As librarians at UAL we carry out peer reviews of each other’s teaching practice as a central part of our professional practice. In my final two blog entries I will examine two of these reviews both undertaken this term.
The first involves the review of a colleague’s new session devised to support third year Film students in their research of future careers; its aim being to both introduce students to search tools/databases they can use after graduating as well as get them to think about career choices and industry areas. My colleague knowing that I am developing a similar online college-wide employability session (insert link) invited me to watch her presentation, in the spirit that we could critically judge its success.
The session was enlightening for me as it took a completely different angle to my proposed approach, choosing to get students to brainstorm and mind-map their way through a process to arrive at a deeper understanding of what they might need to find out about their employment choices – only then moving onto showing search tools. I had envisioned a more process and skills acquisition driven session, which may ultimately be too didactic. Whilst I know that I need to stick with large components of demonstration (scaffolding) in my session, viewing my colleague’s successful session made me rethink how I might start my class with a more open student-led approach. This would mean rethinking the online format and the way in which it allows a wide and diverse student group to ask themselves what they are looking for; perhaps using and drawn elements created by the students and shown to the camera, as I had witnessed in another colleague’s teaching this year.
All of these simple reflections, used a coiled spring model of doubling back in and on a practical activity that is currently being undertaken, as a mode of critically thinking about the way it could be used for developing/delivering new activity (Belton, Thornbury Gould & Scot, 2006). It also reminded me of the ways in which I was embracing the role of a reflective practitioner as an integral and ongoing aspect of my practice (Schon, 19783).
References
- Belton, V., Thornbury Gould, H. and Scott, J.L. (2006) ‘Developing the Reflective Practitioner — Designing an Undergraduate Class’, Interfaces, 36(2), pp. 150–164. doi:10.1287/inte.1050.0175.
- Schön, D.A. (1983) The reflective practitioner: how professionals think in action. London: Temple Smith.