guest lectures

• I696- Advanced Projects in Data Visualization (SP’2024; Pratt Institute)
  Conducted an in-class workshop forData Analytics and Visualization Masters students about User Testing methods. 

• I544- Experience Design (FA' 2021,22; Indiana University)
  Gave a lecture to HCI/d Masters students about “Dark User Experience” and related concepts in Ethics in Design.

• Master Class (EduCHI @ CHI 2022 Conference)
  Gave a master class to HCI educators and researchers on “Exploring Feminisms through Design in HCI Education” at the EduCHI Symposium at 2022 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. [slides, worksheet, miro]

• EDCI 616: Qualitative Research Methods (2020; Purdue University)
  Facilitated a class to work through qualitative design before data collection phase. [lesson plan and worksheet]

• A&D 316: Seminar on Ideas on Industrial Design (2018; Purdue University)
  Gave a lecture to Art and Design students about “Data Collection + Data Analysis” in UX design process. [material]

My teaching philosophy is inspired by studio pedagogy, virtue ethics, and feminist values. Drawing from my User Experience (UX) Design education at Purdue University, I follow studio pedagogy [1] which engages students in collaborative projects, active learning, project-based learning, a sense of belonging, active reflection, and informal and formal critique sessions. I encourage students to think about multiple possibilities, system-level changes required, stereotypes to be disrupted, and social and emotional impacts of their work. Building on my research in ethics and values in technology design and experience, I challenge students to think about the manipulative and persuasive intentions embedded in their work and the political nature of technological artifacts being created, to build a more socially responsible design character. This aligns with the virtue ethical theory in how designers ---future technologists--- are the creators and guarantors who inscribe their own values and beliefs, along with professional competence, into designed artifacts. I will develop my curriculum to provide students with a mix of both theoretical (e.g., academic readings, book chapters) and practical (e.g., projects, hands-on assignments, reflections) knowledge. I recently also started practising how to encourage design failure as a form of learning and knowledge creation among students. I started to incorporate classroom activities where students fail in applying a theoretical concept as a strategy for knowledge-retention, of course in the right amounts, to feel comfortable with theory and practicing application of theories despite failing. 

Drawing from feminist values, I provide a safe space for students to become emancipated, advocate for their own decisions, and respect diversity. I treat them as individuals with their own knowledge and lived experiences who in my classroom have a safe space to express, conduct, and share their thoughts without the fear of hierarchy just because I am their instructor. I believe that knowledge sharing is a two-way process and it has to be nourished this way, elaborated in my ACM Interactions article on Feminism(s) in Design [2]. Additionally, I take student evaluations seriously to see how I can constantly iterate my curriculum and activities. I enjoy answering questions from undergraduate and graduate students as it helps me understand their mindset and helps me propose critical alternatives. Given the nature of User Experience Design and HCI which draw from multiple disciplines, I will support students from various backgrounds and make my teaching curriculum and environment inclusive.

1. Boling E, Gray CM, Smith KM. Educating for design character in higher education: Challenges in studio pedagogy. DRS Conference Papers. 2020. doi:10.21606/drs.2020.120

2. Chivukula SS. Feminism(s) through Design: A practical guide to implement and extend feminism. Interactions 27(6). 2020.

pedagogical practices

These are some ways I activate my teaching philosophy and apply currently in my teaching practice: 

• Student Agency and Empowerment: I encourage co-creating knowledge in the classroom with students allowing them to build on their lived experiences and previous knowledge base. I provide avenues for students to share the co-created knowledge to also build a sense of community of knowledge (for example, a #byom- bringyourownmethod Slack Channel in I543 class). I do this in a way to encourage them as their own bodies of knowledge and facilitate the process;

• Pluralistic Engagements: I engage students in elements of surprise during their course time through multiple forms of informal (such as gallery walks, desk critiques) and formal (such as project documentation comments). I mostly engage in a range of submission for students to have individual and group working environments;

• Practice Alignment: I improve course curriculum to match the technological advancement in the market and allow students to prepare for industrial experience in a classroom setting. This also happens by just enabling a space for them to realize their strengths and weaknesses even if not 100% education; 

• Constant Evaluation: I conduct a constant evaluation of my pedagogical practices through student reflections and course evaluations at mid and end term;

• Student Involvement into Pedagogy Decisions: I open the space for students to involve in deciding elements (within the given framework) of their learning for the day or in the entire curriculum. I engage with students to reflect and assess learning objectives as a group in the classroom.