Liz HaYdeN

Record of Observation or Review of Teaching Practice​

Session/artefact to be observed/reviewed: MA Global Collaboraration

Size of student group:​

Observer: John O’Reilly

Observee: Liz Hayden

Note: This record is solely for exchanging developmental feedback between colleagues. Its reflective aspect informs PgCert and Fellowship assessment, but it is not an official evaluation of teaching and is not intended for other internal or legal applications such as probation or disciplinary action.

Part One See previous ROT for Adam
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?

How long have you been working with this group and in what capacity?

What are the intended or expected learning outcomes?

What are the anticipated outputs (anything students will make/do)?

Are there potential difficulties or specific areas of concern?

How will students be informed of theobservation/review?

What would you particularly like feedback on?

How will feedback be exchanged?

Part Two

Observer to note down observations, suggestions and questions:

The Pedagogy of Ritual

The group in Liz’s class are Masters students studying Global Collaboration, a degree comprising participants at UAL in Camberwell and others joining online from Kyoto in Japan. It’s 0900 in London and 1800 Kyoto, the class bookends the very beginning and ending of the Monday workday, and the assumption of this observer is that the dual group of students are already highly motivated, engaged and perhaps keen to be inspired. It’s why Liz’s opening question is really effective: “what are you currently working on and what do you hope to get out of the session?” 

The student responses are a way of tangibly gathering, materialising, the group around ‘matters of concern’ (to use a phrase from science and technology studies scholar Bruno Latour). Expressing these matters is a way in which the students form themselves as a group (or to use a word Latour and educationalist John Dewey might say, how they become a ‘public’). Project management itself is also the practice of making publics around particular matters of concern. Tea will be the physical matter of this class that sparks thinking around other matters involving project management. 

Each student responds individually, outlining a different project that they’re working. One student’s project involves seven workshops with 50 people and is working through with many different elements to this project, such as running workshops in the community. Another student is interested to find out about scheduling, while another is working on a project about materials with designers – her concern is being able to step outside the specific interests of this research, she would like a different perspective and thinks that a project management approach might work. She’s also worried about ‘time’, ‘I would like to create a plan’. 

This concern with focus and time is also a feature of other students experience of project management – one student would like to know how to continue to engage their audience, ‘something that would help manage what happens when there are delays and when you bring other people into the project’. This gathering of interests is such a simple but effective pedagogic strategy by Liz, it makes me think about the tacit teaching and learning skills in the practice of project management. 

In a class such as this where the students are postgraduates with experience of working life, the authority of the teacher to speak to the subject really matters – lecturers often confuse embarrassment in the feeling they are talking about themselves with setting out their own professional experience. Making professional experience visible also enhances the value of scholarly and research texts used in class. 

Liz notes that she’s been working in industry for 25 years, and today she’s brought different sets of slides around project management – a corporate version and an ‘indy’ version (it would also have been useful to note some of the starry brands which Liz has worked with). 

As the students are articulating their interests in the session, Liz is istening and responding to students, asking them questions, while tearing up strips of paper, passing them round to people, and begins, frames, the lesson with the idea that, “lots of things can be started with a cup of tea.” 

The class will make this cup of tea together, step-by-step, and she asks each person to name an action they will do in the practice of making a cup of tea. 

“I will decide which tea I want to drink”. “I will pick my cup”. “I will talk to my cat as I make it”. “I will need to think about the temperature for the tea.” “I will pour milk?. “I will pour water into the cup.” “I will add the teabag.” “I will pour it down the drain and start again, warming the teapot.” “I will stretch because I am tired.” “I will prepare cakes with the tea.” “I will plump of the cushions.” “I will put flowers in the tea”. “I will put on music and drink it.” 

Though this is a teaching moment there are so many things that can be analysed as data for further research. There is a very tangible Learning Outcome that is being practiced in this opening to the class that Liz discreetly draws out attention to: “there are lots of jobs that need doing with a group of people.” 

She asks the students to close their computers then she brings out a kind of ‘handbag of  curiosities’. She has containers of tea and talks about planting seeds she brought back from a visit to India 25 years ago. 

Tearing more strips of paper and handing them round to students, Liz  says, “things happen because of tea.” The students wrap the paper around a circular wooden block and put some soil in it with the tea seed. “There are special things we need to know when looking after Tea and one of the special things we need to know is to add coffee, it helps the soil.”

There is real student engagement that comes from purpose in this task. It is a fascinating pedagogy of analogy, that is more than analogy. It is understanding and planning and growing-tea-as-tea, and it is understanding and planning and growing-tea-as-project-management. Its material, teaching charisma comes from Liz’s choice of tea as an everyday object and the material stories she tells around it. Handing around broken eggshell she says, “the tea plant needs eggshells to protect against slugs. Remember you need to protect your project. Protection could be a consultant or some of the specialist skills. Put in another seed so that there is an idea and there is a backup idea.”

There are three immediate thoughts that come to mind in response to this partial observation of the class. 

The first thought concerns Liz’s very special curation of materials and the tea ritual she constructs as a pedagogic device for participation, it has the charm and charisma of all rituals that demand attention and a bodily practice. Liz has created an affective teaching experience. 

The second thought is to consider how it could be made even more effective for the students in Kyoto in terms of their participation. 

The third thought is that this is the second time I have seen part of this class, the first part of the class in the collective planning of tea, I participated in at the micro-teaching event. I have had time to think about it, the impact of her teaching exercise on colleagues was tangible. Liz’s pedagogy is that of a tightrope walker, there is spectacle, excitement and risk for those participating. It is a kind of performance storytelling whose sense of risk allied with intellectual purpose is utterly compelling.

#affect #magic #emergentclassroom

FYI

Niccolini, A., Zarabadi, S. & Ringrose, J. (2018) ‘Spinning Yarns: Affective Kinshipping as Posthuman Pedagogy’. Parallax. 24

Orr, S., & Shreeve, A. (2017) ‘Teaching practices for creative practitioners’, Art and design pedagogy in higher education: Knowledge, values and ambiguity in the creative curriculum. Taylor and Francis Group.

Part Three

Observee to reflect on the observer’s comments and describe how they will act on the feedback exchanged:

Thank you for your very insightful and delightful observation… my confidence in the classroom has measurably grown having digested and processed much of this terms work… I still have a wish list of investigations to do!

I am most aware of the second point regarding the students in Kyoto, it causes much discussion and I was aware whilst planning this session that it would again be a cause for more discussion… In the observation I worked with a teaching assistant to partake in the exercise to camera for the students abroad and online, which was the first step for me into understanding the problem space further. As a result of this I am particularly interested in using some techniques I have used professionally when sharing content and products with an online global audience. This however does require more extensive planning and a small budget. In the hope that it may be possible I have discussed my ideas with the previous course leader who has arranged for me to test further the session and I am going to approach the course leader and ask if it might be possible to make a proposal to test in the autumn term.

I am also interested in discussing with colleagues in the creative computing lab how skills in house could be shared, as having previously worked with AI and VR to create magical customer experiences I am well aware of the costs involved in doing this successfully. However feel there could be opportunities to harnessed to enchant learning experiences further.

I was honoured that Orr & Shreeve was cited as it was number 2 in my top 3 papers from the reading list!

Record of Observation or Review of Teaching Practice​

Session/artefact to be observed/reviewed: Advanced Creative Coding

Size of student group:​ 50

Observer: Liz Hayden

Observee: Adam Cole

Note: This record is solely for exchanging developmental feedback between colleagues. Its reflective aspect informs PgCert and Fellowship assessment, but it is not an official evaluation of teaching and is not intended for other internal or legal applications such as probation or disciplinary action.

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?

We will be observing the MSc Creative Computing Course within the context of the Creative Computing Institute (UAL). This session will be week 8 of Advanced Creative Coding II. We will be taking a high level overview of “creative machine learning with javascript”.We’ll begin with a general introduction to ML for artistic practice, with a specific focus on the inputs and outputs of existing models. I will give a short lecture on asynchronous programming with javascript which is a foundational skill for this lesson. After the technical lecture, we’ve arranged a hands-on-research activity for students to explore these concepts more in depth with their classmates.

How long have you been working with this group and in what capacity?

This is the second semester I’ve been working with this cohort as an associate lecturer.

What are the intended or expected learning outcomes?

We want to introduce students to machine learning concepts without overwhelming them. They will spend all of next term on this topic, so we want to ease them into it with a fun, high level introduction with a programming language they are comfortable with.

What are the anticipated outputs (anything students will make/do)?

Students will listen to the lecture and then explore these topics in various teams. We’ve prepared a figma that has a column for different creative machine learning model. Students will review the questions in the figmaand fill them out in groups. We will review what they’ve learned together when the session completes.

Are there potential difficulties or specific areas of concern?

These are tough coding concepts that we’re trying to address more conceptually then technically. We want students to have a general understanding how to use existing machine learning models without getting lost in the details of their internal respresentations. However, we are not going through the code of how to do so line-by-line. We’re hoping the concept is more important to highlight and will allow them to self-learn the more technical aspects through individual practice.

Another major difficulty in that the majority of the class is Chinese speaking. This is a challenge in ensuring my spoken lecture is understandable in vocabulary in speed. 

How will students be informed of theobservation/review?

I have informed the other instructors in advance but not the students. I will let the students know there is an observer in the room today to ensure everyone’s comfort. As this is a fairly large cohort, I do not expect it to cause any disruption.

What would you particularly like feedback on?

I’d appreciate feedback on my delivery of the lecture and my relationship with the students. Any general feedback and areas of improvement would be much appreciated.

How will feedback be exchanged?

Part Two

Observer to note down observations, suggestions and questions:

I had a perfectly brilliant UAL learning experience observing your lecture. I misread your very clear instructions and turned up on time to the main lecture hall in Wilson Road, where I sat through a fantastic lecture which I thought to be on an Introduction to AI, I found out an hour later it was actually an introduction to Art History concluding with slides on mark making and pixelisation by Park Seo-Bo

Thankfully, your day had been rescheduled and I hadn’t missed anything…and I was whisked straight back into a pixilised reality.

Although you had been delayed by external factors and acknowledged that their was a lot to get through. The class were engaged as you introduced yourself and what the plan was for the afternoon. The students understood your presentation and were able to ask questions. I think they really appreciated the time you took to answer their specific individual questions and solve problems with them.

I observed that with the drawing example you shared as an exercise that it may be worth considering spending more time as it was very noticeable that they were really enjoying it and it could be an opportunity to do some group work, many of them continued working with it through the next few sets of slides which meant they were not as engaged as they had been previously until you pulled the next trick from your book. 

Assess and give feedback for student learning

Introduction & Background

I am an AL on MA Global Collaborative Design Practise, my role involves giving feedback for learning and awareness of the course assessment criteria.. A new course which is evolving rapidly as it finds its place in the joint honours space. UAL and Kyoto Institute of Technology work in partnership to award the students honours from both universities. The formal assessment criteria differs between awarding bodies. MA Global Collaborative Design Practise attracts a diverse range of students from all over  the world. As a creative practitioner, I was recruited to share my experience in generating income in the global creative industries and my long relationship with local groups and charities in Camberwell.

Evaluation

As a AL with many years of industry experience, it is challenging to find the balance between feedback internally and what would be expected externally. My experience of recruiting graduates and mentoring them until competent and confident enough to deliver their own ideas. Combined with my experience and involvement with the assessment process on MA Global Collaborative Design Practise, has driven and informed my development of lectures, with which I would intend to bridge the gap and increase the employability of graduating students. 

Moving Forward

I have researched the opportunity of joining the mentoring scheme, as a mentor for UAL students. I have started the process of reviewing my CV with the assistance of student services. I hope to submit my application shortly. This to help me understand the brilliant systems in place to support students looking for work. I have informally discussed UAL system with colleagues in museums and galleries and potentially would like to continue this more formally. I am also interested in projects run by the employability team and hope that in the process I will get a deeper understanding of these.

I will continue to advocate and support students with opportunities for real experience, especially in final year projects where the course recommends this pathway.

I will continue to believe that education is enchanting and prototype gamifying my sessions so that participants can level up and host their own tea party whether they pass or fail the assessment.

Internal Assessments  

As an AL, I will ensure that two weeks before the lecture I will contact the course leader to request an update on the current situation and the learning outcomes for assessment criteria desired from the lecture.

I will plan and prepare content to meet the learning outcomes and assessment criteria and work with the students in the areas required to support them in the assessment process.

I will develop a signature pedagogy to make boring but often essential tools for delivering creative projects that generate income exciting. That support the learning outcomes and assessment criteria of the course. Researching and scaffolding my learning with the assistance of Orr & Shreveport 2017 Art and Design Pedagogy in Higher Education where they refer to the work of Shulman 2005 “who states that professions have particular pedagogic approaches which enable students to learn to think as a professional would”

Encouraging active participation, group discussion and feedback I will continue researching, testing and collecting data on my lectures effectiveness. I will offer to test over a range of courses and levels.

I will identify the potential of embedding the concept over a longer period of learning and report on the results if possible through the outcome of the assessments.  

I will work on developing this concept for multiple platforms.

Creative attributes framework

Integrated attributes for employability

Bloom et Al Taxonomy of Educational Objectives

Planning and supporting student learning

Introduction & Background

I am an AL on MA Global Collaborative Design Practise. A new course which is evolving rapidly as it finds its place in the joint honours space. UAL and Kyoto Institute of Technology work in partnership to award the students honours from both universities. Attracting students from all over  the world, I was recruited to share my experience in generating income in creative practise globally. 

Evaluation

Currently I am employed on an ad hoc basis, which brings the challenge of building relationships with course tutors and students. As a AL on a new course, the structure is constantly going through development. The PGCert has enabled me to think through this problem space and begin developing a toolkit of enchanting learning experiences for all students that are student led and allows them to decide how they would like their requirements met. Utilising planned and prepared tools featuring real examples for the students to call upon.

Moving Forward

As a result of studying the PGCert, excited to share my ideas, having accepted the offer to guide a Project Management lecture I booked a session with the course leader two weeks before the session. This enabled me to share what I had planned and ask permission to play. I was also able to be updated on the course and the developments, and listen to the problem spaces the students were encountering with only a short time before delivering their final projects. 

As a result I was able to amend my presentation accordingly to support the student learning.

Lectures In Person / Online  

As an AL, I will ensure that two weeks before the lecture I will contact the course leader to request an update on the current situation and the learning outcomes desired from the lecture.

I will plan and prepare content to meet the learning outcomes and support the students in the areas required. 

I will develop a signature pedagogy to make boring but often essential tools for delivering creative projects that generate income exciting ( I am going to focus on My Cup of Tea for now but I am so excited about a session on funding I have an idea for!) 

This will involve (but may evolve!)

An object based learning activity to bring into focus the session topic

A surprise because every lecture should have one

A making workshop, a practical hands on activity used as a metaphor for the topic being introduced. The challenge to develop is how this can be simultaneously performed to the same effect on multiple platforms

A moment of reflection/silence everyone needs those… I’m also processing the SPARK : Embracing the Silence paper by Karen Harris but I haven’t finished yet

Contextual information in text/audio/video/performance, this will include real examples of relevant projects, a historical overview and contemporary setting, reference to current examples of primary research.

Time for development of personal project in group setting because I really appreciated this time and space during the PGCert workshops as a springboard for continuing my reading and research.

I will work on developing this session for multiple platforms.

I will ask for feedback following submission of the projects they are working on.  

Phil Race

Patrick Curry Enchanted learning

Bloom et Al taxonomy of Educational Objectives

Crafting learning Outcomes

Knowing and responding to your students’ diverse needs

Introduction & Background

I am an AL on MA Global Collaborative Design Practise. A new course which is evolving rapidly as it finds its place in the joint honours space. UAL and Kyoto Institute of Technology work in partnership to award the students honours from both universities. Attracting students from all over  the world, I was recruited to share my experience in generating income in creative practise globally. 

Evaluation

Currently I am employed on an ad hoc basis, which brings the challenge of building relationships with the students, earning their trust and being able to see the implementation of a concept through. As an AL I am not made aware of the diverse needs of the students. The PGCert has enabled me to think through this problem space and begin developing a toolkit of enchanting learning experiences for all students that are student led and respond to their needs. 

Moving Forward

Following my micro teach, I have started researching developing this formula of using object based learning to reflect on a specific action as a metaphor to embed the concept of an action plan. I plan to continue testing this with a range of cohorts at different stages of their learning. Originally devised with Foundation students in mind, I have been surprised at the positive response and the feedback from my teaching peers and MA 2nd year students. 

Lectures In Person / Online  

As an AL, I will ensure that two weeks before the lecture I will contact the course leader to request an update on the current situation and the learning outcomes desired from the lecture.

I will plan and prepare content to meet the learning outcomes and support the students in the areas required. 

Last week I delivered a lecture on Project Management. I delivered the content by introducing My Cup of Tea (from the object based learning micro teach). I prepared 3 sets of slides using text and video and a verbal presentation about my personal experience of project management scaffolding the My Cup of Tea activity with my personal project of growing tea in Camberwell, this involved a seed planting workshop where the students were invited to make a seed planter from paper and plant a seed.

I referenced previous MA Global student project How do you take your tea?, and celebrated their involvement in the TEA conference held in partnership with UAL and the Horniman Exhibition. Using historical and contemporary references to the history of tea and its depiction in art history. 

After gifting them a cup of tea or a moment of reflection during the break.

I opened the next session by asking the students which presentation they would like to hear first. They chose my personal experience, followed by successful and challenging examples of project management in medium sized projects followed by how corporate and government bodies manage projects. 

I then concluded the session with time for us to work together as a cohort on their projects and addressed any issues they were facing individually. Students online had a close up tutorial and were asked to join in with the activities.

I will work on developing this session for multiple platforms.

I will ask for feedback following submission of the projects they are working on.  

Learning from these

Phil Race … radical post it note man… thought about how I could make a new post it note!

Crafting learning Outcomes in Toolkit

Bloom et al Taxonomy of Educational Objectives

Cognative /Affective / Pschyomotor

Thinking/emotional:social / Making

Associate fellowship

alot to process… bite size chunks

history timeline exercise and starting point for systems activity

pG Cert lived experience of being a teacher

workflow is an online portfolio CMS

yes can sign in a visitor

inter cultural communications training

Enrolment

Handbook

Student Services

Policies

Moodle

Systems

I read them all…. But luckily signposted back to the task in hand… (thank you John!)

Just because

I really appreciated these moments and added them into my sessions

I found the spark papers, very sparkly and full of recent research and especially relevant read along with some of the longer academic papers on the reading list…

Thoughts and actions – detail from notes (photos and clipboard notes)

The archive session for object learning sent me to investigate where the Camberwell collection lived, as it was no longer adorning the corridors of Wilson Road. I signed up for the archive and lost several hours in the toy section of the Camberwell Collection in the UAL archive… I had to stop short sadly of requesting a visit… yet!

Play (spark paper) has always been an important part of my role as a creative practitioner, especially the pedagogy of progressive play found in Rudolf Steiner’s philosophy or more locally the work of Margaret Mcmillan in revolutionising early years play in Deptford.

object based learning (spark paper – online lecture notes)

The drawing (spark paper), Tommy’s microteach

Playful real experience balances the increased reliance on technology and serves to connect us back to self… can only be beneficial in a teaching session.