VIRTUAL: Applying Education
Abstract
Facing the new paradigm of online learning and with a sense of obligation to better represent a pluriversality of perspectives in light of ongoing social injustices, such as discoveries at Residential School sites in British Columbia and police violence in North America, a group of Communication Design faculty at Emily Carr University came together to adjust the curriculum. The intention was to better understand a student’s journey through the degree program including: the introduction of “foundational” knowledge and skill-building; approaches to learning outcomes, critique and assessment; the development of student autonomy and voice in their thesis and exit portfolio. Guiding questions included: What are our community values?; What is foundational knowledge?; How might we take an anti-oppressive approach to teaching and include more BIPOC voices? Connecting and collaborating with academic thought-leaders actively engaged in decentering dominant White, Western perspectives within Design, we created space for guests to disrupt and challenge the curriculum, hosting workshops such as: Throwing the Bauhaus Under the Bus, Queering Design Education, Empathy Mapping and Painting the Picture – Accurate Indigenous Representation. The ongoing work of unpacking and reimagining our Communication Design education, while simultaneously making space for enriching outside perspectives, has a profound impact on the curriculum. It has contributed to the emergence of new priorities and resources such as: Community-centered curriculum re-situated in “place”; The development of new learning frameworks that emphasize the importance of student agency and ecological perspectives; The development of learning tools and resources such as an Anti-Oppression framework (Zabolotney and Neat 2022).
Jon is Associate Professor of Communication Design and Assistant Dean of Design at Emily Carr University of Art + Design, Vancouver, Canada. Previously, he has held the positions of Senior Lecturer of Graphic Design at Manchester School of Art and Lecturer of Fashion Communication and Promotion at Nottingham Trent University. Focusing on community-centered co-design, Jon’s research has been featured in international design publications, journals and online platforms such as the Design for Health journal, IdN, Computer Arts, the Guardian and CNN.
Cameron joined Emily Carr University in 2016 after working as a designer and educator in the United States. He holds a BFA in Visual Communications from Cornish College of the Arts and an MFA in Graphic Design from the RISD. He benefits from sixteen-plus years of experience working for various design agencies, an in-house designer, and a sole proprietor. Cameron’s work ranges from publication design and public service campaigns to information visualization and interactive media. He has a fascination with the intersection of aesthetics, science, ethics and rhetoric and has focused his work in the arts, health and education sectors.
Leo Vicenti is an enrolled member of the Jicarilla Apache Nation and Assistant Professor of Communication Design at Emily Carr University of Art + Design, Vancouver, Canada. He identifies creatively as a human, an artist, educator and visual communication designer, which informs his making.
Ramon Tejada is a designer and educator based in Providence, RI, Los Angeles and Palm Springs, CA. He works in a hybrid design/teaching practice focusing on collaboration, inclusion, unearthing, and the responsible expansion of design, a practice he has named “puncturing.” Ramon is an Assistant Professor in the Graphic Design Department at RISD. Ramon has taught in the graduate MFA Communication Design program at Pratt Institute and at the undergraduate level at Parsons/The New School, CUNY–Queens College and in the MA program at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD).
1:00 pm - 2:30 pm
Friday 28th April, 2023