I was among the alumni invited to talk with the new first year Master of Design students at Emily Carr University in their Fall Intensive. I started off by giving a talk about my Master’s thesis, all of the projects that have led me to the finish line and all the challenges and advices I’ve encountered along the way.

I not only talked through visual aids about my projects, but also brought the physical artefacts and encouraged everyone to interact with them, as my intention in the creation of the discursive artefacts is to let people experience my research, rather than me simply just telling them about it. This has since translated to my design and teaching practices as well.

Soon after all of the presentations, I, together with fellow alumnus Sahil Mroke, conducted a workshop with all the current MDes students to help support them in distilling their interests and current practices to a potential research question as they try to navigate their first term in the program.

We had provided them with prompts on introducing themselves and their respective practices, while considering what they are most interested in doing during their stay in the program. We were then able to advise the students one-on-one with regards potential avenues of questioning that their research might take them.

Feedback from the students afterwards during the evening social were very positive and much appreciated. I had a student a week later tell me that they had shared what I had conveyed in my presentation to their fellow Interaction Design cohorts who were not able to attend the intensive workshop, opening their perspectives to looking at interactions as more than simply on digital screens, but rather something we live by and engage in everyday in all facets of our lives.