Record of Observation or Review of Teaching Practice   

Session/artefact to be observed/reviewed: Patchworking an Otherwise (MA Fashion Module)

Size of student group:  53

Observer: Adam Gibbons

Observee: Christin Yu

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?

The session is called ‘Patchworking an Otherwise’ (or Re-existing Decolonial Worlds through Patchwork) and focuses on building autoethnographic practices through objects. It is part of a five-week module titled ‘Re-imagining Fashion Histories: Tracing Parallel Cosmologies’, which teaches a cross-pathway curriculum between MA Fashion Image, Fashion Journalism and Fashion Histories and Theories. The session initially explores autoethnography through my own research practices, presenting decolonial theory and patchwork as a relational framework that sutures together histories that have been fragmented, but will lead into a praxis of autoethnographic writing and engagement. The end of the session will allow the students to engage with their group work/presentation via object/archive imaginings.

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

This session is the fourth week in a five-week programme. The last two sessions were taught by outside practitioners, but I have a familiarity now with the students.

What are the intended or expected learning outcomes?

An opportunity to develop autoethnographic research methods, which may or may not be employed in their final project. It is an opportunity for the students to engage with learning through emotion. The aim is for the students to develop LO Enquiry (through a development of decolonial theory and how to employ it, LO Knowledge (through a framework of decolonial theory), LO Process (by engaging in the writing processes and how to engage with autoethnography), LO Realisation (by developing training to employ autoethnography as a research method) and finally LO Communication (by giving the opportunity for the students to share their writing with others, and receive possible feedback).

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

The students will produce a piece of writing that engages with autoethnographic research, which may potentially be used in the imagining of their alternative world (see project brief).

Are there potential difficulties or specific areas of concern?

The difficulty of sharing personal experiences – potential ground to expose vulnerabilities and traumas that may not be anticipated, moreover, to predict the sensitives that we may have both sharing and receiving those kinds of stories. In the past, some students have had difficult in engaging with themselves because they think that it is not a legitimate or objective form of knowledge collecting.

How will students be informed of the observation/review?

I will make an announcement at the beginning of the session, ensuring that the students know I will be under observation and not the students.

What would you particularly like feedback on?

My sessions sometimes engage with dense theory, I would like to gain an understanding of its accessibility.

How will feedback be exchanged?

In person or via email.

Part Two

Observer to note down observations, suggestions and questions:

The room was nicely prepared with a large shared table in front of a projection screen and concentric rings of chairs around it. An introductory slide with the session title was on the screen as students arrived.

There was a welcoming atmosphere as students came into the session. Your introduction of key, session-specific terms – autoethnography, patchwork – was clear and set the tone for the session – you came across as very comfortable with the terms and theories you were introducing, and your confidence provided a sense of security for the students to rest in.

From the beginning you went directly into delivery of lecture material. 

• I wondered if there could be an opportunity to cushion the introduction to bring the group together. A check-in of some sort maybe?

Nonetheless, the students seem to be on board with diving straight in. Throughout your lecture you provided useful prompts, repeatedly inviting responses from students – “what does this connote?”, “What is it in its physical form?”, and reinforcing the language of the lecture, connecting the idea of Patchwork in relation to history. 

When gathering student responses you reflected-back student’s observations, which seemed like a really effective way to consolidate responses. You used affirming language with students and implied an Invitation for curiosity through this process. 

There were a lot of responses from students throughout. The back and forth dialogical approach you fostered held the session. 

• I was impressed by how you moved dynamically from leadership position to co-teaching position and back to leading.

The structure of the lecture modelled the storytelling themes that underpinned the session. It unfolded in neat chapters or sections, introducing ideas incrementally, beginning from a close image reading and bringing out a language of material culture in the rich description of images from the Missionary Exhibition. 

• I had some trouble catching the session plan slide and would have appreciated being talked through it more.

• It felt as though energy dropped a bit in the second part of the talk – and in response to this a 5-minute reflective writing task was helpful to shift this dynamic.

• I was asking myself if this task could have benefitted from more direction, some modelling of the task perhaps? However, students adapted well to occupying a feeling of uncertainty and responded openly to the feelings that the exercise brought up for them.

You directed students to explore the positionality that comes out of self-reflective writing practice and went on to add compassionate language around this – accepting that students might want to protect themselves and maintain boundaries between public and private thoughts, expressions. 

I was conscious that sessions of this sort with a large volume of information being transmitted require a lot of concentration energy, and that the interactive dynamic and empathetic atmosphere that you encouraged provided an environment which allowed for a lot of ground to be covered and for students to remain highly engaged.

Part Three

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

Thank you Adam, for the helpful feedback and enriching comments.

I arrived to the room that morning prior to meeting you in order to set the room up in a semi-circle around the table. In the past, my co-convenor and I, have spoken about the class size in relation to the space of the classroom, so we already had several sessions to structure the setting.

As the materials were derived from my thesis research, the terms were well-trodden ground, as I have had to present and share them in many different capacities and to different audiences. I enjoy teaching on the MA module, because the theoretical language can be too dense for BA classes.

I will reflect upon introductory exercises. There was plenty of time in the session itself, so perhaps an icebreaker might be helpful as the students always seem to filter in at varied points of time. Our previous sessions were quite dense in their theoretical frameworks, so I was imagining the theoretical delivery was already practiced. But perhaps I can introduce a framework that might be an easier way into the materials.

I did admittedly gloss over the session plan, as I think I have become used to sessions organically unfolding in that particular class. But I also understand how important it is for the students to be able to anticipate when they will be able to take a break. I have been trying to grapple with different techniques between timed sessions and improvisational sessions. Perhaps my overreliance on my ability to read the class could be alleviated with a timed session plan. I will make sure to focus on the schedule and mapping out a plan for the students ahead of the class in the future.

The openness of the task and the uncertainty of the reflective writing exercise are intended provocations to encourage students to think about the difficulty or the connotations of what it means to write research. As the discussion hopefully highlighted, I wanted the students to think about what it means to write ‘objectively’, and also to think about how they were conditioned to writing for an audience. My previous classes engaging with autoethnography have challenged the students to think about the value of their own stories. I will reflect on the comment and perhaps think about adding more directions while maintaining the openness. Perhaps I can run back-to-back writing exercises, one with structure and one without, reflecting on their differences.

The density of the theoretical materials is something that we spoke about when we unpacked the session together. I was thinking about this more recently, sitting in on a lecture that was too dense to follow. I will think about how to break up the session with small containable sections that unpack the theory, perhaps paring it down with exercises.  

Record of Observation or Review of Teaching Practice  

 

Session/artefact to be observed/reviewed: BA Design for Art Direction, Year 2, Semester 2, Art Direction Unit, Briefing and workshop

Size of student group:  55

Observer: Christin Yu

Observee: Adam Gibbons

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?

This is a unit briefing session which will include a short check in, some information about the unit theme, timetable, and learning outcomes, followed by workshop tasks, led by myself with a colleague, Erik Hartin co-facilitating. In the latter part of the session, there will be a shared reading and discussion, followed by questions.

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

This is my first session with this group since their first semester of year 1.

What are the intended or expected learning outcomes?

Familiarisation with the brief, introduction to active ludic research methods, agreement on terms of sessions

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

Students will make notes on the session and feed back orally.

Are there potential difficulties or specific areas of concern?

Variety in language ability within the cohort, and variety of challenge in the language of the material we are exploring, my unfamiliarity with the group and any disabling factors which might affect certain students or groups of students.

How will students be informed of the observation/review?

Students have been informed in advance via email, and will be reminded orally in person.

What would you particularly like feedback on?

Clarity of instructions and ability to involve a range of participants.

How will feedback be exchanged?

Either in written form or through a conversation.

Part Two

Observer to note down observations, suggestions and questions:

As we entered the classroom, it was noted that there was a tight turnaround between the two classes, without much time for the physical preparation required to set up the classroom itself. I thought that you did a great job at imagining and executing a plan to accommodate this, as you offered the students an opportunity to engage with an icebreaker activity, while simultaneously setting up AV and reorganising the tables in a circular manner around the room itself. This physical layout was conducive to group conversation, as the students in each micro-cluster were able to view each other, while also having visual access to the screens and the convenors.

There was a strong utility of communication practices, such as raising hands to signal a taught session or instruction was about to occur. It was a helpful opportunity to see how respect and boundaries can be established in the classroom, without being paternalistic or overly disciplinary. This was also highlighted and illuminated in the slide that established respectful practices, which was inclusionary in tone, and participatory – allowing the students to interject and add.

As an initial session in a module which explores the theme of ‘Comfort’, there were effective and affective demonstrations of the theme through the learning activities. One of the main exercises asked the students to initially work in their groups to order a stack of words associated with comfort and then to reconvene in the larger group to order them as well. I appreciated the discussion of organisational strategies beyond the chronological. There was a session that employed physical movements, which I noted in our follow-up discussion. The movement itself perhaps engaged with the student’s own positionality through an embodied physical experience. For some, it also placed them into discomfort – I noticed that the students were more apprehensive about getting up and moving about under the gaze of their fellow students. In my notes I asked:

• What was the hopeful outcome of this exercise?
  • Physical standing seemed to make the session more boisterous, but the directive was to gain order and participation, what skills did this develop?
  • How can you alleviate some of the apprehension of participation? (This was perhaps when you discussed discomfort, which I thought was a valuable way to understand the theme itself!)

Finally, some last suggestions and thoughts arose from the description of terms that were crucial to final project. In the introduction of ‘digital assets’ and ‘publications’, I noted that I had trouble understanding what ‘assets’ meant. I wondered whether there was an opportunity to develop an activity alongside the definition which signalled whether the students understood the concept or not. How do you verify comprehension of taught terms and the project itself?

Part Three

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

The feedback I received has been very helpful and affirming, particularly in relation to the structure and tone of the session.

I set out to prioritise community building and connection between students in this first session of the unit, as well as between students and staff. This was the intention of using the themed icebreaker slide. Adopting the method of having a slide ready for students to engage with on entering the space has worked well this term on subsequent occasions as well, and it’s becoming a routine that students are more and more familiar with. It is a welcome formula to employ in relation to the obstacle of challenging room management/timetabling – one session always starting at the same time as one ends, and 100 people have to navigate two small entrances to the room – as well as timekeeping, providing meaningful activity for those arriving at the start, and alleviating pressure for students and staff. By planning not to make the beginning of the session too front loaded, thereby alienating any latecomers, this method contributes to an inclusive approach as well as providing an opportunity to engage with concepts related to the project.

It was also affirming to receive positive feedback around inclusive communication practices within the studio such as non-verbal communication and the Agreements and Aspirations slide that we explored as a group in a non-hierarchical way.

I’m pleased to hear that the teaching materials – the printed and laminated lists of terms relating to histories, materials, policies and innovations around the theme of comfort – provided such a range of possible interactions from students. The note about different ways of ordering them was helpful input, reminding me that I can keep exploring the other ways a single, simple teaching material can be adapted to fulfil various enquiries and learning outcomes.

Considering the various dynamics that were observed, where students appeared more or less comfortable with different sections of the exercise, I’m mindful of the challenges described in Brian Arao and Kristi Clemens’: From Safe Spaces to Brave Spaces (2013), in which they report students making “a conflation of safety with comfort”.  In the chapter Conflict in Teaching Critical Thinking: Practical Wisdom (2010) bell hooks observes the conditions under which students find ways to enter uncertain territories, and in her book Imperfect Solidarities (2024) Aruna D’Souza makes an argument for the right to opacity via Edouard Glissant’s post-colonial theories.

Alongside these influences, I was reflecting that experiencing discomfort can be a gateway to gaining new perspectives and knowledge, as well as a theme to explore through both intellectual and embodied means and perhaps working towards the conditions for brave spaces should be an aspiration if the discourse is seeking to include an exploration of social justice.

I’ve been offered feedback on a couple of occasions that it would help to have a clearer sense of where tasks would lead participants, and this is an aspect of session planning that I’m trying to develop; improving the constructive alignment between brief, workshop task, learning outcomes and materials submitted for assessment.

The feedback about checking for comprehension is welcome, and I have gone on to follow up on this in subsequent sessions, as well as being more mindful of specialist vocabulary and encouraging students to highlight unfamiliar terms and bring them to discussions.

After filling out this form out to share ahead of the observation I was able to reflect more on what the learning outcomes for the session were: Knowledge, Process, and Communication.

• Students becoming familiar with terms related to the theme of comfort using various ordering methods
• Students entering into ludic group activities
• Students being able to explore and express ideas in small and larger groups
• Students becoming familiar with each other, their tutors and the structure of the unit

References:

Arao, B. and Clemens, K. (2013) From Safe Spaces to Brave Spaces: A New Way to Frame Dialogue Around Diversity and Social Justice. In: Landreman, L.M. (ed.), The Art of Effective Facilitation, Routledge  

D’Souza, A. (2024) Imperfect Solidarities. Floating Opera Press

hooks, b. (2010) Teaching Critical Thinking: Practical Wisdom. Routledge

Record of Observation or Review of Teaching Practice  

Session/artefact to be observed/reviewed: BA Design for Art Direction, Year 2, Semester 2, Art Direction Unit, Lecture and Workshop. Monday 3^rd March 2025

Size of student group:  55

Observer: Linda Aloyisus

Observee: Adam Gibbons

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?

The session is the third week of the second semester of year 2 on the BA (Hons) Design for Art Direction Course.

During the spring term, in the first half of this unit, students are working on a speculative design brief towards producing digital or analogue objects related to the theme of ‘comfort’. During the summer term, in the second part of the unit, they will be working collaboratively to produce a magazine exploring to the same themes.

This session introduces them to contemporary discourses and approaches to distribution of electronic and digital art. They will explore online archives and be presented with examples of artistic practices directed towards online engagement, and critically responding to the development of global communication networks from the 1980s to the present day.

The session is called ‘Touching the Digital: Contexts & Practices of Digital Art’. It comprises a lecture which will be delivered in two parts, each lasting around an hour, interspersed with practical workshop tasks, and discursive prompts.

At the start there will be a short thematically focused check in – a community building practice that we undertake at the beginning of each of our weekly studio sessions. And the session will end with a period of reflective feedback/harvesting and independent note taking

The session will be led by myself with a colleague, James McDermott, co-facilitating.

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

This is my third session with this group as Unit Leader on an 11-week unit running through the spring and summer terms. I have some familiarity with students having also worked with them on their first unit in year 1.

What are the intended or expected learning outcomes?

An opportunity to develop research skills involving online archives, gain familiarity with various artistic and experimental approaches to distribution, as well as familiarity with some artistic figures who were instrumental in evolving net art and post-internet art.

An opportunity to discuss their own relationship with their personal online activity.

Familiarity with exploring online archives using a number of approaches.

Students will become familiar with an influential theoretical text, Hito Steyerl’s ‘In Defense of the Poor Image’ (2009), relating to online circulation of visual material, and discuss its terms, context, and themes.

The session also provides students with the opportunity to experiment with digital images, employing simple collaging methods.

• LO Enquiry – developing critical analysis through reading, discussion, and reflection
• LO Process – through engaging in written responses to prompts – through engaging in image making activities
• LO Knowledge – through an awareness of practices and practitioners, artistic methods, archiving methods

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

Students will make notes at different points throughout the session, there will be discussion, and opportunities for verbal feedback. Students will make a collaged digital image.

Are there potential difficulties or specific areas of concern?

Variety in language ability within the cohort, and some challenge in the language of the written material we are exploring. My unfamiliarity with the group and any disabling factors which might affect certain students or groups of students.

Some of the concepts and practices we will look at will be new to most students.

How will students be informed of the observation/review?

As this is not being observed in-person there is no need to inform students that the material is being reviewed.

What would you particularly like feedback on?

The appropriateness of the range of material being introduced. How the dynamic changes in tasks appear to be balanced. If there are more steps I can take to address access questions – e.g. disabling factors in the material I’m presenting that I can improve on.

How will feedback be exchanged?

Either in written form or through a conversation.

Part Two

Observer to note down observations, suggestions and questions:

Thank you Adam, for meeting with me to discuss your teaching. I found it fascinating to hear about your experiences with your students and your commitment and dedication to developing your teaching were very evident in the discussion.

Below are a few of the key points we discussed and some of the suggestions I offered.

We talked about how you try to ensure that students are comfortable in relation to their different positionalities within the class and you identified that some students are more comfortable talking about their feelings whereas others struggle with this. You identified that language barriers are an issue within this, as sometimes students who do not have English as their first language also struggle with the language involved in describing and articulating feelings.

My suggestions in relation to this included:

• Go ‘one step back’ and talk transparently with the students about how difficult it can be to discuss what their needs and feelings are. Identify some of the reasons for this, and ask them to say something about their background that may make it difficult for them to discuss their feelings; although this might already be happening in the class, perhaps create more opportunities to ‘revisit’ this throughout the session(s).

• Within this, different affective factors could be separated out, for example:

• identifying feelings
  • communicating feelings
  • owning feelings.

• Regarding the above, I suggested that there may be a need to take into account factors like gender conditioning eg. international (and national) female students feeling guilt about talking about themselves due to gender conditioning to be ‘selfless’, which their male counterparts may not have. For transgender students, this kind of issue may be even more complex and in need of debate.

• Consider offering different modes of communication so that there is less reliance on written and / or spoken language. For example, different drawings or using objects – students can, for example,  hold onto something physically or virtually, which helps them to feel less alone and less vulnerable and/ or allows them to feel safe about feeling vulnerable.

• Reflect back to students / mirror back to them that you are aware that quite often they sit with peers they feel more comfortable with and that’s interesting, but you are going to purposely make them feel a little bit uncomfortable initially by moving around to establish team work, community; taking a transparent approach is helpful here.

• Similarly, reflect back to the class that you’ve noticed that some students may feel more comfortable speaking up and whilst that’s wonderful you want those people to find ways to help those who are a bit more inhibited: How can they help their quieter peers to speak up? Emphasising team work and framing the session, from the outset, as being more about helping one another, could be helpful.

• Would it be possible to ask graduates who are now in industry to come back to visit the class and give a talk to show how to taking on difficult conversations and negotiating feelings and work conditions without feeling belittled does work? This might help the NVC approach to feel less abstract for the current students.

Part Three

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

Thanks for your feedback, Linda. It was very productive for me to have the discussion we did around my planned session.

I particularly value the input around operating transparently about foreseeable challenges such as talking about emotions for example. Having a go-to strategy like this removes some of the indecision I have experienced in the past about how to approach these situations.

Your suggestions around providing frameworks for students to explore language related to their emotions compliments the scaffolding exercises that underpin much of the work we do on the course using ‘feelings and needs lists’ derived from non-violent communication (NVC) training (Rosenberg 2015).

It is always helpful for me to have reminders around positionalities that are not my own. I’ve found it particularly instructive to read bell hooks’ (2010) writing on intersectional feminism and conflict in classrooms.

With your feedback on applying various communication methods – not only verbal or written – I am taking this into current session planning with a game of exquisite corpse, as well as making language more of a playful entity through playing the telephone game in relation to a session on (mis)translation. I can also see possibilities for extending Object Based Learning practices with these access questions in mind.

Your suggestion of bringing alumni in to illustrate how they’ve used NVC is an excellent idea. I’ve mostly brought graduates in to talk with third year students as they prepare for transitioning from education, and this would be a direct way to help communicate the benefits of these communication and collaboration practices.

References

hooks, b. (2010) Teaching Critical Thinking: Practical Wisdom. Routledge

Rosenberg, M. B. (2015). Nonviolent communication: A language of life (3rd ed.). PuddleDancer Press