Inter-professional education in universal design: An Australian case study.
Authors
Helen Larkin, Susan Ang, Valerie Watchorn, Danielle Hitch and Richard TuckerSession
B3. Education about UDDate and Time
2014-06-16, 17:20 - 17:40Room
MA 1Abstract
In this world-first study in 2010, universal design education was introduced into the curriculum of third year occupational therapy students and first year architecture students. The teaching initiative included face-to-face and online teaching as well as an experiential workshop with students reporting positively in relation to their learning experiences. Since this time, the academic staff from both disciplines continue to embed universal design education into the curricula and it has been further extended into second year architecture where architecture students and occupational therapy students take an active role in critiquing students’ design studio presentations. In a student-led initiative, architecture students who themselves have a mobility or other impairment present their own personal experiences to their student colleagues regarding the barriers to participation and the impact on their health and well-being, caused by built environments. This paper outlines the initial teaching and research initiative and explores the progress and outcomes since then.