The SEED Faculty Studio Guide
Plan, teach, and refine a SEED course.
Connect course outcomes with authentic challenges, purposeful making, critique, reflection, and revision. Begin with the teaching decision in front of you, then follow the connections across your course.
A practical way to use the guide
Read. Study. Apply.
01 · Read the guidance
Identify the planning or teaching decision.
02 · Study an example
See how the decision takes shape in Residential Design I.
03 · Apply it to your course
Adapt the decision to your outcomes, students, and discipline.
Choose your starting point
Five parts. A process you can revisit.
Begin with Explore and Design when planning a course. Return to Make and Reflect during teaching, and use Iterate to plan a practical improvement. The parts can overlap as the course develops.
A continuing worked example
Follow Residential Design I.
Each part pairs guidance with a residential teaching or planning example. The compact-home challenge shows how decisions connect within one course. Use the reasoning to develop an approach that fits your own discipline; the examples illustrate possibilities for teaching and refinement.
Start with purpose, people, and context.
Establish what the course prepares students to do and why that work matters. Consider the knowledge students bring, the practices they need to develop, and the support available.
- Clarify the purpose. Connect the course to approved outcomes and disciplinary practice.
- Understand starting points. Identify what students may need help applying.
- Frame an authentic challenge. Consider people, context, resources, and constraints.
Residential Design I example
A compact home with a clear purpose.
The residential challenge asks students to investigate users and place, compare possibilities, and develop a design response. Research, programming, drawings, models, and presentation contribute to that work.
An early activity can ask students to identify what they need to know before designing. Their questions help the instructor choose appropriate demonstrations and support.
Apply it to your course
Write a short course purpose and identify two or three practices students will have opportunities to develop.
Carry forward: Course Blueprint · Course purpose and intended student development
Connect the course to the next experience.
Use the Course Blueprint to connect purpose, outcomes, professional practice, experiences, evidence, and assessment. Develop the Student Journey and Project Cycles, then plan the next teaching interval.
- Trace an outcome. Identify where students practice it and what evidence they will produce.
- Build a connected sequence. Organize milestones around an authentic project challenge.
- Plan the weekly experience. Identify preparation, activity, faculty support, feedback, and the next step.
Residential Design I example
Carry one decision across the plans.
In Residential Design I, investigation of users and place informs the compact-home challenge. A studio experience might ask students to compare layout alternatives against the client brief, then explain a preferred direction.
The brief establishes the challenge, the weekly plan identifies the activity and support, and the milestone preserves the comparison and its reasoning.
Apply it to your course
Trace one important outcome from the Course Blueprint through a Project Cycle and into a weekly experience.
Carry forward: Course Blueprint → Project Cycle plan → Weekly Studio Experience Map
Make professional reasoning visible.
Prepare the learning environment, resources, and studio routines that help students put plans into practice. Combine purposeful making with demonstrations, coaching, and temporary support.
- Model a decision. Explain the information, alternatives, and tradeoffs behind an approach.
- Coach the developing work. Respond to what students have tried and help identify the next decision.
- Prepare for making. Plan materials, tools, access, safety, and opportunities to test ideas.
Residential Design I example
Show how to compare alternatives.
An instructor can compare two compact-home layouts while explaining circulation, adjacency, privacy, and spatial priorities. A drawing or model helps make the decision available for discussion.
Students then apply the comparison to their own alternatives. Coaching can focus on the criteria supporting a choice, the unresolved tradeoffs, and what another test would help clarify.
Apply it to your course
Choose one difficult decision. Plan a short demonstration, an opportunity to apply it, and a point for coaching.
Carry forward: Weekly map · Teaching resources · Making and access arrangements
Turn feedback into a next action.
Plan critique while work can still change. Help students connect feedback with the brief and criteria, then show how they have considered and used it.
- Focus the review. Ask students to name the decision or question they want to examine.
- Use an explicit basis. Connect feedback with the brief, outcomes, and relevant criteria.
- Make the response visible. Show a revision, explain a retained decision, or identify an unresolved question.
Residential Design I example
Keep. Change. Resolve.
The residential example uses a KEEP CHANGE RESOLVE response to establish priorities after critique. A student might retain an effective relationship between spaces, revise a circulation problem, and identify a clearance that needs further checking.
At the next review, the student can show the response through a revised drawing, an annotation, or a brief explanation. Reflection can be spoken, diagrammed, or written.
Apply it to your course
Plan one review question and decide how students will show their response at the next milestone.
Carry forward: Critique prompt · Existing milestone record · Developing work
Choose one practical refinement.
Review the course experience and identify a change supported by what you have observed. Keep the refinement manageable and update the connected course records.
- Review the basis. Examine plans, developing work, feedback, and the support students needed.
- Define the change. State what will change, why, and what you will look for during its next use.
- Keep records connected. Update affected instructions, resources, calendars, and plans together.
Residential Design I example
Strengthen the comparison process.
One possible residential refinement is to add a modeled comparison before students evaluate schematic alternatives. The change would connect explicit design criteria with a reasoned selection.
The instructor would update the weekly plan, milestone instructions, and demonstration resource. During the next use, the instructor could review how students justify choices and what support is still needed.
Apply it to your course
Record one proposed change, its reason, the documents it affects, and a practical question for reviewing its next use.
Carry forward: Course improvement note · Updated plans and resources
Keep the planning connected
Carry decisions forward.
Use the planning tools at the scale you need. A Course Blueprint can supply the purpose and outcomes for a Project Cycle; the Project Cycle can guide the next weekly experience. Keep detailed instructions in the course records where faculty and students will use them.
01
Course Blueprint
What connects the course?
Bring purpose, intended student development, outcomes, professional competencies, experiences, evidence, and assessment together.
02
Project Cycle plan
How does the challenge develop?
Organize milestones, purposeful making, faculty support, critique, reflection, and time for revision around one challenge.
03
Weekly Experience Map
What needs to happen next?
Identify preparation, the studio activity, support, feedback, evidence, and the decision students will carry forward.
Start with the course materials you already use.
You can record decisions in existing plans or companion templates. Use a tool when it clarifies a connection or helps you make a teaching decision.
The complete faculty resource
Keep the guide at hand.
Download the SEED Faculty Studio Guide for the complete guidance, visuals, and Residential Design I examples. Use it alongside the website as you plan, teach, and revisit your course.
PDF · Save a copy for easy reference.