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Dear all, Designers are a funny lot. At least some are. Some designers resent it when non-designers design, yet they turn around and think nothing of teaching design. Where in their design education, or for that matter, in their design practice, did they acquire the knowledge and skills associated with teaching? Most design curricula are not about teaching but about designing, as they should be. Design and teaching share certain elements but are essentially two very separate and different activities. Some designers can teach effectively, others cannot; there are even some teachers who cannot teach effectively. And, by the way, this same phenomenon, i.e., practitioners teaching their disciplines, occurs in engineering, architecture, chemistry, physics, etc. It should be noted that the challenge is not limited to the teaching activity itself but, more importantly, to learning effectiveness. On that note, few professional designers have the requisite knowledge and understanding. Up until twenty or so odd years universities in Canada hired faculty based almost only on academic credentials. The assumption was that if you were academically qualified in your discipline you could, by extension, teach it. I am sure that this hiring practice was the same in many other parts of the world. Then the realization hit: there was no correlation between academic proficiency and teaching/learning effectiveness. We all experienced brilliant scientists who couldn't teach first-year physics. What happened next occurred on many campuses: faculty members were given the opportunity to learn to teach, that is, learn about the psychology of learning, learning styles, pedagogical theory, etc. Today most universities have learning and teaching centers that offer all kinds of workshops and seminars on teaching and learning. This realization has now shifted to administration in the university, because the same thing can be said about designers and management: Can a good designer manage effectively? Some can; some can't. In order to address the need of managerial leaders at the university, Arizona State University -- where I work -- now has the Leadership Academy, a program that trains and educates faculty members to be effective university administrators. A Ph.D. in chemistry does not automatically make you a good manager. And neither does an MFA in design. In the end designing, teaching, and managing are very different activities. Why should we assume that when you have the first that you necessarily have the other two? You may, but then again, you may not. Jacques R. Giard, PhD Professor and Director School of Design Arizona State University Tempe, AZ 85287-2105 p (480) 965-1373 f (480) 965-9717 www.asu.edu/caed/design