Peer observation with Campbell Muir
Session/artefact to be observed/reviewed: Prototyping Part 2 (Prototyping Spaces) |
Size of student Group: 15-20
Observer: Campbell Muir
Observee: Ravin Raori
(Date of Observation: 25/01/2024)
Part One
Observee to complete in brief and send to observer prior to the observation or review:
What is the context of this session/artefact within the curriculum?
This is a session on making physical prototypes for the final year students on BA Design for Branded Spaces. I am teaching this session as a one-off to bring my experience in the area (as an Architect and Space Maker) to the students on this course. The students are currently focussing on creating a design experience across several scales ranging from pop-up stores to entire buildings. During the session, we will focus on the relevance of making physical prototypes in the design process. We will use the 9-square grid exercise by John Hedjuk (Love,2023) as a starting point for thinking about spatial experience, including layout and sequencing. I have created a version of this exercise for the students that they will undertake, followed by personal tutorial time, and finally some discussion as a group towards the end of the session.
How long have you been working with this group and in what capacity?
This is my first time teaching this group.
What are the intended or expected learning outcomes?
The importance or rather the subtle qualities of design that can only be engaged with through physical making. Also, the tangible aspect of a physical prototype and how that informs design decisions is an important learning that I hope the students can take away. Finally, the use of prototyping or rather physical prototyping as a tool to be critical about your own design process.
What are the anticipated outputs (anything students will make/do)?
The students will be making 3 physical models of spatial explorations referring to their own design projects. We will also be producing a Padlet as a record of the students’ work, and a place for comments, reflection and feedback as a group.
Are there potential difficulties or specific areas of concern?
I’ve never taught on this course before, so I’m worried about my assumed biases when it comes to fluency with spatial exploration. It also involves the students engaging with materials and physical processes which needs a certain amount of energy and interest. I’m worried whether the material presented will create enough enthusiasm around the task, but I’m hopeful that it will.
How will students be informed of the observation/review?
I will inform them at the beginning of the session.
What would you particularly like feedback on?
Since this is a purely experimental session, it would be great to generally hear from Campbell on how things went in terms of delivery and clarity of content. I’d love to know more about the experience of someone sitting in the room – in terms of whether the content was engaging and informative. Most importantly, it would be great to hear about my content and delivery from an inclusivity and accessibility standpoint as this is something I am trying to actively work on as part of my teaching practice.
How will feedback be exchanged?
Campbell and I will arrange to meet in the coming week, to exchange feedback and notes.
References:
Love, T. (2023) Harvard Design Magazine, 8 June. Available at: https://www.harvarddesignmagazine.org/articles/kit-of-parts-conceptualism-abstracting-architecture-in-the-american-academy/ (Accessed: 11 March 2024).
Part Two
Observer to note down observations, suggestions and questions:
Ravin Raori’s presentation of the 9 square grid exercise:
Ravin’s session was an introduction on the 25th of January at LCC to a project called the “9 square grid Exercise”. The aim of the exercise was to break down a known space or architectural site into a grid and working on up to three of the squares individually to explore the section without the context of the rest of the space this was to encourage students work more freely and playfully with the project.
The students were to eventually work with model making materials in creating 3d representations of what the grid squares could be, gradually expanding into other grids and changing through iterations.
Ravin introduced himself by showing some of his work, one of which was a fantastic project working around the area of algorithmic bias in AI, an interesting subject that the students seemed engaged with, he seemed at ease with group delivery.
Planning & Organisation:
Ravin used a clear keynote presentation with video examples and links to further information for the session. He gave context as to where the original concept came from and the purpose for which it was designed to achieve.
Plenty of model making resources were laid out for use, the group was small at about 14 students with approximately 50% being international students.
Presentation and methods:
Ravin’s presentation was clear and concise, he was aware of the international background of the students regularly pausing to check that they understood what was expected of them during the exercise.
The exercise was to encourage a light studio mood, a playful way of reimagining the students’ current project and looking at how to examine one small area without the greater context of the space.
Ravin moves about in the studio engaging with the students individually, giving a positive attitude and support to the students’ enquiries.
Student interactions:
One of the students was unclear about the large-scale of his project and how to fit it into the project. It was clear that the student wanted to fit his pre-developed idea into the current exercise which is expected when a student is engaged and excited by their concept.
Ravin encouraged him to expand in the nine square idea by exploring a larger area and deal with the units individually, the student seemed satisfied that he could explore the concept more in this manner.
The students seemed at ease with Ravin and the engaging way he discussed their individual projects despite this being the first time he had tutored this group.
Potential improvements:
I observed for 1hr 45mins and Ravin’s students seemed to slow down, to get the most of this as single session time constraints for what should be achieved could be used to keep it moving freely as often students get too focused with fitting the exercise into a pre-existing project. Mobile devices are a distraction for everyone so putting phones away off the desks may help keeping a concentrated pace, I could see phones being used a lot not necessarily for the project and an exercise that needs quick moving ideas can suffer from these distractions.
Ravin is a natural teacher, he’s comfortable in engaging with people, has a strong positive attitude to the learning environment and the students were keen to listen to his presentation.
Part Three
Observee to reflect on the observer’s comments and describe how they will act on the feedback exchanged:
I want to thank Campbell for his generosity. Campbell noticed a drop in energy (for the students) during my session as it went on. This is something I have been thinking about too. To provide some context here, my teaching sessions typically last around 4 hours. I’ve been noticing around the second and third hour, there is usually a dip in energy for the students. It depends on the day, time of the year and other factors but happens often enough to take notice. Perhaps I need to do better at breaking down a task into a series of smaller tasks, so things feel less daunting and maybe more achievable. I could build better reward mechanisms into the workflow. Within this context, I’ve also been thinking about how I could gamify workshops more, perhaps in a peer-to-peer sense or even individually. More checkpoints that allow a student to feel a sense of accomplishment might help alleviate some of the drop-offs I’ve been facing in energy levels. I will work on this moving forward, through workshop planning and time management. Campbell’s suggestion around reminding the students of deliverables and outcomes perhaps alludes to this in some way. Maybe the students need a way to claim ownership of material and time. I’m going to try and design the framework for future sessions to allow for this.
I also liked Campbell’s suggestion around putting phones away. This is another thing I’ve been wanting to try. One of the obstacles I could face is that I often ask students to use their phones as a tool during workshops. However, it’s important for me to become more intentional as an educator; that the phone can be used in certain contexts and needs to be put away for others. This is a great bit of feedback that I can put into action quite immediately.
Overall, the process of giving and receiving feedback has been rewarding in ways I did not expect. I found myself often having to confront my own bias; that was the best part about being paired with someone from a different design background. I also gained a lot from observing Campbell. At LCC, there is a very clear separation of studio and workshop spaces, which has its advantages but can also create a degree of disconnect between the two. Campbell’s course has an integrated studio and workshop space that allows for a co-habitation of thinking and making. It’s not to say that one is better than the other, but simply to pick up on where things are missing and how we as educators can find other ways (that are more under our control) to improve our delivery. It was great to see Campbell integrate himself within the space for the course and how that integration also extends into his delivery. The space allows for this as the machines, studio tables and tutorial areas are all in one big area. I want my students to feel a deeper sense of comfort and connection with workshop spaces. I plan to include more technical delivery, workshop touch points, inductions and technical resources into the planning of my content moving forward in order to respond to this.
Peer observation with Ravin Raori
Session/artefact to be observed/reviewed: Final Year Technical Tutorials BA Jewellery Design at CSM L114
Size of student group: Individual Tutorials
Observer: Ravin Raori
Observee: Campbell Muir
(Date of Observation: 01/02/2024)
Part One
Observee to complete in brief and send to observer prior to the observation or review:
What is the context of this session/artefact within the curriculum?
As specialist technicians we regularly give informal tutorials throughout the working day but recently I felt we should initiate bookable sit-downs with the final year students to get a broader picture of what we might anticipate is needed. Technical processes might be identified to realise final year students’ work and make sure none of them fall under the radar due to not knowing what to ask for in terms of technical solutions, processes, materials or examples.
During these 15-20 minute discussions we can possibly identify areas and have the booked freedom to introduce a student to techniques there and then whilst going over their designs.
How long have you been working with this group and in what capacity?
I have been working on this course for 20 years as a Technical specialist and have known this group since the start of their course.
What are the intended or expected learning outcomes?
To identify weak areas of understanding on technical processes and where we might need to bring in new processes to find solutions to producing final works.
What are the anticipated outputs (anything students will make/do)?
Each student will have different outcomes but help them understand processes to finishing their jewellery pieces.
Are there potential difficulties or specific areas of concern?
Language can be a barrier especially with niche technical terms not used in everyday language and sometimes students anxieties with working with some machinery.
How will students be informed of the observation/review?
They will be informed in person before it takes place and introduced to Ravin in person at the start of their session
What would you particularly like feedback on?
My clarity of instruction and pace at which I demonstrate a process, I would like to see if there’s suggestions on how I could improve delivery and if there’s ways I could record feedback.
How will feedback be exchanged?
Ravin and I will meet up to discuss the events.
Part Two
Observer to note down observations, suggestions and questions:
Campbell’s 1:1 Tutorials:
Campbell invited me to observe a series of 1:1 tutorials at Central St Martins. These were all with final year undergraduate students and were aimed at giving them design and technical support. The projects ranged from earrings and bracelets to tin boxes, other kinds of jewellery and artefacts.
Campbell has a warm and friendly approach to teaching. He presents his advice in a non-confrontational manner, offering suggestions and alternative viewpoints as opposed to being prescriptive. It is evident that his years of experience have put him at the forefront of jewellery design and education.
Process-
At the Desk:
Campbell uses a combination of visual cues and sketches to explain himself. Design students are often visual learners and this gives them something to refer back to. Some students brought physical prototypes. This added to the tactile nature of the tutorial. The tutorial feels like a collective brainstorm which is great to see. Campbell provides several opportunities to ask follow-up questions. In case a student does not understand, he makes sure to repeat himself. Campbell consistently gives the pros and cons to different approaches, including a combination of design and practical advice.
At the Machines/In the workshop:
Campbell took students to different machines in the workshop, demonstrating their use and application. His demonstrations were clear. He meticulously went through the steps, making sure to cover health and safety as well. He allowed the students a chance to try the machines after the demonstration.
Potential Improvements (Moving Forward):
- In ref. to Student 1: Perhaps another way to help the student learn how to use the machine could be the “see one, do one, teach one” method (What is the ‘watch one, do one, teach one’ method?, 2021). The act of teaching can often be an act of learning, and I have found this method useful. Slowing down the pace could help students that feel overwhelmed by the information. It could be interesting to break things down into smaller tasks that feel more achievable. Finally, Campbell also pointed out additional resources. Incorporating more of that self-support structure would be beneficial.
- In ref. to tutorials at the desk: Sketching for the students is great and I wonder if this could be enhanced by encouraging students to bring more of their own sketches. This might help eliminate any visual bias they gain from the ideas we (teachers) give them. In my experience, students can bias themselves by agreeing with everything we tell them. I’ve found it useful to check in with students, asking for more of their opinion and agency. Finally, keeping a record of the last conversation could be a useful way to start tutorials and ensure accountability.
Closing Comments:
It has been an immense pleasure to observe Campbell. I have learned a lot. His design expertise, calm demeanour and warmth are all reasons why his students are so fond of him. I aspire to incorporate more of his hands-on techniques into my own teaching. It’s clear he’s there for the students, through making and doing, unafraid to be wrong and commit mistakes. It’s important to show students that we are capable of error and making mistakes is a great way to learn. Campbell embodies the hallmarks of a wonderful educator with characteristics I aspire to have one day as well.
References:
What is the ‘watch one, do one, teach one’ method? (2021) Positive. Available at: https://www.positivegroup.org/loop/articles/what-is-the-watch-one-do-one-teach-one-method (Accessed: 08 March 2024).
Part Three
Observee to reflect on the observer’s comments and describe how they will act on the feedback exchanged:
It was an enjoyable afternoon having Ravin observe my technical tutorials with the students and getting feedback as we have quite similar outlooks and approaches in ways in which we teach.
Regarding moving forward, I have always been quite keen on the concept of “see one, do one, teach one.” This is a method I first came across with my wife’s medical studies and I found it novel then with the teaching environment of a hospital.
Over the years I have discussed this method with fellow staff members of the department, but it quite often falls fowl of health and safety issues particularly with the workshop environment in which we work.
We lecture at the beginning of the 1st year course what is expected of the students regarding health and safety and tell them never to instruct someone else into a process as this may invalidate any sign-off process we have and disrupt the continuity of what we inform them is the correct process.
Also finding a moment where a student does not mind being pulled away from their work to teach a method to another student can be difficult.
This said it could be implemented in low-risk processes where I find several students using the same technique such as stone setting process.
This method of teaching has lots of potential and this needs to be built deliberately into a teaching session to make it work rather than trying to tag it on to existing ones.
Recording of tutorials
Using carbon pads for tutorials has been widespread practice for some time for tutors but not something that has been given to technicians but Ravin mentioning this has brought it to mind that technicians should be using these pads as method of recording not just tutorials but some of the more informal interactions and questions we get.
A method for having a digital depository for each student could be good also so students could add these to online technical journals.
Thanks again to Ravin for working with me on a highly informative process.
Tutor observation with Lindsay Jordan
Session/artefact to be observed/reviewed: BA GMD Y3 Major Project Formative Presentations
Size of student Group: 8-10
Observer: Lindsay Jordan
Observee: Ravin Raori
(Date of Observation: 06/03/2024)
Part One
Observee to complete in brief and send to observer prior to the observation or review:
What is the context of this session/artefact within the curriculum?
This is a formative assessment session for the final year (Year 3/4) students on BA (Hons.) Graphic and Media Design. The students are currently working on their Final Major Project Unit. As part of this unit, the students undertake two creative briefs of their choosing and produce appropriate outcomes as their submission. The final submission will include a combination of the outcomes from the two creative briefs along with a visual summary that highlights their design journey across the unit. You can find a list of the briefs in this folder here.
I will be conducting this session for my own tutor group combined with the tutor group of my colleague Pedro Pina. Together, we have 30 students. The students have been divided into three groups of 10. Each group will present in a different time slot, between 9pm and 2pm. We had to stagger the groups as spaces will be limited in the studio that day and this would help us better manage the session. Lindsay would be observing the session during the second time slot.
The students will go one by one and present their work in progress for 5 minutes. This will cover their progress across both projects. This will be followed by 5 minutes of tutor feedback from me and Pedro. Our feedback will partly focus on the research they have conducted and the visual experiments they have undertaken so far. It will also focus on looking ahead at where the students would like to go from here and providing them with the right scaffolding to get there. The scaffolding will take the form of creative questions, further research examples, conversation and dialogue that helps them define the container for their projects and continue to explore design directions.
What are the intended or expected learning outcomes?
At the end of this session, the students should be able to:
· Take ownership and accountability of their design process.
· Articulate lines of enquiry and visual experimentation, through presenting work in progress.
· Frame contextually developed, practically researched and theoretically informed design arguments for their project outcomes.
What are the anticipated outputs (anything students will make/do)?
The following is the student-facing information, which is what they were asked to produce before the session. This is from our course Moodle page (in grey and italics).
// MPU Formatives preparation: — Prepare a maximum 5-minute slide presentation (pdf or keynote) showing development for TWO major projects. The slide presentation must be an edited account of where you are with both major projects. It must be well designed and professionally presented.
— Proposed content for the presentation (for each major project): 1. A working title and a short overview: what the project is about, what it aims to do, explore and/or reveal 2. Initial relevant contextual research 3. Initial visual development including experiments and tests, visual directions, prototypes etc 4. Proposed schedule and next steps so we can see your considerations for time and project management
//
Notes: — Presentations will be timed so please come prepared to avoid running over. — You may need to upload your PDF presentation to a Padlet wall ahead of your session (please check your tutor’s email for details).
Session Takeaway:
During the session, the students will receive feedback from their tutors. The conversation will also be open to peer comments. The students will also receive the feedback as a voice recording to refer to later. The students are free (and encouraged) to take notes when listening to their feedback, however sometimes this is not possible. This is why we provide them with the voice recording for later reference.
Are there potential difficulties or specific areas of concern?
Time management is always challenging with this kind of session. As we have a larger number of students to get through in this time-period, we will have to keep things moving to make sure we can get to each student. I am concerned about the students struggling with their briefs and whether I will have enough time to alleviate their concerns and respond to their issues within this session. Often, we end up having to point students to our office hours and sign-up tutorials to offer extended support.
How will students be informed of the observation/review?
I will inform them at the beginning of the session of the observation’s timings and nature. I will also re-inform the students once Lindsay has arrived, to make sure that the students are aware of when the observation begins and ends.
What would you particularly like feedback on?
I would like to get some feedback on the following:
· My ability to create meaningful conversation in a short period of time.
· My ability to offer constructive feedback and alternative viewpoints, without feeling prescriptive but allowing students room to reach their own conclusions.
· My ability to manage the time constraint.
How will feedback be exchanged?
Lindsay and I will discuss the feedback, through a meeting or the exchange of notes, details of which will be confirmed shortly.
Part Two
Observer to note down observations, suggestions and questions:
There were five students in the group when I arrived. A sixth arrived shortly after and sat off from the table. I think it would be nice to greet him and bring him into the group a bit? You could have asked me to move into the corner, I wouldn’t have been offended!
You wrote in Part One: “I am concerned about the students struggling with their briefs and whether I will have enough time to alleviate their concerns and respond to their issues within this session. Often, we end up having to point students to our office hours and sign-up tutorials to offer extended support.” This was apparent from watching your session, yes. And I think it probably affects the focus of yours and Pedro’s feedback. When time is short, we cut the stuff that we don’t see as absolutely necessary, and positive reinforcement can be sacrificed in favour of telling students the basics of what they need to work on.
Being encouraging and communicating your belief in the students doesn’t have to take extra time though; it’s often just a case of phrasing and body language. Pedro could learn from this more than you, for example, he says, “it didn’t feel ambitious enough” and “it feels a bit superficial at this stage” when he could say, emphatically: “I think you can be more ambitious!” and “you can go so much deeper!”.
I feel that the format is quite demanding on you and Pedro; it must take a superhuman effort of focused listening and watching to inform this continuous supply of great feedback. You record the feedback for the students, which is super. It might be fun to look into using transcription (google/word/Teams) and ChatGPT to provide the students with bullet points against the criteria and/or learning outcomes (you could show them how to do it, at least). Back in the day the student would be expected to make notes, and I think it’s a good thing that today we have a much better appreciation of language and learning differences, and the tools available to take care of note-taking while the student connects fully with the interaction. Some teachers will still nominate another student to act as the scribe while feedback is being exchanged.
Which leads on to my other question, which is: how might we rework what the other students are doing while one of their peers is presenting and getting feedback? How can we make it so that they are on task and learning during this time? Some of the students seem to be listening to the other students’ presentations and your feedback. Many of them – and sometimes all of them — are using their phones, working on laptops, etc. It is possible, although unlikely, that they are all diligently making notes. Could you have 30 seconds on post-its after each presentation, or, even better, get them to put a question on a post-it during the presentation? Most people need to be given a reason to focus.
In our tutorial you and I talked about the students’ presentation skills and how they might be supported to improve. If they go into industry they will presumably need to share their work with a team/clients in a similar format to this; similar screen/space size, number of people, etc. First off, they need to understand how much text is too much text! Can you get them to practice by doing slides with no text on at all, and then allowing them to use a really limited number of words?
That’s it – that’s all my ideas! What do you think?
Part Three
Observee to reflect on the observer’s comments and describe how they will act on the feedback exchanged:
Firstly, I would like to thank Lindsay for her detailed feedback, attention and care in the process. The comments are wonderful and incredibly useful for me moving forward.
In response to feedback: I absolutely agree that it would be good for me to consider where to allocate my time during such fast-paced sessions. On a course like BA GMD, we are often faced with situations where we’re trying to make sure that we can get a word in with each person, while also moving at a pace that feels empathetic and inclusive. I absolutely agree that it would be good to have more of a system that allows for consistency in feedback. I shall continue to think of and put into action, ways in which I could improve my session and time management moving forward. Finally, I found the comments on how we can phrase the same bit of feedback to reflect a more encouraging approach to be really useful and eye opening. I shall continue to improve and hopefully develop my skills in the language of feedback across all formats and years.
In response to what other students are doing: I also agree – it would be great to give the students a deeper sense of agency and engagement during the session, especially when others are presenting and receiving feedback. The idea of using post-it notes for peers to give each other some feedback or questions is really great. I will definitely try that moving forward. We do often use post-its with our Year 1s during formatives (refer to Case Study 3) and it does work well. Again, I think going back to the first consideration – it would be good for us as a course to also have more discussions around how we can start to look at these frameworks and systems across the years, seeking more consistency moving forward. I will make it a point to actively contribute to these discussions as well.
In response to feedback notes: The suggestion for using some kind of transcription software is wonderful. It would be really nice for students to have a summarised account of the feedback that’s been recorded. This is one that I can put into action quite immediately and I look forward to seeing the results and how students engage with it.
In response to presentation skills moving forward: Reflecting on the conversation with Lindsay (over Teams), as well as the feedback – I wholeheartedly agree that there is a clear gap in the students understanding of their own work and their communication/presentation of it. I think the exercise of using no-text could be such a great one and I will try that in a session in the near future. During our conversation we also discussed alternate approaches – leaning into theories and practices of performance and theatre, to give students different lenses to think through when presenting their work. All of these considerations have been incredibly enlightening and I’m eager to put them into action in many shapes and forms.
Once again, I would like to thank Lindsay for her time and generosity. This process has been incredibly rewarding for me.