“Creative Teaching of Engaged Visual Merchandising Courses with Limited Resources”

Abstract

<p>Previously, two visual merchandising courses were taught as lecture-based classes with no real-world applications. The instructors wanted to reinforce student knowledge of lectured concepts by incorporating various modes of creative teaching to provide hands-on application and real-world experiences to help students transfer learning to different contexts (National Research Council, 2000). The challenge was circumventing the lack of current program resources and limited available storage space. A variety of creative teaching methods were employed to provide students with engaging, real-world applications. The results were availability and access to visual merchandising props and practice with little to no cost and minimal to no storage space. Immersing students in real-world applications, reinforced lectured concepts and fostered higher student engagement, critical thinking, and creative skills. Implications exist for other apparel and textile courses, circumventing challenges for generating an engaged learning environment.</p>