Session: Concrete Future Workshop
Size of student group: up to 25
Observer: Chris Rowell
Observee: Becky Allen
Part One
What is the context of this session/artefact within the curriculum?
Concrete Future is workshop run once each term to support year 3 BA Illustration students with their progression aims. Each term the workshop is different and builds upon the previous session. Concrete Future runs alongside their core teaching and is reviewed at summative assessment points.
How long have you been working with this group and in what capacity?
I have been working with all third years since the end of their second year (June 2023 – present). This Concrete Future session is on a sign-up basis and therefore this group may be comprised of students who have not worked together before.
What are the intended or expected learning outcomes?
The session strives to build upon student’s progression aims and support the development of their professionality:
- Demonstrate the integrated use of sustainable, coherent and critically engaged and personally defined research methodology and developed from a wide range of relevant sources
- Demonstrate a very high level of autonomy in your independent and collaborative Illustration practice through the proactive and personally defined management of your own learning and the use of critical reflection and self- evaluation methods
- Professionally communicate your practice, research, ideas and skills in visual, verbal and/or written forms appropriate to multiple and varied audiences demonstrating your critical understanding of Illustration in the wider context
What are the anticipated outputs (anything students will make/do)?
A Task sheet/booklet will completed containing the following:
- Students will start forming a Vision statement
- Students will start forming a Mission statement
- Students will prepare 5 progression goals according to SMART principles.
Are there potential difficulties or specific areas of concern?
- Whole group interactions – We may have a quiet group that respond minimally to interactive group questions and discussion.
- Students may be uncomfortable working in groups with peers less known to them and therefore confidence to give feedback may be limited.
- Students may not have attended the original (mandatory) session in term 1 and therefore may not be aware of all terms or tasks mentioned previously.
- Students may not have brought adequate resources to work with – e.g. laptop, notebook/sketchbook
How will students be informed of the observation/review?
Students will be informed in an email prior to the session (in a reminder email) and also told at the beginning of the session.
What would you particularly like feedback on?
It would be helpful to get feedback on:
- Level of student engagement with the tasks during the session
- Student engagement with each other when giving peer feedback – was their feedback critical, constructive or compassionate? How can I support this?
- Student responses to tutor led discussion – I want to encourage a relaxed and informal session to encourage students to speak up and interact.
- Is the session inclusive and responding to a range of student’s needs. How could I make it more so?
How will feedback be exchanged?
Through use of this document and a follow up tutorial.
Part Two
Introduction
The session began with a well-explained task that set a positive tone for the whole lesson. Your approach to welcoming latecomers was very good, striking a balance between acknowledging their presence and maintaining the session’s flow without being overly punitive.
Presentation and Visual Aids
One challenge observed was the use of the visual aids, particularly the projection screen. The small screen made the typeface difficult for students to read the content. You were probably stuck with the projector size but was there an alternative? Also, I don’t think the colour contrast on the slides helped (white text on a maroon background) – I think a stronger contrast would have made it easier to read.
The use of flip chart paper to list responses to the initial question about job roles within the industry, such as freelance and art direction, was done really well. This method effectively engaged students and visualized their contributions. However, the opportunity for an even more engaging and interactive task was missed. An active brainstorming activity where students could move around and participate more dynamically might have fostered a more engaging environment. Get the students to do the writing on the paper and presenting back.
Student Engagement
The session included various questioning techniques that, while effective in some respects, predominantly featured closed questions. This limited the potential for open debate or interaction, which could have enriched the learning experience. Future sessions might benefit from incorporating more open-ended questions to stimulate discussion and deeper thinking.
The observation also highlighted a concern with student preparedness, noting that few students had brought laptops. One suggestion might be to make lesson more accessible to mobile devices, such as integrating QR codes for accessing resources, could enhance engagement and accessibility for all students. i.e have a handout were students scan the codes and this takes them directly to the sites (students often forget their laptops but never their phone!)
Group Dynamics and Individual Attention
The natural formation of small groups was a positive aspect of the session, indicating a comfortable and collaborative learning atmosphere. But you could mix this up a bit. Just giving them numbers (or colours) and getting them to mix in different groups gets them out of their seats and mixing and talking with others – it will change the energy and dynamics in the classroom. Also, think about the late-arriving, one student who arrived late and came and sat next me didn’t really integrate into any group (but you did come over and check that she was OK which was great).
Mission and Vision Statement Task
The task of writing mission and vision statements, while well-structured, appeared to be somewhat daunting for students. An alternative approach might involve exploring the purpose and benefits of such statements before diving into writing. Introducing a discussion on good vs. bad mission statements, possibly through comparing examples, could provide clearer guidance and inspire more thoughtful personal statements. Say for example, you just get them to right down their mission statement in 20 words and then they shared them in pairs or in their groups – and then in the wider group would have made it easier for them to comment on what they liked (or didn’t like) in a mission statement.
Classroom Management and Pace
Your movement around the classroom was adept, engaging with individuals and groups effectively and ensuring that students remained focused and understood their tasks. This proactive management helped maintain a good pace throughout the lesson, moving seamlessly from one activity to the next. Well done!
Goal Setting and Ongoing Tasks
The SMART goal-setting exercise, while intended to be practical, came across as vague. A more detailed framework or examples could help clarify this task’s objectives and make it more actionable for students. Tbh I just don’t think you had time to do this effectively in a one hour session – I would have saved this for another session.
The emphasis on ongoing tasks, such as website creation and refining mission and vision statements, is very positive, encouraging continuous learning and application beyond the classroom.
Conclusion
The session demonstrated several strengths, including effective classroom management, a good pace, and initial engagement strategies. At the end when you said that this was usually a two hour session it made more sense to me – I think you were trying to do a little too in one hour. If you had done less in the time it would have given you more opportunity to make the activities more interactive and deepening the exploration of mission and vision statements to make them more meaningful and engaging for students. Well done Becky, I think the students found it a useful session and it will help them in the transition to their next steps beyond the course. Thank you for inviting me to the session.
Part Three
There are a number of very useful observations that I can reflect on and develop moving forwards.
Digital presentation: In future I could book a larger screen (would need to look into this as these screens are all we have on the course), or perhaps I could use 2 screens to help with students being able to see the presentation. The colour combination of the text and background can be changed to enhance visibility using this website as a guide: https://toolness.github.io/accessible-color-matrix/ (recommended by Vida in my peer observation.) I could also take on board the suggestion of having QR codes available to take students directly to the presentation I was showing so they can read this on their phones. I will have to experiment with this as at times it is difficult to link directly to moodle so perhaps I could use another hosting platform for students to view this.
Mixing groups of students: I like the suggestions for mixing up the groups by using colours or numbers to change the dynamic. This could have been done fairly simply by pairing people with the coloured sheets they took. It is always a concern of mine that some students can be left on the edge of a session due to arriving late or not knowing peers as well so this could really help that moving forwards.
Open interaction: I can focus on the types of questions I will ask in future to incorporate more open ended questions to encourage deeper discussion. I tend to try ‘fill the gaps’ in student silences and am anxious about students not engaging. Therefore I will need to give careful consideration to the type of questions I use in order to encourage students to interact more dynamically with each other in the hope that it leads to more student debate on the content.
Statement writing: I take on board the comments about preparing students for writing these kind of statements, however they have already been given an ‘about’ task to research and write, and they have spent a group tutorial working together to develop a starter for these. That said. it is good to know that students may still have felt a bit daunted by this task (perhaps students attend this session to make up for not doing their ‘About’ tasks?!) and that a different approach is needed. Showing comparisons is a great idea on what may be seen as good or bad, and limiting the response to the writing task with a number of words to use rather than constructing full sentences could be incorporated into future sessions. I can see how this may open up more of a discussion between students and be a softer way to introduce statement writing, especially when they will be presenting it to their peers for feedback.
Time: Time was a big issue for this session, and I had to cram a lot into a one hour session. An unforeseen year group meeting was set up for that afternoon unexpectedly which meant that it had to be cut short. In future (if something like this happens again which is likely!), it may be better to run the session in two parts at different times, so that the content isn’t squeezed into a smaller time frame. The SMART goal setting section would have benefitted from having more time to develop. Giving examples and a more detailed framework are very helpful suggestions for how I can improve this element, as well as the workshops in general. It would be useful to give clearer directions on how to do these, and break down each criteria in more detail so that students are more prepared in how to use them
Thank you for the great suggestions Chris and for taking the time to observe me.