Because of the new block system, my students have all just completed a 15 week project and have not stopped and have leaped into their next project which is only 5 weeks long.
Feedback from our design sessions were that students were not listening in on other people talking so they were getting no peer feedback and some of the classes should be split into smaller groups. I have taken this on board and with the short time scale I have, I am trying to make these sessions more interactive.
We have just finished our first session and I got them into groups (trying to mix up friendship groups) and made them do a mind map of Vivienne Westwood (the brand we are working for) and a list of components on a bag (what they need to design). I also got them to each bring in 5 unwanted items and as a team they selected one item each and had to make something interesting from it.
The end result was good. Some students embraced it more than others and I did get feedback that they actually enjoyed the class, which is a positive. Unfortunately there were some in the class who made no effort to participate. I tried to be positive and encouraging, talking to them about possibilities with their waste materials but to no avail. It is these students I don’t know what to do with – am I failing as a tutor as I am not engaging with them? It cannot all be down to them and their attitude – can it?