Principal speaker
Dr Mike McAuley
Mike's presentation will be a retrospective look at the last ten years of his design pedagogy research. His research interests focus around creative processes and interpretation, particularly the process of interpreting words into pictures. Within an educational context he is interested in helping de-mystify the design process as a means of assisting students to develop stronger meta-cognitive awareness of their approach to design as well as helping them understand the symbiotic relationship between critical and creative thinking. He regards the relationship between his teaching and research as a nexus whereby each informs and enriches the other. Mike's latest research focuses on student conceptions of the relationship between theory and practice, with a particular interest in the role praxis can play in acting as an epistemological bridge between different types of knowledge.
Biographical notes:
Mike McAuley's career as an academic began in 1995. Prior to that, he was a full time musician and illustrator. He was Head of Illustration at Massey University, where he received two teaching excellence awards and Program Director for Visual Communication Design at the University of Newcastle. He is a member of the Editorial Board for the journal Art, Design and Communications in Higher Education and also an international judge for the Undergraduate Awards (UA) a body which seeks to assess the quality of practice based research in art & design at undergraduate level throughout the world. He is a founding member of CDEN, the Australian Communication Design Network and a regular reviewer of internationally acknowledged design research events, LearnX, Design Research Society, Cumulus. He has supervised over 200 Honours projects. Despite acknowledging that he was a total failure at school, leaving with almost no qualifications, he believes in the transformational power of education. This is what drives him as a teacher and researcher, to help others experience how education transforms.
Event categories
Event contact details
- Paul Wright
- 3735 6148