4 | Bridging Theory and Practice
Navigating Personal and Professional Challenges in Practice and academia
Subject Learning Outcome: Identify challenges and opportunities of personal and professional relevance within an educational context, and frame these within broader theory and practice.
My learning process
Graduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching (GCLT) program has been the best opportunity for me to improve my understanding of teaching and learning. In the Wellbeing of architect research released in 2024, key findings were linked to the value and worth of architects, and that the public don’t perceive our industry to be valuable. (Parlour, 2024)
As an industry, some of the suggested solutions were to:
Improve communication, and
Educate our clients.
Opportunity to take the skills I have learnt (and will learn) in this course and apply them to both the academic context but also professional practice to help promote the value of design through education. The concept of Heutagogy where learning is self-directed, is built on the foundations of humanism (Moore, 2020). As designers we also need to wear the hat of facilitator but encourage our clients to be learners. Flexibility of learning models is key to helping clients coordinate their own learning around busy lives, whilst still developing the skills to understand and appreciate the importance of good design and the skills of architects and interior designers.
My challenge is to learn how to educate our clients about the value of good design and pass this knowledge onto my students. My experience and training have allowed me to firmly remember, understand, apply, analyse, evaluate and create quickly. The value of our work as an industry is in our experience and our ability to use these higher order thinking skills daily. My role as an academic is to educate students, my role as an emerging professional is to educate our clients and continue to promote the impact of good design.
Further Reading and watching:
Moore, R. L. (2020). Developing lifelong learning with heutagogy: contexts, critiques, and challenges. Distance Education, 41(3), 381–401. https://doi.org/10.1080/01587919.2020.1766949
Parlour. (2024). Guide to wellbeing: Value & worth. https://parlour.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/1-Guide-to-Wellbeing_VALUE_WORTH_2024_.pdf
Susie Ashworth, Alison McFadyen, Justine Clark, Naomi Stead, Maryam Gusheh and Byron Kinnaird, Value & Worth: A Guide to Wellbeing in Architecture Practice; an outcome of the research project The Wellbeing of Architects: Culture, Identity and Practice; published by Parlour: gender, equity, architecture; Melbourne, Australia, 2024.