Teaching work
Alongside my creative practice and independent research, I have been cultivating a strong teaching practice since 2015.
In my teaching practice I have worked in leadership positions, curriculum development, sessional support staff, industry mentor, development of online teaching resources, online engagement and recruitment workshops and research assistance. In these roles, I have developed a wide variety of skills and a versatile teaching portfolio across many areas of fashion, design and the creative industries.
Teaching Leadership
In January 2020, I was appointed in the role of Program Coordinator for the Bachelor of Design (Fashion and Sustainability) at Collarts (Melbourne/Naarm), Australia’s first tertiary course focused on the teaching and application of principles of sustainability in fashion.
Curriculum Development
In this role, I was responsible for the development of practical studio-based fashion design units with sustainable technology, theory, and practice at their core. The subjects developed focused on topics such as Zero Waste design and pattern making; Deconstruction, reinvention, and remaking; Personal investigation in fashion consumption, and function; Core textile knowledge and fabric innovations; Future fashion technologies; Fashion heritage and cultures.
Education innovation
Due to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, I was required to adapt the teaching of practice-based studio units to an online delivery methods. These methods were presented and shared with colleagues at the Collarts professional development seminar in 2021.
Additionally, I developed and presented my approaches for supporting gender diverse students through integrating the use of preferred pronouns in the attendance process with the aim of both normalising the confirmation of gendered pronouns and allowing students to adapt and change their pronouns as needed. This approach reflects the idea that gender is not fixed for some and students can explore and change their expression of this in a safe and respectful environment.
Freelance Curriculum Development
In 2021, I began work for the International College of Management Sydney, as a freelance subject developer for their Bachelor of Business (Fashion and Global Brand Management) course, developing and updating their Styling and Creative direction unit. In 2022 I will be developing a micro-credential for their Fashion Marketing students to develop their knowledge around making, construction, textiles and communication to increase their chances entrepreneurial success.
In 2022, I was contracted as a research assistant to apply my expertise to the subject Global Fashion Cultures, at QUT. In this role, I was asked to apply my research expertise to develop content on the subjects of masculinities and menswear, post-colonial and hybrid aesthetics, queer bodies and culture, and creative direction and image making.
Sessional Teaching
In my role as a sessional academic (2015 - Present) I have taught and lectured across the following subjects and topics:
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Skills based units
I have experience teaching skills-based design and communication units, including:
The elements and principles of design and making; Introductory pattern making skills; Specialised making skills such as tailoring, draping, zero waste pattern making; collection and concept development; Technical drawing, specification packs and manufacturing knowledge; Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign; Marvellous Design 3D fashion modeling; Fashion visualisation, drawing skills, and fashion communication; Interdisciplinary technical drawing workshops.
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Theory and History
I have experience teaching fashion and design theory and history at an undergraduate and post graduate level. These subjects span the following topics:
The intersection of cultural and aesthetic theory in image-making and fashion practice through the lens of modern/post-modern history; Fashion and history from the medieval period to the late 1940s, including key historical aesthetics and their evolution due to industrial development, and social, cultural, and political shifts; Foundational interdisciplinary design units looking at the graphic, industrial, and fashion design pre and post-industrial revolution; Research Methods for students completing postgraduate research via coursework; Design and creative thinking units exploring interdisciplinary methods of design thinking.
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Project Based Units
I have also tutored in project-based units including:
Fashion and Style Journalism where we facilitated the creation of a student-led print magazine;
Off-campus design intensives for interdisciplinary design core units which asked students to work in groups to address design briefs in a supporting and collaborative environtment;
I have also worked as a mentor and teacher in Work Integrated Learning units, helping students to find and apply for internships in their relevant field of study and gain valuable work experience
Online Teaching Resources
Online Fashion Visualisation classes
I developed a 5 week fashion visualisation and communication program aimed at students in the beginnings of their fashion studies. The classes emphasise technical approaches to scale and proportion across elements such as fashion body figures, faces, hands, and textiles, as well as technical fashion illustration. The classes aimed to demystify the drawing process and give helpful physical tips and techniques to approach fashion communication with confidence in their future studies.
Online Sewing classes
Due to the impacts of the Melbourne covid-19 lockdown, I was required to develop a 5 week online sewing instructional program for the teaching of sewing workshops, aimed at students with little to no technical sewing experience. The videos functioned as excellent resources for online and on-campus teaching, as students were able to use the videos to work on in-class activities at their own pace. These were created using a Logitech streaming cam, and activities were demonstrated using half scale pattern blocks.
Online Pattern Making classes
Due to the extended lockdowns, I was also required to develop pattern making instructional videos, using a half scale pattern block, aimed at beginners. I developed 5 weeks of pattern making content, demonstrating basic pattern making principle across shirts, skirts and pants. As with the sewing instructional videos, the recorded demonstrations provided a vital online and in class teaching resource.
Workshops
Clothing mending and repairs workshop - Facebook live
As a part of Fashion Revolution week, I was asked to prepare and facilitate a clothing mending and repairs workshop for a Facebook live feed on the Collarts social media platform. In this workshop, I demonstrated 3 different approaches to garment repair, which included sewing on a button, hemming a pair of pants, and darning a hole in a sock. The workshop used both a webcam and an overhead cam, to demonstrate these technical skills while keeping the audience engaged.
Using a magazine image to create a fashion figure template
This drawing workshop was developed as a skill building recruitment tool for late high school and school leavers interested in studying fashion. The workshop outlined the sourcing of appropriate images, key elements of communicating body proportion and movement, and drawing skills to create an approach to drawing that does not require the participant to have any particular drawing 'skills’.
Moodboard Workshop
The mood board workshop was developed as a skill-building recruitment tool to be used by high schools and the university recruitment team. The workshop outlined the purpose and function of mood boards in creative industries, sourcing images, developing a colour palette, and how to arrange images in order to create an evocative mood board using a simple program like PowerPoint or online tools such as Canva.