Nterpreting the Communication Process Between Teachers & Students in the Packaging Design Courses Based on Jacobson's Theory

"Packaging design" is one of the main courses in the Iranian MSRT-authorized curriculum for the BFA major in visual communication. The present study aims to analyze the communication process of the packaging design course based on Jacobson's theory of communication and elaborate on some strategies to enhance communications and subsequently, increase effectiveness of the course. In the present study, the key research question is as follows: what actions can be taken to improve the current theory's six functions, and in general, to enhance the communication process in Iranian higher education's packaging design courses? The descriptive-analytical research method is applied, and the data collection is conducted through a combination of library research methods by note-taking and open-ended survey field interviews with the target population. The qualitative data analysis is used. The interviewees were selected in a targeted way, and the snowball (chain referral) method is applied. The results indicate that the actions to be taken in order to develop each of the six functions in Jacobson's theory and to meet the general needs of the course are as follows: (1) Implementing an interdisciplinary environment in the class and imitating real-world common collaborations in the industry; (2) Adopting diverse educational styles, presentations, and sources to achieve the course goals; (3) Careful consideration of four general rules, namely, collective brainstorming, engaging the industry as the course sponsor, directing students to attend end-of-semester design competitions, and highlighting various methods of communication between students and instructors; (4) Considering the principles and categories of the cognitive load theory; (5) Observing cultural requirements and using folk art models; (6) Applying hybrid physical/technological (online) learning as a robust educational strategy.