Teaching Sustainability as a Professional Responsibility: Transformative Learning in Interior Design

Abstract

In a profession that holds the power to create and modify the built environment, interior designers have an obligation and responsibility to meet the needs of the present without compromising the quality of life for future generations. A course offered in the fall semester of 2008, ID 630 Topics in Advanced Interior Design Theory: Sustainable Design and Interiors, was designed to help students develop greater awareness of the impact of the built environment on the natural environment and the potential of the design professions to promote a more ecologically and socially responsible future. The course used reading, writing, and discussion to help students develop an understanding of sustainability from technological and cultural points of view. One of the expectations was that each student would develop a person ethical position on issues related to sustainability that would influence his or her future as an interior designer.

Student anticipation and reflection writings from this course were analyzed using the frameworks of critical reflection and transformative learning theory. The research sought to answer the following questions: 1. What discussions facilitated critical questioning around student assumptions about design and sustainability? 2. Were students able to envision a positive future? 3. Did students develop an understanding of their impact on environmental and social problems? 4. Did students’ sense of self in a global context change? This presentation of research will focus on findings relevant to classroom practice.