Learner Centered Design Education
90 episodes - English - Latest episode: 4 months ago - ★★★★★ - 3 ratingsThe course you design. The course you teach your students. Could be learner centered. Soumitri Varadarajan reflects upon 35 years of teaching Industrial Design. Examining what works. Wondering why he does things the way he does. Imagining that some of this could be useful to someone. Somewhere.
Disclaimer: This is not a broadcast attempting to inform you. This is merely a portal into Soumitri's brain. Into his thought experiments. It is him questioning everything. It is him finding no answers. So go away! Do not listen to this! Stop being curious.
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Episodes
Can you tell me about a Masters by Research and a PhD?
January 01, 2024 21:20 - 27 minutes - 23.7 MBLink: https://rawslearn.wordpress.com/2024/01/02/can-you-tell-me-about-a-masters-by-research-and-a-phd/ Site 'PhD with Soumitri': https://sites.google.com/view/phdwithsoumitri/home
Beatles and Keats in the Classroom
November 12, 2023 07:26 - 14 minutes - 13.3 MBI had a conversation with a friend. About the creative period. As being in the 20s. That the Beatles and Keats both had their best works in that period.
The Smeis Typology
August 05, 2023 23:37 - 1 hour - 86.3 MBThis is a podcast about project design. Or the typology of projects - aka what are the types of projects. Or what are the 5 types that all projects can be classified into. See more here - https://rawslearn.wordpress.com/2023/08/06/the-smeis-typology/
Is This The End For Consultants?
May 05, 2023 01:47 - 25 minutes - 23.9 MBI have been reading Mariana Mazzucato. The Big Con is the book. Dont read it if you have a weak constitution or if you have a tendency to flame. I had to frequently put it down - it is that incendiary. LINK The title for this podcast is borrowed from here: LINK QUOTE "Cynicism around consulting is nothing new. That adage about a consultant “borrowing your watch to tell you the time” didn’t come from nowhere. But the problem is now stark. According to research by McKinsey, 70% of transforma...
What is Industrial Design Work?
April 02, 2023 00:51 - 50 minutes - 36.9 MBNames in this episode: James Dyson: Best to buy the book I think. LINK Isambard Kingdom Brunel LINK Buckminister Fuller LINK Monika Mulder: http://monikamulder.com/ Guy Burgoyne: https://youtu.be/Jz0mKjwaBPQ Pernilla Johansson: Search in YouTube Ralph Gilles: Look up Abstract on Netflix. The binaries? celebrity versus altruism market versus ideé fixe Ideé fixe: https://www.britannica.com/art/idee-fixe
Can you learn French in four weeks?
March 03, 2023 15:23 - 43 minutes - 32.5 MBMaybe yes? Maybe no? Listen to hear about what I did. I have undertaken a pilot project to learn French in 4 weeks. I have attended 40 hours of classes at Alliance Française Montpellier – learning in that way. I have also studied French using apps and flash cards. I now have a good grasp of the language. The pilot project is complete. Flipping my project – I also have a good understanding of what is involved in language training, especially when it comes to learning English, from a backgrou...
How to do LTP?
February 17, 2023 16:37 - 23 minutes - 22.2 MBRecording from Montepellier, France. Links Learner Centered Design Education: https://rawslearn.wordpress.com/ Who is Soumitri: http://soumitri.com.au/
How to do Instagram.
September 05, 2022 17:16 - 26 minutes - 24.9 MBI speak about my foray into doing Instagram for a trip. I then muse about the typology of ways that constitute what we see as the visual instagram. In my case I sketch a typology in 5 parts, which sometimes expands to 6 parts. For more have a listen. For the Instagram account that I refer to, see: https://www.instagram.com/soumitri_varadarajan/
The Library is a Place
August 11, 2022 04:53 - 11 minutes - 10.6 MBI am doing a few stub episodes on The Library. This first recording is about the Library as Place. The Library is a place. The library is a social space. The Library is a proposition open for coding as L4X.
How to make a designer?
May 28, 2022 12:32 - 57 minutes - 53 MBThis is an episode about pedagogy. It is also a bit about how design is constructed in the contemporary in my local area. Binaries Consumer Side/ Producer Side Destination/ Journey aka Product/ Process Design as Art/ Design as a Job City Studio/ Factory R&D aka Studio/ Lab Retail/ Museum Thing/ Service Local/ Exotic Rich/ Poor (and the middle class?) Theory/ Manufacture Gadget/ Decorative Object Links Learner Centered Design Education: https://rawslearn.wordpress.com/ Who is So...
Beauty (Live Recording Version)
May 20, 2022 01:29 - 1 hour - 57.6 MBThis is a live recording. I will be coming back to this episode, to ruminate and redo. That version is some weeks away. This is an episode about Beauty. I have the book “On Beauty” by Umberto Eco sitting on my desk. Is that what triggered me to do this episode? Possibly. Podcast structure: Beauty in Three Parts Outer Beauty Inner Beauty The beauty of machines Essential Beauty Insider language: The Chatter, the isms, the flipping The preoccupation with thingness The form of things ...
Perfection (Live Recording Version)
May 14, 2022 10:40 - 51 minutes - 47.7 MBThis is a live recording. I will be coming back to this episode, to ruminate and redo. That version is some weeks away. This is an episode about Perfection. An instigation – aimed at students on their journey of becoming designers. Links Learner Centered Design Education: https://rawslearn.wordpress.com/ Who is Soumitri: http://soumitri.com.au/ CORRECTION: The Lexus car I mentioned as LFA is in fact the LC500. This is a link to an article - https://newsexplorer.net/one-of-the-best-sound...
Goats with Agency (Live Recording Version)
April 28, 2022 05:53 - 45 minutes - 42.1 MBThis is a live recording. I will be coming back to this episode, to ruminate and redo. That version is some weeks away. This is an episode about Learning. An instigation – aimed at students on their journey of becoming designers. An Australian lens specially crafted to see a very particular kind of territory and landscape of education? Maybe. Links Learner Centered Design Education: https://rawslearn.wordpress.com/ Who is Soumitri: http://soumitri.com.au/
China, how I grew my love (Live Recording Version)
April 14, 2022 21:43 - 54 minutes - 50.3 MBThis is a live recording. I will be coming back to this episode, to ruminate and redo. That version is some weeks away. This is an episode about China. A designer’s China. A Designer’s lens specially crafted to see a very particular China. I can open a door to China. A very peculiar door. My door. My China. Do you have a China of your own? Can you name 10 designers in China? 5 Architects? One fashion Designer? Do you love China? Links Learner Centered Design Education: https://rawslear...
Freedom (Live Recording Version)
April 07, 2022 23:23 - 47 minutes - 44.2 MBThis is a live recording. I will be coming back to this episode, to ruminate and redo. That version is some weeks away. This is an episode about freedom. Freedom was the title of a book I read over the holiday period. Link below. 9.38 The Article I read out from: https://culturacolectiva.com/books/on-the-road-jack-kerouac/“Without this book we might have never had Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, or films such as Thelma and Louise, Paris, Texas, or Easy Rider. Kerouac’s influence is such th...
Embodiement (Live Recording Version)
April 05, 2022 20:31 - 33 minutes - 31.2 MBThis is a live recording. I will be coming back to this episode, to ruminate and redo. That version is some weeks away. This is an episode about temperament. The links are – further reading on this subject. Links Learner Centered Design Education: https://rawslearn.wordpress.com/ Who is Soumitri: http://soumitri.com.au/ Blog Post on Embodiement: https://rawslearn.wordpress.com/2021/09/24/temperament-and-embodiement/
10 keys to unpack Design
March 31, 2022 11:38 - 20 minutes - 18.6 MBI am treating design as a text - that can be interpreted. Then again I am using design as food. Which can be queried to seek its genealogy, why is it the way it is? Food is culture. Culture is the ways of a people. And here we have a package - a bundle - that can be opened to reveal. Design seen as a bundle - a thing holding secrets - can reveal the cultural construct. As you can see I could be making a case against design as a functional, utilitarian commodity making enterprise. Design as ...
Temperament (Live Recording Version)
March 30, 2022 06:47 - 28 minutes - 26.7 MBThis is a live recording. I will be coming back to this episode, to ruminate and redo. That version is some weeks away. This is an episode about temperament. In the past I have posted in my blog about the twin essences of Embodiement and Temperament. Are these unique to design? Or am I making a place and a theme that will allow us to pivot away from the cerebral? Yes to Both. I am making a case that being within design is a gift. That keeps giving. The managerial-isation of design and the ...
Radio Bakri: Goats with Zips (Hindi)
March 26, 2022 10:49 - 42 minutes - 39.4 MBI was invited to deliver a lecture lecture at a Refresher course organized by HRDC, Panjab University, Chandigarh on the “Two weeks” Refresher Course (Online Mode) from March 12-25, 2022 on the theme: "Locating the Contours of Indian Modernities: Challenges and Possibilities". This audio is a recording of my talk. Tech: The online event was on Google Meet. I used an iPhone next to the laptop as my recording device. The editing was done on Audacity. The links are – further reading on this...
Enculturation
March 20, 2022 04:38 - 37 minutes - 35 MBThis is an episode about enculturation which is both the process of becoming. A process of becoming a designer. With designer tastes and a designer view. I expand on culture, taste, people an places as key aspects of developing a knowledge of ones own process of enculturation. The links are – further reading on this subject. Links Learner Centered Design Education: https://rawslearn.wordpress.com/ Who is Soumitri: http://soumitri.com.au/ Bringing Home the Birkin by Michael Tonello LINK ...
What is Design?
March 19, 2022 06:10 - 43 minutes - 40.4 MBWhat is Design? Can be answered in any number of ways. While many would like to give you a definition of Design or Industrial Design. I think that would be wrong. For in the process of essentialising the meaning of design - you may end up speaking about something that you want to push. Are definitions by their very nature amenable to be used for propaganda? Why wouldn't you. Design like a pair of sneakers, is best worn. And not defined. And just like sneakers. Design can be apprehended. ...
A chat with Alex Tatoulis
January 27, 2022 03:58 - 55 minutes - 51 MBI have begun to speak to some young Industrial Designers in Melbourne. I have gained enough confidence with the tech, the Zoom camera, to venture into speaking with other people. And shoving the mic under their nose. I am probably not doing it right. But will keep doing it this way, or else I fear falling into the tech aspiration rabbit hole. I have escaped from the ‘indoors’ tomb like sepulchral silence of the corporate podcasts by being outdoors when I speak. Not quite Attenborough, but ch...
A chat with Tim Denshire Key
January 24, 2022 08:01 - 41 minutes - 38 MBI went across to Coburg to have an early morning chat, 8 AM, on a Monday. Tim showed me around Coburg Studios. Then we headed off to Coburg lake to have a chat. This podcast is a first in a series of conversations I am having with an assortment of people. Tim Denshire Key: https://www.instagram.com/tim_t_design/?hl=en Coburg Studios: https://www.instagram.com/coburgstudios/?hl=en Learner Centered Design Education: https://rawslearn.wordpress.com/
I got Jeff Bezos and Larry Smarr to have dinner
January 05, 2022 23:19 - 47 minutes - 69.3 MBIn my imaginary, I booked a table at a restaurant in Seattle. Canlis? Maybe. I invited Jeff and Larry to a meal. To talk about the coming together of the kinds of things they have been talking about. This is an epistolary podcast. I speak to a former student, nay I am badgering a former student (as you do) to collaborate with me. Are not all our students agents in an ecology of the global intellect? Well if they are then the world is a community of mentats. Speaking in tongues. For more on...
Which School?
December 22, 2021 03:23 - 24 minutes - 23 MBI made this episode after our conversation about Art Schools. It rekindled forgotten memories. I have enjoyed travelling back in time. I haven’t teased out s much of the detail, of all the things that preoccupied me. For I buried my USA and UK period of the 80s underneath a furious Italy period, then my Japanese period and finally a China period. So it is fascinating to travel back this far and remember the spirit of the times - the 80s. Learner Centered Design Education: https://rawslearn....
Season 2 - Episode 1: On teaching creativity
December 11, 2021 08:52 - 22 minutes - 20.5 MBIn this episode I have a eulogy for my teaching mentor. He was there for me. Young man, is how he referred to me, and to all the others. Big generous, supportive and what an appetite for risk taking. All his examples, nay metaphors, would be about climbing mountains. Don't look back. Hang on! And the laugh, that wave if the hand, so many memories. Do you remember the first time you ever taught? My first teaching assignment was to teach creativity in a School of Architecture. Did the student...
On teaching creativity
December 11, 2021 08:52 - 22 minutes - 20.5 MBIn this episode I have a eulogy for my teaching mentor. He was there for me. Young man, is how he referred to me, and to all the others. Big generous, supportive and what an appetite for risk taking. All his examples, nay metaphors, would be about climbing mountains. Don't look back. Hang on! And the laugh, that wave if the hand, so many memories. Do you remember the first time you ever taught? My first teaching assignment was to teach creativity in a School of Architecture. Did the student...
Season 1 - Episode 1: On teaching creativity
December 11, 2021 08:52 - 22 minutes - 20.5 MBIn this episode I have a eulogy for my teaching mentor. He was there for me. Young man, is how he referred to me, and to all the others. Big generous, supportive and what an appetite for risk taking. All his examples, nay metaphors, would be about climbing mountains. Don't look back. Hang on! And the laugh, that wave if the hand, so many memories. Do you remember the first time you ever taught? My first teaching assignment was to teach creativity in a School of Architecture. Did the student...
Dare we reimagine school?
December 11, 2021 06:23 - 25 minutes - 23.5 MBIn Episode 3 - How do you teach manufacturing - I was speaking about a course I taught at IIT Delhi. I have an intro from one of the students who was in that course. I then am using that to speak an audio letter to a collaborator about a very different kind of 'how'. This is about what could be imagined as an intensive for young people, children and generally for anyone. I make the case, not very effectively, that the alignment with school is not really the point. Rather the aspirations that...
Season 3 - Episode 4: Dare we reimagine school?
December 11, 2021 06:23 - 25 minutes - 23.5 MBIn Episode 3 - How do you teach manufacturing - I was speaking about a course I taught at IIT Delhi. I have an intro from one of the students who was in that course. I then am using that to speak an audio letter to a collaborator about a very different kind of 'how'. This is about what could be imagined as an intensive for young people, children and generally for anyone. I make the case, not very effectively, that the alignment with school is not really the point. Rather the aspirations that...
Season 2 - Episode 5: Dare we reimagine school?
December 11, 2021 06:23 - 25 minutes - 23.5 MBIn Episode 3 - How do you teach manufacturing - I was speaking about a course I taught at IIT Delhi. I have an intro from one of the students who was in that course. I then am using that to speak an audio letter to a collaborator about a very different kind of 'how'. This is about what could be imagined as an intensive for young people, children and generally for anyone. I make the case, not very effectively, that the alignment with school is not really the point. Rather the aspirations that...
Dyson and the meaning of Industrial Design
December 07, 2021 00:18 - 38 minutes - 35.4 MBThis is a podcast, that serves as a note to self. I am reading Dyson's book, his autobiography "Invention: A life". This - the emergence of Dyson on the Industrial Design landscape in the early 1980s - was a significant moment at a time when I was adjusting the meanings associated with the phrase 'product design' from the way I had encountered it in engineering to this new 'design school' construct. Dyson knocked the bureau model on the head. Though not a lot of people called it out in this ...
Season 3 - Episode 3: Dyson and the meaning of Industrial Design
December 07, 2021 00:18 - 38 minutes - 35.4 MBThis is a podcast, that serves as a note to self. I am reading Dyson's book, his autobiography "Invention: A life". This - the emergence of Dyson on the Industrial Design landscape in the early 1980s - was a significant moment at a time when I was adjusting the meanings associated with the phrase 'product design' from the way I had encountered it in engineering to this new 'design school' construct. Dyson knocked the bureau model on the head. Though not a lot of people called it out in this ...
Season 2, Episode 4: Dyson and the meaning of Industrial Design
December 07, 2021 00:18 - 38 minutes - 35.4 MBThis is a podcast, that serves as a note to self. I am reading Dyson's book, his autobiography "Invention: A life". This - the emergence of Dyson on the Industrial Design landscape in the early 1980s - was a significant moment at a time when I was adjusting the meanings associated with the phrase 'product design' from the way I had encountered it in engineering to this new 'design school' construct. Dyson knocked the bureau model on the head. Though not a lot of people called it out in this ...
How do you teach manufacturing processes?
November 20, 2021 10:52 - 20 minutes - 19.4 MBIndustrial designers embedded within large mass production enterprises, design products to be manufactured within the manufacturing facilities and vendor ecosystem of that company. It is possible that designers of products need to be aware of the manufacturing considerations. Well, at least in theory. In practice however the designer is the 'artist' in that manufacturing ecology. The place is teeming with expertise; engineers, shop floor technicians and a whole host of design engineers. It...
Season 2 - Episode 3: How do you teach manufacturing processes?
November 20, 2021 10:52 - 20 minutes - 19.4 MBIndustrial designers embedded within large mass production enterprises, design products to be manufactured within the manufacturing facilities and vendor ecosystem of that company. It is possible that designers of products need to be aware of the manufacturing considerations. Well, at least in theory. In practice however the designer is the 'artist' in that manufacturing ecology. The place is teeming with expertise; engineers, shop floor technicians and a whole host of design engineers. It...
Season 4 - Episode 1: How do you teach manufacturing processes?
November 20, 2021 10:52 - 20 minutes - 19.4 MBIndustrial designers embedded within large mass production enterprises, design products to be manufactured within the manufacturing facilities and vendor ecosystem of that company. It is possible that designers of products need to be aware of the manufacturing considerations. Well, at least in theory. In practice however the designer is the 'artist' in that manufacturing ecology. The place is teeming with expertise; engineers, shop floor technicians and a whole host of design engineers. It...
How do you design a course?
November 18, 2021 11:50 - 29 minutes - 27.7 MBIf you believe that the class is not one uniform mass that needs one inoculation jab. If you permit yourself to trust the students to educate themselves. If you are willing to spend twice, nay four times, as long doing the things you could have done in much less time. Then you need to find out who else does it this way. Who else is focussed upon what students can let themselves become. And when you find your answer. Cherish it. It will give you meaning. Learner Centered Design Education: ht...
Season 3 - Episode 2: How do you design a course?
November 18, 2021 11:50 - 29 minutes - 27.7 MBIf you believe that the class is not one uniform mass that needs one inoculation jab. If you permit yourself to trust the students to educate themselves. If you are willing to spend twice, nay four times, as long doing the things you could have done in much less time. Then you need to find out who else does it this way. Who else is focussed upon what students can let themselves become. And when you find your answer. Cherish it. It will give you meaning. Learner Centered Design Education: ht...
Season 2 - Episode 2: How do you design a course?
November 18, 2021 11:50 - 29 minutes - 27.7 MBIf you believe that the class is not one uniform mass that needs one inoculation jab. If you permit yourself to trust the students to educate themselves. If you are willing to spend twice, nay four times, as long doing the things you could have done in much less time. Then you need to find out who else does it this way. Who else is focussed upon what students can let themselves become. And when you find your answer. Cherish it. It will give you meaning. Learner Centered Design Education: ht...
Season 3 - Episode 1: What is Moderation?
November 17, 2021 11:42 - 36 minutes - 34.1 MBAfter the assessment tabulation is complete. There is another process - the Moderation. I have participated in Moderation processes for about 20 years. They are a thing. Misunderstood, avoided, cancelled. They bring a lot to the academy. I am a fan of the qualitative celebration of work. Just as I am a fan of the peer peer assessment process. As a way of building academy. Learner Centered Design Education: https://rawslearn.wordpress.com/
Season 2, Episode 1: What is Moderation?
November 17, 2021 11:42 - 36 minutes - 34.1 MBAfter the assessment tabulation is complete. There is another process - the Moderation. I have participated in Moderation processes for about 20 years. They are a thing. Misunderstood, avoided, cancelled. They bring a lot to the academy. I am a fan of the qualitative celebration of work. Just as I am a fan of the peer peer assessment process. As a way of building academy. Learner Centered Design Education: https://rawslearn.wordpress.com/
What is Moderation?
November 17, 2021 11:42 - 36 minutes - 34.1 MBAfter the assessment tabulation is complete. There is another process - the Moderation. I have participated in Moderation processes for about 20 years. They are a thing. Misunderstood, avoided, cancelled. They bring a lot to the academy. I am a fan of the qualitative celebration of work. Just as I am a fan of the peer peer assessment process. As a way of building academy. Learner Centered Design Education: https://rawslearn.wordpress.com/
Season 1 - Episode 23: What is a Capstone Project?
November 15, 2021 10:06 - 32 minutes - 30 MBMy first experience of a capstone project was 39 years ago. Bachelor of Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, a group of seven of us designed, built a windmill. We then put the prototype through its paces - as an experimental test rig. This podcast is a musing about the Capstone Project. If there are 30 million of these happening on the planet right now. If there are a lot ways to do Capstone projects. The surely there is a typology of these kinds of projects. I hint at 4 types. More impor...
What is a Capstone Project?
November 15, 2021 10:06 - 32 minutes - 30 MBMy first experience of a capstone project was 39 years ago. Bachelor of Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, a group of seven of us designed, built a windmill. We then put the prototype through its paces - as an experimental test rig. This podcast is a musing about the Capstone Project. If there are 30 million of these happening on the planet right now. If there are a lot ways to do Capstone projects. The surely there is a typology of these kinds of projects. I hint at 4 types. More impor...
Season 3 - Episode 5: What is a Capstone Project?
November 15, 2021 10:06 - 32 minutes - 30 MBMy first experience of a capstone project was 39 years ago. Bachelor of Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, a group of seven of us designed, built a windmill. We then put the prototype through its paces - as an experimental test rig. This podcast is a musing about the Capstone Project. If there are 30 million of these happening on the planet right now. If there are a lot ways to do Capstone projects. The surely there is a typology of these kinds of projects. I hint at 4 types. More impor...
You only learn through reflection
November 03, 2021 23:09 - 23 minutes - 22 MBThis is a podcast targeted at a very very small cohort. This is specific to Nov2021. It is about allowing students to realize their agency. It is about redirecting students to focus upon their becoming. It is about re igniting a focus upon the essential purpose for which the students and teachers assemble. It is about remembering that the teacher is a midwife. Midwife? Maybe you could take a look at Weimer: LINK Learner Centered Design Education: https://rawslearn.wordpress.com/ Camp...
Season 6 - Episode 7: You only learn through reflection
November 03, 2021 23:09 - 23 minutes - 22 MBThis is a podcast targeted at a very very small cohort. This is specific to Nov2021. It is about allowing students to realize their agency. It is about redirecting students to focus upon their becoming. It is about re igniting a focus upon the essential purpose for which the students and teachers assemble. It is about remembering that the teacher is a midwife. Midwife? Maybe you could take a look at Weimer: LINK Learner Centered Design Education: https://rawslearn.wordpress.com/ Camp...
Season 1 - Episode 22: You only learn through reflection
November 03, 2021 23:09 - 23 minutes - 22 MBThis is a podcast targeted at a very very small cohort. This is specific to Nov2021. It is about allowing students to realize their agency. It is about redirecting students to focus upon their becoming. It is about re igniting a focus upon the essential purpose for which the students and teachers assemble. It is about remembering that the teacher is a midwife. Midwife? Maybe you could take a look at Weimer: LINK Learner Centered Design Education: https://rawslearn.wordpress.com/ Camp...
Analytic versus Speculative, Metaphorical or Continental
November 03, 2021 09:10 - 27 minutes - 25 MBCorrection: I keep referring to "Philosophize this". So this is a correction. That is another show. The ABC show that I have been listening to is "The Philosopher's Zone". The Philosopher's Zone: https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/philosopherszone/ Learner Centered Design Education: https://rawslearn.wordpress.com/