Challenges of teaching scene design to undergraduate students

Within the academic world, most colleges and universities have theatre programs that offer courses in scene design and have the professional faculty in their area of study. However, they probably have not been taught how to teach scene design. Therefore, they may experience challenges in their teaching of the subject.;The purpose of this study was to investigate the challenges that instructors might encounter when they teach scene design for undergraduate students, and to seek recommendation from these instructors for improving the teaching environment.;Data were collected through telephone interviews with 10 instructors who currently teach scene design to undergraduate students at the college and university level and who were recommended by academics and professionals in the field. Data came from responses to thirteen questions asked each subject about issues that might be challenging for scene design instructors when teaching scene design courses to undergraduate students.;Data were analyzed through the following steps: (1) interviews were tape-recorded and transcribed word-by-word a printed copy of each interview was prepared; (2) for each interviewee, one separate sheet was prepared for their responses to each question; (3) a condensed description of essential concepts was prepared to each question by each interview; (4) a summary of essential concepts was prepared for each question, collecting the essential concepts from all interviews; (5) a frequency table was prepared for each "summary of key concepts" sheet. Before determining that essential concepts for the answers, an expert in theatre was asked to review all interview transcripts and to make a written summary of essential concepts from all questions answered by all subjects of the sample.;Significant findings are: (a) students have no or little artistic background; (b) instructors are committed to the teaching of scene design; (c) instructor-student relationship is very important because teaching scene design involves a great deal of practice that demands collaborative work for better achievement; (d) students need to be exposed to live theatre and be involved in productions; and (e) students need to be introduced to the use of computer aided-design.