Marten Sims

Marten lived in Vancouver, Canada for 7 years and taught courses in Visual Communication at Emily Carr University, Dialogue & Civic Engagement at Simon Fraser University, and Graphic Design at Vancouver Film School.

In his current role as Senior Lecturer he undertakes teaching, assessment, feedback, feedforward, tutorial and pastoral responsibilities to a high standard for the four units that he teaches across Level 4, 5 and 6. He devises lesson plans for workshops in design research, systems thinking and socially-engaged design practice in order to ensure current, relevant and effective learning takes place across the subject area. As unit leader for two L4 and L6 units he has devised new assignment briefs and unit designs. He has improved the assessment feedback and feedforward process with the design of rubric’s that align to the unit Learning Outcomes. Each of these changes enhances students employability and work-based learning experience by engaging them in incrementally more complex design research and strategy. This scaffolded approach adheres to the appropriate levels indicated in the ‘Research Skill Development Framework’ which is a central goal of the Higher Education Academy.

Marten undertakes knowledge exchange responsibilities such as giving lectures, workshops and design consulting to both design industry, civil society and not-for-profit organisations such as the World Health Organisation in Denmark and Norway, Smart Metropolis in Poland, the Urban Arena in Stockholm, British Land, Future Cities Catapult and Open House Worldwide in London, as well as with local projects for BCP council. This knowledge exchange work feeds back directly into the student learning environment through examples, the methods I develop and the unique tools that I equip students with.

Working with the Research Ethics Committee, Marten redesigned the AUB Ethical Implications and Consent process + forms for university-wide application.

Alongside their design skills, Marten focuses on creating safe, dialogic environments that enable students to build solid interpersonal and communication skills while improving their ability to think and engage in critical and constructive discourse about their work and practice.