Partnering with a University Garden for a Non-traditional Materials Fashion Design Assignment: Collaboration, Creativity, and Community Engagement
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The first national meeting of textile and clothing professors took place in Madison, Wisconsin in June 1959. With a mission to advance excellence in education, scholarship and innovation, and their global applications, the International Textile and Apparel Association (ITAA) is a professional and educational association of scholars, educators, and students in the textile, apparel, and merchandising disciplines in higher education.
This site provides free, public access to the ITAA annual conference proceedings beginning in 2015. Previous proceedings can be found by following the "Additional ITAA Proceedings" link on the left sidebar of this page.
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The innovative teaching strategy was partnering with a University Garden to obtain non-traditional materials for advanced fashion design students' creative projects. Situated on a 17-acre site, the University Garden is a year-round attraction features distinct gardens both indoors and outdoors on a 17-acre campus, a Conservatory with seasonal displays, a 2,500-square-foot Butterfly Wing, and a Gift Shop. Benefits of this partnership included: (a) unique materials for students to work with, (b) improved cross-departmental relationships, and (b) opportunities for students to engage the local community with their creative work. The purpose of this teaching strategy was to find a new source of materials for students to work with for an existing non-traditional materials project in an upper-level Creative Design class for fashion design majors. The teaching strategy was effective in fostering the desired teaching/learning outcome of getting students to engage in innovative thinking about apparel design.