Teaching Beyond the Curriculum

Abstract

Design projects within a community do not need to be large-scale to be impactful. This presentation will showcase a series of student solutions, with proposed design interventions that had a meaningful effect on the community, its residents and local business owners. In turn, students gained a deeper understanding and appreciation of the places and regions they reside and learn. Their design proposals can and do have an impact leading to established community relationships and future project opportunities. These partnerships give students a platform to represent their vast skill set, which might often be seen as limited, based influences from media and TV programs. Interior designers are not just focused on spatial solutions but must consider safety, comfort, graphics, wayfinding, technology, historicism, cultural diversity, environmental responsibility and more. Community-based service-learning projects require students to analyze these topics in a format that cannot be replicated in a traditional classroom studio using a hypothetical client. In Gerald Eisman’s piece, What I Never Learned in Class: Lessons From Community-Based Learning, (2000), he identifies studies completed by Janet Eyler and Dwight Giles which confirmed that students who participate in service-learning are more thoughtful and effective, and experiential learning opportunities introduce the complexities of real-world design issues leading to greater confidence in students. As design and design thinking has been relied upon more in society to help resolve substantial issues such as economic inequalities, climate change, health concerns, and technological innovation, faculty must prepare their students for these challenges they will encounter in the profession. Starting this process with feasible small-scale service-learning projects gives students the foundational skills and confidence building necessary to succeed in their future career.