Resilient transformation of studio-based teaching and learning in creative and design disciplines towards cognitive apprenticeship

New challenges present new opportunities for curriculum innovation and transformation. The immediate health crisis in South Africa necessitates a swift but resilient response by Higher Education Institutions to save the 2020 academic year with many institutions shifting their mode of teaching from face-to-face to online. Creative and design studio-based modules might face more challenges with this shift in the mode of delivery. These modules still rely heavily on teaching project-based modules through the master-apprentice model in studio environments. However, such a transformation to a virtual learning environment requires the ‘master’ to recognise the role of theory and evidence-based design activity to transform learning in these disciplines. The cognitive apprenticeship model has many similarities to the master-apprentice model, but it promotes the necessary power shift from the ‘master’ to the student. Such a pedagogical shift requires a collaborative, responsive, resilient and creative approach with deep empathy for both the student and ‘master’ to ensure the upholding of the integrity of the curriculum as well as the future. employability of students graduating at the end of the academic year. This chapter reflects in and on the action of the curriculum transformation response implemented in studio-based modules at a local Higher Education Institution in South Africa. The global health crisis started the conversation of a pedagogical shift in studio-based modules, but it forced South African design educators to have a hard look at the way design has been taught in South Africa.