The micro-teach I decided on for the PgCert adapted a session previously delivered to MA Publishing students. This session investigated the structural formats (fold, panels, boxes, etc.) of the books brought to class and looked at how these design elements work in conjunction with their photographic content – reading from Carlin (2023) who argues that the structural elements of the photobook are crucial elements of its composition and meaning.
To adapt this session for my new audience, I altered the plan and its learning outcomes. Rather than providing inspiration for a specific book making project, the aim was now to inspire the use of novel printed forms as vehicles for my teacher-participants’ wide-range of practice, using principles put forward by Barton and Willcocks, regarding object-based self-enquiry (2017).
To start the session I provided scaffolding by way of a quote two of the authors of one of the books Albaran and Cabrera who made the book The World’s First Photobook Was Blue (2021), who say: “Photography is not the thing. It is the thing that gets us to the thing.”
“Photography is not the thing. It is the thing that gets us to the thing.”
Albaran &
Cabrera (2021)
It providing a way to explain how an object-photograph and then an object-book, helps approach topics from a new hyper-observational point of view – using the book and the photograph to see the world reframed. The aim was to run with this idea, and chose one item as a way of not only of understandings its content but seeing potentially how it might inspire the participants’ practice.
To provide the best chance of inspiration I let the participants choose from six books, locating the one that attracted them most.
Once selected each were given a worksheet (designed to provide a place to collect their observations using guiding questions).
Before receiving the participants’ responses, I realised that the timing of my session had over-run, mainly due to my misunderstanding that the discussion time was included in the object handling time, and not something discrete. When the responses were received it became apparent that only half of the learning objectives had been addressed, with all showing a range of curious insight and analysis, but none commenting on the practical application of these observations for their own work. I tried to recover this by responding to each participant with my assessment of application, but in retrospect this may have been a mistake.
Feedback from the group noted three key observations, that they were unaware of the learning outcomes, that I should feel confident to let others’ views stand and not interject and that I didn’t need to be nervous. I agreed strongly with these, noting my missteps. Crucially I noted to myself that you cannot transpose a teaching exercise from one context to another without really considering the new audience you are addressing. Second, that you cannot assume learning outcomes are clear, unless you properly spell them out
- Albarrán, A., Cabrera, A. and Rexer, L. (2021) The world’s first photobook was blue. Munich, Germany, Antwerp, Belgium, Paris, France: Ira Stehmann Fine Art, IBASHO, the(M) éditions.
- Barton, G. and Willcocks, J. (2017) ‘Object-based self-enquiry: A multi- and trans- disciplinary pedagogy for transformational learning’, Spark: UAL Creative Teaching and Learning Journal, 2(3), pp. 229–245.
- Carlin, B.A. (2023) Theorising encounters with contemporary photobooks: situation, materiality and plurality. In The photobook world (pp. 35-44). Manchester University Press.