I presented in this chapter the theoretical lenses that guide both the analysis of the academic literature to which this research aims to contribute, and the analysis and interpretation of the data collected in the present study.
The theoretical framework chosen for this project facilitates the analysis of ID courses from two complementary perspectives: one that looks at the development of students’ professional identity as designers while working on a client-based project, and one that examines essential aspects of the course design as project-based learning. Together (Figure 2.5), these perspectives contribute to presenting a case study that has both depth and breadth, in the context of changing conceptions of the ID field and a more prominent incorporation of design concepts.
Before presenting the research design, I move on to examine in Chapter 3 the work done by other researchers in connection to my interests. The theoretical framework will be used to analyse the selected literature and identify gaps or areas less well understood to which this research might contribute.
3 Literature review
3.1 Introduction
3.1.1 Locating the project
Academic researchers work in communities structured around their fields, disciplines, and particular interests. These fields are interconnected and the communities themselves are alive – they change, adapt, and receive more or less attention from other communities or policymakers. When formulating a research project, therefore, it is important to consider the relevant sources of information on which to draw, since this will influence not only the direction the project takes, but also the choice of the academic communities to whom the work might eventually contribute.
Echoing Merriam (1998), I found that the literature review process is not a linear one. It started with an area of interest, “a hunch” (Krathwohl, 1998, p. 101) motivated by my desire to bring into the university context the experience I had in preparing instructional designers in industry settings through real-life assignments. It further evolved with the choice of the theoretical framework and the articulation of the main research question, which motivated the delineation of the two areas of literature that I will be looking at: (A) Development of students’ professional identity in real-client settings, and (B) Educational projects in design disciplines.
Figure 3.1 - Two interconnected areas of literature
A. Development of students' professional identity in real-client settings B. Educational projects in design disciplines
The first area is Development of students’ professional identity in real- client settings. I chose the phrase real-client settings to encompass the whole range of professionally-related activities the students are doing in connection with their university studies, performed in the same setting as a practitioner, found in the research literature under various names: work-integrated learning, internship, placement, cooperative learning, service learning, practicum.
The second area is Educational projects in design disciplines. Projects (see section 1.6) are a traditional pedagogy in design disciplines and this literature has the potential to highlight how they are conducted, for which purposes, and what influence the projects might have on design students’ developing professional identities.
Of course, some research topics were intentionally excluded from the review, such as research focused on particular identity issues such as gender or minority status, research on identity conducted in professional settings unrelated to university studies, and research on theoretical models of identity. Although informative and with a potential to add context and breadth to the overall image, concerns about feasibility and brevity needed also to be accommodated. Moreover, not focusing on research on particular theoretical models of identity allowed me to define a scope for the literature review which is geared towards a project focused on the development of professional identity.
By building on the selected body of knowledge, this research project aims to contribute to the academic literature on how students’ professional identity development can be supported by project-based learning in design- oriented, real-client settings. Although the individual topics receive coverage in both theoretical conceptualizations and empirical studies, the literature review shows that there is a scarcity of articles at the intersection of these themes.
After presenting, in 3.1.2, the strategies used to identify and analyse the selected literature, I examine, in section 3.2, the selected articles on the Development of students’ professional identity in practice-based settings, using concepts derived from the communities of practice framework described in section 2.3. The same approach is used to analyse identity in section 3.3, using
the second body of articles related to educational projects in design disciplines. The same articles are analysed in section 3.4 using the project-based learning framework described in section 2.4. The overall logic is illustrated in Figure 3.2. In section 3.5 the implications for the study are discussed.
Figure 3.2 - Areas of literature reviewed using components of the theoretical framework
3.1.2 Search and analysis strategy
For both areas, literature search followed the systematic process recommended by Booth et al (2012), starting with a scoping search to become familiar with the literature, identify relevant reviews and journals, and create a list of key terms. Two sources were used: Scopus database – used with the search terms identified, and a bibliography search starting from existing literature reviews and articles identified in the scoping stage. The reference lists
Students' professional identity in practice-based settings •Professional identity •Accountability to an enterprise •Mutuality of engagement •Shared repertoire •Trajectories •Multi-membership Identity in educational projects in design disciplines •Professional identity •Accountability to an enterprise •Mutuality of engagement •Shared repertoire •Trajectories •Multi-membership Elements of educational projects in design disciplines •Project-based learning •Problem - project space, •Related cases, •Information resources, •Cognitive tools, •Collaborative tools, •Contextual support
were examined for relevant papers. The bibliography search was conducted in several iterations during the process of examining the full text of the selected articles. I used the date parameter 1999–2019, to capture recent developments but also historical evolutions. Language filters were not established a priori, to allow for studies conducted in a diversity of cultural contexts to emerge.
In order to analyse the literature, I went through four stages. First, I tabulated the articles in each area in a separate spreadsheet and recorded information about the research focus, methodology and methods, setting of research and country, theoretical framework employed, and the authors’ results and conclusions. Thus, I was able to form a general picture of the main points emerging from the body of literature, their evolution during the timespan analysed, and the main apparent differences.
Second, I came back to each body of literature and used, in turn, the concepts derived from the theoretical framework to analyse the articles (see Figure 3.2). The concepts were not looked up ad litteram, but rather they were inferred from the authors’ presentations of data, findings, and arguments (see Figure 3.3 for an illustration).
Third, findings were summarized and themes identified across each concept for each body of literature. The themes, together with gaps identified in the literature, are presented in detail in the following sections, structured as shown in Table 3.1.
Professional identity concepts PjBL concepts Development of students’ professional identity in practice- based settings Section 3.2 - Educational projects in design disciplines Section 3.3 Section 3.4
Table 3.1 - Structure of literature review
Finally, findings were integrated across the two bodies of literature, and connections were identified between the elements of the two main theoretical frameworks.
3.2 Development of students’ professional identity in practice