Session 7.05
Tracks
Track 5
| Friday, June 19, 2026 |
| 1:55 PM - 2:55 PM |
| The Boardroom & Longtan Room (Level 2 Suite) |
Overview
Created by design: communicate like a human
Details
This session is suitable for: All
Speaker
Claire Rackley
Secondary Teacher - Design
Genesis Christian College
Created by Design: Communicate like a Human
Presentation description
This hands‑on, one‑hour DATTA workshop is all about helping Design teachers strengthen how students communicate design ideas in engaging ways. Aligned with the 2025 QCAA Senior Design syllabus, the session focuses on client‑centered communication, visual thinking, and presenting ideas clearly and confidently.
Through quick contrasts in presentation styles and collaborative table activities, participants explore how tone, body language, visuals, and fluency all shape meaning and audience understanding.
You’ll dive into practical visual thinking strategies to show how drawing and diagramming support ideation, evaluation, and justification. The session also explores storytelling as the “human heartbeat” of design, helping students turn processes and decisions into clear, cohesive narratives.
A word‑free design challenge mirrors QCAA assessment expectations, guiding participants from interpretation through to response using visual evidence of criteria, strengths, limitations, and implications. You’ll reflect on the challenges, share strategies, and leave with ideas you can use straight away in folios, presentations, and exam prep.
Through quick contrasts in presentation styles and collaborative table activities, participants explore how tone, body language, visuals, and fluency all shape meaning and audience understanding.
You’ll dive into practical visual thinking strategies to show how drawing and diagramming support ideation, evaluation, and justification. The session also explores storytelling as the “human heartbeat” of design, helping students turn processes and decisions into clear, cohesive narratives.
A word‑free design challenge mirrors QCAA assessment expectations, guiding participants from interpretation through to response using visual evidence of criteria, strengths, limitations, and implications. You’ll reflect on the challenges, share strategies, and leave with ideas you can use straight away in folios, presentations, and exam prep.
Biography
Claire Rackley is a practicing designer and secondary Design teacher who works part time in education alongside her professional design practice. She is a director of 'Healing Ceilings', a design initiative that uses art and spatial thinking to improve patient experience in healthcare settings, grounding her teaching in authentic, real‑world contexts. In her school role, Claire has rewritten and mapped a vertically aligned middle‑years Design program spanning interior, product, architectural and graphic design, intentionally building the foundations students need for success in Senior Design. Her curriculum prioritises iterative process, visual thinking and design literacy, with rapid sketching and communication skills embedded into every lesson. In 2026, her program is expanding to explore emerging technologies and contemporary prototyping approaches.
Claire is deeply interested in how teachers can deliberately cultivate creativity, collaboration and communication, and in designing learning experiences that mirror the practices of real designers while remaining accessible to diverse learners.
