Education is a valuable treasure my family holds as both my parents have taken up a secondary career of teaching 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, in whatever I do, be it my own design and research practice or in teaching, I believe in not only telling but rather having people experience first-hand what I wish to communicate. I believe tangible interactive experiences would allow for better engagement with students and allow for a direct translation of concepts to mediums that they would be able to associate with in the real world. I do this in my teaching by not only giving lectures through visual slides but by designing and 3D printing objects that students would be able to interact with and reflect on the lessons being discussed.

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, such as the act of dishwashing with invisible ink to see movement patterns for example, in order to investigate, conceptualize, create, and communicate their ideas. I have always drawn inspiration from different fields such as engineering, business, education, library and information sciences, music, and even daily operations as mundane as public transportation or opening a door. 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 learn to adapt to their ever-changing environments and their thinking as well as 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. I have had students tell me that they now can’t help but look at doors the same way after my lecture using them as an example. Even when they went abroad for vacation, they would start to notice these things they interact with in their everyday lives that they did not see before. This type of thinking is what I hope to impart to students, the ability to be curious about the world around them, even the passive and mundane.

And finally, I believe in fostering a conducive environment for learning where students’ individual needs are cared for and where encouragement is a defining trait in the classroom that 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.

Being an educator is not only about giving lectures and activities in hope your students would pick something up from you. It is also learning from all those around you, students and colleagues alike. I, as an instructor, do not only impart what I know to students, but also learn from them as well. I will always remember the first time I taught a class as a teaching fellow where the experience made me look back at how to view design concepts that I’ve learned years ago in the foundational sense which not only allowed me to simplify my lectures but also reframe how I viewed my own master’s thesis research moving forward at the time.

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 myself 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, especially, design research, 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 every day to being surrounded by such an environment where I not only help support others, but also learn and grow as a design practitioner and mentor.