Figuring Things Out

Professor Eleonor Dockworth, cognitive psychologist and pedagogue, describes learning in a perfect Deweyian manner: "figuring things out".

We all shouldn't forget that figure is synonym of design, so to figure out (which means understanding, learning, thinking) means in some way designing, designing in our minds. Any more proofs needed of the connection between designing and learning?

Universal Design for Learning

UDL is design applied to meet true diversity in education as learning skills in each individual are as different as their fingerprints.

There are three main principles for this pedagogical strategy:

• Present the students the subjects in multiple ways
• Allow them to express themselves in multiple ways
• Create multiple ways of engagement

In all cases, the students are at the centre of the experience. CAST is a nonprofits organization that has been working for more that 25 years now and it's doing its job very, very well. They have many free interactive tools for students and teachers. An example to be followed.

Space, Time and Beauty at Piacenza

A good way of reaching global scale in architecture and urban planning is by designing in one of the most beautiful towns in the world, Piacenza, Italy.

The universality embedded by definition in beauty assures that general interest will be automatically involved in all our reflexions. Cheers for the last week at OC International Workshop.

Design Education Research

Open publication - Free publishing - More design

The importance of Design Education Research for design educators is perfectly described by Erik Bohemia at the last paper of this interesting conference:

"it is imperative in these taxing times that design educators continue research their educational practices and the assumptions underpinning these practices. The reason for this is so that they will be able to respond to the changes described above with informed knowledge. This means that they will be able to (re)design curriculum in order to incorporate "desired" changes and/or to "preserve" elements that are deemed important to produce a relevant design education."