I think one key is co-designing/ co-creating living learning environments that show integrative design-lead exemplars of how we can live AND that students and teachers actually live in.
The current State budget woes forcing them to consider further asset sales are generated by a broken and un-resilient system in demise and represent one of the higher-level reasons that we need educational reform…
I see little point in educating people about a way of living and being if once their course is finished they are forced through lack of options to return to the other (existing) world dominated by the current ecologically ignorant destructive competitively-profiteering and virtual reality distracted paradigm. The Crisis-Diagnosis-Response course that Richard Mochelle developed and in which I have been honoured to teach in for 3 years at QUT suffers this fate…
For example last year the 200 final-year architecture students were brought on an amazing journey developed an understanding of ecological carrying capacity and systems’ design then mentored in developing their own ethical
manifestos to guide their future design actions…
Unfortunately and to my consternation they were subjected to submit a final design project from within the current paradigm not the realms of what they with their new-found ethical whole-systems’ perspective thought might be most needed/ highest priority responses in a world in crisis but an infill multi-storey high-density housing project at the RNA Showgrounds…!
The take-home message should have been about ‘ethical whole-systems’ transformation” and the roles that they as newly awakened skilled practitioners could each play in developing suites of integrated designs – incorporating governance systems educations systems technological systems
and economic systems within functioning ecological systems. The likely received message was ‘do more of what we do to pander to market demands if you want to make money from your degree’… and (just quietly) despite having to ignore your ethics about ‘not destroying the planet’ through your actions.
Thanks for your time.
Kind regards
Neil Davidson
Collaborative Innovation Systems
neil.davidson6n@optusnet.com.au
3848 1025