ArDIn. Art, Design, and Engineering Merging in a New Method

*Silvia Nuere, Laura de Miguel Alvarez and Raul Diaz-Obregon Cruzado*

### **Abstract**

Teaching technical drawing to fine arts students in 2001 is the beginning of an idea that searches for an integration of different fields of knowledge. Life brings you then to teach artistic drawing to industrial design engineering students and, therefore, to face again the difficulty of merging into one concept: art and science as a whole. So lets introduce a better connection with the professional world into our teaching-learning process. In 2011, Silvia Nuere created a scientist journal called *ArDIn, Art, Design, and Engineering* to promote the STEAM approach to learning. Art, design, and engineering must configure the basic elements of a new way of understanding not only the teaching-learning process but the way of being in the twenty-first century. ArDIn becomes then their method to involve students in the necessary integration of art and science through a constant dialog and critical thinking. Between the educational contexts, we want to point out transmedia narratives as a movement that enhances the creative process. We need to be opened to new proposals as well as going further looking for connections beyond media. Through this project working interdisciplinary, we prepare students remotely for their story in a possible transmedia format.

**Keywords:** ArDIn [ˈɑː<sup>r</sup> diːn], art, design, engineering, STEAM, visual thinking

#### **1. Introduction**

The authors have designed this methodological paradigm. Their identity is a set of three things closely or especially linked to each other with a background as artists, teachers, and researchers [1]. Thanks to their teaching experience in engineering at the university, they have naturally configured a way to proceed in the classroom intimately related to the artistic and researcher dimension. Graphic expression and creativity subjects conform the beginning of a new thinking process.

On the one hand, the artistic dimension coming from their study background promotes the creative development of teaching materials as maps, visual statements, or presentations. On the other hand, the researcher essence deals with the concern of improving their teaching work immersed in various educational innovation projects. These projects are related to the ArDIn approach, as well as the generation tools, to encourage students' self-evaluation. The rubric self-assessment

tool is created as a tool for spreading their practice in contrast to other patterns and workshops.

As previously mentioned, this work has been developed in class within the design field. Nevertheless, doing so in different knowledge specialties has given them a teaching global vision, highlighting interdisciplinary nature. The interconnection of disciplines, when it comes to connecting learning with life and the future professional performance of students, is worth it.

After more than 18 years of teaching, the authors have been able to create an educational intervention model that raises the image importance in all their teaching-learning process. It is also important integrating artistic poetics and movements. Diverse creative advancing approaches can be transferred to a design project. Students can understand art creation as a bunch of possible solutions and the wheel that can help to innovate and converge into a good design.

Lately, the visual presence in these educational experiences has been important to forge student's view inside their knowledge improvement. But teachers have also transformed their students' reciprocal relationship widening their approach. Images are essential for understanding the concepts taught in the different subjects.

Projects offered in the different subjects taught during these years have been adapted to the profile of each group, to their educational level. The works collected in this long period are what today has become a real shared learning process evidence. According to Pence (2012), transmedia in education can be not just the use of a variety of media but also the need for the students to interact with the narrative. Framework transmedia is not only a new way to involve audience but also a favorable scenario to promote new interactions and ways of the teaching-learning process [2].

The main points will be illustrated by different experiences done all over the years. This will be the way to understand at a glance the ArDIn methodological paradigm. Selected experiences will then be presented as different visual results [3], giving importance to the visual to be faithful to how these proposals were presented and developed by teachers and students.

#### **2. Research method**

Thinking about design, it is interesting to deepen in its characteristics to find some aspects that could guide the specific methodology for this investigation. As Conde [4] specify, there is a clear relation between design and creativity. The characteristic of their nature determines this relation. He continues specifying that practicing creativity must be a transversal and multifaceted phenomenon and must not be reduced to a simple group of techniques. The most important is to encourage critical minds, to follow a divergent model of thinking, that is to think outside the box to deal with problems.

The UNESCO [5] recommends education to follow a creative and renovated model. Creativity and innovation are essential tools for the twenty-first century.

As designers, artists, or engineers, there is a common behavior. When a problem arises, they will have to face it and look for the best solution. As a parallelism, taking into account design thinking, we can face problems following this method. Experiences in classroom become a field of research. Diverse problems arise every day. Try to define the problems. Think about specific characteristics, about your students and their needs, and define, according to your taught subject, possible solutions. And finally put it into action.

**73**

national borders.

*ArDIn. Art, Design, and Engineering Merging in a New Method*

• Descriptive: any data is important (words).

orientations not concrete rules.

**3. Educational context and skills**

global space where education will take place.

also be introduced in the process of learning.

• Realistic: must understand reality with its values.

of the education process can be studied through this method [7].

The method followed is qualitative; deepen in the personal world of people in order to interpret their situations, what do they mean for them, and what are their intentions, their beliefs, and their motivations. These motivations and expectations

The main characteristics of this method are the following according to Bernardo

• Inductive: conclusions are obtained through particular information.

• Ideographic: specification and particularity are really important.

• Humanistic: knowledge and particular lives are taken into account.

• Interactive: it is natural to interact with all the persons involved in the process.

• Genuine: every researcher creates its own research process. They follow general

• Rigorous: what is heard or watched is checked with the data written down.

Following this thread, a holistic model emerges to put into practice in the classroom. Holistic education becomes an axis of human being development [8]. Even though the authors promote the holistic education research in the field of art, it can be extrapolated to the design field. The main objective is that "students can examine, identify, approach, analyze and live with intensity to establish a link with another spheres that have never dealt with" [8]. Students can become the main subject of the innovation process; they can participate and be part of a new

The context where the authors have included their proposal is in Europe as a

In the general information about the Erasmus+ Program, tackle socioeconomic changes that can be afforded through education [9]. As one important clue, education can enhance intercultural understanding and a sense of belonging to a community. It is also mentioned that young people should participate actively in society, in line with the provisions of the Lisbon Treaty to "encourage to participate young people in democratic life in Europe" [9]. Youth is essential for the future, as they will become the workforce of every country, and therefore they should participate more actively in their studies. Cooperation across different fields and levels must

Following the European transparency and recognition all over the countries, some tools have been created, as the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS), to facilitate recognition, better understood, within and across

The framework will be focused on the Key Action 2 of the Erasmus+ Program:

cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices [9].

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.89201*

and Calderero [7]:

way of teaching.

This method is proposed to solve problems in a wide range of areas and companies [6].

*Narrative Transmedia*

workshops.

process [2].

**2. Research method**

box to deal with problems.

solutions. And finally put it into action.

and developed by teachers and students.

tool is created as a tool for spreading their practice in contrast to other patterns and

As previously mentioned, this work has been developed in class within the design field. Nevertheless, doing so in different knowledge specialties has given them a teaching global vision, highlighting interdisciplinary nature. The interconnection of disciplines, when it comes to connecting learning with life and the future

After more than 18 years of teaching, the authors have been able to create an educational intervention model that raises the image importance in all their teaching-learning process. It is also important integrating artistic poetics and movements. Diverse creative advancing approaches can be transferred to a design project. Students can understand art creation as a bunch of possible solutions and

Lately, the visual presence in these educational experiences has been important to forge student's view inside their knowledge improvement. But teachers have also transformed their students' reciprocal relationship widening their approach. Images are essential for understanding the concepts taught in the different subjects. Projects offered in the different subjects taught during these years have been adapted to the profile of each group, to their educational level. The works collected in this long period are what today has become a real shared learning process evidence. According to Pence (2012), transmedia in education can be not just the use of a variety of media but also the need for the students to interact with the narrative. Framework transmedia is not only a new way to involve audience but also a favorable scenario to promote new interactions and ways of the teaching-learning

The main points will be illustrated by different experiences done all over the years. This will be the way to understand at a glance the ArDIn methodological paradigm. Selected experiences will then be presented as different visual results [3], giving importance to the visual to be faithful to how these proposals were presented

Thinking about design, it is interesting to deepen in its characteristics to find some aspects that could guide the specific methodology for this investigation. As Conde [4] specify, there is a clear relation between design and creativity. The characteristic of their nature determines this relation. He continues specifying that practicing creativity must be a transversal and multifaceted phenomenon and must not be reduced to a simple group of techniques. The most important is to encourage critical minds, to follow a divergent model of thinking, that is to think outside the

The UNESCO [5] recommends education to follow a creative and renovated model. Creativity and innovation are essential tools for the twenty-first century. As designers, artists, or engineers, there is a common behavior. When a problem

arises, they will have to face it and look for the best solution. As a parallelism, taking into account design thinking, we can face problems following this method. Experiences in classroom become a field of research. Diverse problems arise every day. Try to define the problems. Think about specific characteristics, about your students and their needs, and define, according to your taught subject, possible

This method is proposed to solve problems in a wide range of areas and

the wheel that can help to innovate and converge into a good design.

professional performance of students, is worth it.

**72**

companies [6].

The method followed is qualitative; deepen in the personal world of people in order to interpret their situations, what do they mean for them, and what are their intentions, their beliefs, and their motivations. These motivations and expectations of the education process can be studied through this method [7].

The main characteristics of this method are the following according to Bernardo and Calderero [7]:


Following this thread, a holistic model emerges to put into practice in the classroom. Holistic education becomes an axis of human being development [8]. Even though the authors promote the holistic education research in the field of art, it can be extrapolated to the design field. The main objective is that "students can examine, identify, approach, analyze and live with intensity to establish a link with another spheres that have never dealt with" [8]. Students can become the main subject of the innovation process; they can participate and be part of a new way of teaching.

### **3. Educational context and skills**

The context where the authors have included their proposal is in Europe as a global space where education will take place.

In the general information about the Erasmus+ Program, tackle socioeconomic changes that can be afforded through education [9]. As one important clue, education can enhance intercultural understanding and a sense of belonging to a community. It is also mentioned that young people should participate actively in society, in line with the provisions of the Lisbon Treaty to "encourage to participate young people in democratic life in Europe" [9]. Youth is essential for the future, as they will become the workforce of every country, and therefore they should participate more actively in their studies. Cooperation across different fields and levels must also be introduced in the process of learning.

Following the European transparency and recognition all over the countries, some tools have been created, as the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS), to facilitate recognition, better understood, within and across national borders.

The framework will be focused on the Key Action 2 of the Erasmus+ Program: cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices [9].

This key action supports transnational strategic partnerships that aim to develop initiatives addressing one or more fields of education training and youth and promote innovation. It promotes knowledge alliances between higher education institutions and enterprises to foster innovation, entrepreneurship, and creativity.

Another framework will be the Spanish laws referring to higher education. From time to time, the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport publishes and updates the so-called *Libro Blanco* [white paper] that indicates the general actions and results about specific matters. In this particular example, it refers to higher education in general and engineering in industrial design in particular. One of the main contents refers to the general and specific competencies [10]. Competence is defined as the knowledge, capacity, ability, or acquired skill, which gives place at an adequate and optimal level of professional performance of engineering in the field of industrial design.

Between the specific disciplinary competencies, there is one that deals directly with the capacity of using manual and electronic tools for the artistic and industrial expression. Other competencies related to the cross techniques are problem solving, oral communication, capacity to organize and plan, or decision-making. Related to the systemic ones, students need to learn and work in an autonomous way, adapt to new situations, and be creative. Finally in the group of personal and participatory competencies, they will face critical reasoning, work in group, and communicate with professionals.

Analyzing the fine arts Spanish White Book [11], we find similarities with some competencies as they are related to general concepts, as, for example, be autonomous in their learning or be creative. In general, the ones exposed for industrial design, are more or less the same, just with some differences in their writing.

Approaching the particularity of competencies adopted by the Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM), where the research takes place, creativity is between others, common to all their degrees [12]. Creativity is defined in an engineer way as the capacity of solving, in a new and original way, problems or situations of the engineering field. Even though they define it in an engineering field, there are different ways to face problems, and design thinking can be one of them.

Connecting to creativity, we also focus on the transmedia narratives as a way to promote new ways of learning, outside classrooms and in consonance with the twenty-first-century technologies. Making a parallelism with Henry Jenkins (2003) statements, "the current structure is hierarchical and we need a model for co-creation rather than adaptation of content that crosses media" [13], so there is a lack of common language or vision that could unify high education old models with new media [13].

In a wide sense, we can consider the definition given by Laura Fleming (2013), "transmedia learning is the application of storytelling techniques combined with the use of multiple platforms to create an immersive learning landscape which enables multivarious entry and exit points for learning and teaching." But this new model can go beyond the classroom, taking the pedagogical principles from constructivism and letting students build new personal learning frameworks.

#### **4. ArDIn paradigm**

ArDIn proposes a paradigm with artistic procedures organized and interrelated with engineering and design fields to promote new knowledge contexts. Teachers and students will work in a horizontal and collaborative way in engineering concerns.

An image of a molecule is a perfect way to represent visually the proposal. The organization is a set of atoms attached through chemical bonds that result in a stable set.

**75**

**Figure 1.**

*Three-dimensional computer graphic simulation of a molecule (Silvia Nuere).*

*ArDIn. Art, Design, and Engineering Merging in a New Method*

ArDIn is presented with a form that can remind this molecular organization, albeit

The first singularity refers to the contexts in which ArDIn is given. These are areas of teaching in which design is present, since the challenges faced by their students force them to act transversally between theory, technique, creation, usefulness, and innovation from the first day of class. Configuring the profile thinking of these students, necessarily divergent, must predispose them to keep an attitude to explore, know, analyze, combine, and, above all, learn. This motivation is essential to activate ArDIn method as "creative confidence." This means facing the challenge without fear of being wrong, with certainty in their possibilities, and being aware of their limits

The second singularity is about teachers from fine arts matters proposing activities to their students that guarantee a playful experience. The aim is to connect them with their reality and force them to work creatively and in an interdisciplinary way

Another unique characteristic of the ArDIn molecule is that it can be fragmented and configured in new arrangements keeping its balance, contrary to what happen to chemical molecule (**Figure 1**). In these cases, the new arrangements are subject to the contexts in which they occur, adapting to the profiles of the people who live them. Therefore with each educational experience, a new shape of the ArDIn

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.89201*

with its own singularities.

to make meaningful learning [14].

and virtues.

molecule is created.

#### *ArDIn. Art, Design, and Engineering Merging in a New Method DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.89201*

*Narrative Transmedia*

of industrial design.

with professionals.

This key action supports transnational strategic partnerships that aim to develop

Between the specific disciplinary competencies, there is one that deals directly with the capacity of using manual and electronic tools for the artistic and industrial expression. Other competencies related to the cross techniques are problem solving, oral communication, capacity to organize and plan, or decision-making. Related to the systemic ones, students need to learn and work in an autonomous way, adapt to new situations, and be creative. Finally in the group of personal and participatory competencies, they will face critical reasoning, work in group, and communicate

Analyzing the fine arts Spanish White Book [11], we find similarities with some competencies as they are related to general concepts, as, for example, be autonomous in their learning or be creative. In general, the ones exposed for industrial design, are more or less the same, just with some differences in their writing. Approaching the particularity of competencies adopted by the Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM), where the research takes place, creativity is between others, common to all their degrees [12]. Creativity is defined in an engineer way as the capacity of solving, in a new and original way, problems or situations of the engineering field. Even though they define it in an engineering field, there are dif-

ferent ways to face problems, and design thinking can be one of them.

Connecting to creativity, we also focus on the transmedia narratives as a way to promote new ways of learning, outside classrooms and in consonance with the twenty-first-century technologies. Making a parallelism with Henry Jenkins (2003) statements, "the current structure is hierarchical and we need a model for co-creation rather than adaptation of content that crosses media" [13], so there is a lack of common language or vision that could unify high education old models with new media [13]. In a wide sense, we can consider the definition given by Laura Fleming (2013), "transmedia learning is the application of storytelling techniques combined with the use of multiple platforms to create an immersive learning landscape which enables multivarious entry and exit points for learning and teaching." But this new model can go beyond the classroom, taking the pedagogical principles from constructivism and letting students build new personal learning frameworks.

ArDIn proposes a paradigm with artistic procedures organized and interrelated with engineering and design fields to promote new knowledge contexts. Teachers and students will work in a horizontal and collaborative way in engi-

An image of a molecule is a perfect way to represent visually the proposal. The organization is a set of atoms attached through chemical bonds that result in a stable set.

initiatives addressing one or more fields of education training and youth and promote innovation. It promotes knowledge alliances between higher education institutions and enterprises to foster innovation, entrepreneurship, and creativity. Another framework will be the Spanish laws referring to higher education. From time to time, the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport publishes and updates the so-called *Libro Blanco* [white paper] that indicates the general actions and results about specific matters. In this particular example, it refers to higher education in general and engineering in industrial design in particular. One of the main contents refers to the general and specific competencies [10]. Competence is defined as the knowledge, capacity, ability, or acquired skill, which gives place at an adequate and optimal level of professional performance of engineering in the field

**74**

**4. ArDIn paradigm**

neering concerns.

ArDIn is presented with a form that can remind this molecular organization, albeit with its own singularities.

The first singularity refers to the contexts in which ArDIn is given. These are areas of teaching in which design is present, since the challenges faced by their students force them to act transversally between theory, technique, creation, usefulness, and innovation from the first day of class. Configuring the profile thinking of these students, necessarily divergent, must predispose them to keep an attitude to explore, know, analyze, combine, and, above all, learn. This motivation is essential to activate ArDIn method as "creative confidence." This means facing the challenge without fear of being wrong, with certainty in their possibilities, and being aware of their limits and virtues.

The second singularity is about teachers from fine arts matters proposing activities to their students that guarantee a playful experience. The aim is to connect them with their reality and force them to work creatively and in an interdisciplinary way to make meaningful learning [14].

Another unique characteristic of the ArDIn molecule is that it can be fragmented and configured in new arrangements keeping its balance, contrary to what happen to chemical molecule (**Figure 1**). In these cases, the new arrangements are subject to the contexts in which they occur, adapting to the profiles of the people who live them. Therefore with each educational experience, a new shape of the ArDIn molecule is created.

**Figure 1.** *Three-dimensional computer graphic simulation of a molecule (Silvia Nuere).*
