My Adjunct Lecturer Journey: How I Designed My Lessons

5th Feb 2023 – that was the day I saw a message on DesignSG's Telegram group for a part-time adjunct lecturer role for Singapore Polytechnic's Specialist Diploma in User Experience and Digital Product Design.

This was a good opportunity to share my knowledge, get out of my comfort zone and experience the education industry first-hand. I applied for the role and passed the interviews which included a mock teaching segment.

My classroom of ~20 students were adult learners with day jobs from different industries (software engineering, marketing, game development, graphic design, UX design etc). The module was 18-weeks long with each lesson lasting for 3 hours.

In this article, I share my approaches on how I tackled the biggest challenge I faced while designing the curriculum.

How do I design engaging lessons for a cohort of skill-diverse students?

Table of Content

• Approach 1: Strategic student grouping
• Approach 2: Learning by doing (and teaching others)
• Approach 3: Implementing difficulty levels for activities
• Conclusion

Approach 1: Strategic student grouping

I sought to form balanced groups, considering both students' skill levels and interpersonal dynamics

The UI Design module I taught was part of the second semester, this meant the students were familiar with each other, but I was not.

There were two things I looked out for during the first lesson:

1. Student-to-student dynamics

• How were the students seated when no instructions were given?
• How did the students interacted with each other before the lesson started?
• Who's their bestie?

2. Design expertise

• What's their day job?
• What design tools have they used before (e.g. Photoshop)?
• Were their hobbies related to design?

Approach 2: Learning by doing (and teaching others)

I designed practical activities that allowed students to apply their newfound knowledge in a safe and fun setting.

I am a strong proponent of hands-on learning as it actively engages the brain through problem-solving; making the learning process more enjoyable and rewarding.

During practical activities, I would roam around the different groups to check on their progress and offering tailored guidance. Coming from a shy person myself, I wanted the activities to be opportunities and a comfortable space for shy students to ask me their questions they might not have in front of the entire class.

Approach 3: Implementing difficulty levels for activities

I ensured every activity has an easy mode for beginners, and a hard mode for advanced students to challenge themselves.

For beginners, I wanted them to be inspired of what's possible and motivate themselves. For advanced students, having them learn something they didn't know prior was a huge win.

By creating balanced groups, I fostered a collaborative learning environment by empowering advanced students to teach beginners; reinforcing the idea that teaching is the highest form of learning.

Conclusion

A design challenge in disguise.

You might have noticed that I treated this like a design challenge. I considered the different archetype of students (beginner to advanced), their needs and structured activities in a group setting to enable learning in a fun and engaging way.