CoLAB – Collaborative exhibition as a method to open interior design

The importance of employability in higher education led leaders on an interior design degree to introduce an innovative module that embedded the notions of collaborative working. This paper presents the analysis of three different iterations of the collaborative exhibition module in a post-1992 UK University. The module was designed to provide students with the opportunity to work and engage with their discipline beyond the studio environment. Using data from a digital questionnaire, interviews and the module evaluation, the paper explores the student experiences of the module as a form of independent learning, the challenges they encountered and its relevance to the wider employability agenda. We present these findings under three themes: (1) the importance of employability’; (2) the ‘challenges of collaboration’ and (3) ‘time for reflection and autonomy’. The paper concludes by emphasizing the value of this mode of study for producing deep and autonomous learning.