Education is a valuable treasure my family holds, as both my parents have taken up a secondary career of teaching later in their lives after their respective time in medical and engineering professions. With that, education has been the most valuable gift my parents entrusted unto my brother and I growing up. I wish to impart the same sentiments on education—to know and understand its value and how it can change lives—to other people by sharing what I know and allowing students, budding designers, to discover themselves through critical thinking stimulation, a collaborative and conducive learning environment, having creative freedom, and building communication skills in and out of the four walls of the classroom.
I believe there are three qualities that would define my teaching:
First, I believe in not only telling nor showing, but rather allowing people to have first-hand experiences of what I wish to communicate. I believe tangible interactive experiences allow for better engagement with students and allow for a direct translation of concepts to medium that they would be able to associate with in the real world.
Second, I believe in encouraging my students to think outside of the box and make use of methods that may not even be remotely close to conventional design methods in order to investigate, conceptualize, create, and communicate their ideas. I would like to encourage my students to not view design as a step-by-step procedure to enact, but rather a dynamic and ever-changing process of getting to know the world they are designing for. With this, designers must adapt and their thinking and processes must cope accordingly. It is not enough to be teaching design theories, software use, and hard skills. These must be supplemented by the ability to be resourceful, to think on one’s feet, and to believe in their own abilities and what they value. In order to translate these into learnings, it is not only necessary to learn what design is, but who and what it impacts in our everyday lives.
And finally, I believe in fostering a conducive environment for learning where students’ individual needs are cared for and encouragement is a defining trait in the classroom where a healthy and respectful communication is fostered through collaborative feedback not only from myself but from their fellow students as well in hopes of building up students’ confidence in their own capabilities and being able to work with others. I relate to students’ need to constantly be approved or reassured they are doing the right thing, but I would want them to learn and grow to believe in what they do and are capable of as that is what would separate their design styles and philosophy from others. School is the place to fail as many times as possible in attempts of trying things out. I want to drill this into them where failing is not actual failure, but rather a learning experience that we all go through at some point, especially in school, as it is the best place to fail safely and securely to grow.
To conclude, being an educator for me is being able to inspire and impart what value education holds to others through not only telling but allowing for students to have first-hand tangible interactive experiences, encouraging them to think critically and make use of other far-from-conventional-design methods in their ideas, and fostering a conducive learning environment where it’s okay to fail securely as they build their confidence in their own abilities through constant communication not only from their instructor but from their peers as well. As an educator, I not only impart my own learnings onto others, but also learn from both my students and peers alike. And lastly, I am reminded that design should not only be decisive and specific, but also creative and fun, as my students have helped reignite my creativity and enjoyment amidst designing in my own practice. I look forward to everyday being surrounded by an environment where I may also learn and grow as a design practitioner and mentor.
