Lorraine PgCert Blogs

Contextual Background: In a three-hour workshop, limited time impedes the assessment of student understanding. Factors such as lateness, breaks, and introductory activities like UAL tours and icebreakers take up much of the session. This results in insufficient time to gauge student comprehension, address detailed questions, or effectively evaluate their overall experience.

Evaluation: With our three-hour workshops: they’re often a bit of a juggling act. Since each workshop is with a different school and we don’t know anything about the students beforehand, we end up spending a lot of time just explaining basic media terms. This means there’s less time for the hands-on stuff that everyone looks forward to.

Also, because the students usually come from general media backgrounds, we need to make sure they’re all on the same page before diving in. This prep time, combined with factors like lateness and icebreakers, eats into our session time.

What’s tricky is that with so little time, we can’t really gauge if the students are bored or engaged. We miss out on reading their reactions and adjusting the workshop on the fly. So, we end up with a lot of effort put in, but not always a clear picture of whether the students are getting the most out of it.

Moving Forward: To tackle the challenges of our three-hour workshops and enhance their effectiveness, consider these strategies:

1. Pre-Workshop Surveys: Send out brief surveys to schools before the workshop to gather information about the students’ backgrounds and their familiarity with key terms. This will help tailor the content to their existing knowledge and reduce the time spent on basic explanations.
2. Streamlined Content: Focus on essential concepts and streamline the introduction. Prioritise the hands-on activities that students find most engaging, and use clear, concise language to explain key terms quickly. Providing a pre-workshop reading or resource guide can also help students get up to speed before the session.
3. Flexible Schedule: Adjust the workshop schedule to allocate specific time blocks for different activities. For instance, dedicate time for introductions, hands-on practice, and feedback. This will help manage time more effectively and ensure that each component of the workshop gets the attention it needs.
4. Interactive Elements: Incorporate interactive elements throughout the session to keep students engaged and gauge their interest. Use quick polls, short discussions, or live feedback tools to get real-time insights into their reactions to the content.
5. Check-Ins: Implement short check-ins during the workshop to assess understanding and adjust the pace as needed. These can be quick questions or activities designed to measure comprehension and engagement.

Contextual Background: While facilitating a media workshop, I was informed less than 24 hours before that a student was deaf. Despite making last-minute adjustments, the situation revealed that the student’s needs could have been addressed more effectively with advance notice, highlighting a gap in managing individual requirements.

Evaluation: Although I made efforts to include subtitles and provide a translator for the deaf student, there were limitations in the approach. I couldn’t ascertain if the translator was conveying all relevant information accurately through British Sign Language (BSL). Additionally, the YouTube subtitles were often out of sync or inaccurate, and in parts of the video that were montages without dialogue, the lack of spoken content posed further challenges. These factors may have restricted the student’s ability to fully engage with the workshop, highlighting the need for more tailored and precise accommodations to support students with specific needs effectively.

Moving Forward: To address the challenges faced and enhance support for students with specific needs, the following measures can be implemented:

1. Pre-Workshop Needs Assessment: Conduct a thorough assessment of individual student needs before the workshop. Gather information about any disabilities or specific requirements to plan appropriate accommodations in advance, rather than dealing with them reactively.
2. Detailed Transcripts: Provide printed transcripts of all video content and spoken material. This ensures that students who rely on written text can access accurate information, particularly during parts of the workshop where video content lacks dialogue or where subtitles may be insufficient.
3. Enhanced Subtitling: Ensure that all video content includes accurate and synchronised subtitles. Regularly review and update subtitles to reflect the actual content of the videos, and consider using professional captioning services to improve accuracy.
4. Translator Coordination: Check in with the translator before the workshop to discuss any specific requirements or challenges related to the content. This allows the translator to be prepared and ensures they can convey all relevant information effectively through British Sign Language (BSL).
5. Flexible Delivery Methods: Design workshops with a range of delivery methods to cater to diverse learning needs. This might include providing visual aids, interactive elements, and alternative formats to accommodate various preferences and requirements.

By implementing these strategies, we can ensure that workshops are more inclusive and responsive to the needs of all students, reducing the likelihood of unexpected challenges and enhancing the overall effectiveness of the educational experience.

Contextual Background: As a visiting practitioner, I’ve often been placed in different schools and frequently encounter significant issues. We serve the outreach programme and lead workshops in various schools to provide access to creative opportunities after higher education. However, while students are introduced to new content, they are often unable to participate further due to the practical limitations of fashion communication without adequate resources.

Evaluation: Supervising teachers are often either unaware of our activities or lack the necessary resources to support the students effectively. This resource deficiency includes the absence of basic supplies such as paper, pens, cameras, and other technical equipment. Additionally, many students have outdated laptops that lack essential software like Adobe Creative Suite. These limitations severely impact educational outcomes and equity, as students cannot fully engage in or benefit from the programmes offered. The disparity in resource allocation creates a significant barrier to providing comprehensive and equitable education, ultimately hindering students’ academic performance and future opportunities in creative fields.

Moving Forward: 

To address the resource disparities and enhance the effectiveness of outreach programmes, several strategies can be implemented:

1. Portable Resource Kits: Develop comprehensive portable kits that can be taken to different schools. These kits should include essential supplies such as paper, pens, cameras, and portable backdrops. Renting high-quality, durable, and easily transportable equipment ensures that all students can participate fully in creative activities, regardless of their school’s resources.
2. Partnerships and Collaborations: Establish partnerships with local businesses, community organisations, and educational institutions to sponsor and support the creation and maintenance of these portable kits. Additionally, forming alliances with technology companies could facilitate access to updated laptops and necessary software like Adobe Creative Suite.
3. Access to Facilities: Allow students to access photography studios and larger classrooms at East Bank or UAL. By scheduling regular sessions where students can use these advanced facilities, they gain hands-on experience with professional-grade equipment and environments. Providing transportation options for students to these locations ensures accessibility for all.
4. Teacher Preparation: Send packs or briefs to the tutors ahead of time, detailing what to expect and what resources are needed before the workshop. Ensuring that teachers are well-informed and equipped to support the initiatives will enhance the overall effectiveness and integration of the programmes into the schools.
5. Feedback and Continuous Improvement: Implement a system for regular feedback from students, teachers, and practitioners to assess the effectiveness of the resources and programmes. Use this feedback to make continuous improvements and adapt to the evolving needs of the students and schools.

By employing these strategies, we can significantly reduce the resource gap and provide equitable educational opportunities, fostering a more inclusive and supportive environment for all students.

Graham Gibbs advocates for active learning, where students engage with the material through discussions, problem-solving, and hands-on activities, moving from the traditional lecture-based approach to a more interactive classroom. Gibb’s work “Maximising Student Learning,” offers valuable insights into the hows and whys of switching to traditional methods in the lesson. 

Within my teaching context, where I support students transitioning from higher education to university courses, Gibbs’ work is especially relevant. I recall struggling to engage with material as a student when it felt intimidating or disconnected from my life. This personal experience has made me more aware of the challenges students face when moving into self-directed and independent environments like university.

When students encounter material that feels irrelevant or too abstract, their motivation and ability to grasp complex concepts can fall. To bridge the gap between theoretical concepts and real-world applications, I incorporate activities like starter tasks, music, relatable video content, hands-on projects, and informal discussions. These strategies keep the material more fresh and inspiring.

I’ve noticed that prioritising notable figures in my presentations and customising content to the students’ backgrounds significantly improves engagement. For instance, when teaching a predominantly Muslim class, I included fashion communication examples that reflected their experiences. Additionally, encouraging students to use their phones for interactive digital activities helps energise the group. 

By integrating these strategies, I aim to create a more inclusive and engaging learning environment that supports students through their transition and helps them connect more deeply with their studies.

Gibbs, G. (2015). Maximising Student Gain. Maximising Student Gain.

I found my experiences with crits as a student to be predominantly negative. Reflecting on my time at university, crits often felt frustrating and seemed to obstruct my progress. Tutors sometimes introduced their own biases into their feedback or failed to offer relevant input due to a lack of openness to new concepts. For example, while I was interested in how architecture could enhance human interaction with entertainment spaces, the tutor I worked with was focused on AI and tried to steer all my queries in that direction.

Although I’m not currently facilitating crits in my teaching role, I thoroughly enjoyed the role-play session I participated in. It provided valuable insights into new methods for incorporating feedback with students and strategies for managing diverse personalities. It also highlighted the importance of giving all students the opportunity to speak. For instance, starting with a general question about their work might help students feel less pressured and more comfortable engaging in the critique. I also considered adopting methods from my positive past crits, such as focusing on ‘where are you now?’, ‘where do you want to go next?’, and ‘what are you going to do next?’. This approach alleviated the immediate pressure of focusing on the end goal of the project and instead emphasised the next steps in research, whether in a library or exhibition space.

During the role-play activity, I took on the role of a diligent student. This experience allowed me to immerse myself in the mindset of a motivated learner—one who has completed their assignments and is excelling in the module. It was both amusing and enlightening to portray a confident and enthusiastic class representative, which was quite different from my own student experiences.

What I found particularly valuable about the session was its focus on making crits work for oneself. In hindsight, I often waited for tutors to tell me what to do or to interpret my work with minimal explanation from me. My lack of confidence led me to expect tutors to steer the conversation, which frequently left me feeling lost.

From a student’s perspective, this role-play experience taught me that preparing specific points to address during a critique can significantly ease the often daunting one-on-one sessions. By organising my thoughts and identifying key discussion areas in advance, I found it easier to navigate the critique process and receive more targeted and useful feedback.

From a teaching perspective, the session prompted me to consider how we design crits to better meet the needs of students at various stages of their work. It made me reflect on whether our current approach effectively supports students and whether we provide adequate opportunities for them to articulate their challenges and goals. This insight encourages me to think more critically about structuring crits in a way that is more responsive to individual student needs.

Before the Object-Based learning lecture, I had doubts about its relevance within my fashion communication teaching practice.

The only exposure I had previously to this teaching method was through a brief workshop tailored primarily for fashion design students. As a result, I found it challenging to envision how this method could be applied to my specific subject. As a previous student, I was accustomed to digital research and outputs that didn’t make space for physical objects. While areas such as styling and creative direction had clear relationships with magazines and clothes, learning through objects still seemed disconnected from the communicative aspects of fashion I was accustomed to exploring.

I struggled specifically with the second analysis activity of the ‘La Pavillion d’Amide – Jacket’ from the UAL digital collection website. The task felt frustrating, I found it hard to make a meaningful translation of the object and at times I was disengaged in the short period we had to make descriptive notes.

Transitioning into breakout rooms and exchanging our individual analysis of the jacket allowed me to lean into the difference. Although we collectively recognised the limitations of the activity—such as the inability to perceive the garment’s scent, weight, texture, and temperature—there were additional benefits that may have been overlooked. Due to only having the visual, it changed the way we experienced the piece. This reflection recalled a previous project of mine, where I explored how digital alternatives have the potential to deprive our senses and hinder engagement.

During our group discussion, we explored the confidence we gained when interacting with familiar objects. For example, I brought a Tom and Jerry keyring to the first activity, and because I was already acquainted with it, I had a strong sense of its scale and associated narrative. We also discussed the potential for enhancing the experience by incorporating sensory elements into digital objects. Additionally, we highlighted the benefits of tools like caption descriptions and zoom features, which supported my observations, particularly when examining details such as garment tears and scratches.

By the end of the session, I was pleasantly surprised by the breadth of possibilities object-based learning could offer and realised how I can incorporate physical objects like garments, publications, accessories into my lessons but also alter the tasks and incorporate interactive tools like miro, mentimeter and padlet. By under taking object based learning deliberately, it helped me consider areas of my education experience and notice that i could see how object based learning has resonated with me – in GCSE textile classes.

In conclusion, object-based learning offers a difference, and sometimes it’s better to lean into that difference than to completely disregard it. While there are barriers when it comes to tasks like analysis, there are other tasks that you can use to accompany object-based learning that can help gain insights. In a world where we have access to just about any resource in some way shape or form, a wireless range of resources there’s no argument to limit the use of digital technology. It could only be a benefit to enhance other ways to learning.

Screenshot of our groups contribution to the padlet page and the ‘La Pavillion d’Amide – Jacket’:

References:

Padlet (2024) The analogue and the digital. Available at: https://artslondon.padlet.org/gorgill/the-analogue-and-the-digital-8e6gk91qo34pdpcq

UAL (no date) La Pavillion d’Amide – Jacket. Available at: https://digitalcollections.arts.ac.uk/object/?code=tms:BRS.G.05

Harvard alumni, actress and producer Yara Shahidi delivered a powerful presentation covering the impact of blending conflicting spaces of interest. 

With a challenging schedule fixed with a combination of social studies, African American studies and an entertainment career, Shahidi’s Ted Talk, ‘Let Curiosity Lead’ (TED, 2024), contributed to the idea that we should strive to integrate students’ interests and curiosities into education.

Integrating curiosity and interests into the curriculum is a powerful way to enhance the learning experience. Unfortunately, we are often told there is ‘no symbolic relationship between the two worlds’, Shahidi continues to explain that she was often searching for an ‘and but kept getting presented in an either-or’ (TED, 2024). Commonly students use universal examples like these to pause their curious trails of thought while studying undergraduate courses. Furthermore, students tend to struggle to retain attention and commitment towards their unit work because of predetermined project routes.

Similarly thinking back to when I was an undergraduate student, I frequently struggled to communicate with my tutors because of module boundaries and limiting feedback. It often led me to feel as though my interests outside of class were incompatible with education and had to continuously ask for permission to explore or prove its relevancy. This contributed to numerous hurdles in completing my degree.

Carole Morrison (Head of Social Purpose in the Curriculum) hosted a curriculum intervention workshop, which I attended in hopes of combining findings to understand student engagement and attrition. 

While interrogating the question, ‘What are your intellectual interests?’, I focused on a definition which involved having a developed and deepened knowledge of a specific topic unlike low-maintenance hobbies, which require a period of investment. However, fellow alumni shared how their interpretation of ‘intellectual interests’ alluded to the idea that there is a hierarchy which can in turn help facilitate the suppression of curiosity in the curriculum.

While at first, I didn’t see an issue with the phrase ‘intellectual interest’, upon reflection it made me think that there is a privileged experience in education where certain avenues of exploration are valued and accepted to conduct research and develop projects on and others experience more pushback.

Why should there be a hierarchy of our curiosity and interests?

Who decides that?

As a visiting practitioner teaching 16-18-year-olds who are transitioning into higher education, I encounter challenges in helping students integrate their personal identity with their educational pursuits. Many students tend to view education as a separate entity rather than an integral part of their personal growth and development. We can see how this can affect their journey in education while they struggle to prioritise a ‘side hustle’ or focus on a degree they are not connecting with. Additionally, students struggle to use their degrees and don’t know how to use their interests in the working world.

In conclusion, participating in this workshop has helped me to consider a perspective to view and apply in my own role.

The importance of creating informative and supportive environments to help students not only see the avenues they can take in higher education and after to pursue a career but literally see avenues within their modules and blend worlds together. We must prioritise student’s feedback.

There can be value in letting curiosity and interests lead.

Key words:

epistemology in education (the whys)

ontology (guiding)

Vimeo (2020), UAL Assessment Criteria. Available at: https://vimeo.com/366757019

Wikipedia (2024), Criticism of schooling. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_schooling

Padlet (2024), What are your intellectual interests? Available at: https://artslondon.padlet.org/cmorrison60/1x-what-are-your-intellectual-interests-xz9z3qooq1kie3xv

Wikipedia (2024), Curiosity killed the cat. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curiosity_killed_the_cat

Let Curiosity Lead | Yara Shahidi | TED (TED, 2024) Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xBpkc7-w3A&t=204s