Pedagogy 2025

Abstract

Design education must equip students not only with design, principles, and graphic communication skills but also leadership, adaptability, and real-world problem-solving skills. Nurturing student agency – students’ ability to direct their learning, act purposefully, and use resources effectively (Saarela et al., 2021) – is critical for cultivating future leaders. This paper presents a case study of a learner-led, landscape architecture studio where students, rather than instructors, drive the design process within a structured pedagogical framework. By prioritizing autonomy and collaboration, the course dismantles traditional hierarchies, enabling students to define project scopes, build partnerships, and present their work with confidence. Traditional instructor-centered studio models often limit student autonomy (Sheridan et al., 2022; Herranen et al., 2018), constraining self-directed problem solving and collaboration. This elective positions students as directors of their learning, collaboratively navigating real-world design challenges for a community partner. Students from multiple years and departments self-organized to define goals, conduct site analysis, develop proposals, and iteratively test concepts with stakeholders. Outcomes were evaluated through portfolio review, observation, reflective journals, and feedback surveys. Findings show students exercised significant autonomy in decision-making and collaboration, demonstrated innovative solutions, and gained leadership skills and confidence in navigating ambiguity. Students successfully negotiated constraints, synthesized community input, and communicated proposals effectively; evidenced by the project earning a state ASLA award. This case study illustrates how learner-led pedagogy bridges educational theory and practice, cultivating skills essential for real-world design and offering a replicable model for design education that centers student agency and professional readiness (Wright, 2011).