Session/artefact to be observed/reviewed: Object based design session
Size of student group: 10
Observer: Carys Kennedy
Observee: Emily Sunnucks
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?
To discuss a session that I ran on 22.2.24 titled ‘design research review’ – the session was for a duration of 2.5hours and was constructed as such:
- First 10 mins – reflect on the most recent hand in and how they were feeling following their first submission
- Split class into two (approx 5 per group), 1 group to do the ‘object based exercise’ and 1 group to participate in group feedback relating to their chosen brand and research topics.
- Last 10mins of session for reflection of exercise.
How long have you been working with this group and in what capacity?
I’ve been working with this group since they joined us in October and am their design tutor as well as year group tutor.
What are the intended or expected learning outcomes?
LO1 Utilise research to support the design and development process (Enquiry).
LO2 Create commercially focused design ideas for footwear design (Realisation,
Process).
LO3 Contextualise your design ideas through the writing of a design rationale
(Communication, Enquiry).
LO4 Demonstrate effective presentation skills including Verbal and Digital methods
(Communication).
LO5 Work in a team effectively (Communication).
What are the anticipated outputs (anything students will make/do)?
Students will make a shoe, produce a technical file, sketchbook and portfolio – This session focused on the very beginning stages of the project: research/enquiry
Are there potential difficulties or specific areas of concern?
I wanted to reflect generally on the time management of the session, as I felt group 2 didn’t benefit as well from the designed activity.
How will students be informed of the observation/review?
NA
What would you particularly like feedback on?
The structure of the class and how to manage the designated lesson time so that students get the most out of the session.
How will feedback be exchanged?
Through the form
Part Two
Observer to note down observations, suggestions and questions:
Thanks Emily for talking me through the object-based learning activity you did with your students. You described the activity, where you asked students to bring in an object which represents their identity. In the session, you asked students to write about the object for five minutes; you then gave them ten minutes to draw the object. You explained that the intended learning outcome was for students to observe details more deeply, and to practice ‘noticing’. You acknowledged that your students are often multitasking and moving between images/videos very quickly, so this activity gives a rare opportunity to pause on one particular activity.
You split the group into two groups of five. One group did the object-based learning activity, while you discussed sketchbook feedback with the other. The group size was dictated in part by the sketchbook feedback, as you felt this works better in smaller groups. We paused to think more about group size and felt that the OBL activity could potentially work with a large group if you wanted it to (at least, the writing and drawing stages).
With the first group, you felt the activity went well. You noticed that the students were ‘bemused’ but they went along with it. You felt that the 5-minutes to describe the object in words ended up being a little too long, and you said you would reduce this next time. You chose not to tell students why they were being asked to do this, so as not to spoil it for the second group.
With the second group, there was less time due to an unexpected interruption. You felt that you couldn’t give Group 2 as much attention, and that it didn’t feel like quite enough time. You also noticed that, even though you had given them a break, some group members were ‘frazzled’ by their feedback.
Afterwards, you had a debrief with the students, asking open questions, and asking them how they could use this activity in their practice. You explained the intended learning outcomes, and the hope that by writing and drawing they are noticing in different ways, going deeper and seeing things they might not have noticed previously.
In the time since the activity, you noted that several students have been talking about the activity, and you have noticed that some of their designs are more detailed. You felt that the activity has begun to impact on their practice, and that their work is enhanced as a result. You noted that it is nice to ‘get away from the slideshow’ and do an activity which is more physical and embodied. You commented that the activity has acted as an ‘anchor point’ for students to refer to.
You said that you would have liked to have time for the students to share what they have drawn with other group members, but there was not enough time for this. You thought that, ideally, this activity could be done as an icebreaker with a group, with time for feedback.
We talked about the possibility of flashcards or written instructions, so students could work independently on this activity without you needing to monitor both groups – although it does sound like you managed this well.
I asked about what strategies you had to support students who may not be confident writers. You said that you let students know that their writing was just for them and wouldn’t be shared; you also invited students to write in their dominant language if they prefer. This prompted me to signpost you to an upcoming session about Decolonisation and Linguistic Diversity, which I thought might be of interest for you.
Throughout your account of the OBL activity, I noticed how attuned you were to the students – to their enjoyment, their ‘bemusement’, their being ‘frazzled’ after the sketchbook, and their attentiveness in the activity. You described a really strong level of responsiveness to your students, and it sounded like you took positive steps to create a safe environment where students can experiment. I’d invite you to try out other physical, embodied or just ‘different’ activities with your students, and see how they (and you) respond.
Part Three
Observee to reflect on the observer’s comments and describe how they will act on the feedback exchanged:
The discussion with Carys about this session was thought provoking and a helpful way to reflect on the activity with a view to making it stronger.
The course material for the TPP unit of the PGCert has been really inspiring for me as a relatively new teacher and I have been enjoying devising and trying out new ways of teaching my students key skills that they need to learn as a designer. The activity as described was inspired by the ‘Object based learning’ lecture and I also trialed a ‘mini’ version of the activity for my microteach activity.
I completely agree with Carys’ reflections about how the activity went and would like to discuss the possibility of extending this design session by one-hour next time I run it. This would enable me to situate this activity at the start of the session for the whole group as a ‘warm up’ for the rest of the session, whilst allowing them to learn a new way of perceiving and viewing their research, with suitability for design.
I will plan to describe each of the stages to my students as I did before. If I am not able to extend this session by an hour, then I will plan to make flash cards as cues for the next part of the activity, so that the students can be independent of me while I am focusing on giving sketchbook feedback to the other group.
Based on the experience of running this session three times (including the microteach), I am planning to make the following changes:
- I will reduce the writing activity to 2minutes and will explicitly state that non-native English speakers can write in their own dialect.
- I will make space for a debrief at the end of the activity to consolidate the learning of the students.
I would also like to continue to develop my overall lesson plans to include and make space for more activities such as this, to give the students space to really develop their core as a footwear designer. It’s been insightful to see the progression of the students work from last term to this term, the overall quality and seeming understanding of design process has really increased. This could obviously be because of many factors, but on hearing and participating in some of the conversations with the students I believe that this is in part because of the different ways in which I am facilitating the learning of their specialism.
I’m looking forward to continuing to research and develop new ways of teaching them in the future.