Teachers as designers of transformative classrooms
Aparna Vinod
This article explores the significant impact of design pedagogy on promoting transformative learning in Indian classrooms compared to conventional teaching methods. In the essay, The Haunted Classroom, K. Narayana Chandran writes that the classroom in India is visited by spectres from the past in the form of aged professors, old curricula, and traditional pedagogies that are passed on to the student within the walls of educational institutions in the country. I agree with Chandran that the Indian classroom is indeed haunted. There is little room, however, within the current Indian classroom, for teachers (let alone, students) to exorcize its ghosts. Rote learning, the teacher as an unquestionable bestower of knowledge, and dominance of the text have instilled a fear of learning. Such a pedagogy has created an artificial divide in the student-teacher relationship, where the teacher imparts knowledge and the student passively receives it. Students are discouraged from exploring beyond what is taught to them. To overcome these hurdles, I propose transformative learning.
The need for transformative learning in the Indian context
In the era of globalization, the Indian social fabric has undergone a profound transformation, with social and disciplinary boundaries becoming more fluid. The average Indian, especially the young learner, leverages various technological advancements and platforms for learning. For instance, 85% of internet users in India have reported acquiring new skills and improving existing ones through platforms like YouTube. Transformative learning addresses these new social realities by framing knowledge acquisition as an experiential and process-driven endeavour.
Transformative learning takes into account the experiential as the basis of all learning endeavours – from the creation of knowledge to students’ reflections on the process of learning itself. Because experience is the basis of knowledge production and learning experiences can be similar but not identical, transformative learning permits diversity. It begins with the assumption that the learner is already predisposed towards, and has an innate ability, to learn. Thus, transformative pedagogy is learner-centric, giving the learner agency in their learning trajectory. The teacher is, in such a case, a mere facilitator of what the student already knows. This adaptability to the learner’s environment is especially crucial in addressing the shifting nature of social relations and the everyday interactions we have with the world around us.
Traditional teaching methods do not account for these social changes and the easy accessibility of information due to technology. The teacher today is no longer an unquestionable authority, as was the case earlier. Traditional approaches are text-centric and often involve rote learning, which contradicts the idea of learning as a dynamic knowledge-acquisition process.
Moreover, transformative learning enables young people to envision a different social world by placing the learner at the centre of the learning experience. This concept suggests that students’ desires translate into actions, ultimately shaping their realities. In this context, the teacher’s role and pedagogical practices are pivotal in the learning process. As the world increasingly embraces technology for acquiring basic skills, classrooms that cultivate future-oriented skills and critical thinking require teachers to adapt and evolve their methods.
Schleicher, A. (2018) suggests that education is central to shaping the future, and learning is the path to producing a new generation of individuals. Teachers should now ask how they are designing learning experiences that hold value for the future. In this context, a teacher as a designer becomes a critical figure, taking on roles such as problem solver, strategist, curriculum designer, learning architect, and manager simultaneously. This expanded role includes foresight and future considerations.
In this article, I present and unpack three distinct case studies of learning experiences that I designed and facilitated.
Case 1: The teacher as a designer of learning (Learning to learn an undergraduate course at a university in Bengaluru)
When teachers adopt the designer’s mindset, every aspect of the classroom environment becomes a canvas for innovation. Treating learning as a design process means that physical space and pedagogical approaches are designed with a focus on user and human centricity. For example, instead of the traditional division of the classroom which places the teacher at one end and the students at the other, the students in my classroom were able to decide how they wanted the classroom space to be and who would be part of their peer group. (See image 1) Thinking like a designer also involves planning for learning experiences that go beyond mere learning outcomes to emphasize the importance of the learning journey itself. The teacher, in this context, becomes a designer who is deeply invested in creating opportunities that prepare students for the future. This necessitates flexibility and adaptability in both the teacher and their pedagogical approach.
Photos courtesy: Aparna Vinod
Image 1
In the “Learning to Learn” course at the undergraduate level, I began with a manifesto that addresses this gap in learning. The classroom was designed in such a way that it promoted participation and was able to accommodate diverse student backgrounds. The course also needed to be flexible and applicable to many contexts (See image 2). Most importantly, I put myself down as a partner and not an instructor of the course. The intention was to make thinking visible for the participants while respecting their various disciplinary backgrounds.
Image 2
In this regard, my training in design pedagogy enabled me to circumvent the usual barriers we encounter in disciplinary traditions where subjects for learning are categorized into neat, set areas of study. Unlike most disciplines in the humanities or social sciences, design is a domain that is practice-based and user-oriented. This also implied that I had to consider the possibility of having my own assumptions about learning challenged within the classroom. For instance, I went in with the assumption that since the “Learning to Learn” course was designed around visual artefacts, students would intuitively engage with the learning experience. I discovered, however, that students were anxious about creating the “perfect” visual representation of their thoughts and that they did not consider visual methods, like diagramming, as learning actions (See image 3).
Image 3
In addition, they still looked up to the teacher to provide them with solutions to their learning challenges – a by-product of the years they spent in traditional schooling systems. However, my training in design pedagogy revealed the need for adjustments to accommodate students’ diverse learning approaches and needs. A flexible pedagogy that can adapt to different contexts creates learning opportunities not only in real-time but also for the future.
Case 2: The teacher as an enabler of messiness (Reimagining the teaching of social science and English for grades 8 and 9 in an alternative school in Bengaluru)
Education has long distanced itself from the complexity of thinking. Traditional classrooms often separate learning and thinking, with the teacher providing knowledge while thinking as an act of learning is rarely discussed. Thinking is a multifaceted, messy, and divergent process that activates various nodes and patterns. While educators often refer to concepts like critical thinking and rigour, the means of achieving these thinking states are seldom explored. Most education systems assess learning handed down by the teacher, neglecting the messy, divergent thinking that leads to innovation, individuality, and diversity.
In a project with students at an alternative school in Bengaluru, the idea of diversity and multidisciplinary learning converged with the concept of thinking as a “messy” process. The participants in the project were children in grades 8 and 9. While the topics for the project were framed around social science disciplines such as history, the focus was on the process through which history could be re-imagined as artefacts. By drawing on various resources, learners were able to create artefacts as diverse as towers from screws and engage in creative activities such as pottery. Throughout the duration of the project, the process by which the participants arrived at the object was emphasized. We were not concerned with creating a “perfect” artefact but rather with embracing imperfection as a key aspect of learning. Categories of neatness and correctness were questioned in favour of learning as a multi-divergent and messy process.
Helping learners articulate their messiest thoughts and making them visible in many formats allowed the participants to build critical connections, reflect, discuss, and clarify their ideas. A visual classroom, therefore, enables the learner to see the learning journey and how far they have come in their learning. The messiness of thought is indistinct from the artefact that the learner creates. Knowledge and information stop being hidden and boxed. The classroom becomes a museum of collective thought and learning artefacts (See images 4, 5 & 6).
Image 4, 5, 6
Case 3: The teacher as a learner and empathetic facilitator (The Bathroom Project in a school in Uttar Pradesh)
As an agent of transformation, the teacher is integral to the learning process. Unlike the traditional classroom, where the teacher remains distant and cut off from the effects of learning, the teacher in a transformative classroom is as much of a learner as the student. In fact, the usual power dynamics in the student-teacher relationship is overturned for a more egalitarian space where the teacher is a learning partner of the student. My journey as an educator influenced the way the classroom was designed as an egalitarian space that encouraged a healthy exchange of ideas. Traditional classrooms give little to no agency to the student.
In a project with students in a school in Uttar Pradesh, allowing learners to take the lead resulted in tangible changes in their learning environment. The task was to help the school build washrooms for the students. There was, however, a hurdle that needed to be circumvented – sanitation was a taboo topic in the society that the children lived in. It was decided that instead of addressing the topic directly, the students would be asked to visually represent what their ideal school would look like. The outcome of this exercise was telling – there were children who drew bottles of hand wash as necessary objects in their environment and others who drew taps dripping with water as a component of their larger vision of a school (See images 7, 8 & 9).
Image 7, 8, 9
By integrating modalities such as art for expression, the vision for a better school environment was realized without disrupting the values that informed the society in which the learners lived. (See image 10) In this regard, empathy on the part of the facilitator was important. Transformation in the immediate environment of the learner was achieved indirectly because the facilitator was sympathetic to what the community thought about matters such as sanitation. This meant that while the objective of providing washrooms was achieved, it was done with due regard to the beliefs that the people in the community held. The schoolchildren were also the focal point through which communitarian needs and belief systems were addressed. The facilitator merely put into action what the learners already knew.
Image 10
Conclusion
In the realm of traditional teaching, flexibility can be a scarce commodity. Curricula and educational plans remain rigid, typically shaped by authorities with limited insights into the real-world dynamics of classrooms and the ever-evolving educational landscape. For educators with a vision of transforming the learning experience, introspection becomes a crucial tool. The case studies explored in this article underscore the pivotal role of self-reflection, equipping teachers with the ability to craft classrooms that are responsive to the continually shifting needs of their students. This process is about more than just textbook adjustments; it extends to embracing innovative approaches to curricula, pedagogy, classroom management, teaching personas, and assessment techniques. In this manner, teachers can truly become the architects of transformative learning environments, guiding their students towards a more dynamic, learner-centric educational journey, and preparing them for the challenges and opportunities of the future.
Reference
Schleicher, A. (2018): Educating Learners for Their Future, Not Our Past. ECNU Review of Education, 1(1), 58-75. https://doi.org/10.30926/ecnuroe2018010104
The author is Lead – Learning Design, Strategy & Experience at Tata Electronics Private Limited. She can be reached at contact@aparnavinod.net.
