22nd March.
What a journey it has been, at the beginning of the unit I had no idea how to log onto Moodle as a student or set up a blog. It’s given me a greater understanding of the new student experience and a sense of what it is like to enter a scholarly community – something I have thoroughly enjoyed. I’ve learnt to write about my reflections, developing my academic vocabulary along the way. I’ve gained so much from the lecture series and feel honoured to have met such an incredible group of educators, peer learning providing the space for us all to learn from each other’s experience and expertise. I’ve had the opportunity to test & develop my ideas with an audience. I’ve learnt from Tim that even our tutors don’t always get it right – our microteaching day was packed full of emotions. I’ve enjoyed the experience of watching others teach at the London School of Fashion and Chelsea School of Art. I am determined to visit the Museum & Study collection at Central St Martins from our object-based learning session. It’s reassuring to realise that I already do a lot of named teaching practices – I had no idea of the concept ‘object-based learning’ when I took my students to engage with the Zine collection at LCC. I’ve also explored and gained knowledge on many pedagogies such as the importance of knowledge sharing and silence as a teaching practice, I’ve been able to try & evaluate different modalities for facilitating group learning – large & small groups verses 1 to 1, influence participation, motivate & support learners and present information through experiencing my own and others microteaching sessions. I have a greater understanding of the importance of implementing the Ual policy of climate, social and racial justice into all levels of our course. I’ve learnt new methods & techniques such as transparent pedagogy. I’ve been able to evaluate these from the perspective of a learner and made many connections between my own experience and that of my students. I’ve also been able to situate my academic practice within the wider context of the HE sectors and the art school environment. Helping me to consider how I present my ideas and explain my work to different people and evaluate that process. I’ve also explored ways to refresh my teaching practice through the design and delivery of my content. Evaluating learning sessions to positively impact my student’s experience. It’s been an incredible experience; I cannot wait to see what next term brings.
Areas of interest to consider
– How to equalise assessment/non graded feedback?
– Compassionate pedagogy.
– How to get Chinese students to be more vocal and integrated in the course.
– Presentation skills as key area for course development.
– How to decolonise and integrate the reading list into the curriculum.
– How might we integrate & engage the library as a source for learning & research – more engagement.
– How might we facilitate library resources into object-based learning as part of the course curriculum.