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Inclusive Practices: An Intervention

Posted on 21st July 2024 by Robert Brown

Making Academic Support a Destination Worth Visiting: Pedagogical Strategies for Moving Past Obstructions

Introduction

The intervention will use my role as an Embedded Academic Support Tutor at Central Saint Martin’s to focus strategies on improving the experience and efficacy to which Contextual Admissions (CA) students are supported throughout their first year of University. In Spatial Practices, around half of the hundred or so first years are CA students, yet there is little in the way of extra support for them given demonstrable ongoing difficulties with study. These students are often from disadvantaged backgrounds. According to the Office for Fair Access:

‘while more disadvantaged young people are in higher education than ever before, the discrepancies between institutions and the numbers of those students leaving before completing their studies continues to grow.’

(Gilbert, 2019)

What is a Contextual Admissions Student?

There are four ways a student can be eligible for CA status when applying for a place at Central Saint Martins:

‘You have spent time in care.’
‘You have come through UAL’s Outreach insights programme.’ (This is a course run by CSM which involves new project work, portfolio construction and a guaranteed interview).
‘You come from an area in England in deciles 1-4 of the Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD), which measures deprivation in England.’
‘You’re from an area in the UK with low rate of participation in higher education.’

(UAL, 2024)

Until this academic year (2023), once a place is gained, the title is attached to the student throughout their time as an undergraduate but remains confidential, appearing on a master register only. It has no bearing on assessment and the students do not receive any extra support.

Recently however, faculty members involved in teaching widening participation students feel strongly that they should not have this label attached to them throughout their learning. This could be interpreted as well-meaning, but does not negate the fact that there is an annual recruitment drive targeted at admitting students who are proven to struggle [Appendix 1] and yet current support does not reflect the complexities and nuances of their needs. Access is easier, progression may not be.

Positionality Statement

I have three roles at central Saint Martins which coalesce to provide a good understanding of the challenges students face educationally and experientially throughout their undergraduate studies. As a design tutor, I have sound knowledge of course content, assessment and the process of facilitating design projects. My other role as embedded academic support tutor allows for deeper insights into areas of particular difficulty related to learning, many of which are shared, but also wider pastoral issues which affect students. My third role, working as part of the admissions team, selects and interviews prospective students, where careful consideration is given to CA applicants. As a team we are guided to ask ourselves ‘why shouldn’t this student be given a place?’, in contrast to non-CA students: ‘why should this student be given a place?’. This is significant, apart from the special dispensation, because I am able to gain a brief understanding of where they are starting from personally and professionally in higher education.

CA students are diverse, representing different genders, sexualities, race, abilities and disabilities. As a white, cis, heterosexual man approaching middle age, there are clear limitations to my understanding of experiences across such a large section of people.

I can relate to certain challenges faced by CA students having been only the second member of my family to attend University. I was educated at a local comprehensive school and had to rely heavily on the student loan system. I am from a multicultural part of South London and have been used to exchanging experiences and information with diverse groups of people.

I am aware however that I score highly on measurements of privilege (Bryan, 2022) and would have less in common and less insight into the experiences of students from areas considered to be ‘low’ on the index of multiple deprivation.

Student fees are considerably more than when I was studying which is compounded by a cost-of-living crisis. The impact made by media, various social and political landscapes as shaped by global and local events will contribute to unique world views held by new students each year.

Approaching Inclusivity

The bulk of this report names and investigates Contextual Admissions students as main protagonists. It is problematic however to publicly spotlight these individuals for a number of reasons. Firstly, the label is imposed on them by the college and may signify something about the individual’s identity they are not willing to disclose. This can lead to what Cate Thomas calls ‘Identity threat’, (Thomas, 2022) where:

‘participants may be placed in the situation to reveal hidden parts of their identity which leads to vulnerability and unpredicted exposure in the workplace.’

(Thomas, 2022)

Secondly, we must be careful not to position CA students in opposition to others thus creating the kind of hypervisibility that leads to stigma or concealment by the student of any known or hidden disability which may otherwise have been addressed. (Thomas, 2022)

It is well known in inclusivity discourses that what benefits the minority, benefits the group as a whole (Parapride, 2023). This does not mean the two should be treated separately but considered parts of the whole with different needs. The strategy therefore is not for the intervention to target a specific group but an event available to all, which hopefully marks the first step in fostering an inclusive community.

Barriers to Academic Support Online (ASO)

There are some barriers to students which hinder the efficacy of the current ASO provision:

Support is a ‘dirty’ word

I’ve heard informally from students that academic support signifies lack or that the need for it can feel disempowering. There may also be some transference from CA students not wishing to be seen as different.

How useful can it be?

Students are often surprised at how useful tutorials are and do not necessarily make the connection that I facilitate and implement the delivery of design briefs as a studio tutor as well as providing targeted support for the same briefs as a support tutor. One testimonial from last year reads:

‘I was supported during my diagnosis of dyslexia and was given many options to book an academic support session with Robert and the team.

I would often arrive to sessions with no idea of what and where to go with my assignments. I was guided through writing techniques, grammar issues and general topic improvement. I wouldn’t have been able to achieve a 2.1 grade without their support and a 1st in my 6,000-word dissertation.

Thank you!!’

(Ogunbowale, 2023)

There still remains a disjunction it seems between the messaging of the efficacy of ASO which is delivered verbally during introductory lectures and the positive experience of having a tutorial.

Online vs In Person

There are some drawbacks to the system operating online. Students frequently either cancel appointments at the last minute or fail to turn up. This might be less prevalent given the social implications of having to attend an in-person meeting. Online appointments can sometimes feel like they are disposable or a less important commitment.

The Intervention

The intervention is to be a live, in person pop up event with an experiential object-based learning activity at its heart, since:

‘Students who are actively involved with peers, faculty and staff – especially in learning activities – are more likely to learn, persist, and graduate.’

(Veronica Bamber, 2015)

Although a one-off event to be held near the start of the academic year, it is hoped to contribute to a collaborative studio spirit, develop mutual respect and establish a commitment to effective but also joyful working relationships, as:

‘The quality of student interaction with staff is key, rather than frequency of interaction’

(Veronica Bamber, 2015)

Held in the street at CSM, the space will be demarcated as a green and comfortable zone, using plants and informal seating such as bean bags. I am told from ASO faculty members there is a potential budget for this.

The main activity seeks to tackle a recurring problem faced by all creative practitioners at one time or another; how to produce when production has stopped or in other words, what to do when nothing is being done. The strategy is to move away from the limitations of the thinking mind and embrace more intuitive and automatic modes of production in order to move passed creative blockages:

‘The big moment came when it was decided to paint……….just TO PAINT. The gesture on canvas was a gesture of liberation, for Value- political, aesthetic, moral.’

(Charles Harrison, 1992)

The pedagogical approach has been chosen for:

‘the potential of object-based learning to address troublesome knowledge, make abstract concepts more concrete for learners……… recognizing the importance of non-verbal or embodied knowledge’

(Judy Willcocks, 2023)

The notion of embodiment is important, since the power of the activity at the beginning, hinges on the acquisition of knowledge through sensorial and haptic means. To aid concentration on this task, the purpose of the activity will not be revealed until afterwards, hopefully serving as a retrospective ‘light bulb’ moment. This might be a new experience for students, the exercise demonstrating the potential for alternative ways of thinking/working.

The Process

Make

1/ Lo tech, lo-fi and inexpensive materials such as wire or card will be used by each student to make a timed sculpture that uses tactics which distances them from too much conscious thought whilst making.

Play

2/ The individual sculptures are paired at random and adapted by both students to make a super-sculpture.

Analyse

3/ With the aid of word prompts, students assign potential meanings/uses to sculptures and reflect on how this juxtaposition brings about the potential for unique and unexpected objects.

Step one is designed to encourage free and exploratory production whilst steps two and three centre on the importance of collaboration and play in making sense of objects. It’s important to recognise:

‘how understanding itself only takes place in dynamic, interactive, interpretive process of working through meaning with others. A shared understanding is in this way an interpretive event that takes place in a play of presenting and recognising meaning’.

(Vilhauer, 2010)

The intervention suggests a radical approach to design where objects are post rationalised and the design process reverse engineered; we are taught as architects after all, that form follows function, not the other way round. This isn’t quite true however as designers often oscillate between recognised constraints and open-ended play in the pursuit of a breakthrough moment. It is this cycle which produces high standards of iterative work. This way of working also raises a larger philosophical question; ‘to what extent must objects be intentional?’ John Cage, in his use of chance operations continually attempted to distance himself from allowing unfavourable elements of self to infiltrate his work, instead being:

‘committed to eliminating personal expression in favour of revealing a more general truth’

(Piekut, 2013)

That the object made is neither good or bad, right or wrong, makes it transcendent and a thing more pure. I feel there is room for this kind of thinking especially in the often highly constrained profession of architecture.

I hope to implement and test this intervention at the beginning of the coming academic year.

On CA Students

I felt an unexpected connection to repeating students when examining their modules on UAL’s Online Assessment tool (OAT). Following their results through successive years and seeing the blockages preventing them from progressing, struck a chord with me. It means that while retention in the end might look favourable in a pie chart, the route to completion for some can be hard and enduring. It is unknown what the emotional toll of a three-year degree prolonged to four or five, has on an individual, how this eventually translates into the workplace and life beyond. I suggest minimising the difficulties faced by some CA students via quiet envelopment into the student body is detrimental and we need to have an open dialogue around this, as well as foster increasingly inclusive environments to help this group progress in as few steps as possible.

Word Count: 1,568

(without titles, quotes and appendix 1)

References

Bryan, J., 2022. Warwick University. [Online]Available at: https://warwick.ac.uk/services/dean-of-students-office/community-values-education/educationresources/privilegewalk[Accessed 30th June 2024].
Charles Harrison, P. W., 1992. Art in Theory 1900-1990, An Anthology of Changing Ideas. 1st ed. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Blackwell.
Gilbert, J. H., 2019. Precariat insurgency: A means to improve structures of inclusivity in higher education , London: Institute of education press .
Judy Willcocks, K. M., 2023. The Potential of Online Object Based Learning Activities to Support The Teaching of Intersectional Environmentalism in Art and Design Higher Education. Art, Design and Communication in Higher Education , 22(1), pp. 189.
Ogunbowale, I., 2023. Experiences of Academic Support Online [Interview] (3rd September 2023).
Parapride, 2023. Intersectionality in Focus: Empowering Voices during UK Disability History Month 2023. [Online]Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yID8_s5tjc&t=1s[Accessed 10th July 2024].
Piekut, B., 2013. Chance and Certainty: John Cage’s Politics of Nature. Cultural Critique, Issue 84, pp.134-163.
Thomas, C., 2022. Overcoming Identity Threat: Using Persona Pedagogy in Intersectionality and Inclusion Training. Social Sciences , 11(249), pp. 1-5.
UAL, 2024. Active Dashboards. [Online] Available at: https://dashboards.arts.ac.uk/dashboard/ActiveDashboards/DashboardPage.aspx?dashboardid=8600e447-d02a-4e7c-bccf-1301aec3a0b6&dashcontextid=638569175415455788 [Accessed July 15th 2024].
UAL, 2024. Contextual Admissions. [Online] Available at: https://www.arts.ac.uk/study-at-ual/contextual-admissions[Accessed 10th July 2024].
Veronica Bamber, A. J., 2015. Challenging Students: Enabling Inclusive Learning. 4th ed. London : Routledge .
Vilhauer, M., 2010. Gadamer’s Ethics of Play: Hermenutics and the Other. s.l.:Lexington Books .

—————————————————————————————————————

[Appendix 1]

Data

Examining ‘Active Dashboards’, the UAL data platform, a difference can be seen between retention rates of all students and those on the IMD scale. The IMD scale does not include all CA students but is still a useful indicator of performance. ‘All Students’ have a 6.1% greater retention rate than ‘Home IMD Q1-2’ students and a 3.1% greater retention rate than ‘Home IMD Q3-5’ students.

Retention percentage of All Students

Retention percentage of Home IMD1-2

Retention percentage of Home IMD3-5

(UAL, 2024)

Whilst these figures are limited, they suggests that higher deprivation leads to less retention, a finding which is perhaps not unexpected. Whilst this difference, could represent approximately 8 students over an average 100-person academic year in Spatial Practices (we generally hover around this number) this is not a figure which would necessarily alarm the department. On the surface then, retention rates seem to be reasonable at CSM and oppose the statement from the Office of Fair Access, relating to significant numbers of disadvantaged people leaving study before completion. However, some initial investigations I have carried out which follow the progress of one spatial design cohort from first year to completion, reveal some interesting questions.

Of the 31 students beginning study in sept 2021 and listed as CA:

1 student withdrew or left after passing the first year

4 students withdrew or left after failing the first year

12 students failed and repeated first year

14 students progressed through to completion (sept 2024)

Of the 12 who repeated, 5 failed again in second year and 1 failed in third year, either to repeat, resubmit or decide to withdraw. These numbers would need comparison with other years and non-CA students to be credible, but what I suggest anecdotally from this study is that the number of repeating CA students is not only high, but that they bounce around the system, having difficult and protracted experiences throughout their undergraduate course.

I would like to pursue this enquiry by conducting further research in the hope of producing clearer and more credible findings.

—————————————————————————————————————

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Inclusive Practices- Blog Post Three

Posted on 19th June 2024 by Robert Brown

I thought many of the resources could be effective agents of change in different ways. The one that stood out initially for improvement would be the schemes initiated by Advance HE. I think the aims are worthy, but their vague instructions as to how Universities achieve ‘big structural top down changes’ (Telegraph, 2022) may only serve as a small incentive. Add to that, current modes of training which ‘can be potentially damaging’ (Telegraph, 2022) due to their outdated ideas, and the schemes are in danger of appearing as window dressing, rather than structures for tackling real change. That is not to say that schemes incentivising Universities are not a good idea or that the distance achieved from government with quasi-autonomous organisations isn’t useful to more proactive teams, but the quality of the award is critical, the way that it engages and may influence, as well as the level of commitment by the University. Clearly, Cambridge is not engaged in Critical Race Theory and Policy (CRT) when they thrust up a non white alumnus to espouse a questionable internal survey which declares that ‘evidence does not exist that the University of Cambridge is institutionally racist’ (Telegraph, 2022), which we know, by its very existence, to be incorrect (Bradbury, 2020).

They should read Alice Bradbury’s paper which suggests a CRT framework for policy analysis, systematically building and then synthesising relevant CRT discourses to design a framework which unflinchingly begins with the big questions we must understand in order to make policy fairer. The power of the framework is in its directness, using CRT to interrogate the very foundations of the system (Bradbury, 2020). Good policy is crucial (imagine if there was no such thing as minimum wage etc) intermittently critiquing policy is more so as its limitations are a result of the time in which it was conceived; all things must evolve. Academics like Bradbury require the collective weight of others with good research such as this, in order to influence increasingly conservative governments.

Sadiq’s lecture is similarly structured, if hyper condensed and simplified for non academic audiences. He too identifies and contextualises problems before attempting to offer some practical solutions. Sadiq as a prominent non white authority occupies a position he longed to see growing up, the contemporary re-writing of visibility being one of the lasting messages of the talk. He is the gentle educator, never accusatory but through some revelatory phrases is willing to teach ‘I have never been offended by a question, but have been [offended] when someone has assumed what my needs are’ (Sadiq, 2023). The resource is accessible, easy to digest both in language and choice of media, appearing a useful tool of wide ranging appeal.

Where Bradbury and Sadiq are polite, Garret allows anger to leak out of the research in the form of students testimony’s; ‘you motherfuckers conquered half the world how?’ (Garrett, 2024). This raises interesting questions as to how messages resonate with different audiences. Initially I think my positionality as a white male became default defensive at certain remarks in the text until those reactionary feelings had time to dissipate. Why shouldn’t anger be expressed? It is after all a powerful agent of change.

I think the most emotive resource was the privilege walk carried out by school children. I’m glad this is not practiced anymore given the clearly damaging effects on its participants and hope that they had the benefit of some skilled practitioners to help them debrief. It is unequivocally useful though, in its transmission of raw emotion and next empathy, when some newly crushing information can be seen immediately to bear down on a child’s small shoulders. Stories like this are a call to arms, the engine of which is fired by anger and sadness to make things right.

References

4, C., 2020. The School That Tried to End Racism. [Online]Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1I3wJ7pJUjg [Accessed Wednesday June 2024].
Bradbury, A., 2020. A critical race theory framework for education policy analysis: The case of bilingual learners and assessment policy in England. Race Ethnicity and Education, 23(2), pp. 241-247.
Garrett, R., 2024. Racism shapes careers: career trajectories and imagined futures of racialised minority PhDs in UK higher education. Globalisation, Societies and Education. Globalisation, Societies and Education, pp. 1-15.
Sadiq, A., 2023. Diversity, Equity & Inclusion. Learning how to get it right. TEDx. [Online]Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HR4wz1b54hw [Accessed Wednesday June 2024].
Telegraph, T., 2022. Revealed: The charity turning UK universities woke.. [Online]Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRM6vOPTjuU [Accessed Wednesday June 2024].

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Inclusive Practices- Intervention ideas

Posted on 1st June 2024 by Robert Brown

The intervention will use my role at Central Saint Martin’s as an embedded academic support online (ASO) tutor to focus strategies on improving the experience and efficacy to which contextual admissions are supported through their first year of University. In Spatial Practices, around half of the hundred or so first years are CA students, yet there is little in the way of extra support for them given demonstrable ongoing difficulties with study. They are often from lower economic, disadvantaged areas and have less support at home. According to the Office for Fair Access, ‘while more disadvantaged young people are in higher education than ever before, the discrepancies between institutions and the numbers of those students leaving before completing their studies continues to grow. (Gilbert, 2019)

ASO could be a much more efficient vehicle for supporting CA students in first year but the larger problem is that uptake for tutorials is low especially for the first two terms. Some larger, global interventions I’ve been thinking about have been inspired by the strategies Judy Willcocks has implemented (Willcox, 2018) to increase participation within the museum and study collection at CSM to make ASO a place students wish to engage. Her strategies include:

Moving buildings to a more prominent place. My tutorials are online at the moment but I could make a case for creating a destination at CSM, this is entirely possible.
Pedagogy and learning theories. Continue to develop my learning focussed on themes of enhancing CA student success.
Delivery of new content. I could partition my hours to deliver more diverse content beyond one to one tutorials. This could include year wide lectures as well as smaller workshops and group work.
Data gathering. Understand specific challenges students are facing, with a special focus on CA students so as to tailor future content for maximum efficacy. (Willcocks, 2018)

Some evidence would benefit initial enquires where I could map retention rates against CA students and also begin to understand their perspectives and experiences beyond the global student survey and informal conversations. These are as yet unexplored.

The above is the beginning of a general longer term series of interventions which could enhance the experience of CA students. I think the immediate problem is increasing visibility and the ease with which students sign up to ASO. The existing process is to follow a link in a weekly email but ASO lacks presence within the department. For the intervention I propose designing a poster with a QR code that takes you directly to sign up. Another problem is students not honouring their appointments, I think because of organisational issues. I’d like to see whether there could be an automatic link created in their diaries once sign up has occurred to remind them of the appointments (although this might be overkill). In addition, I’d like to make a short video that explains how ASO works and how to get the best out of tutorials.

I’m not sure whether this is ambitious enough for the intervention(s), which is why I’ve included some larger global strategies to see if there might be something in them to utilise. I don’t know how to provide targeted support to CA students without singling them out as different and so have taken a holistic approach with ASO visibility and efficacy in the hope that this becomes an attractive initiative to students. Any thoughts would be most welcome.

References / Bibliography

Arao, B. a. C. K., 2013. From safe spaces to brave spaces; a new way to frame dialogue around diversity an social justice. Sterling: Stylus.
Addison, N., 2014. Volume 3 ed. Doubting learning outcomes in higher education context: from performativity towards emergence and negotiation: International journal of art and design education.
Friere, P., 2005. Pedagogy of the opressed. New York City: The continuum international publishing group plc.
Gilbert, J. H., 2019. Precariat insurgency: A means to improve structures of inclusivity in higher education , London: Institute of education press .
Shreeve, O. &., 2017. Art and design pedagogy in higher education: knowledge, values and ambiguity in the creative curriculum. Milton: Taylor & Francis.
Willcocks, J., 2018. Museum & study collection: Judy Willcocks Copenhagen Presenatation [online presentation] (27 June 2018).

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Inclusive Practices- Blog Post Two

Posted on 12th May 2024 by Robert Brown

Faith

Faith has raised some interesting intersections with education within a teaching position I hold at a private college in Aldgate, where I teach a group made of up of mainly female Muslim students. The collective represents a wide spectrum of interpretations of Islam from different countries including; Morocco, Jordan, Iran, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Some are more conservative, choosing to wear a hijab, whilst others are less so, wearing make up and having boyfriends.

A conversation during Ramadan was a particularly interesting moment with which to focus discussions on intersectionality as good dialogue allowed a deeper understanding of experience. Prior to student disclosure, the room felt nervous, which may have been related to what Rekis says of ‘anticipation and fear of negative prejudices, rather than existing or felt prejudices from a specific audience or unwilling hearer’ (Reki, 2023). Students were conscious that their religious life conflicted with weekly work outputs and continued attempts at hiding fatigue during the day because of special sleeping and eating patterns. Last year, I was frustrated with the interruptions Ramadan caused, until I realised how important the process is to my students. As Appiah reveals in his Ted talk, for many, religion has not been separated from everyday life (Appiah, 2014), which is something I have slowly and with growing empathy made room for, even as the unwitting proponent as ‘secular’ oppressor (Reki, 2023). I think adjustments have to be made rather than pushing back as a reflex in the interests of performance. These can be visible and tangible, written into the fabric of things like the strategies suggested by Jawad which seek to overcome specific conflicts between religion and sport (Jawad, 2022). Another could be more of a negotiation, which I tend to prefer in the classroom given how diverse the student group. Here we attempt to embed best working practices around the rhythms of Ramadan, i.e. sleeping before breaking fast instead of staying up all night before college. A safe space was created in this conversation when I, from a place of ignorance, tried to sympathise with the perceived ‘challenge’ of the fast. This was enough to encourage sharing from the group which spoke to some extent of the ‘spiritual rewards’ Mirza talks of in ‘Black Bodies Out of Place…’ (Mirza, 2018). Students said that the process inspired joy in the collective and connective elements of the ritual and that it was an energising process, which echoes sentiments from other women who express their faith as a ‘transcendental space from which they derive inner strength’ (Mirza, 2018). This is a similar message I received from my students.

In many cases the most useful skill to practice is empathy, something which can be cultivated in different ways. In this case, my students were as careful with me as I with them, which fostered a sense of safety and led to gains in knowledge being exchanged. I do not understand Ramadan and consequently Islam in the way that I used to and that is entirely because of a ten minute conversation I had with my students.

References

Appiah, A. K., 2014. Is religion good or bad? (This is a trick question). [Online]Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2et2KO8gcY[Accessed 12th May 2024].
Jawad, H., 2022. Religion global society. [Online]Available at: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/religionglobalsociety/2022/09/islam-women-and-sport-the-case-of-visible-muslim-women/[Accessed 12th May 2024].
Mirza, S. H., 2018. Black Bodies ‘Out of Place’ in Academic Spaces: Gender, Race, Faith and Culture in Post-race Times. Dismantling Race in Higher Education ed. s.l.:Palgrave Macmillan.
Reki, J., 2023. Religious Identity and Epistemic Injustice: An Intersectional Account. Hypatia 38, pp. 781-782.

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Inclusive Practices- Blog Post One

Posted on 24th April 2024 by Robert Brown

Towards a Better Ecosystem

The Paralympics demonstrates what happens when equity is embedded in systems and infrastructure, namely that ‘people are given the opportunity to shine’ (Adepitan, 2020). In other words, it is the result of how supportive we find (or build) our ecosystems which determines how much we thrive. This in of itself is a great lesson, but one that may not be felt by wider society due to the divide between awareness (sympathy) and understanding (empathy). Christine Sun Kim, makes this concept beautifully accessible to all when discussing her intersectionality as a deaf artist. Separating herself into parts, she talks of Berlin’s progressive approaches to childcare, living costs and available studio space as instrumental in allowing her practice to continue (Friends and Strangers, Art in the Twenty First Century, 2023). Just as artists require the right conditions to thrive, so to do all divergent peoples and abilities.

Visibility & Scale

Reframing equality as an ecosystem problem rather than a people problem is useful in the face of quieter, more pervasive systemic blockages.

Ade asks, ‘do we really want to tackle inequality?’ (Adepitan, 2020)

Macro events mentioned in the interview, like George Floyd and Black Lives Matter are considerable forces of change, if incredibly sad catalysts, whilst Christine and her large-scale artworks offer something else. Taking over parts of the city with her text pieces, their physical presence dominates space, appearing truly visible. The work acts as a bridge to her experience, where on the one hand it is brave and deeply exposing and on the other, used as a tool to create distance where it can speak in place of her. It is also a re-presentation of her experience rather than the experience itself and so this act of self-authorship, with applied distance, seems a useful strategy to help change the perceptions of the majority. Visibility and empathy need to be big, but packaged and delivered in creative and relatable ways.

Considerations for my Teaching

As a practitioner, I have a distinct lack of knowledge when it comes to diverse learning needs. There are Individual Support Agreements (ISA’s) in place for some of my students, but these relate to basic instructions such as speaking more slowly. Very few students choose to disclose their disability on tutorial days and so I feel removed from the situation. The process is not dialogical at the moment, nor is there any training/event/artwork/celebration which engenders feelings of understanding and inclusivity rather than awareness alone.

Examining the data, attainment students with a disability have outperformed those without for the last four years and yet the completion rate for undergraduate degrees is disappointing, at between five and ten percent lower than those without a disability (UAL, 2024). This could mean that whilst stronger students have thrived, those with a 2:2 and below have struggled with the ongoing demands of the course. It is difficult to ascertain why this is exactly and would need further ongoing research.

References

Adepitan, A., 2020. Ade Adepitan gives amazing explanation of systemic racism [Interview] (16 October 2020).
Friends and Strangers, Art in the Twenty First Century. 2023. [Film] Directed by Susan Dowling and Susan Sollins. USA: Art21.
UAL, 2024. Active Dashboards. [Online]
Available at: dashboards.arts.ac.uk. [Accessed 24th April 2024].

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Record of Observation Three: Observing a peer

Posted on 20th March 2024 by Robert Brown

Session/artefact to be observed/reviewed: Technical workshop, trouser making

Size of student group: 15 students

Observer: Robert Brown

Observee: Navin Patel

Note: This record is solely for exchanging developmental feedback between colleagues. Its reflective aspect informs PgCert and Fellowship assessment, but it is not an official evaluation of teaching and is not intended for other internal or legal applications such as probation or disciplinary action.

Part One

Observee to complete in brief and send to observer prior to the observation or review:

What is the context of this session/artefact within the curriculum?

A technical workshop

How long have you been working with this group and in what capacity?

Six months, as a specialist garment technician

What are the intended or expected learning outcomes?

How to construct a pair of trousers with waistband finishes

What are the anticipated outputs (anything students will make/do)?

Pair of trousers

Are there potential difficulties or specific areas of concern?

Yes, this is a new workshop which I have never delivered before.

How will students be informed of the observation/review?

I have told them in advance but will remind them on the day,

What would you particularly like feedback on?

If you feel I need to add more information to give to students

How will feedback be exchanged?

Through this form or any extra information that can support

feedback

Part Two

Observer to note down observations, suggestions and questions:

Session set up and classroom geography

The session, demonstrating how to make a tailored waistband for a pair of trousers, involved a lot of movement, each step requiring the class to cluster around different stations located in the studio. This ensured the learning environment was varied, but also through its physicality, a certain freshness was created like mini breaks between more intense periods of focus. These informal/self regulated clusters changed each time, allowing the students to choose proximity and viewing positions which gave them control over their level of engagement, the different ways individuals chose to record the session and also helped to break down any positional hierarchies, allowing no single student to dominate the space.

Teaching and making

You calmy rallied attention when necessary and delivered relevant messaging and information in a clear and audible voice. You initially collected everyone together by talking about the general aims of the session whilst taking the time to connect with people by making eye contact with most members of the group. Understanding of theories and procedures was checked throughout by regularly asking if there were any questions. You sign posted particularly difficult moments in the make with verbal announcements which drew the attention of the group. Repeatedly reinforcing the connection between the skills being learned in the session and common practices in the fashion industry gave weight to each exercise, students seemed keen to acquire this knowledge, often coming back with questions of their own in an attempt to deepen their knowledge. These punctuated a relaxed session, where they were comfortable using their voice and contributing to discussions. A lovely moment occurred when you referenced one students work and suggested how this kind of tailored waistband could be cross pollinated with her outer workwear look, thus playing conceptual games. She hadn’t made this leap herself and you could see the ‘light bulb’ moment of realisation, it established the session as being applicable to wider design thinking. There was a lovely cyclical rhythm to demonstrations where each process was carried out slowly and precisely but moments of verbal narration were chosen carefully so as not to interfere with the often complex physical make. Silence was a powerful tool in this cycle and you were comfortable holding it so that time and space could be made for looking, recording and thinking. Valuable tacit and haptic knowledge was transferred especially when students were invited to handle and touch the objects. They interrogated assemblages with curiosity, analysing through feel and able to clarify specific details.

It was a clear and cohesive workshop and students listened carefully to your tuition. I wonder if there is space for some increased participation from them, given the level of comfort they showed in discussion. You could ask them how they would approach a task or why they think a particular process is important. Is there a moment of group work or reflection where they generate questions or problem solve together without you leading?

It was a thoroughly enjoyable session and a pleasure to observe. Best of luck going forward Navin.

Part Three

Observee to reflect on the observer’s comments and describe how they will act on the feedback exchanged:

A concise and helpful observation from Robert in which he provided a clear overview of the class, detailed processes, and some specific feedback which I’ve already taken onboard ready for my next session.

It’s particularly useful to me as I am familiar with interacting with people whose second language is English, so encouraging them to participate further in discussions, when for some it is culturally polite not to do so. I could do that peer-to -peer by asking an individual student to talk through their personal project with one other student whilst others observe and note. Some students find a group discussion a little worrying and this method might also help prepare them for industry.

I’ve always worked instinctively and so to have this objective feedback, presented kindly, is very welcome in helping me identify further improvements in my methods and of course for the PG Cert.

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Record of Observation Two: Being observed by a peer

Posted on 20th March 2024 by Robert Brown

Session/artefact to be observed/reviewed: Design studio tutorial day

Size of student group: 13 students

Observer: Navinbhai Patel

Observee: Robert Brown

Note: This record is solely for exchanging developmental feedback between colleagues. Its reflective aspect informs PgCert and Fellowship assessment, but it is not an official evaluation of teaching and is not intended for other internal or legal applications such as probation or disciplinary action.

Part One

Observee to complete in brief and send to observer prior to the observation or review:

What is the context of this session/artefact within the curriculum?

This is my weekly design studio day with first year students as part of the bachelor of arts undergraduate spatial practices degree. I shall be conducting one to one tutorials relating to the early stages of their final building project, helping to facilitate design conversations around conceptual and initial design phase.

How long have you been working with this group and in what capacity?

Since January 2024 as design studio tutor.

What are the intended or expected learning outcomes

This phase of the project deals with two learning outcomes:

LO1 – Demonstrate an awareness of the way in which contextual, technical, environmental research and analysis support the development of spatial design proposals. (AC Enquiry)

LO2- Apply iterative drawing, model-making or other forms of three-dimensional representation as methods of experimentation and creative risk-taking, in support of design proposals. (AC Process)

What are the anticipated outputs (anything students will make/do)?

Continue to develop conceptual models of early design iterations, programmatic research into the function and use of their building.

Are there potential difficulties or specific areas of concern?

There are differing rates of progress, especially at this early stage in creating propositions.

Will there be an been idea put forward as a model to use as catalyst for design conversations or will the student have to continue during the day session itself?

How will students be informed of the observation/review?

Written and verbal confirmation before and during the day

What would you particularly like feedback on?

How effective is communication between myself and the student?

Are outputs clearly defined?

How will feedback be exchanged?

Part Two

Observer to note down observations, suggestions and questions:

Observing a one-to-one tutorial between teacher and student.

When I arrived, Robert had settled the class down in readiness. The studio was open plan layout. That meant students were working on the central table, and you had a table in front of them to allow your tutorial time with the students. You had introduced me to the students, so they realise I was not there to observe them, but to observe you, as this allows the students and the atmosphere to be more relaxing.

Student 1

The first student was at the table where you were giving your tutorials, he was explaining his model for a clay kiln and describing the usability to you and why he chose this method. You listened carefully and engaged with him talking about the environment that it was, and that introducing clay work was appropriate as the project was based on the old site where clay was used. This was a very good observation of teaching practise which allows the student to engage with their teacher. In this session you reminded him how he could make this more personal to him by making his own tiles for the tutorial session coming up. You asked him about what scale the drawing plans were to, he gave his answer and instead of you saying that drawings were wrong, you just quietly reminded him that is not what was required and that he did not have to redraw them but can use a photocopy machine to re scale. This was a good way a finding a quick solution and giving feedback for students, he was relieved that he did not have to redo his work but going forward he need to remember what is required.

Student 2

She had bought two models of her working process, one very abstract but having beautiful a ribbon through it indicating the movement of layers, the second much more formal. You asked her to go through the process of how she got from one model to the second, you could see that she slightly diverted away from her original idea so in your feedback you demonstrated the areas that she could be missing out on through the movement of the ribbon at the different levels that created by the poles. Using a method of drawing was a way or giving feedback to her as your tutorial time was limited so this is a good way of

communicating in a short amount of time for teachers to give feedback and student to move forward with their projects and not wait for written feedback.

In this session another student came up to your table asking to leave the classroom wanting to go to the library you asked her why? Her answer was that she needed more information and you quickly responded to her and said why don’t you used materials that were provided so she wasn’t losing valuable time in the classroom. This was a good observation on a student who has not prepared themselves for the class. As a teacher, you had picked up on this very well, allowing the student to focus and get maximum use off the session.

Student 3

Was about drums, she had bought various models of drums that she had made. You both were really engaged with each other here and the teaching practise between teacher and student had a great energy. She was feeling really relaxed and able to play her musical notes. You really encouraged her to use this method and to showcase it in her tutorial next week as a must, this gave her great confidence in her project. You had notes that she had spent a lot of time on making her drums and slightly diverted away from making her model. By going back to the method of drawing that you used throughout your tutorials, you are able to give her feedback and thought processes by talking about the drums. eg the tension created by the way she strung the drum, the knot tying methods and the circular shape. Did she think the circular shape would work in the space or did she need to think of other shapes but still use the method of the drums.

Feedback

Observing, the students seemed to be very relaxed with your teaching methods allowing them to interact and ask you questions throughout the day. Drawing and communicating to the students was a great method in giving feedback to them and you could see the students were comfortable with this method. When students were having their one-to-one tutorial, you allowed them to take their time, ask questions and gave them enough information for their tutorials next week which was a very good way of you re-moving the hierarchy between student and teacher, whilst keeping a good flow of conversation.

I understand that this was just the start of their projects and development, but you may wish to question as to how this would be applied in industry. How would the sustainable issues be addressed? How does it have an impact on the community around? This might help students to engage using their thought process later in the projects and what industry might require from them when pitching opportunities as well as to understand how it would be funded.

Part Three

Observee to reflect on the observer’s comments and describe how they will act on the feedback exchanged:

I’m glad that observations spoke of an effective working relationship between student and tutor, specifically when attempting to create a relaxed and collaborative atmosphere. It’s heartening to know that I am ‘listening’ to their fears and ideas, when sometimes it feels like a pressurised rush to define actionable deliverables in the twenty minutes we have together. Often I can see possible routes projects can take early in the tutorial and have to catch myself before taking too much control over conversations. This is something I am continually working on by trying to cultivate curiosity in all the ideas put forward by students, investigating and clarifying them before collaboratively choosing which strands to pursue.

Thank you for your suggestions about relating project work to industry and wider contexts beyond the University. This is something that does happen at natural points in the project but a commitment to reinforcing this connection regularly would be worthwhile. I could conduct a short group discussion at the beginning of the day, teasing out the ways in which their work reflects that in practice. More useful perhaps would be for students to create a manifesto for the overall vision of their architecture, detailing its theoretical impact on users and the wider community. This would create a working document to refer back to and bring about a sense of ownership over projects:

‘if you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.’ (Exupery, 1972)

References

Exupery, A. d. S.-., 1972. Citadelle. Berlin : Folio .

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Record of Observation One: Tutor observation

Posted on 20th March 2024 by Robert Brown

Session/artefact to be observed/reviewed: Student Presentations (Crits)

Size of student group: 11 students

Observer: Tim Stephens

Observee: Rob Brown

Note: This record is solely for exchanging developmental feedback between colleagues. Its reflective aspect informs PgCert and Fellowship assessment, but it is not an official evaluation of teaching and is not intended for other internal or legal applications such as probation or disciplinary action.

Part One

Observee to complete in brief and send to observer prior to the observation or review:

What is the context of this session/artefact within the curriculum?

This is my weekly design studio day with first year students as part of the bachelor of arts undergraduate spatial practices degree. An informal pin up review of the major design project.

How long have you been working with this group and in what capacity?

Since January 2024 as design studio tutor.

What are the intended or expected learning outcomes?

LO1 – Demonstrate an awareness of the way in which contextual, technical, environmental research and analysis support the development of spatial design proposals. (AC Enquiry)

LO2- Apply iterative drawing, model-making or other forms of three-dimensional representation as methods of experimentation and creative risk-taking, in support of design proposals. (AC Process)

What are the anticipated outputs (anything students will make/do)

1:50 plans and section of a proposed building design. At least one three dimensional model of the proposal

Are there potential difficulties or specific areas of concern?

There are differing rates of progress, especially at this early stage in creating propositions.

Will there be an been idea put forward as a model to use as catalyst for design conversations or will the student have to continue during the day session itself?

How will students be informed of the observation/review?

Written and verbal confirmation before and during the day

What would you particularly like feedback on?

How effective is communication between myself and the student?

Are outputs clearly defined?

How will feedback be exchanged?

Part Two

Observer to note down observations, suggestions and questions:

Arr. 11.00

Presentation 1

Tutee speaking through presentation.

Yes, thoughts from the floor…

St.1 explaining

Yes, anything else in terms of development, anything that can be developed here…

St 2 explains walls

I was thinking that…how amazing is this as an object; tactile qualities….wondering how to preserve…

[Discussion between students]

You’ve done it; courtyard..x..x..boom.

Wondering how to combine….

On a practical level, as we walk our person through..

You know, Dalston, women making flatbreads…performative

You’ve got that option here, with these wonderful windows…

[You move a pin onto the plan, and stand at front…

St. explains and feeds back…

Would it be possible to think of a different way, you sort of test…

In the courtyard..could it be more generous….at the moment, if you stretch your hands out…

[you explain some options for a courtyard….]

This is a perfect time to test; we’re at the development stage..this counts towards your development grade…

St 3.(Assistant?) Stands up and goes to the front [after your modelling of more direct feedback]

St 1 and 3 dialogue in front of the group…

[you sit down again, and make notes]

Spiral staircases normally space saving…[you mention about air circulation?]

Also, ever tried going up a s.s., v annoying at times…

This could be bold….[you explain ideas based on the clipboard drawing/notes]

You could still have…and add…

[You move to the front, rhs, of the wall display to discuss, and amend drawing, or suggest the cantilevered option….

If you put a person here…you have a little bit of structure here

St 3. Discusses based on yr notes in clipboard

Has anyone seen rounder construction before [?]

St. 4..Yes…

You pick up on the rammed earth, space utilised,

Maybe certain walls are …

Give you a reference here… Roger Boltshauser, Rauch House [You discuss]

Any further comments…?

St 3 discusses with St.1 [now with back to group..? This quieter dialogue leads to some disengagement, St’s in group on one side turn to each other to chat]

This, as it is, as a statement is fantastic…you see this multi-layered, striated…really like you to preserve that big move; elevation of that would be great, you see this pink and brown on the front elevation…

[You make more notes]

Ok, great, thank you, thanks for that, well done.

[St. applause]

Presentation 2

Great Larissa, do you want to say where you are at the moment…[you set timer on phone]

St 5 explains…

You clarify, was this building affected by bomb damage..?

[St. says…this building here..]

You add architects name..Amin Taha..

St continues…

Thanks Larissa that was great…I’m going to let other people start..

St. contributes…vernacular, rent, public/personal space

Yeah there’s quite..

St continues

Yeah there’s quite…strong, programme, concept..

[You invite St. 3-assistant to contribute…she moves to front to explain her thoughts…speaking to Larissa]

Yeah that’s a great idea, community bring tools,…great idea

St.6 really like the paint wall…having objects

Yeah…you have…[ways to push your concept..]

You have X (another reference) and Amin T…

You could take the removal much further….You could look at what Amin is doing here…analyse it;

You could cut it up, get way more radical…

First thing, conceptual identity..

Then there’s stuff that’s happening..

Original floor plan then stuff on top…like yr doing with elevations, you could do the same thing with the plan…can you explain more about what you’re doing…

St 5 explains…

You at front….on drawings…[explain at head height, anything above would be dotted…turned to group..]

St 3 assistant joins you at the front…

[you explain, walls, spaces..]

It raises larger questions…where the building used in its original position and where can it be …play games…e.g. make a staircase in the original place..for us, you need to get the original….and then place on top…

Construction-wise this is interesting, almost suggesting modules, pre-fabricated…

[You go to sit down]

Quite exciting, quite a lot of stuff…

[You take notes]

St 3 assistant comes to front

What Rob says….[elaborates]

Did you say it could be a shop..?

St 6 you remember Monsters Inc…? [goes on the explain …]

As long as you mention Monsters Inc. in your portfolio..[joking, people laugh]

How are you going to do all of this…take the comments forward practically…?

St 5 explains…

[You take notes…]

I think they’re good tactics, use the model for …try to make the model to fit the vision…if its scaffold poles…

Your drawing, drawing, drawing, put all these ideas in one go…

I really like the life in these drawings…all these people doing all these things…so we can see, say…when we return…after the break….the model that holds the thing about to come, as Peter Zumthor says…

[Sts joking about rails and doors on rails…]

Brilliant, thank you for your patience and contributions. Shall we do one more as we have one more up….then we can take a break…..

Student Presentation 3

Ok, Esme, can you take us through….

[St 7 explains]

Thoughts from the floor…anyone in the back row…thoughts…from the back of the bus..

St 4. Says a few things..

Yes, can you explain about that…?

[Some students chat and you look at them]

Has anyone ever been to a swop shop..?

St. 8Yeah, free stuff…

St. 9 You can’t just take something, you have to bring something…[explains]

St 6 In my home town…

Usually people are very honest…

Can we think about the architecture of the swop shop…?

Part of that primary research is like visit the place…

St 6 I went to see my friends, at LCF…[explains what they are doing in their assignment]

Sure, but be sure to include that, that’s a visit, you’ve taken time out of yr day, photographs…it makes up primary research

St 5. Explains…a few ideas…story, journey..

Yeah…that was an interesting point, conceptually when Esme, did that [holding up the card to the paper]

St 5 agrees and resonates..

Is there an opportunity to maintain that really strong conceptual move, to explain the relationship between..….can you make that version work…you can still play some games with the practicality of the concept, you can cut the card and it still maintains a relationship with that….

What happened when that is pulled apart is it contained a very neat…does it disintegrate a little bit…

Maybe is that onto a model…

Maybe delicate strands

[you pause and sit down, move chair slightly to rhs right]

The St 3 Assistant asks a question…

St 6 explains…

St 3 continues…

If you want to go down the materiality route…the timber…is it blackened, grooves, what’s Esme’s timber application. A timber frame inside and clad in all sorts of ways…like two mountains you’ve pulled away from each other…make it look heavy but outside like concrete panels…or the nice concrete whatever it is these days…remember those crystals…crystals on inside rock on outside, you know from the gift shop…

You know outside doesn’t look like much, inside glittery and amazing…what does the concept feel like, down in materiality…

St explains about visual repairing…playful and organic.. obvs. hidden gems thing..[positively relates to what you are describing]

Like brick… corbeling, heard of that…? move bricks slightly…gives a hint that beyond the wall, there’s a game or two…

Any other thoughts from the floor…you’ve done pretty well, any final comments…

St 3 assistant [explains]

It’s such a powerful thing…

I’d love to see your own Shasiko repairs

St [explains] with models I can add fabric..

Those Shasiko techniques… could translate into design…

[clap]

Ok people pinned up you can pin down, and put up another 4..thanks for this morning, really helpful design process…

1 hour.

There are a number of ways to organise feedback here, so I will take the most common angles perhaps. Method: The student crit. as a method; Students: Participation and engagement and lastly, Tutor role: talk, intervention, culture.

Method: The student crit. as a method

To state the obvious, there’s lots been written about the student crit. We have some readings in the folders on this and those references in the article would be the best pointers for following up and further reading. In architecture the design charette also has some of its own literature in architecture education specifically, especially as architecture education has moved towards deeper and more wide ranging participative, and consultative, lived, and sensory, experience methodologies. Each of those is a possible search term with ‘education’ and ‘architecture’ and ‘method’ for possible literature.

Your crit. You did a great job. The crit was well organised, well timed and managed. Each person had all their work pinned up, in a decent amount of space. You had half of a long room, but there was not much noise interference, so the group was very cohesive and able to concentrate. Each student presenter stood and spoke to their work, with enough time to explain the project and the approach they had taken.

Timing is often important and I didn’t see how much time was involved in the setting up, nor the instructions, so some of my comments may be inaccurate.

Unless you say otherwise, students will simply copy and mimic the ‘standard’ presentation format and not deviate much in terms of what they say, how they say it, how they interact with the group, and yourselves, and in how they answer questions, etc. Peer pressure, and being ‘exposed’, standing up and showing work, is an incredibly vulnerable position given most reports of the process by students e.g. Rhode Island School of Design.

We know about various initiatives, e.g. by RIBA (more or less successful), to diversify the architecture student intake, and you mentioned to me the contextual enrolment process (?), so within the crit itself we have to think about how the format may be made equitable; or how people may feel equally confident in presenting. Vygotsky’s (Social learning theorist) term of ‘scaffolding’ is one way to bridge the ZPD (Zone of proximal development) as that gap between known competence (incl. habit) and unknown new learning and personal-social extension.

So, this leads us to think about the ‘cultural’ elements of Crit presentation that could be broken down to allow more experimentation and or more active participation (see below); how confident are students in display, peer feedback, standing up, managing a small group, speaking, asking questions, demonstrating, showing, explaining, describing, summarising, listing, recounting process, naming key influences, etc. (You will be able to break this down into more meaningful components perhaps as relates to assessment). The we ask, how do we communicate these possibilities to students and allow them to build up the range of skills necessary to make a good presentation, within a time limit. We know these sub-sets of skills (sometimes called ‘Attributes’, soft skills, etc. often what “industry” ask of us, and architecture education is perhaps better than most disciplines in providing! We have the creative attributes framework at UAL, going through an update at present, as part of embedding C&E in the curriculum). Any of these can be delivered through Crit/Presentation prep sessions, practices sub skills in different contexts and being aware of how different students, by class, postcode, culture, respond to the task in different ways and what scaffolding they might need.

Students: Participation and engagement

Students in the ‘listening’ group, seemed attentive. There were one or two moments of chat and distraction, but on the whole, very attentive. Great result! Their respect for you and/or the process is clearly evident; that can mean that learning is taking place!

In the foreground were you, and St 3 (your assistant, or higher level student?). Although St.3’s role was effective, it was sometimes just a dialogue between her and the presenter, even sometimes with her back to the group. And sometimes with her voice not ‘projected’ to the group so they could hear and As you’re the organising tutor, her way of managing her role depends on your guidance, so perhaps that is something to address.

Exposure and reflection. There are lots of ‘varieties’ of studies in educational psychology on things like attention, concentration, memory, sharing, dialogue, disclosure and so on. Too much to go into here, but couple of things. The more time students have with the ‘stimulus material’ the more engagement there will be. The more time/contact students have to engage with the objects and work, the better their questions and responses. The more prompts students have for thinking the richer their responses. The more permission or modelling of disclosure the more likely people are to share their responses and experience and so on. The more time students are given after questions the more deeply reflective their responses, etc. Studies seem fairly clear about such things.

You were great at one point asking students about whether those at the ‘back of the bus’ could ask a question or be engaged, this was a playful way of involving everyone without singling anyone out. Nicely done.

Tutor role: talk, intervention, culture

You provided the most wonderfully rich and interesting range of tutor talk. Definite strength.

Firstly, the voice was loud enough, clear, well paced and easy to understand.

You combined praise and encouragement (‘well done’s’, appreciation, picking out strengths, pointing out what you liked or was successful and explaining why), with other kinds of tutor talk.

You gave references and explained them ‘construction-wise this is interesting, as ‘Zumthor says…’.

You playfully positioned the person -point of view- on the drawings/plan, you ‘performed’ inhabiting the space (only this wide, arms outstretched),

You picked up the models (demonstrating engagement) you adapted the models (e.g. more cut out windows to allow light, take the paper form and cut it to overlay on top of the plan, drawing or marking possibilities on the plans).

You did some lovely speculative and imaginative scaffolding; I’d love to see…, Can we…Has anyone ever…etc.

You provoked connections with ordinary life-experience, ‘Has anyone ever been to a swop shop?’, ‘remember those crystals..from the gift shop?’

All in all I would say you were practicing a kind of mode of encouraging…of playfulness, getting students to commit to design decisions, intensify, enlarge upon or elaborate, push things further and be bolder in their experimentation (perhaps this ‘mode’ related specifically to the development phase you said that they were in, regards the project progress; at this stage) but this was clearly both coherent and effective. Excellent tutor practice!

Developments or suggestions

I’d say perhaps only 2 or 3 things.

How to coach your St 3 (assistant) to be more confident and engage with the whole group?

How to scaffold ways to encourage the group to be as confident with the materials they are seeing, as you are…to handle, make connections, ask questions or make comments?

[Inverse rule here, possibly? The more competence we demonstrate via the more expertise we model to students, the less confident they can become in their own knowledge. This impacts on power balance. To be honest, this is an issue I wrestle with often, how to balance imparting useful knowledge with facilitating the means of enquiry…e.g. asking good questions]

How to deepen their engagement with each other’s projects and even animate the peer feedback discussions more, create debate? The Monsters Inc. reference was great! Shows that there’s a good ;level of trust and friendliness between students, but how many students did not talk at all (?) and can you manage healthy differences of opinion in a group crit?

A wonderful session to observe, thanks so much, you did a great job, very impressive and so interesting to observe!

Part Three

Observee to reflect on the observer’s comments and describe how they will act on the feedback exchanged:

Thank you for such a thorough series of observations and guidance. This is a most generous and useful set of points to go forward with.

As discussed in our verbal feedback session, there are some straightforward strategies that could be used to increase the engagement with my collaborating media tutor. We can ensure that our backs are not to the student audience, positioning chairs side on or deciding to redesigning the crit space entirely to increase feelings of equality. We could position models/made objects (something identified in the feedback as being under utilised at the moment) on a central table and make this the focus whilst intermittently referring to presentations on the wall. This would take focus away from the presenter, increasing feelings of collaboration and discussions can happen in the round. Some open dialogue with this tutor would be beneficial, highlighting best practices and reinforcing just how useful her contributions have been. It is important to say that all students would benefit from her considerable insight.

Inviting active debate between tutors and students would be helpful to encourage curiosity and deepen enquiries into subjects. This could start with provocations from myself, where I appear unsure of a definitive stance, inviting discussion around topics and allowing the group to co construct responses.

Strategies which scaffold students to become more self-directed learners and encourage good studio culture is important going forward. I’d like to introduce mini group exercises which increase peer interaction with no assessment/result to be marked. These could centre around, for example, asking better quality questions in crits or analysing made objects.

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Documentation of micro-teaching

Posted on 20th March 2024 by Robert Brown

The difficulty in this session was planning for the minimum amount of steps for people to be able to create a drawing at scale in such a short time frame. To cover more of the subject, I used a ‘flipped learning’ model to front load students with an information sheet before the session. (see figure 1)

When describing the first task (left hand side of figure 2) I emphasised how to use the scale ruler to produce the required drawings as I felt the second task would plug any gaps in learning potentially missed at this stage. This was a risk, but I felt on balance it would not detract from the overall message.

My role was to ensure people understood what was being asked of them and provide support to those who might be struggling with using the scale ruler. Completion times varied but the group self regulated and helped each other to finish the drawings.

A moment of reflection afterwards centred on how the drawings now represented scenarios which can be tested in real life.

Tables were set up to create two different scenarios to match the information in the drawings. The class was split into either of these and given verbal instructions on how to perform the second task. This involved an action that was to be repeated a number of times. I have drawn this as a diagram since the original instructions were delivered verbally (see figure 3)

Creativity from both groups in playing with the variables of the action; speed, number of people, trajectory, body position etc made for some rich data to reflect on.

Together we drew out the differences between scenarios and the repeated actions. Participants identified how the spatial constructs, along with their individual decisions encouraged complex and divergent happenings. Sometimes these were subtle and sometimes more profound, relating to themes of proximity, permission, and social boundaries. The analytical powers of the group homed in on some lovely nuanced moments. Conversations revealed how small differences in spatial situations have large consequences in how they are experienced.

The group was energetic and generous in their participation in contrast to the first part of the session which, when discussed during feedback, people found initially daunting, given the emphasis on numbers, a perceived association with difficult maths and a lot of new information to be assimilated. I would have liked to have spent more time at this phase introducing concepts incrementally and creating a safer more collaborative work space.

The general feeling though was that a seemingly ‘complex’ task was made accessible and that the translation of the drawing into the real world allowed participants to access new embodied information. This was the crux for me, that the results of this new skill could be felt through an experience and thus bring about an emotional response to acts of design. I did feel however, as if I may intervened too much in putting forward my own ideas as to what the task meant, rather than allow the group to co construct their own interpretations.

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Case Study Three: Assessing learning and exchanging feedback

Posted on 20th March 2024 by Robert Brown

Contextual Background

Implement strategies to allow students to understand Assessment Criteria (AC) at a deeper level and contextualise them within larger frameworks, defining what makes a good architectural project. Examining AC applications and relevance beyond the boundaries of the University.

Evaluation

The teaching of AC in design studio is ineffectual, largely due to time constraints. I attempt to weave in key words and concepts relating to AC to my tutor group, but these are informal, unstructured and with no supporting recourses. There is little communication on the subject between the wider department and hourly paid lecturers (HPL’s), I do not know how much students know about AC. We heavily rely on them to provide feedback to students year-round and yet there is a dissonance between using them within marking protocols versus their comprehension by the student body.

Moving forwards

‘Attempts to blur the boundaries between the ‘real world’ and academia are the essential characteristics of signature pedagogies’ (Shreeve, 2017) is the gold standard for teaching practices for creative practitioners. This is a good lens with which to view the relevance of AC as often their role can be seen as a reductive measuring stick rather than the basic hallmarks of a good architectural project. Going forward it is critical to map the language and definitions of AC with good corresponding examples of work beyond the University. A programme of events, including lectures by external practitioners, workshops and activities would be an effective way to communicate key ideas, at the same time to reinforce how the AC is located within wider contexts of practice. A diluted version of this would be to create short presentations for my tutor group on the above themes.

‘Learners who are more self-regulated are more effective learners; they are more persistent, resourceful, confident and higher achievers’ (Race, 2001)

A strategy to increase self regulation is to involve the students in clarifying ‘what good performance is’ (Macfarlane-Dick, 2006). For example ‘AC Enquiry’ could be investigated from multiple perspectives in a workshop setting, contrasting primary and secondary modes of research through productive tasks. Tutors could help facilitate the definitions of quality but essentially students design their own criteria for best practice. It is important this is formalised into a document to use as an ongoing resource and tool for measurement. More beneficial than at a formal review, is the use of such a resource during informal group pin ups (as well as individually away from class) where it is hoped students lead exchanges in critiquing their own and each others work.

The above would benefit from being part of a repeat process as subsequent years grow in ambition and complexity. Not all AC are created equal, some are extremely large like ‘AC Knowledge’ which measures the overall success of a design and its relationship to context. It can take designers years to understand this. It is also at its highest level, a moving target with plastic qualities, where sometimes magic resides. It is important to make room for these kinds of nuanced and complex conversations within new strategies.

Some pilot research into the benefits of new workshops might encourage implementation of activities year wide. Otherwise, some brave planning in collaboration with stage leaders could lead to partitioned teaching days and a blended approach.

References

Macfarlane-Dick, D. N. &. D., 2006. Studies in higher education- formative assessment and relf regulated learning: a model and seven principles of good feedback. s.l.:Routledge.
Race, P., 2001. A briefing on self, peer and group assessment, s.l.: LTSN Generic Centre.
Shreeve, S. O. &. A., 2017. Art and design pedagogy in higher education: knowledge, values and ambiguity in the creative curriculum. Milton : Taylor and Francis Group.

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