Run for the third consecutive summer, Summer Studio is coordinated by FEIT but is open to students across UTS. It’s aim, to create a space for students to work collaboratively in authentic learning experiences.
Somewhat unique to the studios is that each year, several of the studios are led by experienced student facilitator. This summer will be no different, with four of the 18 being run by student faciliators – either recent graduates or senior students.
We revisit a past summer studio challenge, the ‘humanitarian studio’, to look at this studio experience from three perspectives: the coordinators, student facilitator and student.
The coordinators’ perspective
Professor Roger Hadgraft and Justine Lawson
Summer Studio is not the Faculty’s first stab at studio learning. It is, however, a way to bring studio learning – personalised, group-based projects free of lectures – to a broader cohort.
Too much of design in engineering is focused on the production of a technical artefact – a piece of road, a bridge, a circuit board – and it’s assumed that someone else is identifying the real problem. We wanted to expose students to the complete design experience – identifying what needs to be solved, right through to producing a simple prototype at the end, to give students the opportunity to look at the whole problem, not just the technical part – that’s what industry wants. Ultimately, we want to create an experience so good that students will want all of their learning to be like that!
But the studios have not without their challenges, particularly for those students who had never experienced design thinking before.
Traditional curricula can make students feel like caged hens. Students are force-fed information and then told to deliver a ‘60 gram egg’, for example, a solution to a textbook problem. But in doing that, they become dependent on external stimuli (the teacher) to perform. The studios were designed to be more ‘free range’, to give students the independence to explore problems as they would in the real-world.
The studios were designed to be more ‘free range’, to give students the independence to explore problems as they would in the real-world.
At the end of the first week some students came to us: ‘Can you just tell us what you want? What’s the answer?’.
But they were encouraged to persevere, using a design-thinking approach, which eventually led to them developing a range of ideas before prototyping one of them.
And the results were well worth it, we really saw students come alive in these projects.
The student facilitator perspective
Scott McKeon
I’ve been involved in From the Ground Up, a not-for-profit in Nepal, since 2016. It grew out of a building initiative to provide homes to some of the half a million families left homeless after the Nepalese earthquake of 2015. They now run a series of projects to empower the local community – building schools, hospitals and co-ordinating construction apprenticeships.
I was approached by the learning and teaching team in FEIT to see if I was interested in bringing the challenges our not-for-profit was facing to UTS students. I thought, why not?!
As a student facilitator, I was tasked with setting the context for the humanitarian studio and organise industry partners for weekly visits and to take part in a panel at the end of the session. More than 20 industry partners took part.
To prepare for the role, FEIT skilled us up by running in-studio and problem-based learning workshops. We learned that as a facilitator you’re not meant to have all the answers. Instead, you guide the group.
Having Roger and the team on-hand for advice was amazing. He’s
highly experienced in project-based learning and is passionate about students
having the chance to work on valuable real-life projects. He had a lot of trust
in us as facilitators and didn’t dictate what the subject was going to be
about. Rather the coordinators set the context, they explained what they wanted
students to get out of it at the end, and that’s perfect for my working style.
He [Roger] had a lot of trust in us as facilitators and didn’t dictate what the subject was going to be about. Rather the coordinators set the context, they explained what they wanted students to get out of it at the end, and that’s perfect for my working style.
As a group, my studio participants decided to break into three smaller working groups. One team focused on irrigation, another on the design of a transportable concrete mixer, and the last on waste management and the use of organic waste in agriculture.
When they would come to me with questions about their proposed solutions, I could say, look you have the capacity to make a judgement, and through the design-thinking process, you’ve the tools to address it. So let’s try what you think is the best solution, you can then iterate, reflect and repeat as needed.
And that’s a really useful process for engineering students to learn.
The student perspective
Natalie Peden
I chose to do the summer studio subject because of the range of projects on offer and because they seemed ‘real-world’. As a third-year engineering student I really wanted to gain an insight into different areas of engineering before I graduate. I settled on a humanitarian studio because I wanted see how engineering could be applied in a socially responsible way.
My team took on the irrigation challenge. We needed an economically viable system that could provide Nepalese farmers with water during their dry season.
The studio was a change from the traditional learning I’d been exposed to – it was a way more holistic approach to solving problems. We would talk through our ideas as a group; dissect the problem to explore new ways of looking at it. Over the six weeks, we’d present irrigation solution ideas to Scott in class and via online chats with charity representatives in Nepal, who had a lot of experience with the actual agriculture. They’d provide advice on the viability of our solutions at each phase.
This was the first time I’d had a student facilitator. It was very different. He was more of a peer – a good ‘go-between’ – and as a student, he helped us with our reflections.
I’d definitely encourage other students curious about the studios to try them out. What we worked on wasn’t some theoretical problem, the solutions we proposed could actually positively impact someone else. That’s so exciting!
To talk to someone about their problem, get their feedback and hopefully give them a solution – that gave me a real sense of accomplishment.
To talk to someone about their problem, get their feedback and hopefully give them a solution – that gave me a real sense of accomplishment.
Something I’ve learned is that Nepal is such a complex area and the way to give charitably isn’t just about going and saying, ‘Look I know what’s best’. It’s about looking at the community, learning from them and best utilising the strengths they have to help themselves.
Find out more
This summer, students can choose from 18 studio challenges. See the full studio list.
Collaborate on a future studio
Have a question about the FEIT team’s experience running studio learning over summer? Or interested in seeing how you could collaborate on developing a cross-disciplinary studio? Contact Roger Hadgraft.