Dear Classroom: a speculative look into post-secondary classroom design
ABSTRACT
Historically, classrooms have been a space of rigidity and unchanging order. From the very desks we were assigned as ‘our space’ within the learning space, to the abuse of Indigenous peoples in Indian Residential Schools, to the frequent use of corporal punishment by teachers to maintain order. Over the past decade there have been numerous changes and strides for creating more inclusive and desirable experiences for students within the education system. As an example, the Ontario College of Art and Design (OCAD U) located in Toronto, has been a prime example of a historical institution taking action at 145 years old – with cluster hires of Indigenous and Black faculty and the introduction of more classes and curriculum with a decolonized approach. While the work is being done, there remains a gap in decolonizing education when thinking about the physical aspects of the post-secondary classroom. This MDes thesis explores how Speculative Design might act as a tool in creating decolonial discourse around the design of classrooms leading to more inclusive and desirable futures for students. The thesis attempts to (1) introduce and share concepts of Speculative Design and futuring of educational models in decolonizing the classroom at the post-secondary level; (2) to engage in participatory action research that offers interactive cases (positioned as ‘classroom mysteries’) for facilitating dialogue and responses, and (3) to consciously remove the ‘expert-non-expert’ power dynamics in gathering research data, and creative outcomes. The intersection of Speculative Design (imagination) and Action Research (action) methodologies allows for a more inclusive data collection approach that centralizes open dialogue and imagination confirming that the use of Speculative Design as part of the research process can be a successful tool in imagining and creating more desirable and inclusive spaces for students; and can create a space where critical dialogue around decolonizing post-secondary classrooms can occur.
Classrooms hold a ‘material culture’ – a history of social norms and attitudes embedded in physical objects and practices, and in the spaces that support them. If one were to ask the average person to describe what happens in a classroom and/or what objects you might find inside a classroom it would be almost unquestionable that the responses would be immensely similar. In one scenario, one might mention actual objects such as desks, chairs, chalkboards, whiteboards, technology, writing supplies, books, etc. as objects you might find inside a classroom. In another scenario, one might mention more conceptual and/or intangible things such as learning, grades, evaluation, lecture, discussion, etc. as things that occur within a classroom.
Oxford Languages defines ‘classroom’ as “a room, typically in a school, in which a class of students is taught” and Merriam Webster defines it as “a place where classes meet.” Theorists such as Paulo Friere would describe a traditional classroom as one in which the relationship between teacher and student is governed by power and knowledge. Specifically, an expectation that the teacher has all the power and knowledge, and the student has none. This ‘banking model’ approach to education operates from a bankrupt system for learning where it is assumed the teacher holds all knowledge and the student holds none until the teacher shares it. Friere believed this model ultimately leads students to further acceptance and adaptation to the oppressive world rather than critically examining and challenging it (71-75). Given these multiple definitions, at the most basic level one could define and link the word ‘classroom’ to a place/space for learning. At a more complex level, one could define and link the word ‘classroom’ to a place intended for learning while simultaneously influencing social change for better or for worse. This MDes thesis explores how in the context of emerging pedagogies informed by decolonization and new socio-cultural and political realities, the application of Speculative Design including the physical environment, for post-secondary classrooms can create more inclusive futures for the next generation of students.
As a Black and Indigenous Nova Scotian woman navigating through the education system, I have had more than my fair share of trauma, oppression, displacement, racism, and all sorts of other negative experiences throughout my learning journey. I pursued graduate studies with the hope that things would be different, and I naively believed that at this level I would feel more like I belonged. While this proved to be true with the small community of friends and close colleagues, I developed relationships with, the post-secondary classroom remained a foreign and unwelcoming place where I just could not seem to find…
