My primary goal as an educator is to help support students' growth and learning so that they may appreciate the value of education.

2024 - Present
Sessional Instructor
at Emily Carr University of Art + Design in Vancouver, Canada.

ECUAD Campus

Emily Carr University of Art + Design

2024 - Present

I joined Emily Carr University as a Sessional Instructor in 2024 after completing my Master's degree in the same insitution. Aside from being faculty in the Industrial Design department, I am also a Summer Teens Instructor for ECU Continuing Studies' Junior Arts Institute Program.

All Courses

Human Fit: Applied Ergonomics
This course supports core studio work in product design and interaction design by providing students with the opportunity to explore the ergonomic credibility and possibilities for their projects. A preliminary introduction to ergonomics methodology and testing protocols is followed by the testing and assessment of individual students' core studio prototype. This course will support a variety of different types of projects in various stages of development, including small skill-building opportunities in the application of ergonomic principles and effective and ethical testing protocols in the first part of the course continuing with focused and additional skills in the second part of the course. Techniques will be taught to assist in all phases of product development with a particular emphasis on effective testing protocols. Products are tested for physical ease of use as well as psychological and cognitive accessibility.

Human Fit: Applied Ergonomics
Human Fit: Applied Ergonomics
This course supports core studio work in product design and interaction design by providing students with the opportunity to explore the ergonomic credibility and possibilities for their projects. A preliminary introduction to ergonomics methodology and testing protocols is followed by the testing and assessment of individual students' core studio prototype. This course will support a variety of different types of projects in various stages of development, including small skill-building opportunities in the application of ergonomic principles and effective and ethical testing protocols in the first part of the course continuing with focused and additional skills in the second part of the course. Techniques will be taught to assist in all phases of product development with a particular emphasis on effective testing protocols. Products are tested for physical ease of use as well as psychological and cognitive accessibility.

Speakership & Mentorship

JVYHS Speakership
JVYHS Speakership SS

PROJECT DESIGN RESOURCE SPEAKER 

I was invited for two days to be a resource speaker and project consultant for PROJECT BASiC 4.0 (Boosting and Assessing Skills in Capstone Project Year 4) for STEM High School students of Jose V. Yap National High School in the Philippines.

It was a great pleasure to be able to talk about design principles to STEM high school students and share my advocacy for design education in my home country. As someone who came from a specialized Science High School under the STEM program, I have always wanted to advocate for design awareness and education in the STEM field in the Philippines, as design is commonly misunderstood to simply be making things look pretty in my home country, especially in the STEM field.

Through this two-day intensive, STEM students were able to see their capstone projects not only from the lens of building them and making them work, but also from their respective contexts of use and interaction through human factors, viewing design as a problem-solving process

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MDES (INFORMATION FUTURES) 2024 FALL INTENSIVE 

I was among the alumni invited to talk with the new first year Master of Design students at Emily Carr University in their 2024 Fall Intensive. This opportunity for me meant giving back to the insitution and program that honed my abilities as a designer and researcher.

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 alumni presentations, I, together with another fellow alumnus, 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.

© Erik Asia 2025