What:
For this intervention, I was interested in studying the relationship between community and learning new skills. I was running a technical workshop for BA GMD Year 3 to teach them Rhino 3d. Rhino is a 3d modelling software used across Architectural, Graphic, Product, Furniture and Industrial Design.
For the context of my ARP project, I thought it could be interesting to study if being paired up with another person would enhance the experience of learning a new (technical) skill. I was thinking back to my time in Architecture School and realised that a lot of learning, especially – tech related came in those late hours with friends – burning the midnight oil, trying desperately to figure out how to loft a curve the right way. Turns out – there is no wrong way to loft a curve. But the lesson being – it was always an important aspect of studio learning; the learning with peers so I wanted to test it out here.
How:
I asked the students to bring a personal object to the session. Any object really – something simple to model in 3d. The object also gives a tangible interactive thing for students to get excited about, work with and talk about. Refer to my reflections on Object Based Learning from the TPP unit.
I began the session by running through some of the basic commands in Rhino just to get students up to speed with the software and introduce them to a few basic skills.
Following this, I paired students randomly and asked them to design a hybrid version of their two objects in discussion with each other. They were to sketch it out on paper first, based on their discussion and then mock it up together in 3d. Refer to workshop slides below.
Where:
Tower Block 6th floor, BA GMD Studios.
When:
07.11.24
Why:
Bringing back some of the learnings from Object Based Learning, I though it could be interesting for students to talk to each other about the value, provenance, material nature, etc. of their objects and use that to design a third (digital) object together. Perhaps the energy and enthusiasm around making a new object together gives more of community and belonging around this new object. The hope was that this would translate into added motivation to learn the skills I had just demonstrated.
Data Collected:
I introduced a final slide where I asked students to reflect on the experience of learning a new skill with another person. See link to Padlet.
Student 1: “I found the idea of combining the objects of other people into one quite intriguing, especially when you take specific parts of objects. This idea is actually could serve as a foundation for my SDP project where I wanted to explore 3d modeling. Taking random things and combining them into one. Perhaps if there had been better communication, the outcome could’ve been a bit more complex but overall I liked this project.“
Student 2: “I think making an object with someone else on a programme I’ve never used was extremely helpful. I also don’t have too much background in 3D making but my group mate knew a little bit more than I did so it worked quite well. I think in general this practice works really well on activities that students don’t have much background in as it pushes us to communicate and help each other; possibly learning quicker like how I did. I also like working with another person because it allowed me to see other ways of combining the 2 objects.”
Student 3: “This was a good learning experience this was my first time using rhino it was a bit tricky to figure things out. However everyone else was in a similar situation and we had to learn together. I felt that the experience was good as we all had different object and we came up with some good sketches. I felt this session helped me to get an idea of what kind of things I could make with rhino.”
Student 4: “The session was overwhelming and useful. The software itself is fairly difficult, but the instructions and explanations are clear and simple to follow. I definitely envision myself honing my 3D modelling skills and exploring additional applications in the future.”
Student 5: “It was a great experience to collaborate with other students in this task just to see how we can all create a variation of designs based on the same objects. Using new software together put us on the right path to understand its potential together and learning our limitations within at this stage.
This starting point helped us as a group understand different ways of thinking and we optimised our approach to creating a 3D form.”
Reflection:
It’s clear that most students found the experience of working with another to be a useful way of learning and supporting each other. This was also a very small group of students so my sample set is limited and I don’t want to jump to conclusions on the validity of these claims within this context. But it’s a good starting point. This intervention also makes me think about some of my reflections on Collective Experience (see Blog Post). I believe that there is tremendous value in the shared experience of students and how that can be a key part of their learning journey.
Reference:
- Willcocks, J. and Mahon, K. (2023). The potential of online object-based learning activities to support the teaching of intersectional environmentalism in art and design higher education. art, design & communication in higher education, 22(2), pp.187-207.
- Collins, P. H. (2000). Black feminist thought: Knowledge, consciousness, and the politics of empowerment. Routledge.
- Ahmed, S. (2017). Living a feminist life. Duke University Press.
- Templin, C. (2022). Why Citation matters: Ideas on a feminist approach to research. Blog ABV Gender-und Diversitykompetenz FU Berlin. https://blogs. fu-berlin. de/abv-gender-diversity/2022/01/10/why-citation-matters:-ideas-on-a-feminist-approach-to-research/(10.10. 2022).