We discussed the process of the Peer Observations and went through any questions and concerns we each had surrounding them. My only concern is that the observation is only 1 hour long, and our workshops are all 3 hours each. I am going to have to choose a part of the workshop that needs observation.
I would like to use this time for the box making workshop, as it is the area i feel needs most work, as it is a long and drawn out process, but this is the reason that a one hour long observation wouldn’t work. I worry it would represent itself badly in a one hour slice.
Perhaps observing my portion of the Prototyping workshop will work best.
THEN
we read this short case study from Bruce Macfarlane’s 2004 book Teaching with Integrity: The ethics of higher education practice (Routledge), in which a fictional lecturer, ‘Stephanie’, receives feedback on her teaching in the form of student evaluation forms and a peer observation.
I felt most drawn to the Question Raised by E-Sinn from reading the article above – Creating digital resources for teaching traditional crafts.
Mat Denney had some great observations in this discussion –
As practitioners, we learned how to do our craft by watching and absorbing over many years. But to communicate that aggregated skill and knowledge in a structured teaching environment can be very challenging.
Also – are there invisible hierarchies concerning which knowledges are valued? E.g. Technical, pedagogical, academic…etc
(can’t remember who said this but thought was really interesting…) I think there’s an opportunity to investigate and challenge the metrics within higher education and the way in which we understand what comprises good/best practice, success, failure…or the un-usefulness of these terms…
I finished the morning feeling lacking in my academic language and unable to hold my own in these discussions. Even though I have been teaching longer than some of my colleagues in the course, and i can keep up with the discussion in my head, I feel unable to express myself in these online groups as well as know I can do in person.
Also, i hate this blog and how it looks. I want to elevate its appearance and content, but am so uncomfortable with WordPress and do not know how to work it.
E-Sinns presentationTed talk I watched after the sessionmy feet are touching it / its touching my feetMud Muddy Muddier stillStudio Studies
Some screen shots from parts of the session I found useful and interesting
The after noon session “Mud, Muddy, Muddier still” was about demystifying the research process and using creative methods. I found it hard to relate to as a technician, and though the sofa project was conceptually very interesting as an artist, I felt little to no connection to the material in a work capacity as it felt very designed towards the “academics”.
We were asked to prepare a short presentation to give to our tutor groups to introduce ourselves, and to share something we had found ( be it an article, image, or resource) about pedagogy (i.e. teaching methods and practices).
The Task: Prepare a five minute talk, with up to five slides or images, in which you: 1. Sketch briefly your teaching context and other professional/creative identities (use images) 2. Share something you learned about pedagogy and/or pedagogic research from the item you chose, and any questions it raised for you.
I was not particularly taken by any of the reading resources offered. I found them too dense, and hard to take in. I was feeling frustrated and so started at the beginning and Wiki’ed the definition of Pedagogy
During this first attempt at research I found the Socratic Method really interesting, and exactly describes they style of pedagogy I am interested in learning the techniques of, as my primary focus of the PgCert is to learn more techniques and methods to encourage students to explore their concepts more to find the answers, when they come to me looking for opinions as their answers. For example, when they ask Questions like "should this be blue? or orange?" rather than giving an answer based on my opinion, I want to learn more methods and questions to lead them to their own answer based on their concept. Today, I can do this with most students easily, by asking them directly, "What makes most sense with your project?" but I have encountered very difficult students who directly ask for your opinion, and say they don’t know, or don’t want to make the decision. and really push, and it is in these moments that I feel I need more questions, or techniques to lead them to their own conclusion.
Hi. This is Tilly ✋︎ I teach Book Arts at LCC, and in my own practice I work across artists books and packaging design, both publishing my own books, and working on commission for other artists and clients.
All The Books I Finished In My Head (this year). Artist book I published on the 31 December 2022
I have been working at LCC for 4 years now in the Book Arts department, after having worked in the industry as a bookbinder for various workshops across London.
I fell into teaching really, and have no formal academic background other than my own studies, which were 10 long years ago. I am excited to learn different teaching structures, and have a grounding in the theory of teaching and ultimately, develop more ways of helping students to reach their own conceptual conclusions.
Personally, I am keen to develop my academic self, as I have never been immersed in a theoretical learning culture. As a student I studied at drama school, and I have always been aware that the systems and models used were very different to the rest of the academic world. I am looking forward to learning the new language, and developing my understandings of the skeleton under so many practices.
