Teaching the Greater Context

Peters, D.

As a Wimmer Fellow this past year, one goal I set was to give students in my introductory course an understanding of the broader field of Environments design. This was accomplished by showing real-world project examples, posing homework questions that asked about connections to more complex challenges, and updating the course projects to cover a broader range of topics. I was able to demonstrate that students met my goal by having them complete a survey pre- and post-course that asked questions in the form of “check all that apply” about what Environments designers design, what their skill set is, and the types of spaces that are increasingly utilizing technology. Asking about the broader field, rather than specific project/course materials, assessed how successfully we linked the class projects to the professional field. The accuracy of the students’ responses increased across all questions and the course changes also contributed to more students choosing to pursue additional training in the Environments design track.

Daphne Peters, Design