion design studio environment, instead of a traditional PowerPoint presentation style to explore
students’ abilities to increase concept presentation, articulation and communication skills. Students from class BAFDT5A were introduced to the Pecha Kucha methodology. Students also attended the Singapore Pecha Kucha Night and presented 4 times their collection concept over a period of 4 weeks. Students were also given an assessment form for peer review. Lastly marks were compared with the marks form the previous cohort and the results showed and increase of final semester marks to the highest bandings. The information generated by this study will be of value to Fashion Design lecturers working the School of Fashion, but could be applied to any design programme. The results could provide
design lecturers with a concrete method that could ultimately improve students’ oral presentations.