“The classroom remains the most radical space of possibility in the academy”
”any radical pedagogy must insist that everyone’s presence is acknowledged.
That insistence cannot be simply stated. It has to be demonstrated through pedagogical practices. To begin, the professor must genuinely value everyone’s presence.”
bell hooks, (1994) Teaching to Transgress:Education as the Practice of Freedom
As an AL, I have covered terms of learning and prepared learning experiences on a given topic. I may have a relationship with the cohort already or I may have to dive in. Having really enjoyed the development in my signature pedagogy during the Theories, Polices and Practices unit. During the Inclusive Practise unit I identified that it would be beneficial to address how I introduced myself and learning experience that was to be shared. The intention being to create a safe space in which enchanted learning experiences can take place.
I was keen to explore ideas around space following Kevin Merry’s UDL lecture especially for multiple location set ups… I visited UAL’s hub in Peckham and covered a large percentage of spaces during the grad shows and whilst doing so thinking of the design of corporate offices of companies I have worked with or visited for example, Google, Universal, Warner Brothers, but could not stop thinking about experiences in the artist slums in Jaipur, India, or traditional artisans in the mountains outside Kyoto, Japan. How in my experience have I removed environmental barriers?
“Feeling comfortable in a learning environment is linked to higher student achievement”
Gilbert et al 2013
I wanted to signpost Tell Someone following finding out that a student had systematically bullied every member of the staff and student in the cohort. As an AL I didn’t get an induction to UAL, I wasn’t aware about Tell Someone and as I am acutely aware sometimes you are not always aware that’s what you need to do at the moment. A cup of tea… thoughts wander back to my object based learning session in TPP How in my experience have I created safe spaces to encourage free speech?
I wanted to consider how I could make my lived experience relevant and useful to the learning experience… with bell hooks
Dr Gunam Singh Chay from transactual
Dr. Patrick Curry
Dr Kevin Merry swimming in my head
I was not surprised that my expectations that I would come up with a couple of introductory paragraphs that I could use as a framework would be proved wrong again!…
One of the things that surprised me most about my object based learning session for the TPP assessment was the difference in the quality of engagement when the cohort were asked to close their computers and I opened my wooden laptop and shared a presentation on the next part of the session which they had chosen.
I thought about times when I have used environmental circumstances to globally collaborate… the skills I used were not language but skills I developed on my degree at UAL… ceramics, felt making, silversmithing, drawing etc
I felt humbled by the wealth of knowledge I gained from the seventeen generations of feltmaking tradition, I was certainly not the privileged one. Kuame Anthony Appdiah challenges us to
We formed our relationships through making things together… an introduction….
These are a selection of pictures from the closed loop workshops I facilitated in India. We handmade products without using electricity or creating waste from natural local materials.
My first introduction intervention has developed into practise building a classroom together, I would really like to do this at the hub as an experiment. I spoke to the head of facilities for CCW and she couldn’t see any reason why a practise would not be possible… which is exciting!
armed with a diploma in health and safety I would like to think that turning the start of a learning experience inside out and upside down may be the beginning of an exciting adventure, that intends to build relationships from the beginning in a safe space that encourages collaboration and understanding, reducing anxiety and increasing intercultural friendships which were identified in I know the type of people I work well with’: student anxiety in multicultural group projects by Pat Strauss , Alice U & Stuart Young concluding with “educators need to ensure that they are asking students to do as they do, and not as they say. It might be advisable for lecturers to ensure that they model this type of approach in their own teaching and in the assignments they set” I think by doing this and making it a virtual exercise as well it will be exciting to see the results of moving not only furniture but cameras as well. We started to consider this possibility whilst talking with the incubates at the Hub.
Using skills that I learnt in the field I have begun to think about some of the elements of craft that could be integrated into a learning experience to connect ideas back to nature. For example whilst reimagining the learning space if each student was given a piece of raw wool to put in their shoe… whilst actively walking around on it for a short period of time the fibre would have begun to interweave itself and create a piece of felt… if a cohort of students did this and laid all the pieces out very quickly they would have built together a carpet, a roof or a door.
In Belonging as situated practice Karen Gravett & Rola Ajjawi Studies in Higher Education, Volume 47, 2022 – Issue 7 “students’ sense of belonging is known to be strongly associated with academic achievement and a successful life at university’as explained by Ahn and Davis (Citation2020, 622)
We were commissioned by Extinction Rebellion to contribute to the Restore Nature Now march https://www.theguardian.com/environment/gallery/2024/jun/22/restore-nature-now-march-in-london-in-pictures and on my travels preparing for the event I came across some more art work by Miles Glynn, the artist behind much of the XR artwork, I used his blocks to print my Courage jacket I wear in court. I am waiting for a reply but I have asked him if i can borrow the little banner for my next session… During the TPP and IP units I have enjoyed the moments of reflection and the times in the classroom during which you have the support of your cohort even though you are completing independent study. I will use this as an introduction to Tell Someone to foster community within the cohort and as an example for longer groups of how we can design our learning together.
In the group feedback session we had on the 26th June interesting suggestions were made including building in live feedback to the session. I am going to incorporate this into my tea break by including biscuits. We discussed the challenges of the difference between online and in person sessions which were an issue for me during TPP and it is a constant consideration for me which I hope to deep dive into during the ARP although i acknowledge that online learning supports many of the intersectional sensitivities raised during the IP unit. I have been lucky enough to be involved with many global activities, knowing that they can be expensive to develop in both time and money. I would like to continue working on my signature pedagogy in a workshop format and through completing further research during the ARP will be able to devise a plan to bring enchanted learning experiences to multiple platforms cost effectively and simultaneously!
Strauss, Young and U quote chuerholz-Lehr (Citation2007) who claims universities have a responsibility to prepare students for life in plural societies. She argues that, to belong to plural societies, a university graduate needs to possess ‘a high degree of world-mindeness and [be] … perfectly suited to live and work in different places on the globe as a socially responsible and interculturally knowledgeable citizen’ (181). Which I am just leaving there for the time being… ARP is looming… hopefully!
Bibliography
hooks, b. (1994) Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom. New York: Routledge
Curry, P. (2017) ‘The Enchantment of Learning and ‘The Fate of our Times’
Freire, P. (1970) Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York: Bloomsbury Academic
Bradbury, A. (2020). A critical race theory framework for education policy analysis: The case of bilingual learners and assessment policy in England. Race Ethnicity and Education
Garrett, R. (2024). Racism shapes careers: career trajectories and imagined futures of racialised minority PhDs in UK higher education. Globalisation, Societies and Education
Freund, P. (2001) ‘Bodies, Disability and Spaces: The social model and disabling spatial organisations’, Disability & Society.
Orr, S. and Shreeve, A. (2017) Art and Design Pedagogy in Higher Education: Knowledge, Values and Ambiguity in the Creative Curriculum. London: Routledge
Garrett, R. (2024) ‘Racism shapes careers: career trajectories and imagined futures of racialised minority PhDs in UK higher education’, Globalisation, Societies and Education
Pat Strauss , Alice U & Stuart Young I know the type of people I work well with’: student anxiety in multicultural group projects Studies in Higher Education, Volume 36, 2011 – Issue 7