Author: Selina Cheong

I Have had this in my drafts for a while as I have been pondering the Bakhurst article and the student experience.

THIN experience – what a university can measure, what they can provide evidence for (feedback, recognition, community, engagement, employability, creative curricula)

The THICK experience is what Bakhurst talks about, the experience you cannot quantify (fullfilling, enriching, inspiring, affirming, personal and authentic)

The thick experience is such a vital part of the learning experience. Now understanding the terminology, especially the personal aspect, I almost feel like it validates all those times I have spent some of the classroom time just talking to students about their lives, jobs and interests. It helps me understand them as a student and what their struggles and aims are. I also share things that are happening in my life whcih makes me personable and someone they feel able to talk to. It takes me back to the first session with Iestyn where we all had to talk a bit about ourselves- it made Iestyn, not a scary tutor, but someone we could relate to.

I tried out Iestyn’s advice with the speed dating exercise. I gave the students 5mins to write down their concepts and then they all stood up facing each other in pairs and spoke about their concepts for 2.5mins each. I timed them and then told them to spend 5mins thinking of how to reduce this down to 1minute and did this one more time after reducing it down to one short sentence in 15 seconds.

Unfortunately I only had 7 students in each group which didn’t make it as vibrant and exciting as I hoped. The first group seemed to have a lot to talk about and found it hard to whittle down their answers but did embrace the task. The second group had very little to say and couldn’t even fill the 2.5minute timed slot.

On reflection, I think I should have maybe done this at a later stage in the project, when they had more research done. I also didn’t have time to take their sentences further as I had other things planned but I should have got them to write the sentence down and start a mind map but instead of a word mind map an image mind map to get their designs going. The students didn’t enjoy facing each other and rotating round so maybe I could have written their names on paper 3 times and then they pulled out three names from each hat and moved round themselves without me trying to move them physically as they didn’t quite understand where I wanted them being moved to.

Although there were some hiccups, I loved getting the students up off their seats and doing something physical to wake them up and get them engaged. I will definitely be trying this again.

I have been silent for a bit, I haven’t been attending my classes either as I unfortunately lost my unborn baby at 22 weeks because he only had three chambers to his heart instead of the usual four. I distanced myself from my students and emailed all of them. They were fantastic and sent me words of support and kindness – it made me realise that underneath everything they do appreciate all the efforts you put in for them.

Anyway, to get back into teaching after withdrawing myself from the world, I did a one week course on Pattern Cutting. Teaching on the short courses is very different to the degree courses. The students tend to be more attentive, in careers they maybe are not so happy with and genuinely happy to come into uni every day. This was a great class to take on as my first one back. It is much easier to teach  as the classes are smaller compared to the degree course, you are teaching them all the same thing rather than dealing with individual projects and I have ensured they have learnt and understood the basic steps before they embark on their own designs.

On the degree course, as I teach the second years, I am not sure who has grasped all the concepts, who has been to all the classes and who is falling behind. There is also very few classes where I can teach them skills that they need to make their final designs – this is because of KIS (I think this is the right acronym) hours that we are are forced to stick to which causes our students and our technicians problems down the line.

If I could almost do a ‘short course’ with the degree students I think everyone would be happier – it is something I want to discuss with our new course leader when they start.

 

Iestyn came to observe my class Monday this week. Unfortunately he just saw the beginning of the session and not the fun part where they started to make things from old mock ups from previous projects. It is really intimidating having someone watching you tech in a class – your mind is racing with questions – am I saying the right things? Am I paying attention to what the students are saying? Do I even know what I am talking about? But I guess that is what being observed is good for – highlighting anything you can’t see for yourself. I can’t wait to observe someone else’s class and hopefully pick up some teaching techniques  at the same time!

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?

I’ve been thinking how the last session we had with Iestyn has changed me as a tutor in these last few weeks. In the past, I always felt that if I was just walking around and looking at the students working or sitting on the side listening to what the students were discussing was not teaching. I felt I was sometimes maybe not doing my job. It’s so true what he said is that we always feel we need to be talking to be discussing but sometimes in being silent we can see what the students actually need. Iestyn mentioned ‘Silent Teaching’ where you go into a class and don’t say anything and ‘Monitoring Teaching’ where you go around and see what students are doing, observe them and check they are doing the correct thing. I now feel more confident that I am actually doing my job even though I am not speaking or actively showing them something all the time. Students need the time and space to disciver by themselves with the guidance of tutors close by if needed.

Earlier I have published my little 5 minute presentation. There were eight of us in the room and we all casually did our little presentations. It was great listening to people from all different backgrounds telling their story on how they got into teaching. We had a range of educators; librarians, metal health officers, REAL academics who teach theory and creative tutors.  After everyone’s presentation we could comment on what we identified with and what issues that brought up. Race and gender within education were big topics of discussion. There are very few tutors who are BAME and female in UAL. This is crazy, as you expect, especially in the arts field where you believe majority are open minded that there would be equal opportunities for all. Also our students are so diverse which makes me think I need to be even more inclusive and aware of other cultures. My students are currently doing a live brief with Zara and its title is ‘Home Town Trends’ and it’s been great to hear about other countries and what is popular there. This is all about just opening your eyes and questioning what is happening around you. Another big topic that came up was class and how some students really felt the struggle of paying for university and attending whilst having to work compared to others who were always in uni but not always being productive because they had parents to help them out. Although I agree this is definitely the case and I see it with students all the time, I didn’t get a chance to say, my parents worked hard to pay for my education and even though I went to private school we didn’t have a large disposable income. Because I was privileged and didn’t have to work, I still worked all through uni and saved money so I didn’t have to work in the final year. I didn’t want my parents paying for everything. Also because I felt privileged, I never felt like my issues were important because there was always some one in a worse situation and so I had no right to feel that way. What I say to my students is if it makes you feel rubbish then it’s a problem worth talking about and dealing with. I didn’t grow up with a lot of money and my parents worked really hard to make money for us to be comfortable but I don’t think just because you went to a posh school or have been lucky enough not to have to work makes your voice less valid.

Another recurring topic was ‘bad teaching’ from our former tutors – we all agreed we mostly have learnt what not to do from them!

Another member of our small cohort was talking about the inequalities she experienced in her MA, which was surprising to me. It made me realise that our small teaching team used to have a fantastic course leader and she always was fair to all students, offering everyone a chance to participate in funding, external projects and competitions.

I wanted to note down my thoughts and what I deduced from this session.

My small team were given the statement

While risk taking is central to the critical thinking process, this behaviour is unlikely to occur unless those involved have no sense of fear. (Macfarlane 2004, p.59)

We decided that you have to let inhibitions/ fear go to allow the ideas to flow – but can you let everything go? Just like a child, if you have no inhibitions you are also not aware to critically question/ think about the decisions you make. You need to have some fear but it’s about overcoming the fear and opening the mind to other potential ideas and concepts that maybe are out of your depth. Our team questioned – Is risk taking central to critical thinking? Maybe it’s also about self confidence that allows one to feel assured and critically think. The statement also brought up many other questions such as, How do we change our relationship to fear? What are the fears that inhibit one from taking risks? How do we reduce fear to take the risk?

Looking back at Padlet, which Linsday told us to upload a statement regarding our statement on to, unfortunately, there seemed to be no other teams looking at the same statement. I would have liked to see what they interpreted from it. For us, we thought ‘How do we change our relationship with fear to think critically?’ was an important question to ask as it’s easy to be told do this and do that,  but it’s the HOW, the journey to get there that is what students need to learn and as teachers, what we need to teach them. Especially in a creative university, no longer are the days of students living in fear of their tutors and just listening to what they say. Students now question tutors judgements and constantly ask us for guidance and help through their journey.

I also had a quick look at the first statement:

Techniques is what teachers use until the real teacher arrives (Palmer 1998, p.5)

I took this as we come from industry and have no formal training as teachers and we believe we are not real teachers and are waiting for the real teacher to educate us/ tell us what to do. This really resonated with me and Iestyn also told us that this is a common thought amongst tutors. To hear other people feel exactly the same as you is great. My colleague and I really felt like it was just us, but now there are more of us in this boat!

Some educational knowledge Lindsay wanted us to be aware of:

ROBBINS – all the ppl who wanted to go to uni – were the capable? Before robbins 4 x men than women going

1992 – Further and higher education act – bringing everything under central control rather than locally. Made polytechnics into unis

1990s – labour intro tuition fees – stripping back of funded places

Dearing report – 90s – intro by new labour but had cross party support – initiated by conservative gov. In 97 Oberton window (sits within the realm of acceptability). Asking people to make a contribution to fees as costs going up.

NSS – 2005 – students are now consumers

2008 – crash

2010- browne report – opened the flood gates for fees. Uni’s are competing – some do two yr degrees so cheaper and do the best in NSS

Teaching excellence framework – ranking unis – incorporates some of the results of NSS, employment and highly skilled

Growth of online learning – 2000s

Graeme and I were in a pair discussing education, and I brought up that even despite having free education you are still indirectly paying for an education as it’s all about catchment areas and the areas with the best schools attract residents, which in turn raise house prices and only a SEC can afford to live in these areas.

 

I wrote and rewrote this several times, not knowing what to write about. BUt this is what I said in the first meeting with Iestyn…

Hi I’m Selina and I am a 0.6 and teach at LCF, Golden Lane. For those who have never visited, it’s a small site for BA footwear, BA acessories, MA artefact and MA jewelry courses. I love it because it is so intimate – you know all the staff and all of your students. It has a very friendly atmosphere.

 

I teach on the BA Accessories degree and am the second year main tutor and the final year technical tutor. There are approximately 30 students in the second year and I deal with half the final year cohort – about 16 of them. It is important to me as a tutor to remember all their names and also pronounce it correctly. At university my tutors never made the effort to learn all the names, mine included. It definitely made me feel like I was not an equal of the student cohort. This is something I never want my students to feel, I want them to feel like part of a big team all working together to the same goal.

 

Having taught at other smaller schools, with Artscom and running my own business where we always had employees – I have learnt that people do not learn through fear. Especially with so many students with personal difficulties like anxiety and depression, it is vital, in my opinion to make sure you are firm but always encouraging and positive. I find always being enthusiastic helps the students get excited about their work too. I went to a private secondary girls school in North West London, where my art teachers – who were incredible- were exactly like this. Always encouraging but would be firm if something needed to be changed. Contrasting to this was my English Literature Tutors who would ignore me because my answers were not intellectual enough or good enough. They never encouraged me and or made me feel like I could do it. I ended up sleeping through my last English Lit exam because I just couldn’t be bothered. I will never forget this – and would never want any student who I teach to feel like this either. Everyone needs to feel important.

 

My 2nd year students are divided into group A and B and I usually teach one group in the morning and the other group in the afternoon. If it is a design class, I have to repeat the class twice, so make sure I repeat the afternoon class with the same enthusiasm and is if it is the first time I’m delivering the session.  Design classes usually begin with me teaching them something and then getting them to participate after. With creative students, I have found they don’t sit still for long! They want to move around, interact and get creative! One of the websites I enjoy using is mentimeter.com. Here you can imput a question with multiple choice answers, students use a code to access the page and then use their phones to input their answers anonymously. Students love it  as they are always on their phone and also if they are shy or worried about giving the wrong answer, it’s all anonymous so no one need worry. The technical classes are different. If I’m teaching them a new technique/ construction, I have a powerpoint presentation of the steps so students who are moving faster can move on and no one feels left behind. It is very much me demonstrating steps and them copying. Once students get to making their own bags there more of a one on one tutorial session where I run around the room making sure I see each student and they are okay with the process. 

First lecture completed as a whole collective. It was great to meet educators not only from LCF, but from other universities as well. It took me several hours to read the Holmwood extract and Lindsay mentioned in her email that this was an easy read! Not for me! I thought that I would be the only one struggling, but after today’s session I realised we were all in the same boat. We are all creative tutors and haven’t read academic articles for a while so to get our heads around language was one thing with new terminology thrown on top. It made me realise that for a student and more so as a foreign student, you do really need to think about the way you phrase words, the pace you speak at and your enunciation.

 

Today’s session wiped me out! There was so much to take in and so much for me to review later on and analyse in another blog. I loved working in these small tiny groups as I felt comfortable to say my opinions even if they didn’t make sense or really answer the questions in hand. I enjoyed discussing ideas and then being forced to summarise  it into a phrase or a question. This taught me that i had an understanding of what was going on and made me feel confident that I actually had some intellectual opinions that my team thought were good!