I'm excited to be heading back to Educon this year to facilitate two conversations. The first will focus on the language of space design and how people perceive, describe, imagine - and communicate - their beliefs about the design of learning spaces.
For this conversation, I'll be joined by Karina Ruiz, who is a Senior Principal at the architecture firm of Dull Olson Weekes - IBI Group Architects, Inc of Portland, Oregon and is co-facilitating. I'm really excited, and fortunate, to work with such a talented architect and educator.
So, what will the session offer?
When designing spaces, each of us brings a different lens to the design process. You may be a student, a teacher, an admin or school head, or an architect. It's safe to say we see the same thing in different ways. It's also safe to say we talk about the same thing in different ways. Roles provide an accent to the way in which we communicate.
Great design begins by developing a shared understanding as a foundation for change. Great design begins with developing empathy for the wants and needs of people. To do this, great design depends on developing understanding and creating empathy though the use of a common language and a shared way to perceive.
We want to help you understand how to develop that language. We want you to begin thinking about how a shared common language is required for anything you do in school regardless of your role.
Along the way, you'll learn how to talk about spaces. You'll learn how to interpret and evaluate spaces. You'll learn the language and the process of design, and the importance of both to creating learning spaces that make a difference for teaching a learning. You'll also have a chance to experience cool ethnography techniques that you can use back in your school or classroom to help develop that shared language. You'll learn how to be a better learning space designer and we'll challenge you to identify an opportunity in your school surrounding learning spaces and begin working to address it, starting with a focus on language.
Any change in a school is dependent upon a language capable of supporting that change. Please join us during Session 1 in Room 208 on Saturday to get started thinking about the intersection of language, design, and learning spaces. See you there!