Think Internationally, Act Locally: Internationalizing Design Curricula

Carole Goodman
Assistant Professor, Graphic Design
Queens College, the City University of New York

Wikipedia defines internationalization as recognizing “that different peoples, cultures, languages, nations, borders, economies, and ecosystems exist”. This differs from globalization in which the goal is to bring together all nations as a singular entity, negating individuality. With technology making travel more accessible, students are increasingly choosing to study at a college outside of their home countries. After founding the Graphic Design major at Queens College five years ago, I have discovered that in order to communicate effectively to a wide multi-cultural student body, it has been necessary to incorporate aspects of local and international life into the curricula. This has helped students understand how graphic design operates within a variety cultures and has created an atmosphere of understanding and tolerance. It has also aided in idea incubation. I have strived to incorporate internationalization in the following ways by: 1. Allowing students to work in their mother language and creating projects that allow students to express their cultural backgrounds and beliefs; 2. Participating in cross-cultural projects with other universities; 3. Organizing community internships where students can explore the intersection of their cultural beliefs and classroom education with real-world projects.

The field of graphic design has changed drastically since its development. Design has gone from being merely about style to something that is influenced by labor, markets, consumption, and ecology in an international context (Johanna Drucker and Emily McVarish, Graphic Design History: A Critical Guide, Pearson, Prentice Hall, NJ 2009: 338). It is incumbent upon design educators to adjust our curricula in order to communicate with an ever-changing student body, fostering graduates who will be able to work productively in the field to wherever they move after graduation.

Watch the video of the presentation here: http://www.socialstudiesconference.org/node/228