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OUR FIELDS OF EXPERTISE: A FINITE SET OF DESIGN ANGLES
FOR COURSE / TRAINING / DEGREE DESIGN

—
^{“How can I integrate a resilient approach to teaching in these times?

A surprising answer was provided by STUDIOBLENDED. Tikvah coached me in making my educational approach and impact last longer.

I realized that acquiring knowledge is a process that obeys the rules of resilience very strongly.”}
Dr. Alexander Jachnow, Urban Researcher and Strategist
Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS), Erasmus University, Rotterdam

Curious?
If you’d like to know more, reach out to Tikvah on tikvah@studioblended.com or +31 6 42 47 29 69

Image: “Architectural Sketch by Cazú Zegers © Cazú Zegers – all rights reserved.”

Education is the subject of an endless stream of publications. ‘Indeed, one of the main problems in contemporary education is that there are too many models and approaches on offer, and that so many of them come with the promise that they will be able to “fix” education once and for all’ (Biesta 2022, p.1). So many solutions. The question is whether each presentation is offering something truly new (inspired by Biesta 2022)?

What is it that you are looking for? Allow us to introduce you to our fields of expertise: a clear set of curriculum design angles. Although each is distinct, it is our experience that most courses demand a blended approach. According to us these are the most prominent curriculum design angles you may need.

The pages point to our cutting edge advisory and training work, so that you can see where we are coming from and why.

These pages also give you the background against which the discussions around the design angles can be understood and tailored to you. At STUDIOBLENDED our ambition is to offer cutting-edge advice that leads to concrete outputs that stand the test of time - by design. This is why we must be ourselves deeply rooted in an understanding of the discourses and paradigms on curriculum design, so that we know which ideas are here to stay, and which will have lasting value well into the coming decade.

These pages are not blogposts. The approaches set out here have and will stand the test of time. Rather than seek to “fix” education, at STUDIOBLENDED our commitment is rather to keep the information presented here up to date with research, piloting, practice and clientwork. The titles are therefore static but the pages are constantly updated and curated with new and useful insights.

We don’t want to tell you what to do here or what an arrival point is. In line with Biesta (2022, vii) we hope rather that we may ‘slightly alter your outlook, slightly redirect your attention, and that you may see new things, or see familiar things in a new light’.

Spark your curiosity by exploring these pillars of our Studio’s expertise, philosophy and methodology is by browsing these expertise pages.

THINK PIECE

Find our overarching philosphy and methodology in our think piece: Resilient education that stands the test of time – by design.

︎︎︎ Think piece

TECHNICAL RESILIENCE / FIT FOR PURPOSE FRAMEWORK

We go beyond merely constructive alignment using our fit for purpose open building framework, and 10-year horizon philosophy and methodology.

︎︎︎ Technical resilience

GUIDING QUESTIONS

A guiding question sets the scope of a course or degree. A guiding question can perfectly reinforce the joint inquiry of the expert and the novice around big ideas.

︎︎︎ Guiding question

BIG IDEAS

Unleash the power of big ideas for your curriculum. They are how we design time robust curricula for up to a decade.

︎︎︎ Big ideas

PARADIGM SHIFTS / DECADE STRONG

Our technical approach is deeply grounded in the content of your course or degree. Read on to find out how we ensure a durable curriculum given the evolving context of education.

︎︎︎ Paradigm shifts

SIMPLICITY and DECLUTTERING (DE-IMPLEMENTING)

Are you curious to find out how you can de-implement elements of the curriculum, to make space for the new?

︎︎︎ Simplicity

HUMAN RESILIENCE Taking the angle of the teacher - by design

Discover our philosophy and methodology with regard to your own wellbeing, as course/training coordinator, and that of your teaching team.

︎︎︎ Human resilience

GREEN

Green is not optional, it’s an essential part of how we are wired.

︎︎︎ Green

MODULAR

Our approach has a modular design based on a decade of experience.

︎︎︎ Modular

INNOVATIVE AND DEEP PEDAGOGY

The world is our oyster to explore.

︎︎︎ Pedagogy

ASSESSMENT / EVALUATION

In its origin, assessment is evaluation. It’s essential for constructive alignment. Why is it so pivotal to identify assessment early on?

︎︎︎ Assessment

TIME DIMENSION (the SCHEDULE/STUDYLOAD)

How long should a course or degree last? What should the schedule look like? How do we know if the content fits? In other words: how to avoid overload in the curriculum, using time boundaries for you?

︎︎︎ Time dimension

EVIDENCE-BASED DESIGN

We often ask why do we design like this? What works? Typically this is a question coming from the field of ‘evidence-based design’ such as cognitive psychology and neuroscience. Let’s explore it more, and challenge it with a broader perspective on education.

︎︎︎ Evidence-based

FINANCIAL HEALTH AND RESILIENCE BY (RE-)DESIGN

An introduction to our robust pragmatic-idealist take on course and training design. We love finance and believe it is the foundation of design.

︎︎︎ Financial health

MULTI- INTER- AND TRANSDISCIPLINARY

Designing for multi- inter- or trans- disciplinary education.

︎︎︎ Mult- Inter- and Transdisciplinary

FLEXIBILISATION, PERSONALISATION and DIFFERENTIATION

We are strong on modular design, differentiation, and inclusivity.

︎︎︎ Flexibilisation, personalisation, differentiation

BLENDED

Good education - by design. Face to face and a/synchronous. Blended is about the thoughtful integration of ‘face to face’ and online learning and teaching.

︎︎︎ Blended

BICHRONOUS

Good education - by design. A/synchronous. Bichronous is about the thoughtful integration of real-time learning and teaching, with a students’ on moment of learning.

︎︎︎ Bichronous

REFERENCES

Biesta, Gert 2022. World-Centered Education; A view for the present. Routledge, New York and London.

Bulterman, Jacquelien 2024. Het lerarentekort; pleidooi voor vakmanschap. Amsterdam University Press, Amsterdam, 2nd edition [Dutch].

Resilient education that stands the test of time - by design.

The agile team behind the Open Access Knowledge products
Research and write up by Tikvah Breimer (MSc MAEd MSc)
Independent senior advisor and teacher trainer
E-mail tikvah@studioblended.com
Phone +31 6 42 47 29 69 (workphone)
LinkedIn

Proofreading of knowledge products by Nadine Coetzee and Nigel Browne.

Graphic design by Lucas Rampazzo.

Curious about the hand drawn sketches on our covers? Our Studio started a collaboration with the Chilean Architect Cazú Zegers who has shared a few hand drawn sketches from her renowned projects to give life to our work. The collaboration is infused with our shared passion for good educational design, and for our students.
You will find her hand drawn schetches appearing incrementally as new knowledge products release. A common theme is the landscape. “The territory is to America, as the monuments are to Europe,” says Cazú. The ‘gesture figure form’ methodology is very much related to the territory and sometimes comes from the territory. To learn about Cazu Zegers’ work please visit: www.cazuzegers.com.