Finding design teachers:
Rosan brings to the discussion table the idea of kindness. It is a difficult to
know what kindness is at all times. But I would attach it to respect. If a
teacher treats a student with respect and dignity, acknowledging their common
humanity that might be a good start. It is often easy to identify unkindness
but sometimes learning takes place when people are destabilized. In fact I
would suggest it might be more likely to take place when someone is in
unfamiliar territory. But there is a dramatic difference between doing
something someone doesn't want or like and being unkind. Since education could
be considered to be about learning, although sometimes lately it may seem to be
more about finance, a desired quality in a design teacher, or any teacher,
might be the ability to teach, which implies an understanding of how people
learn.
Although Huxley said a good teacher is someone in whose company I do my
best work, I would suggest that a good design teacher would be someone in whose
company a student learns further how to find internal coherence and at the same
time learn how to do their best work, which doesn't necessarily mean that they
do their best work at that time. Like other professions teaching can be taken
to an "art form. If you ask yourself who was the best teacher you had at
university and then ask why, the answer is interesting.
It is easy to confuse desired outcomes. What the learning outcomes are
may not be directly translatable to what the designed object outcomes are.
There is a difference between an apprenticeship and an education. The first I
would define as teaching a skill, without necessitating understanding or
intellectual, emotional coherence. The second might include a transformative
content involving more of the student, psyche, physicality, sociability,
intellect. In design what learning outcomes do we want? Where are we headed?
How much are we focused on skill? I would personally like to include skill in
the education because it is a framework within which students can learn the
application of a complex body of knowledge. But a critical question might be
about balance. What is the balance are we looking for?
Further learners may need opportunities to fail. Learning often takes
place when there it is possible to fail without censure. I follow with a story
told to me by a friend about angel food cake.
In high school my friend was in a cooking class when they were supposed
to learn how to cook angel food cake. Everyone followed the directions and
example of the teacher. My friend's cake was outstanding. It was highest
quality work, even perfect. She received an A for the cake. Since that time 20
years ago my friend has never been able to repeat the process. In fact she
didn't know quite what she had done to make it so well. She had made no
mistakes from which to learn.
Jan
Jan Coker
C3-10 Underdale Campus
University of South Australia
+61 8 8302 6919
"There is no way to peace, peace is the way"
Gandhi
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