<\/center>
\n
I discern at least five distinct modes of listening involved in the role of a design educator:<\/p>\n
– \u201cListening for\u201d is the most conventional mode of educator listening, in which design educators listen to students for signs of \u201clearning outcomes\u201d. This mode is often applied in order to give students \u201cfeedback\u201d on their development as part of a conversation loop.<\/p>\n
– \u201cListening to\u201d is a mode in which design educators seek to understand the reasoning and thoughts behind a student\u2019s design decisions or their position. In this mode, the educator seeks to gain the ability to \u201cthink with\u201d the student in coaching them through their design process.<\/p>\n
– \u201cListening as\u201d is a type of role-playing listening, in which design educators place the student in different modes of being-listened-to (or not being-listened-to) that students can expect to face as designers. This mode simulates a social situation within which students can rehearse different tactics of interaction.<\/p>\n
– In \u201clistening as example\u201d, design educators provide students with a model for the type of listener a designer they believe a designer should be. For students to learn from this mode requires the educator to earn the empathy of the students \u2013 a very different relation than the deference often expected of students in learning from educator \u201cfeedback\u201d.<\/p>\n
– Simply \u201clistening\u201d is the mode in which design educators remain sensitized to the potential for new ideas and inspirations in their listening to students and others, that influence their practice as a design educator holistically. This mode of listening is the least goal-oriented, task-specific or intentional, and is necessary for sustaining creative practice in education.<\/p>\n
In the proposed paper, I will explain and illustrate \u2013 through example scenarios from my personal experience and observation \u2013 the ways in which I perceive these different modes of listening being practiced by design educators (in both beneficial and detrimental ways) and will venture an exposition on the special type of economy of speaking-and-listening that sustains the process of design education.
\n<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Co-author(s): What kind of a listener is a design educator? The role of a design educator is often described in terms of the skills and knowledge they \u201cdeliver\u201d, the methods they \u201capply\u201d or the \u201coutcomes\u201d that they achieve in the … Continue reading