Hi Helen,

didn’t get a chance to say so at the last presentation, but thanks for teaching me 251 this tri, I really enjoyed the content and projects- I felt like they gave me an entirely new perspective on design

Helen was absolutely my most inspiring, challenging and well organised lecturer throughout my entire degree. She pushed everyone in the class to pursue not only what we were passionate about, but all of the skills and knowledge which would be necessary for the roles we would strive for in the future. Helen taught me to use design thinking in my role, and question everything – consistently looking for a better solution. I thrived in her papers and truely enjoyed every class she managed. I actually owe my current career success to Helen, as she helped me to take a step further while at university and find the right connections to thrive. I cannot recommend her enough, and I know without a doubt future students would be incredibly lucky to have Helen as a teacher. I don’t know where i would be without her!

I had Helen as my Lecturer for two of my undergrad papers, and she also helped advise me in an independent study. I thoroughly enjoyed Helen’s teaching style and appreciated her approach and creation of project briefs. I would go as far as to say that she was one of my favourite lecturers in my undergrad degree, across the several faculties I took papers under. One of my favourite projects I was apart of was in my 200 level paper “Design Psychology” that won a design award at the end of year.

– Lucy McMaster

She helped me keep focusing on the point of the design topic. Made me better understand about the course by explaining everything about the project.

Helen is a great teacher and lecturer with a wide knowledge of both design and research methods. As a lecturer, she knows how to get her students engaged and interested in the topics as she discusses them with great understanding and enthusiasm. As a teacher, she is organised and supportive of her students, she happy to teach them her skills and knowledge with no discrimination. This is what I really appreciated about having Helen as a teacher, the skills and knowledge she taught me proved invaluable during the completion of my thesis.

Helen was one of the most passionate and driven lecturers I came accross in my 3 years at Victoria University of Wellington. The course ‘Design Psychology’ remains one of the classes where I learnt the most and have carried through with me into my professional career.
Her lectures were well structured, interesting, and always helped us develop our concepts and ideas further. Her demeanuer was impeccably professional whilst being very kind and approachable to all of her students.
Should anyone wish to discuss my experience with Helen during my time at Victoria University further, I would be happy to be contacted.

Helen was my lecturer for two classes at university, both of which I thoroughly enjoyed and learned plenty from. She is an organised and committed teacher, and is happy to create whole new lectures based on what the class wants to learn. Helen is always encouraging with students and their projects, and she is one of the best teachers I had at university.

encouraged group conversations

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– visuals
– texts
– images, personal experience

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Was really helpful and nice. Willing to go the extra mile to help with projects 🙂

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– approachable
– effective with explanations
– good feedback

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– group sharing
– fun research

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-very encouraging
-gives good feedback on work

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Good feedback

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Helen is a great tutor, always friendly + helpful.

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Always friendly, nice to everyone. Treated students with respect.

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Generated more ideas which helped me to gain further understanding of the projects.

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Her understandable way of explaining topics.

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– really talkative + fun
– accepting of people’s ideas/comments

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– Good Feedback
– Interesting Ideas

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Good feedback on design ideas. Helped me to improve a lot.

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– She thinks laterally, provides a lot of thinking options
– Always made time for students.

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– Tutorials were well prepared
– Response for projects were really helpful and professional

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– helpful with examples and design ideas.
– uses current research to help stimulate design ideas.

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– Organised the class into small groups to discuss ideas rather than the whole class doing it.
– provided helpful information

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– found extra videos etc to support material from lectures
– gave good feedback about project ideas and helped us to think differently.

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Discussion first and then the individual/small group discussions.

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Her feedback is pretty good and relevant.

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Flexible tutorial plans based on what students wanted.
Helpful one-on-one guidance.

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She has interesting anecdotal stories to help us come up with ideas.

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Helen acted as both a lecturer and tutor for multiple papers during my time at university. She always provided the utmost support for my ideas and ambitions, and guidance when problems or questions arose. Her lectures are always engaging, and she provides constant inspiration both from her own ideas and experiences, and from her ability to produce interesting content for her lectures. The papers she takes are always enjoyable and highly valued because of all she provides for her students. She always goes above what is expected of her as a tutor and lecturer, and I attribute many of the most valuable lessons I learnt at university to her. Her ability to provide encouragment and understand each individual student is really appreciated.

– She is very helpful for feedback, speaks her advice clearly and in a way that is easy to understand.
– Took time with each person to aid them with their assignments.

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Everything was clearly laid out. Fantastic!

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-had good ideas
-helpful with times
-open to ideas

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Working in a big circle with the whole class.
Easy to approach about work.
Going through brief so we have a full understanding of the project.

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Suggesting ideas/alternatives to my designs and giving honest criticism on my work.

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-Took time out to talk.
-Helped with assignment.

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Pushed us to our limits, got me to really think out of the box and come up with new ideas.

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-Always full of ideas
-very positive

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Always had heaps of ideas

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Willing to talk about ideas and build on them.

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Clarifying information
Helpful ideas

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-Clear with ideas
-Passionate about topic

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Always give helpful + creative feedback.

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Helen challenged me to think more broadly which I think is positive.

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-gave honest opinions
-gave good suggestions

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I am really glad I took this course. I found it really interesting and am going to look deeper into this topic. Helen is an awesome teacher and I thought the course was really well planned out.

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I found taking CCDN332 with Helen, super motivating. She was able to engage me in the content and give personalised guidance with positivity for my projects without negetive criticism. Her teaching style is modern and engaging and I think it is a style that should be adopted by more lecturers in the future.

I was taught by Helen in my third year of my four year Double Degree programme. As a Culture & Context student, I didn’t see the value in my chosen programme, nor where I wanted to go with it, until I took the class taught by Helen (Design +). She opened my eyes to idea synthesis and taught me to utilise my other field of expertise to become a good designer. She respects and validates everyone’s way of thinking while still providing very solid and constructive feedback. Her presence in a classroom or studio is among the most positive of those I experienced in my time at Victoria.

-group projects and being held to what work you have done.

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Thinking critically about ideas and that everything you design has a meaning.

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-breaking down assignments into parts

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Interesting ways of explaining things in lectures.

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-The lectures were very interesting, really got one thinking about possible branching projects using the research.

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All of the classes were extremely interesting and its always awesome and motivating when the teacher is passionate about the topic.
Also Helen is really approachable and always gave good feedback which really helps with confidence in design and presenting.

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-Every week the lecture topic was different and they were all interesting.
-TED talks and videos used (introduced) in lectures.
-Structures of assignments were easy to understand.
-She always made sure I was on the right track and I found her feedback very helpful.

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Very lovely teacher and always respected the students in the class.

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Gave interesting lectures.
Gave individual help.

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The way that she helps by giving really constructive criticism has been great!

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Gave suggestions to how we can look at an idea in a different and fun way.

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Strongly enthusiastic about ideas.
Always willing to help and discuss work.

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1)Made sure I was comfortable with things.
2) Directed me elsewhere if it was needed.

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Really good feedback
Very useful lectures

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She helped out a lot with good feedback when needed and was very clear with the hand ins.

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-Showing relevant videos during lecture to consolidate ideas.
-Getting enthusiastic about our projects and giving good constructive advice.
-Putting us into groups for group work based on our attendance and also enthusiasm toward a project, which really has motivated everyone to work harder.

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-pushed to research
-very obvious with lectures

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Gave me one-on-one time.
Respected my ideas.

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Had interesting additional info & text to add to your topics.
Answered all questions thoroughly.

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Very knowledgable
Showed interest in individuals and their ideas
Always made time to help and/or listen

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-flexible about lecture subjects
-enthusiastic about projects

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-Lectures are always relevant and helpful.
-Frequent meetings with Helen provided great direction.
-Very clear, enthusiastic, skilled teacher!

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Very understanding at how students feel over course of term and accommodating about that.

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very informative support
highly educated critiques
amazing suggestions + communication

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-She was always positive about my ideas which boosted my confidence.
-Always had good informative ideas when helping me with my projects and developed them with me.

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She always had good ideas and feedback, especially when I was stuck on ideas or didn’t know how to move forward.

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Specific comments about modelling.
Give personal opinion about ideas and how improve them.

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-Passion for content of course
-Enthusiasm

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Really well structured projects, the first one developed the process for the second.

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Helped when I was having trouble – Took the time to work out what exactly the problem was, then gave the appropriate advice.

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Very good at clearly communicating what she was looking for.
Good briefs.

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enthusiastic about the subject
linked theories to real-world examples

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-group work
-concept development, creation of ideas

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-lecturer was good
-group assignments

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The teacher helped a lot.
The structure of the course helped me learn.

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Cross-discipline exercises (Psychology + Design)

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Readings about psychological things.

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Emphasis on research

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The first assignment I really liked.
I liked how quick but helpful lectures are. I never felt I was wasting time.

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Linking to real-world examples.

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Topics were fun.
Enjoyable.

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Flexibility of lecture subjects.

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Interesting topics/freedom to explore what you want

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Working in groups
Freedom to research/explore what interests us

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Learning psychology basics. It’s very helpful for design.
Presenting in groups rather than the whole class at once is much easier and less stressful/boring.

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Psychology as a core teaching component provided a great base.
Teacher support + guidance

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I found Helen to a very successful and helpful lecturer/tutor. The lectures were packed with useful information to the topic as well as being interesting and sparking an urge to asking questions and learn more. She took a class that I was unsure of and assumed I wouldn’t enjoy it and turned into one the best classes I had taken in my studies. I found her advice very helpful in both a designers prespective to boost the quality of my ideas and their effectiveness, and in the research and testing for and of a design.

Helen was incredibly influential during my time at university and dedicated her time to not only her own students but others that needed help, inspiration and guidance. Her teaching methods are thought provoking and intelligent, and her passion for her work is evident. The knowledge and skills that I gained during Helen’s classes of hers are by far the learnings that I rate most highly, and look forward to the opportunity of working with her in the future.