Funding secured to develop AI toolkit for universities teaching art and design

Funding of £10,000 for an innovative new research project that will help universities integrate Artificial Intelligence (AI) into their art and design education programmes has been secured by the Nottingham School of Art & Design at Nottingham Trent University in partnership with Chelsea College of Arts (University of the Arts London), Liberty Fabrics, and Norwich University of the Arts.

The project is one of 18 to be funded this year by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) under its Collaborative Enhancement Projects scheme for 2024. The scheme funds groups of institutions to work together on projects to enhance the quality of the student learning experience, offering outputs that benefit the wider QAA Membership and the HE sector as a whole.

Involving students and academics from three HE institutions, and working closely with industry partner Liberty Fabrics, the project will investigate how AI tools can be used to help and influence the design process, exploring how this learning can be used to integrate AI into art and design education at HE level.

Dr Andy Smith, Quality & Standards Manager at QAA commented: “QAA are delighted that this CEP has a strong focus in how Generative AI will impact the future of art and design education. With GenAI being such an important consideration for QAA members, this project will support the development of new teaching methodologies for art and design.”

With AI research more often focused on language, the impact of AI in HE art and design education is dramatic and has not yet been fully explored or understood. The design industry is also trying to understand how these new tools can help and influence the design process with AI-generated imagery opening up a multitude of possibilities.

Generative AI, such as Midjourney and Stable Diffusion, raises many unanswered questions around the potential impact on future job roles, ethical concerns, copyright and ownership, and the creative process itself for designers.

Natalie Brown, deputy dean of the Nottingham School of Art & Design at Nottingham Trent University, said: “As AI continues to rapidly evolve, it is vital that universities consider not only how this will affect the way we experience and create art, design and other creative subjects, but how student skills can be honed and future-proofed to rise to this new creative challenge.”

Liberty is known for its links to art and culture, showcasing new products and championing new designers. The project will involve students and academics from three Institutions, working alongside the iconic Liberty Fabrics design studio to explore the capabilities and limitations of AI within the designer’s toolkit and how it affects the designers’ workflow. This new learning will benefit all participants as they share their experiences of exploring AI in the design process.

Mary-Ann Bartlett Dunkley, Liberty Fabrics Design Director, commented: “Liberty Fabrics is so excited to have been invited to be the industry partner with three esteemed British art schools on this project. As a design studio, we understand the importance of pushing boundaries through artistic innovation. In the footsteps of our visionary founder, Sir Arthur Lasenby Liberty, our ambition is ‘not to follow existing fashions but to create new ones’. As we look to a future and embrace the opportunities that come with change and uncertainty, we are thrilled to be able to support the students – the next talents in design – in a way that encourages them to take inspiration from the past in order to better shape the future.”

Through collaboration and co-design, this new project will identify a teaching methodology resulting in the creation of an online toolkit for universities, providing them with the support needed to integrate AI into the teaching and learning of their art and design programmes.

Caryn Simonson, Programme Director for Design & Material Practices at Chelsea College of Arts, University of the Arts London (UAL) said: “Taking the lid off AI and engaging actively and critically with generative AI and Machine Learning will prepare students to be skilful in developing emerging practices. It will empower students to deploy and subvert this evolving ‘tool’ with its challenges of bias, ethics and security and the creative possibilities it affords for design processes, whilst provoking interesting questions around authorship and machine as collaborator.”

Kevin Freeman, Director of Fashion and Textiles at Norwich University of the Arts said: “As the debate around the use of AI-generated artwork continues to build, it is an important time for Universities to lead in defining how this can be integrated into a student’s repertoire of skills. To be able to offer a framework in which to build confidence, explore ethical considerations and identify authentic applications will provide an excellent foundation for all our creative futures.”

This new research further strengthens Nottingham School of Art & Design’s impressive standing as an HE leader in the field of Art & Design; a reputation that will be further enhanced when Nottingham Trent University’s dedicated new Design & Digital Arts building opens on campus later this spring.

‘Using AI in learning and teaching in art and design’ is a Collaborative Enhancement Project supported and funded by QAA Membership. The project is led by Nottingham Trent University in partnership with Chelsea College of Arts (University of the Arts London), Liberty Fabrics, and Norwich University of the Arts. Find out more about Collaborative Enhancement Projects on the QAA website.