Education

I am now devoting more and more time to the teaching of graphic design and visual communication.

I first taught a course in graphic design to third year textile students about 4 years ago and though the course was successful I was aware that tthough I had all the professional expertise needed to teach I lacked understanding of educational practices. In an effort to further my understanding I enrolled on a PGCE/Cert Ed course in Higher Education which I graduated from last summer.

Since then I have been teaching graphic design and digital media to students on a Foundation Art and Design Diploma at the University of Bolton.

I am a strong believer in the teaching of traditional design theory as a way of informing the early education of young designers. I have a growing interest in developing new ways of delivering educational content to students that takes advantage of the new opportunities afforded by emerging Web 2, social networking and open source applications.

According to the Department for Culture, Media and Sports, the UK’s creative industries are one of the economy’s fastest growing sectors contributing over £53 billion to the UK, accounting for 8 per cent of GDP and supporting 1.9 million jobs and if we are to maintain this we need to ensure that we, as educators, are producing world class designers capable of continuing to build Britain’s reputation as one of the worlds most innovative and diverse creative economies.

I’ve included some of my educational writings taken from my recently completed course and will be using the blog as a way of reflecting on my experiences as a new design educator.