Design briefs into real life constructions

As discussed in the thread Design Brief: real experience; I wanted to share the design briefs and final construction following our conversations. This was the design brief provided to us following an initial brainstorming meeting. We were provided with 2 options and chose this design to add our ideas to, as you can see the pen scribble. These add ons came throughout an informal discussion. You will see in the following revised design brief that a lot of our ideas and changes were adhered to! You can see that the main changes are: The area Read More …

Part B: Critical Reflection

Designing Spaces for Learning (INF536) has been a very interesting and challenging course. I’ve been taken out of my comfort zone but also found common ground with design approaches and how I use them every day as a classroom teacher. I feel like I brought my strength of knowledge in early childhood education to meet my new learning about design processes head-on. It has left me with agreeing with the phrase that “Design has become too important to be left to designers” (Brown & Katz, 2011, p. 381). Kelley’s TEDtalk (2012) about creative confidence opened Read More …

Sustainability: Environmental consciousness and the physical learning environment of the future and for the future

In response to Module 4. This year my goal is to promote environmental consciousness within my classroom and school community. Recently, a few trips to the beach have been shocking as the amount of trash that is washed up on the beach is just heart-breaking. Living and travelling in Asia has really opened my eyes to the epidemic that is plastic pollution of our ocean ecosystems and I hope that by leveraging my position as an educator I can help to bring these issues to the forefront of our student’s minds as they grow and Read More …

Observation Task: Starbucks in Taipei

For the purpose of this observation task, the focus is on a Starbucks coffee shop located in Taipei. *Please note that a second design problem, that relates to the first, was found later and is discussed in the final paragraphs. The physical layout had a downstairs and an upstairs “loft” style area for more seating options. The area was well lit with a balance of natural light, thanks to the floor to ceiling windows, and artificial light. The main problem with the space was not so much the layout but more so the choice of Read More …

Pre-Reflection blog INF536

One thing I wish I did in my first course, INF530 Concepts and Practices for a Digital Age, was to fo a pre-reflective post about my current understandings and knowledge in regards to the learning I am about to undertake. Hopefully, this will help me find a baseline and make my future learning reflections with more authenticity. It is coming a bit late as we are 2 weeks in (thanks to lack of Wifi connection in the Philippines) however, better late than never 🙂 My 2nd course for this degree is INF536 Designing Spaces for Read More …