Universal design reminds me in certain ways of participatory design. A few years ago I learned– and was thinking quite a bit– about participatory design, when the entire floor of the tutoring center at the other CUNY college where I work was being renovated, re-imagined and redesigned. Participatory Design originated in Scandinavia in the 1960’s and was championed by labor unions to democratize workplaces. The participatory design approach is one that emphasizes design with and alongside people instead of strictly for people. In short, it’s design that is, well… participatory.
The rehab of the library and tutoring areas at this other CUNY college was the pet project of the vice president at the time, and I was baffled by some of the choices being made regarding the learning spaces, tutoring tables, lab placements, enclosures, etc. But no one asked my opinion, nor were any of the other coordinators or tutoring directors who actually worked in the space asked what they thought might improve student learning there. Decisions were being made by administrators and designers who clearly had no idea what the needs on the ground were in this particular environment. Walls were knocked down, for example, without considering potential noise issues in multiple tutoring/class/lab spaces. In the re-envisioned space, the walls of the computer labs did not reach the ceiling, and were basically glass partitions of so many large cubicles, presumably for a more “open” feel. All tutoring tables were aggregated in the middle of a big tutoring pen in the center of the floor like a Medieval prison yard, with tutors and students at different tables all yelling over one another to be heard. Aesthetically, the new lavender-colored chairs looked nice, and the floor did indeed look and feel more open, but at the expense of approximating the acoustics of a lively morning in the trenches at the New York Stock Exchange. One conversation between the designers/architects and someone who actually worked in the space could have predicted and prevented, or at least drastically mitigated, these problems.
At the time, I had recently had a fascinating conversation at a party with an industrial designer who was telling me about how industrial design is more collaborative and participatory than architecture, which is usually based on precedent. He talked about the differences in the research processes: architects go out and look at what’s been built before, and then they use that to inform what they’re building. Industrial designers tend to look at how an existing space is actually being used, and survey the people working there to improve their design based on the participation of those surveyed. This was one crucial aspect that the former CUNY VP had missed, with results that I would describe *generously* as… whelming.
Universal design as a pedagogical frame in the writing classroom necessarily includes participatory design, which potentially entails a radical reconsideration of all sorts of assumptions one might harbor regarding placement, assessment, participation, student voice and inclusion, co-learning. Universal/participatory design in learning spaces then truly becomes an instrument of social change. I will continue to endeavor to co-create such environments with students. This framework, if effectively actualized, harms and excludes no one, and benefits everyone in the learning space. All boats rise.