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Photo by Ella Jardim

Targeted Audience: College Freshman Fashion Design and Merchandising Students

I have found that without the proper foundation, students may graduate having little idea how the industry works and have little to no useful foundation for research, which makes it difficult to churn out collection after collection if “no inspiration strikes.”  Over and over I looked to hire assistants and I had a difficult time in New York City, finding what I considered a candidate holding the minimum requirements for employment.  I intend to fill in some of those gaps with my students, preparing them for their futures.  They also will need to do at least one group design research project as most will be hired to work as part of a design team, not as a solo designer, and never had to do this in college.  This will include a critique of each other groups work.  Each collection I have designed over the years was heavily critiqued by the boss, the sales staff and the rest of the design team.  This helped us all get it right.  With the cost of producing collections, this is key. 

By the end of this course, students will have explored and should understand the fashion cycle.

Including:

  • History, iconic designers, and designs
  • Social influences, including the roles of culture and celebrity 
  • Fashion trends
  • Proper research techniques for design 
  • Identity building and brand positioning
  • Basic production structure
  • Industry terminology
Issues discussed will include art, popular culture, branding, ethics, globalization, and sustainability.

1. Analysis – Needs Analysis Link

2. Design – OTARA Design Link 

3. Develop – Describe your development plan/process
I researched and secured two textbooks to utilize in this course. Further, I researched videos, articles and multimedia tools to present a course complete with Web 2.0 tools engaged. When looking at the OTARA plan, you will see it has become color coded as I decided to move a few things around allowing for a better learning flow. Unfortunately, it was a “stroke of genius” after the page directing links had already been put into place, but I determined that the change was needed enough to put in the cumbersome hours for this change. It was the correct decision as I am even happier with the outcome now.

4. Implementation – Describe your implementation plan
I feel I have provided a good mix of andragogy and pedagogy in my methodology when developing this course. While this is a base-building course that his traditionally textbook heavy, I have added discussion boards, research tools, critiques, and an individual and group project to this online course. I would very much like to teach this course at some point in the hopefully near future, and will continue to develop it so it’s ready to go!

5. Evaluation – Describe your evaluation plan
Use Survey Monkey to collect evaluations from students.
I also evaluated via the Quality Matters Rubric and save for the few policies that I would fill in depending upon the Universities policies, all aligned nicely.