As we explore the range of policies, frameworks, strategies, codes, principles, guides, regulations and more … available to use within our creative arts context, I begin to wonder how I position my own academic practice within this peculiar and complex higher education environment. Indeed, what are my values? How do I position them against this vast area of existing materials? How to prioritise what’s available to me, and against my own values, ethics, morals and beliefs?
In my practice, flexibility, creativity, and empathy are values that I continue to embrace and embed within different approaches. In some way, these become lenses through which I use other tools, such as some of the frameworks discussed in our recent workshop.
The UK Professional Standards Framework makes for an interesting reflective tool through which I can sense check my own approach but also my own value system. Its’ three dimensions (Activity, Knowledge, Values) are relevant to all parts of my practice, although there are areas around assessment and providing feedback which I have yet to develop in more detail. Where the framework lacks substance is around truly understanding students, which is very much part of my work around student engagement and experience.
I also wonder about the focus on developing professional practices, inherent in the UKPSF and other frameworks. Within my own practice, I have been exploring spaces of play, opening up more creative spaces for students to engage, explore and learn.
For example, it resonates with me what Gielen and van Heusden outline in A Plea for Communalist Teaching, where they discuss how teachers should “facilitate interactions between students and encourage them to learn from each other”, something which play can beautifully facilitate, sometimes in a disruptive way.
It may be difficult to argue that these spaces directly impact professional development, however I do believe these spaces are critical in the development. If spaces become a tool however, does the lack of disruption they offer counter their initial purpose or use?
Similarly, looking through UAL Principles of Climate, Racial and Social Justice, which explicitly hone in on very specific themes, I wonder how I am able to make small interventions within my own teaching practice to integrate at least parts of the framework and integrate these with my own values along the way; the university’s principles of practice make for a brilliant technical guide. For example, where I am unable to make changes to course handbooks, how can my delivery or management of a course, or simply the way I engage with students make a different that meets some of these asks, as well as my own values and aspirations within teaching and learning? Much of my practice focuses on creating new work, using materials and products, so there may be some easy ways to integrate environmentally-friendly and socially conscious modes of production. I am also thinking about ways my team could bring on board a Climate Advocate or Coordinator to evaluate what we do more broadly.
Bibliography
Gielen, P., & de Bruyne, P. (n.d.). (2012) Teaching Art in the Neoliberal Realm Realism versus Cynicism.
PgCert student exploring learning object as part of curatorial exercise
What I intended my participants to do and learn
I developed a Speed Making session to enable participants to explore one creative practice in a fun and engaging way. The activity included the following learning objectives aligned to UAL’s Creative Attributes Framework:
Primary
Practice observational and visual literacy skills (Curiosity)
Develop practice-based skills in a specific medium, e.g. drawing (Self-efficacy)
Secondary
Develop confidence within a specific creative practice (Self-efficacy)
Reflect on creative process and communicate ideas (Communication)
A description of the activity
As per my initial plans, my Speed Making activity asked participants to make a piece of creative work about a physical object – a white mug that I had brought with me – in 5 minutes or less.
Following a short introduction of the session, I invited participants to partake in short physical warm-up exercise. This was designed for participants to think about their own physicality in relation to the object; their different embodied practices and their tactile investigation of the object.
I also embedded the idea of chance and choice within the session design, and gave participants the option to:
Choose from an arts practice listed on screen / or their own (choice)
Choose from a pile of cards (up-side-down with the writing invisible) that listed a number of arts practices (chance)
Participants then made a succinct piece of work about the object, exploring some of the following practices. (Arts practices in bold were the ones chosen by participants.)
Curation
Collage
Dance
Découpage
Drawing
Film
Performance
Photography
Storytelling
Writing
Poetry
Screenwriting
In the stack, participants could have also found a ‘wild card’ that asked them to make a choice themselves, and a ‘try again’ card, which asked them to choose another arts practice. I added these to create a more playful session and add additional randomisation into the exercise.
Surprisingly, all participants chose an arts practice at random and even though some of them voiced being nervous about some of the art forms, for example performance, none of them chose one from the list displayed on screen.
How and why I thought the activity would enable participants to reach the intended outcomes
I designed the session in a way the felt inclusive to different creative backgrounds and practices – giving participants as much choice as possible. In addition, I integrated elements of play within the session, which were designed to get people’s attention but also for them to relax into the activity.
Not knowing which art form participants would work with, encouraged them to be curious, experiment and ask questions. The session itself was also designed to give participants a lot of freedom to play with different art forms and to experiment, giving them ownership over their process as well as final result.
I also provided participants with lots of space to discuss and communicate, helping them reflect on their creative process.
My interpretation of what took place and what was learned
When participants had chosen their arts practice, the room went a little more quiet. When I checked in with participants, they voiced that they were contemplating on how to solve their individual challenges. It took everyone a moment to get started.
Participants then went on to write a poem, shoot a short film, make a collage, … about the learning object. Participants then had the opportunity to share their work with the rest of the group. I asked everyone to respond to the following questions:
What did you make?
How did you make it?
Why did you make it?
At the end of the session, we openly discussed as a group how participants found the process, what difference it made to them to be able to freely choose an art form, and what benefits the session had.
I thought participants really engaged in their different art forms and applied creative thinking and problem solving to the exercise. Some participants also collaborated. For example, one participant asked for another participant to act in his film. It meant that the process and final work became much richer.
Aside from gaining more confidence in a specific arts practice, participants also learned how to communicate their ideas and express themselves to the group. Participants carefully listened to each other and through sharing with each other, participants were able to learn something new from each other.
Participants seemed to enjoy themselves as well, which I find important in learning.
I adapted the session slightly on the day. Given that the group had 10 additional minutes to discuss, and that I had already accommodated for discussion within the 20 minutes of the microteach, I gave participants additional time to create their artworks. I also removed the part of the session where participants would vote on an artwork that resonated most with them, as I didn’t think the discussion needed additional encouragement – everyone already seemed to actively engaged in the activity. Both of this seemed to work well.
Participant feedback received after the session
What I’ll do with the feedback I received
I thought it was interesting that participants mentioned that the exercise forced them out of their comfort zone however that they really enjoyed this. Participants also said they very much enjoyed being asked to do something new and take risks, so this is something I am hoping to integrate within future lesson plans.
I would like to investigate this a little further and see if anything else has been written on that line that divides comfort on one side and risk on the other, i.e. how much risk-taking is comfortable.
Looking at the feedback, I also understand that the activity will work differently with different participants. For example, if the group had had similar creative backgrounds and practices, I might want to fine tune the choices of art forms. Participants had also spent much of the day together, making other things, so there was less of a barrier to overcome; participants felt less shy to roll up their sleeves and start making.
I felt somewhat nervous to look at the feedback I had received until the next working day – but the overall exercise gave me confidence that the learning activities I design and deliver is meaningful.
Further reflections and observations
The sheer diversity in academic and creative backgrounds in the room made for a brilliant learning environment, and I underestimated how different everyone’s approaches to teaching and learning would be. I also thought there was such kindness between participants, giving feedback, sharing insights, helping each other through the activities was fantastic. There were also some aspects of other participants’ practices I’m hoping to learn more about. The session on plant-based interactivity, for example, was incredibly inspiring.
Diagram 1. Aspects of Small Group Learning Environment
I recently came across an interesting investigation into small group teaching by Gunn (2007), which I am hoping to investigate further. This is particularly relevant to my own work, which often involves smaller groups of students. An upcoming workshop in which I’ll be co-designing virtual learning environment routes with five students being one example.
Gunn highlights five key areas that influence small group learning: cognitive processes, experiential processes, interpersonal group dynamics, and physical environments. She further outlines that defining and structuring procedures and becoming oriented, conforming to procedures and getting acquainted, and recognising mutuality and building trust, are all key in effective group learning – which I hope to embed within my own session. For example, I am planning to embed a comprehensive induction, warm-up exercises to get to know each other, and discussion, to promote trust amongst the group.
Gunn outlines additional ideas by Johnson & Johnson that are worth considering:
Introduce, define, and structure the learning group
Clarify procedures, reinforce members for conforming to the procedures, and help members become acquainted
Emphasise and highlight the cooperative interdependence among group members and encourage their engaging in both trusting and trustworthy behaviours
Accept rebellion by and differentiation among group members as a normal process and use confrontation and constructive negotiation to help group members establish their independence from each other and the prescribed procedures
Facilitate the members’ committing themselves to and taking ownership of the group’s goals, procedures, and other members
Be a consultant to the group, providing needed material and information resources for the group to function effectively
Bibliography
Gunn, V. (2007). Approaches to Small Group Learning and Teaching. http://www.gla.ac.uk/learn/
Johnson, D. W. & Johnson, F.P. (1997, 6th edn) Joining Together: Group Theory and Group Skills, Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
I’m planning a 20-minute teaching session with a focus on object-based learning. Having given space to experiment, I return to think about spaces of play and disruption and how to integrate these two ideas.
I start with the object around which the learning will focus. Because the real hero of the session will be the process or practice, I decided to choose a fairly simple object – one that isn’t specifically aligned to any specific subject area: a white coffee mug.
In this scenario, and as Hardie explains, the idea is to “use objects to develop lively critical discussion, focused critical analysis, reflective thinking and powerful debates” (Hardie, 2015, p.20), which will take place in the second half of the session.
The mug is generic enough for students to apply different practices to it, and use it in different ways. And its simplicity also creates an interesting challenge for students to think creatively. For example, if students were to draw the mug, a completely white mug is fairly difficult to capture on paper. There is also something surprising about the white mug which will hopefully draw students in.
I’m also considering the group of students that will be in the room. They are a small group of teachers from different disciplines and with different levels of experience. Creating an inclusive lesson plan, therefore, becomes integral to the success of the session.
Students will have one overarching task, to interpret the object through an arts practice by making a piece of work about the object. I have come up with the following lesson plan / structure:
(1) Introduction (5 minutes)
As the overall lesson will focus on students’ embodied practice, I will ask students to stand up and connect with their bodies by warming up, lifting their hands in the air and then touching their toes.
I will then outline the task / challenge and structure of the lesson. I will explain that the exercise will be timed and fast-moving, to set expectations.
I will outlined the overarching concept of using chance or choice within the exercise – giving students opportunity to choose how learning will take place.
I will present students with different types of art forms / practices from which to choose:
Curation
Collage
Dance
Découpage
Drawing
Film
Performance
Photography
Storytelling
Writing
Poetry
Screenwriting
…
Students will be able to choose a specific practice, or pick one at random. The latter element relates to the idea of using ‘chance’ as a form of play.
I will explain to students that one person will ‘win’ the learning object.
(2) Exercise (5 minutes)
I will ask students to use one of the art forms / practices to engage with the object in front of them.
They may collaborate with others.
They will need to be mindful that the object will be used by others in the group and mind move or change, so they will need to negotiate the learning space with others.
The exercise will be timed.
I will be on hand to support the exercise.
(3) Show and Tell (5 minutes)
I will ask students to go around the table and show everyone what they have produced, why they chose their specific medium, and explain their process. Each student will have one minute to respond.
Students will be encouraged to write down anything they find meaningful.
(4) Discussion (5 minutes)
I will ask students to discuss as a group the following questions:
Which project resonated most with you, and why?
How did you find the process?
What difference did it make to be able to freely choose an art form, or assign one to you at random?
Rather than regarding the final part of the session as a crit about students work (Blythman, M., Orr, S., & Director, B. B. (2007), I will suggest an interrogation of the process of the session itself, rather than value judgements being made purely on the making of the artwork or even purely the artwork. The discussion will be framed in a positive light, finding ways for the group to connect with each other using the work on the object.
Having students choose another project as the ‘winner’ acts both as the ‘play’ element, but also as the ‘disruptor’, and the learning object disappears at the end of the activity.
Final thoughts
Through this session, I hope to help students develop some of the following skills:
Observational skills
Visual literacy (ability to ‘read’ objects, to find meaning from them)
Team working
Critical analytical skills
Various practice-based skills, e.g. drawing skills
Communication
Aesthetic judgement
Research skills and confidence
Inspiration
Due to the short duration of the session, there will not be time to investigate specific skills more fully.
Blythman, M., Orr, S., & Director, B. B. (2007). Critiquing the Crit Final report. www.thestudentsurvey.com
Hardie, K. (2015). Innovative pedagogies series: Wow: The power of objects in object-based learning and teaching. https://www.advance-he.ac.uk/knowledge-hub/wow-power-objects-object-based-learning-and-teaching
Welcome to blog. My name is Sebastian and I am Student Experience Lead at UAL, working with and for students to help design holistic student experiences and student journeys for anyone studying online. I also teach creative subjects on the CertHE Preparation for Design, Media and Screen at LCC.
I combine my work in Student Experience and teaching with a background in contemporary art and communications. This means I aim to apply design thinking and creative processes wherever possible, be it in creative workshops with students or more instructional seminars with staff.
My personal arts practice specialises in mixed media, including painting, illustration, photography, collage and writing. Much of my creative work is inspired by nature and is rooted in his upbringing in the countryside.
As part of my PgCert, I’m hoping to delve deeper into many different pedagogic approaches and explore ways of enhancing my current academic practice.
