Session/artefact to be observed/reviewed: Online session on co-design practice
Size of student group: 9 students
Observer: David Smith
Observee: Ella Britton
Part One
What is the context of this session/artefact within the curriculum?
This session was designed to introduce students to the concept of collaborative design methodology (co-design). This was one of the first workshop sessions I needed to do online (2020), which was not the original plan. So I was trying to explore ways of engaging students creativity with an online space. I was interested in the role of analogue props and tools in a digital environment.
How long have you been working with this group and in what capacity?
I was their course leader for 6 months prior to this workshop.
What are the intended or expected learning outcomes?
To learn more about Collaborative Design methods:
_ Why we do it
_ How we do it
_ What relevance does this have to their own practice
What are the anticipated outputs (anything students will make/do)?
They simply needed to start exploring the applicability of these ideas to their own collaborative futures design project
Are there potential difficulties or specific areas of concern?
The online space being uncollaborative. Uncreative. And the students themselves feeling disempowered and overwhelmed by the amount of online learning they were doing at the time. The students were also experiencing personal challenges as a result of the pandemic.
How will students be informed of the observation/review?
This is a recorded session
What would you particularly like feedback on?
Any ideas for increasing collaboration and engagement on online workshop platforms.
How will feedback be exchanged?
Over email in writing and on this form
Part Two
Observer to note down observations, suggestions and questions:
This introduction session on co-design, delivered online during the early part of the pandemic, used a range of innovative handcrafted-prop teaching tools. Overall these worked extremely well in breaking down the sense of personal distance that online platforms produce (especially in the distance learning environment in which it was given), bringing a homely, human and intimate tone to the class. Watching students’ facial reactions and consistent smiles provided strong evidence that this was a liked strategy.
The tutor made it clear to the students, initially through the use of a PDF handbook, what the session’s noted learning outcomes were, but sensibly abandoned the shared screen format as an ongoing guide for the class at the earliest opportunity. The remainder of the session used the home made and personal props, which suggested a much more individual and invested relation to the material: instilling the sense that these concepts belong to you, and are not a formal list of principles. On the whole these worked very well, and were fun to see as each new flag or cut shape was presented. The minor caveat being the clarity of some images; those on traditional cardboard were harder to view in the small computer framed window and suffered from glare (these would I presume just be small teething issues).
When the juncture was reached early in the session for students to share their own list of principles, it was a novel and coherent move for them to share them on paper or tablet with the screen. It would have been easy to create a Padlet or white board for this, however instead taking a screenshot of everyone holding their signs seemed too much better chime with the co-design theme and fostered class cohesion.
A further innovation, introduced towards the middle of the class was a 3-d model with an associated animal cast. This was charming, imaginative and a really engaging way of further unpacking what could otherwise be dry/abstract themes. In this case I felt it would have been essential to change the participant view, as the model needed to occupy a large screen for all its details and nuances to be seen. I strained to see and I could see students doing the same. Also given the joy such a model provides with regard to interactive engagement, I felt that there was a real missed opportunity to have allowed some exploration of ideas by letting the students give performative instruction to the tutor to move the elements and characters of the model around as a way of investigating and experimenting with it further.
There was one area where I would have suggested some change. Throughout the session students responded to the tutor as individuals, and whilst this was very positive I felt it missed the opportunity for students to collaborate or discuss matter with one another. Given the nature of the session, this aspect of collaboration, however small, would have added an extra dimension to the class. Arguably the opportunity to work in pairs on the homework assignment might be argued to have taken this place.
Part Three
Observee to reflect on the observer’s comments and describe how they will act on the feedback exchanged:
Thank you David for this feedback, and for engaging so deeply in this observation. I really appreciate your perspective on this, and it’s really interesting to hear how you were reading the tone of the sessions by observing the students faces. In the instance where they couldn’t see well, I hadn’t spotted this, and this is so helpful to understand. In future I would need to think more deeply about the students view. And thank you for pointing out the clear opportunity of more intentional student discussions, this would have greatly enhanced their experience. I wonder on reflection if this was down to my own nervousness and lack of experience or training in online teaching. This is defiantly something I would like to reflect on. The action I will take forward are:
- Actively look for resources (reading and training) which explore creative methods for holding open collaborative online spaces for students