The POOL Model: Foregrounding an alternative learning and teaching approach for digital media design in higher education

Recent studies show that current higher digital media design education generally fails to equip students with the expertise and skills suited to the requirements of the industry. This is a result of design education largely adhering to a curriculum model developed for and applicable to multimedia design practice in the 1990s. Utilization of this model persists, although it has become increasingly unviable due to rapid technological advances and a resultant shift in the industry away from the individual designer and towards collaborative team design. An alternative learning and teaching model is currently under development at a regional Australian university, referred to as the POOL Model. This new model is a multidisciplinary system of interdependent collaboration and expertise exchange across university, industry and community sectors, intended for implementation in undergraduate curriculum to prepare students for collaborative multidisciplinary practice and meaningful careers in the industry. Using data obtained by industry, design educators and students, this article evidences the rationale for the development of the model, which will form the basis for the ongoing development of the new curriculum through trial and revision.