Record of Observation or Review of Teaching Practice
Session/artefact to be observed/reviewed: BA 1 Textile Design welcome presentations
Size of student group: 88
Observer: Sonali Misra
Observee: Claudia Catzeflis
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 presentation studying at shown to BA 1 Textile Design students as they arrive on the course. The first week it is important to orientate the group to the BA, Chelsea, and UAL. Many students are new to London, this year we had a large international group, 70% + of international students.
How long have you been working with this group and in what capacity?
At this point I have only just met all the student’s week 1. Now I have known them for 4 months. The group this year is 88 students but some years it can be as high as 110.
What are the intended or expected learning outcomes?
This is not a project brief, or a session tied to a project brief but within this week we do brief Unit 1 project: Introduction to Textile Design, so these learning outcomes could be good to keep in mind.
LO1 Evidence of understanding studentship through engagement and participation with the course, your student colleagues and the study material and resources introduced (Enquiry)
What are the anticipated outputs (anything students will make/do)?
We ran a making activity as an ice breaker alongside these presentations, this was written by Sicgmone Kludge and was successful, fun and engaging.
Are there potential difficulties or specific areas of concern?
Language and cultural barrier, overload of content, measuring the success and effectiveness of the presentation.
How will students be informed of the observation/review?
NA. Not a review of teaching live
What would you particularly like feedback on?
- thinking about how inclusive the information is.
- Seeing information for the first time, what potential difficulties could there be in understanding and interpreting the information
- How might we develop into next year, considering cohort has gone from 40% to 70% internation students.
- Open discussion
How will feedback be exchanged?
During our online meeting, in discussion and via email through feedback on the ROT form.
Part Two
Observer to note down observations, suggestions and questions:
There is a lot of essential material in the orientation presentation. I appreciate the approach to the London Padlet especially – it’s a great way to welcome students to the city and give them some guidance on how to explore it.
I thought the presentation would take longer as it includes a lot of information, but Claudia mentioned it takes about 20–30 minutes. The content would be easier to absorb for the students I felt if it could be broken up with some ice-breakers or other activities. Some of these activities could be aligned to the theme being discussed in the orientation slides too. The activities could also involve students moving across the room and learning more about their peers, the space, and their tutors.
Part Three
Observee to reflect on the observer’s comments and describe how they will act on the feedback exchanged:
I found the experience of peer observation interesting, through process of sharing my practice, and talking through an aspect of my role with a lecturer from another course. It gave me the time to consider this aspect of my role and presenting to a peer created a reflective moment that enabled to me view my own practice more from the outside/ as a viewer.
The feedback was given within the meeting, as well written feedback. Sonali suggested using my welcome talk as the foundation for a workshop day, that would be broken up with icebreakers to make the information less overwhelming/ all in one go. It was a good idea to align some of the activities with icebreakers or other activities, this I feel would support the students to engage with the material in a fun, active and social way. It is important that the start of the course is active and focused on peer interaction, so this fits well.
Through this process I saw the benefit of timing myself on presentation/ being more aware of timing with PowerPoints.
I plan to expand to further develop ideas on from our discussion to take into planning meeting with my course leader and other involved in planning and delivering content to BATD1 at the start of their BA. I will also gather research on effective icebreaking activities from other staff member and from other year 1 leaders across CCW.