Trudi Barrow - Design Education

Using Padlet in lessons for "warm-up our imagination" starter activities has proven to be really engaging and fun for students. 1.       https://en-gb.padlet.com/barrowt/bike-of-the-future-qc1crc7415535jq1 Students were asked to close their eyes and imagine a bike or motorbike for the future. They were encouraged to be as imaginative as possible, and then they opened their eyes and described it to their partner. Afterwards, they used the vocabulary they deemed most important to prompt the Gen AI function in Padlet. When presented with a handful of options, they selected the one that they thought was closest to their mind's eye (or altered their prompt until they were happy) and shared it with the rest of the class on the Padlet board. The Padlet board also shared their work in real-time on the main classroom screen. I also asked the students to copy and paste their prompts so the whole class could see them. 2.       https://en-gb.p...

In Design and Technology there are many ways we can harness the power of generative A.I image generation for our teaching and pedagogy. exemplar work; both 2D and 3D quick examples of drawing techniques and styles mood boarding example product disassembly fabric sample 'photographs' material sample 'photographs' recipes broken down into 'ingredient photos' sketches and renders card models laser cutting examples quick visualisations etc. etc. It goes without saying that not all of this is 'perfect' and we the teacher should choose our images carefully, but this could revolutionise the time we spend creating or sourcing resources for schemes and lessons. I've become fascinated in how we as teachers can use A.I visual generation to aid our work and to enable us to 'work smarter not harder'. We also obviously have a responsibility to model best practise in this area to our students who are also using A.I. (often upskilling in the tools at a fast...

  I support Pearson’s conceptual proposal for ‘future-proofing’ design education. As a teacher of Design and Technology I am a passionate believer that sustainability and climate change education should be at the forefront of what we do, not simply a bolt-on to existing design and make projects currently taught in the majority of schools. D&T is often seen as the ‘problem solving’ subject; surely the most important problem to address is climate change. This should be part of the design education fundamentals, framing the way we teach, and what we teach. Our world is fundamentally under pressure due to climate change; a world which is built on a digital infrastructure and language like never before. The key to the future of our subject is equipping students to think like designers and critical consumers in the current and future world. As design educators we have a responsibility to equip our students with skills for the future. This means encouraging our students to become...

I am very fortunate to work in a school which has a very robust CPD programme for staff. The school is supported by being a research school and a teaching school hub. These elements feed into a culture of growth for all staff that aims to centre around wellbeing. However through research and interviews I now think we could improve on one aspect of this. All staff are carefully guided through CPD provision that is tailored to them and their needs. The school starts the tailored CPD programme with a ‘market-place’ event which offers opportunities for staff to speak with specific experts and representatives from different CPD opportunities. These include the teaching school hub which runs subject specific networks and training programmes, the research school which offers webinars and face to face events distilling and analysing the latest research and the in-school coaching programme, which is new but proving to be very beneficial for staff at all stages of their career development. Gui...

For my NPQLTD I have been asked to choose two cognitive principles from ‘The Science of Learning’ - Deans for Impact, 2015 and ‘reflect on their implications for the practice of teachers in my school’.  Rather than my school I have reflected on their implications for my subject. (I couldn’t help myself). Cognitive Principle 1: ‘Information is often withdrawn from memory just as it went in. We usually want students to remember what information means and why it is important, so they should think about meaning when they encounter to-be-remembered material .’ Practical implications for the classroom: ‘Teachers can assign students tasks that require explanation (e.g., answering questions about how or why something happened) or that require students to meaningfully organize material. These tasks focus students’ attention on the meaning of course content.’ In D&T teachers often require students to explain their design choices or justify their plans or specification points. As a...

I’m passionate about my subject of Design and Technology. Becoming an AEE has given me the opportunity to share that passion with other colleagues and work with a wide range of teachers from different schools who are at different stages in their careers. I have thoroughly enjoyed leading the new D&T Teacher’s Network for the area and designing the content in a way that I would want to receive it. I also led training sessions for D&T ECTs at the regional day for secondary ECTs, again a thoroughly enjoyable and interesting experience. It felt a privilege to have an impact on the thinking of D&T teachers at the start of their careers. In the D&T Network this academic year we have been unpicking some of the big picture issues surrounding our subject. It was fantastic to see the discussions and debates that came from it amongst a team of motivated and enthused colleagues. We have considered issues that that often don’t get the time to be carefully considered due to press...