I had a collaboration planned with the Milan Fashion Institute (MFI) on the 11th March. This was between students at MA Fashion Design Management at LCF and MA Sustainability Product Management at MFI. The seminar day involved insights from industry partners too. I hadn’t initially planned to host this session, so I hadn’t given much thought to the technical and logistic part of this hybrid session. The FDM students, industry partners and my colleague and I were online separately, and the MFI students were in class. MFI does not use Teams, which we realised was a problem in our test the day before the session as it made it more challenging for them to access the same interface as we see at LCF.
I realised that I had to take ownership of setting up the session despite not feeling completely confident to do it. I was keen to ensure as smooth as possible running of this day, having the experience of my microteaching session not going to plan fresh in my memory! It was a reminder of the importance of preparation, in particular for an ‘out of the ordinary’ type of session. I took a belt and braces approach to the set up and ensured that the same information was available several places and that I had one document gathered with all links and info for the different student groups and Miro boards – ready to post in the chat. I knew that the MFI students would be likely to encounter access issues.
I sat up the mixed MFI x LCF groups, so we didn’t have to manage that on the day. This was done as Teams group channels so that we could easily engage with the groups and have an overview of their engagement inspired by the practice of a colleague at FBS, who has experiemented with this the last couple of years. The students could store their research here too and find their links to the Miro board.
Reflections
The preparation of your session and thinking about potential challenges are crucial. This is even more important with hybrid sessions as sound, the platform, participants digital skills might throw you a curveball.
I couldn’t have hosted the session without the document with all the links gathered. I will ensure that this type of preparation is in place if I am involved in this type of online collaboration again.
The session went well and I received positive feedback for the set up. This highlights the importance of preparing for the technical aspect/challenges of your session.
The Miro boards worked well as a collaborative tool for capturing the discussions between MFI and LCF students.
Next time, I would ensure that a technician/digital learning team member would be involved at an earlier stage to set everything up together with me.
The seminar session discussing values in Art & Design education was a great opportunity to reflect. We had great discussions in the smaller groups about our own values and it was interesting to reflect on our prioritization of these values and how we sometimes thought differently about this. Some interesting discussion points were:
Integrity
Ike, Josh and I had an in-depth discussion about Integrity and we felt it was covering a range of our thoughts on values in teaching:
Being authentic and transparent as a lecturer about our knowledge and approach
Having the vulnerability and confidence to accept that we don’t have all the answers.
Allowing and enabling different approaches. Confidence in the students to express their reasoning and justification
Supporting students despite different cultural backgrounds and education to be open and the question the work and reflect. Support themselves and be open, to give them time to develop.
The implicit knowledge of how we do things
Is there a right and wrong? Students think that we have a subjective approach, but how we go about this
Photo of Ike’s notes from our discussion (Josh, Ike and Jeanne)
Community
Community (and the lack of) is something that is often mentioned in PTES Surveys across courses at FBS. In response, I try to prioritise arranging lots of socials and field trips for my students to build community on the course itself.
I wonder if the actual space and approach to room allocation at LCF could have a big impact on students’ sense of community and if there is a case for this in the upcoming revalidation process for the course. I know that MA Fashion Entrepreneurship and Innovation has received very positive feedback on this as they are allocated a room that no one else uses.
Thoughts on physical space:
An area that you belong to (like primary school) and you can have your work around you.
The feel of belonging.
The expectation of students to deliver and could the physical space enable them to this more successfully.
Padlets are not a replacement to develop and showcase work
The physical aspect of design development making use of the space/walls
Compassion
Compassion is a very important value for me when thinking about how we interact with students (or anyone else really!). There is such an increase in mental health and wellbeing issues and being compassionate can make just the needed difference in our relationship with students.
Thoughts on compassion:
How we speak and the approach to the students
How we offer feedback
The written word – the complexity of writing evaluations and how the students perceive this.
There was a great idea from someone in the group sharing their practice of collaborating on writing feedback together with the students and we can check in if they understand and agree with the feedback in the process.
The ‘being ready’ to deal with or faced with the personal stuff and issues. The relationship between people.
This workshop was a great reminder of the value of peer feedback and of the usefulness of dedicating workshops directly to assessment. Firstly, having a time restraint of 30-40 minutes to get a draft ready of one case study for a colleague to review, made you put away any uncertainties you might have and just get started. This provided me with a great start and I felt that I was a lot more certain of the requirements of this part of the final submission after the workshop. The idea of getting feedback from a ‘critical friend’ for improving your practice is also suggested by Biggs and Tang (2011). They highlight the importance of a common framework to do this effectively, which in this case we had through the Case Study template.
This could be directly transferable to my course MA Fashion Design Management. I can see how the students would benefit from this approach. It would be valuable for them to review work in progress and to discuss their work directly with a peer. The challenge would be that some less confident students might be uncomfortable in this situation to share rushed and unfinished work. This could be counterproductive for their participation and confidence. Biggs and Tang (2011) also note the idea of trust between peers for it to be a useful exercise.
There was great value in the setup of being paired with a peer rather than having group discussion. This allowed you to have more in-depth conversations throughout the day about each other’s work. The feedback was valuable, and my work progressed quickly with the help from a colleague. This could prove a useful method for my own students to get them started on the coursework by dedicating a workshop to this. My students are used to group review sessions, but a session to collaborate in pairs could provide more detailed feedback and perhaps be a more comfortable interaction than the group.
Reference
Biggs, J. and Tang, C. (2011) Teaching for Quality Learning at University. 4th edition. Maidenhead: Society for Research into Higher Education and Open University Press
It was inspiring having the chance to experience everyone’s approach to the task and see the creative interpretations. Ulrike, Rain and Tom guided us to participate in a learning activity through drawing. As a former designer migrating to the business school, I realised how much I miss drawing and how engaging it was to step away from the computer!
Online Miro and Padlet boards are excellent tools to support collaborative work but implementing simple drawing exercises could offer high student engagement and a break in the ‘Fashion Business’ approach in class. Around half of my students come from a Fashion Design background, so I am certain that they would welcome this, although my other students from Business Management backgrounds might not be as comfortable. The day was very enjoyable and inspiring.
Reflection on my session
I had missed an (important!) email and didn’t realise that we would be together in our small C3 tutor group. I had planned my activity around a bigger group as I thought that the whole C group was going to be in a room together. For this reason, I had planned for everyone to collaborate on a Miro board in smaller groups, which did not make much sense with a smaller group. To make things worse there was no projector to show the progress of my planned Miro board. With a lack of laptops in the room, there was no easy way to share the link to the board too.
This was an important reminder of how you need to think on your feet, when the session does not go to plan and that you need to consider this in your preparation. I should have gathered the same information from the Miro board in a printed one-pager. This would have supported the collaborative work even if we had been able to access the board. In this way, it would have worked better for everyone to discuss the main questions and make use of the sub-questions too. I had to read them out instead, which was a bit too overwhelming with information.
The positive feedback of my microteaching session included that there was potential in my investigative learning approach and that I had conducted this well. It was great to see that I had managed to find an object that was interesting based on the group’s engagement. I agree with the suggestion that I could have made more out of the final stage to explore the discovered themes such as ‘Made in the UK’. The feedback further included that giving some background info is interesting and this is adding an element of storytelling that can capture the attention of learners. This feedback correlates with the peer observation feedback from Ike. He suggested bringing in more of myself could engage my students even more.
Based on the microteaching day, I can now see how I could take object-based learning into my teaching practice, and I feel more confident trying this approach with my own students.
Engagement with the object
Engagement with the object
Investigating the object
Example of drawings demonstrating a nostalgic connection with the object from the childhood of Rain
The session was inspiring and gave a great context to how you can approach object-based learning. Interest and curiosity as motivational factors for learning support the purpose of exploring objects as part of the learning process (Chatterjee, Hannan and Thomson, 2015). Objects can foster curiosity, which is an important motivation for lifelong learning (CAF, 2020).
I still remember the words of a lecturer from when I was an undergraduate design student. We went to see a glass-blowing studio and factory as part of an optional extra-curricular activity and only half of the class showed up as it was not directly related to the course work. The lecturer said, “Mark my words, those of you attending will have the best careers.” He elaborated on his statement with the same argument. If you are curious, you will be more likely to constantly learn and develop.
The key learning from the lecture that made me think differently about object-based learning was to start with the purpose in the planning. The best approach would be to decide on which topics we are going to explore as part of a unit and then reflect on how the objects can aid this discovery. The example shared by Judy Willcock of botanical prints from the Enlightenment period was a good example of how to explore sustainability as a subject.
I chose the vintage gauge caliper object with the learning outcomes in mind:
To develop visual literacy skills
To explore concepts of the value of design and what we can learn from vintage items about product development today.
The group would be exploring this object through four steps:
Description
Personal taste
Context
Interpretation
These four steps were adopted from Hardies (2015, p. 6) ‘Case study two’ and her recommendations of presenting learners with an unfamiliar object to engage with object analysis in an experiential and active group learning setting. I made a collaborative Miro board with the four stages to support the discussion (Fig. 1).
Chose one from your group to capture key points in your conversations and add it to a post-it
Context
This item was bought as a gift for me and I hope you will find it an interesting object to explore. I like you to go through 4 steps of exploration of the object together with me.
First task: Describe the item
See follow up questions
Second task: What do you think about the object?
Personal preference, taste, what do you feel about the object.
Is there something you like about the object? Or is it not interesting? Useless?
Previous experience linked to the object?
Interpretation of the object
Third task: How might this object be made today?
Would it still look the same?
How might it be different and why?
Fourth task: Gather any final thoughts and overall themes from the discussion
Can you draw some conclusions on what we might learn from this?
What does this tell us about how product development and production have changed over the years? How might this translate to the fashion industry?
Final remarks
It has no functional purpose for me. My husband found it at a flea market and thought I might like it…..which I do!
The item also has a symbolic value for me about important learnings as a new accessories and jewellery designer. A caliper, not this type though is a necessary tool to use in any design development process and technical specification of jewellery or metal trimmings.
The learned skill of understanding the product and the difference of one millimeter to the final item comes through experience and trial-and-error in product development. I recommend students to know their products in-depth when they go out into the industry.
My guess was that it was used for measuring leather thickness – but this is the information I found from my research:
A precision gauge, based on the dial indicator, is used for measuring cylinder bores for ovality and wear.
Source: Etsy (2022)
Another object idea – the subject-related one
I did consider another option that I could embed in a unit. I am leading the Design and Innovation Strategy Unit for MA FDM starting in February 2022. It is the first time that I am involved in this unit, so I was curious to reflect on how object-based learning could be embedded into the learning of the innovation process. I had the idea that the outdated mobile phone (which most of us keep in a drawer) could be a potential object to discuss in an introductory session.
Another option for the object
The purpose would be to discuss the following themes:
Innovation and the pace of technological change
The concerns of these developments: tracking and privacy breaches
The value of tracking data
Mental health issues of hyper-connectivity
Sustainability: why do we keep them and what can be done to reclaim the resources
Outdated technology as a scarce and valuable resource
Circular mindset and repurposing these items or rentals
Customer user journeys
What does the future look like? Implantable phones or opposites back-to-basics and a disconnect from being always online?
If the microteaching session goes well, this could be an option to embed object-based learning into a seminar activity for MA FDM.
Chatterjee, H., Hannan, L., and Thomson, L. (2015) ‘An introduction to object-based learning and multisensory engagement’ in Chatterjee, H. J. and Hannan, L. (eds.) Engaging the senses: object-based learning in higher education. Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate Publishing, pp.1-19
The object-based presentation was something that I felt was a difficult part of the PG Cert process to tackle. My concerns were rooted in practical thinking of how I could embed objects directly linked to my field of teaching. It felt challenging as I am part of the Fashion Business School and we do not make any products. It would be a rare concept to embed a physical object in a teaching session even if we explore design strategies and visual concepts of our ideas on my course.
The first idea – the applicable one
My initial idea was to select a sample of a leather alternative or another innovative and sustainability-focused material (for example Mylo – see fig. 1). This is the closest I would normally come to introducing a tangible object in my teaching. My thinking was related to this practical approach to what might be useful for the students. Our aim is to strengthen textile and material knowledge on the course, so it could be a relevant idea. It was too obvious a choice though. I was curious to see if I could be a bit more imaginative with the object. The pre-session assignment focusing on writing down the emotional experience of the video exploring the box with embroidered intriguing statements (CSM Museum Collection, 2020) inspired me to think further about this. I began to reflect on possible items that would be more interesting for the group to explore.
Fig. 1: Mylo Leather alternative (Mylo, 2022)
The second idea – the explorative one
I have a vintage gauge caliper at home, which I thought could be an interesting object to explore (Fig. 2). It could spark a conversation around sustainability as a topic with expected themes to come up such as the quality level in vintage items, designing for durability, aesthetics considerations and the emotional attachment as a sustainability driver.
Fig. 2: Vintage Gauge Caliper (Own photo)
The item also has a nostalgic value for me about important learnings as a new accessories and jewellery designer. A caliper is a necessary tool to use in any design development process and technical specification of jewellery or metal trimmings. The learned skill of understanding the product and difference of one millimeter to the final item comes through experience and trial-and-error of product development. I always recommend students to know their products in depth, when they go out into industry.
I still regret that I didn’t keep the prototype of a plexiglass type necklace I made the technical specification for in my first design role. It turned out to be a massive and unwearable piece because I did not have the experience or knowledge to give accurate instructions. The overseas supplier was of course not impressed when the prototype was done in vain. The tooling cost had to be covered by the fashion company, which my Design Manager was equally not impressed with. It would have been a good object today to discuss the challenges you face as an inexperienced designer in product development.
This week’s session focused on curriculum design and how we incorporate and define learning outcomes. There is a wide range of resources available as part of the Course Designer toolkit (UAL T&LE, n.d). I wish I had come across these support documents sooner in my role as a course leader. I found the guidelines and reflective questions helpful to better understand the purpose of the different course design elements.
I agree with Davies (2012) that learning outcomes can be too cryptic formulated in academic language and be detached from practice. Writing new unit briefs and formulating the learning outcomes has also been a daunting exercise for me. Trying to formulate unambiguous and meaningful learning outcomes while following academic writing conventions is a challenging task.
The benefit of having support sessions to unpack the assessment criteria and co-create meaning with the students is a useful way to ensure that students are aware of the expectation of the assessment. Davies (2012) highlights the situation where students are working to ambiguous learning outcomes but are confident about what they need to do in their coursework as most interesting (Fig. 1).
This is a reminder for me that we can’t rely on the learning outcomes to be self-explanatory. No matter how well-written or accurately formulated we believe them to be, it still depends on the student and how the individual student makes sense of them. It has made me reflect on the importance of support sessions and introducing different ways to understand the brief. ‘Make the grade’ workshops are something that I have actively expanded for the block 2 units on my course. These include: Padlet exercise for co-creating meaning and evidencing how the different learning outcomes are met as well as a workshop for students to review and grade past course work examples. The aim is to co-create meaning of the brief and LO for the individual students and build their confidence for the summative assessment.
