pchadwickpgcert

The Design Council: The Design Economy https://www.designcouncil.org.uk/our-work/design-economy

The Design Council https://www.designcouncil.org.uk

Creative Attribute Framework www.arts.ac.uk/about-ual/teaching-and-learning-exchange/careers-and-employability/creative-attributes-framework

Laurie Avon on graduating and finding his feet as a freelance illustrator https://www.creativelivesinprogress.com/article/laurie-avon

Creative Shift https://www.arts.ac.uk/about-ual/teaching-and-learning-exchange/academic-enhancement/creative-shift

UAL Insights www.arts.ac.uk/partnerships/outreach/applications-for-ual-insights

Action Research: Closing the gap between theory and practice. Syafiq Mat Noor, University of Leeds (2020) www.bera.ac.uk/blog/action-research-closing-the-gap-between-theory-and-practice

Creative Research Methods, A Practical Guide by Helen Kara(Bristol University Press, 2020) www.bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/creative-research-methods

Sage Research Methods: The Tools at Hand (Survey Questions) By: Jean M. Converse & Stanley Presser (Pub. Date: 2011)

Let’s Be Brief: Value Canvas © Let’s Be Brief (2020) www.letsbebrief.co.uk

The Future is Clever: an Interview with Lets be Brief (2019) www.zetteler.co.uk/news/2019/04/17/the-future-is-clever-an-interview-with-lets-be-brief

My unit 1 tutor feedback included the word ‘principled’ when describing my teaching in the observation. I was pleased about this, as important facets of my teaching practice encompass inclusivity, belonging, and fairness along with promoting respectful sharing and listening amongst the students. My positionality statement in which I include my family states, ‘I am a white man, married to a black woman, together we have a daughter who is bi-racial.’ This is hugely important to me and the application of my racial values when working with others and the diverse student cohorts at UAL. Being mindful of how these cohorts feel in the teaching spaces. Is there a sense of belonging and inclusion? This permeates into all areas of my practice, the visual references that I use, historical and contemporary points of reference, looking beyond Europe to include an array of examples and the consideration and visibilty of diverse teaching teams in academia and industry. 

The Ethics workshop challenged me to delve a lot deeper to explore a wide range of resources. The consideration of language and how questions are constructed is something I have not considered before.  

In the Sage Research Methods ‘The Tools At Hand’ Survey Questions I was interested to read about pretesting questions for meaning and task difficulty amongst other things. I extensively use questionnaires within creative projects to start conversations to help orientate students into the Discovery phase of a new project brief or self-initiated task. The due care and consideration of what these questions mean and why they are being used proved to be extremely useful when considering the questions for my employability workshop questionnaire as part of this research process. 

When and where possible I connect personal and lived experiences to my teaching practice. My research and teaching practices are Autoethnographic. Qualitative research that explores interests, motivations, and subjective experiences was the catalyst to use the Let’s Be Brief Value Canvas within this project research as a precursor to exploring Employability. This adaptable canvas can be used to contemplate skills and interests or as a useful tool within project development. You can view this canvas in the Participant Facing Documents section on my blog. 

Let’s Be Brief Value Canvas © Let’s Be Brief (2020) 

Action research integrates the processes of pedagogical transformation and theory generation. As pointed out by Elliott, action research focusses on closing the gap between the roles of theorist and practitioner; both involve theoretical and action activities, practitioners are theorists, and theorists are practitioners (Kemmis, McTaggart, & Nixon, 2014). https://www.bera.ac.uk/blog/action-research-closing-the-gap-between-theory-and-practice

Inspired by this quote by Syafiq Mat Noor, and in particular this line ‘practitioners are theorists’ I moved positively forward with a sense of belonging and direction within this project.

For primary sources of research, studio observations were undertaken, and I embedded various questions into several of my teaching sessions. The questions were paper based, on reflection I would also consider the use of capturing data digitally by for example using as a Mentimeter to start conversations and capture data.  

During the first semester of this current academic year, I have tested student facing questions and questionaries within the delivery of units, presentations, and workshops on the following courses and units: 

UAL Chelsea College of Arts: BA Graphic Design Communication Unit 5: Strategic & Creative Practice and Unit 6: Collaborative & Collective Practices 

UAL Chelsea College of Arts: BA Interior Design Graphic Design & Communication Workshops. Covering areas such as: presentation skills (verbal and visual), portfolio development, sharing your work with industry, compositions, working with type and images, building your online profile. Key skills that are transferrable attributes for more than one discipline.

UAL London College of Communication Unit: Professional Practice (Self-generated work and an outward facing client project). 

Supported by teaching colleagues across all the courses listed, I asked for and received feedback from my teaching peers which helped me understand how to implement my aims and tasks more clearly into my workshops. Enclosed are example pages from these presentations and workshops containing questions, tasks, and provocations. The intention of these was to challenge the student to look beyond the project’s delivery and to consider themselves within the question, or to think about who the audience is, the value of an idea or their own innate values and how they can deploy these within a task or process. The overarching theme or outcome of learning is outward facing, communication and connecting with others. 

Turning the lens of discovery and research on themselves (the students) proved to be an uncomfortable experience for some. However, there was a clear understanding by the cohorts in attendance that the questions and questionnaires were an insightful and useful method in which to collect their own set of data about themselves. Which can be used to help orientate them in directions that can be context specific or have a clearer understanding of their developing creative practices and an understanding of self. Often, students are not fully connected with why they are here and the opportunities available to them. 

Feeling slightly overwhelmed by the amount of research reports in the book: Creative Research Methods, A Practical Guide by Helen Kara, I found the accompanying presentation Creative Research Methods – Arts based methods (part 1 of 3) by Dr Helen Kara insightful and useful as an entry point into this topic. Breaking down the different research methods has been helpful to my understanding of what research can be and what it can mean within a context or question.

And in particular Transformative research frameworks Transformative and Indigenous research (part 3 of 3) www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpnexrLZBT4  in which it is stated ‘people involved are likely to have different kinds of knowledge; communication is key.’ Cara goes on to talk about the Importance of Communication and the interesting insights about the research in Barcelona ‘Critical Communicative Methodology” and the resistance of the European ‘Roma’ people who felt abused through research.  

‘Everyone Has something to offer, something to contribute to the research process.’ Dr Helen Cara 

This approach brings a sense of democracy and inclusion to me and participants. I also find this liberating for academic spaces that I inhabit, that sometimes can feel unwelcoming or exclusive.  

Furthermore, I have gathered data and resources available on the UAL Creative Attributes Framework portal and The Design Council website. To be used a structure and framework for my ARP project connecting to my teaching practice.  

Using my workshop questions, the aim is to align these questions to the three different attributes; 1. Making Things Happen 2. Showcasing Abilities 3. Navigating Change 

Awareness of practice and career trajectories

I have chosen this topic and question to it align this learning experience with my teaching practice, whilst connecting with my professional practice including employability, connecting with the design industry, self-generated collaborative work and working with clients. Considering how to structure my outward facing academic work to connect more clearly with available UAL tools and resources whilst exploiting my practice skills and interests appeals. I currently divide my time between Design education and Design practice with a focus on Graphic Design and Art Direction, these areas intersect which inform the modes of delivery in my teaching practice.

During this workshop the aim is to create awareness and to offer the students more extensive possibilities to structure their own autonomous network with a clear focus on their own skills and interests. Rather than responding to my prompts for where to locate design practices, jobs and employment opportunities, my industry knowledge, and my industry network. Furthermore, this would be beneficial to how I can respond to time-sensitive pressures and manage my time across multiple courses, an ever-expanding student cohort whilst operating within my fractional post. 

The ownership of a student’s research and practice learning journey can be further enhanced by a greater focused understanding of practice trajectory and the vocational application to a practice or practices within the creative industry. With many entry points into employment after graduation, this can feel overpowering and bewildering for students. Preparing the students for future opportunities ahead of their final year of studies in readiness to apply for internships and work opportunities, building online profiles and connecting with like-minded creatives and networks will equip students with confidence for the challenges ahead. These soft transferrable skills such as communication, time management, teamwork, problem solving, leadership and critical thinking will be required and deployed throughout a career in design. 

Asking the student to consider specific practical questions such as what do you value? What are your interests, your values, defining your community and what matters to you? And very importantly in these financially challenging times, do you want to, and can you afford to stay in London after graduation? And how much do you need to earn every month to pay your bills? Whist setting tasks for students to read the about sections on agency websites and research the gender balance and diversity with an agency. With the aim for students to look beyond the work and investigate how the work is made, who is making it and the studio culture and environment where the work is made.

Let’s Be Brief: Value Canvas © Let’s Be Brief (2020)

‘Another insightful and inspiring session today, I am feeling really engaged with these talks I wish we had you for longer this year, this is the most engaged I have felt during this course. I guess I’m just wanting to say that I’ve been really enjoying the units you’ve been leading I think they’ve been the best we’ve done so far, I’m currently doing some posters based off of the pictures I showed you last week, the film ones I took of the architecture in Liverpool, your Instagram and twitter page really inspired me to do this. I hope I will be able to talk to you soon about internships because I am new to this whole creative industry stuff, and I feel like you would be able to point me in the best direction suited to me. Thanks again really been enjoying these talks on a Monday.’ 

(BA Graphic Design Communication Student, 22.01.24) 

My industry expertise allied with an awareness of the available UAL tools will bring greater student awareness of future possibilities, and how to think and be agile when making those all-important first steps into the creative industries.

The design economy is a major employer. In 2019 the design economy contributed £97.4bn in Gross Value to the UK economy. In 2020 there were 1.97 million people working in the design economy — or 1 in 20 workers in the UK. Of these, 1.62 million were designers. 

www.designcouncil.org.uk/our-work/design-economy 

Since completing his studies, Laurie has spent the best part of a year trying to figure out who he is as an illustrator, how he wants to approach commissions and promote himself, and what he wants his portfolio to represent. He’s made books, worked on collaborative projects and learned the basics of networking and self-promotion. He admits, though, that his initial feelings when graduating flitted between excitement and nervousness: ‘I was excited to work freely on what I wanted, whenever I wanted – but also nervous. My vision of being an illustrator was very idealised. It’s so much harder than you think it’s going to be when you’re in college.’

www.creativelivesinprogress.com/article/laurie-avon

Laurie’s quote is a useful insight into the challenges and realisation of what ‘work’ means that face students upon graduation. Introductions to outward facing skills and employability before a student reaches their final year of studies, is a way to mitigate the anxieties that many students deal with when thinking about and finding suitable work to match up with their skills and interests. An awareness of what employment within the creative industries looks and feels like is something I have been embedding within my teaching. Commencing in Term 1, Year 2, gives the students more time to consider and explore what a career and employability mean before navigating through their final year of studies on an undergraduate degree course.

Reflecting On My PG Cert Learning Journey 

Before commencing on this third and final unit of my PG Cert studies, I have been reflecting upon this learning journey, what I have learnt, the experience of being a student, the challenges of study and in particular managing time whilst engaging with all areas of my teaching and creative practices along with reacting to family issues, illnesses and a bereavement during the latter part of my studies on this course. This could have been an ARP research question.  

I have asked myself, ‘could I have managed my time any better during this academic experience if I worked on one course rather than across multiple courses and universities’? The answer to that question, I would have to answer is ‘I don’t know.’ Or being really truthful, no matter what the level of on going working commitments, I would have struggled with time during this learning experience. A valuable learning experience for me to reflect upon about managing time and prioritising work within a given time frame.

Arriving in academia with 20 years design industry experience, early challenging exchanges with teaching colleagues have at times caused me to doubt ‘Why am I here?’. Feelings such as ‘less than’ or ‘an imposter’ have prevailed throughout my time and work at UAL (University of the Arts London). Coming to the realisation that I am already ‘doing it’ during my time on this PG cert course, has empowered me with a sense of ownership of my teaching practice. My aim now is to develop and enhance my teaching delivery with a clearer academic framework to supplement my industry experience, skills, and knowledge. 

The teaching observations during unit 1 and the work I engaged with in response to and bias in unit 2 proved to be not only insightful but also extremely important in the development and growth of my teaching practice. My human and empathetic attributes have always been key in the delivery of my teaching. The teaching throughout this course and in particular during unit 2, has resonated with me not only in an academic context, but it also challenged me to consider what I have learnt and how I could apply it to all areas of my life. 

As I move forward, my principles and an awareness of my strengths and weaknesses, how I respond to them and where possible improve on them, will be fundamental to the continued development of my teaching practice.  

Reflecting about white privilege, it is important for me to acknowledge that I have benefitted from the colour of my skin throughout my life and career. Whilst I am not comfortable with it, awareness of it and honesty about it has been of paramount importance to me in my life and the opportunities that I have had. I became aware of this in my teenage years when visiting my parents who used to live in Nigeria. Here I received treatment and privileges that was not available to most Nigerian people. It was a formative experience in my life, where I became acutely aware of what I had and was able to access due to the colour of my skin. 

‘It doesn’t mean your life is 100% going to be easy, it just means that the adversity that you face will not be because of the colour of your skin’

Conversations About Race (BA Graphic Design Students, University of West of England, 2019)

Commencing this blog post, I want to pause and consider my positionality statement. I am a white man in his fifties, married to a black woman, we have a bi-racial daughter. I have been married for twenty years and with my wife for 27 years. My point of view, gaze, and daily experiences encompass three different lenses that bring three different lived experiences to my immediate family unit. Some positive, some not so positive and many where I have a totally different experiences to my wife and daughter. My family and life experiences has given me access to multiple points of view which have positively affected my teaching practice. Putting these attributes aside for a moment , this blogging task has challenged me to look my teaching methods in order to assess bias, it has been a valuable opportunity to pause and think about how I can assess areas of my practice as I plan towards the new academic year. 

My wife and I regularly discuss with our daughter about how different spaces will bring different experiences for her throughout her life. Some where she is made to feel too black and some where she will feel too white. I am particularly interested in enquiring and reading further about the experiences of bi-racial students with UAL. If you have any suggestions in order for me to undertake further research about this, it would be most welcome.

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Reflecting on Witness Unconscious Bias

Is bias unconscious? probably not in my opinion. Josephine Kwhali clearly and insightfully explains what bias is on a personal and critical level. I totally agree with her opening statement in the film Witness: Unconscious Bias.

‘I don’t think some of it is unconconcious, it is kind of a get out clause’

Josephine Kwhali

I have always struggled with this phrase ‘unconscious’ when confronted with problematic decision making, worrying opinions and language that is bias, supposedly unconscious or not. When I first started teaching at undergraduate level I was shocked by the bias I experienced across a multitude of topics and spaces within the teaching staff. In those early days working within this new academic working structure that I was exposed to, I struggled to find my voice. The result of which I felt complicit with this bias. The realisation of this required me to look at my functional boundaries, my morals and a lot of reflecting on many conversations with my wife’s family about their own experiences off bias and exclusion.

The standards we expect from the student cohorts, are those standards the same with the teaching teams? My ability to confront and speak out about bias to this day is still a work in progress, I have to call it out rather than walk away to avoid the protagonist.

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Reflecting on ‘Retention and Attainment in the Disciplines: Art and Design’

4.2. Art and Design Pedagogies 

Students see themselves as the experts in their practice and look to lecturers for feedback to extend or strengthen their work. However, with increasing group sizes, and the increase in diversity within Art and Design studio spaces, providing feedback at an individual level for learning becomes increasingly challenging. The ‘atelier’ method of working, which includes the “watch me and learn from me”, or the “sitting next to Nellie” approach (Swann 1986, p. 18) is no longer feasible. This relied on the serial one-to-one tutorial model of pedagogy and the tutors’ “pearls of wisdom” approach (Orr, Yorke and Blair 2014). Even with the larger groups this method of one-to-one feedback within the studio is still used today. This leads to students feeling there is very little teaching on the course: 

I wasn’t expecting to be left to do projects completely on your own. I was expecting more guidance with it being first year and I didn’t know what kind of work they were looking for. (Yorke and Vaughn 2012, p. 24) 

It is gratifying that the increase in students numbers is commented on in the above text. Timetabling, teaching spaces and planning is acutely affected by this increase. One positive development from this increase has been as it is pointed out, the shift from one to one tutorials. Even though many students still demand this, the shift to small group peer group sessions has been encouraging. However, a greater understanding of peer group sharing, group etiquette and group management needs to be more clearly embedded within the unit delivery, learning outcomes and OAT.

4.5. Art and Design Teachers 

Ethnic diversity among staff is important for both Black and White students, as it provides positive role models, as well as a range of perspectives that enrich learning and demonstrates an institution’s commitment to diversity. Universities and colleges need to improve the diversity of their staff to better reflect the diversity of their student body. (NUS report 2011, p. 61) 

Having taught at Chelsea, LCC, Camberwell, and LCF campuses during my academic career to date, each college has brought different experiences with markedly different student cohorts. Across all the campuses there is a lack of diversity within the teaching staff. Recently, this has been commented on by the students at Chelsea where I am currently a .6 senior lecturer.

This became apparent to me several years ago, when I was taking part in an open day at Chelsea. I was presenting at a Graphic Design Communication open day, the four tutors in the lecture theatre were all white and all men. I felt very uncomfortable with this.

Question / Provocation

Over recent years at Chelsea, the majority of incoming new teaching staff have been white European or American men. Why despite the data about the lack of diversity in the teaching staff within this context at Chelsea, does recruitment continue in this way?

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Reflecting on The Room of Silence 

Watching the interviewed RISD students in this film, I thought about peer group sharing sessions, where students often struggle when talking about their ideas and concepts with others. Putting this film into context and considering how students of colour / minority groups feel being in spaces where they are looking to identify with others, let alone when they want to share about topics including race, politics, and faith in predominantly white spaces.  

I would like to explore strategies around this to help me improve how I structure my peer group sessions so that all participants feel included and safe. How can I help those who feel ‘opposite’ or ‘other’?  With the aim of developing and creating inclusive teaching spaces for everyone.

Language can also be a barrier that leads to silence, for students speaking English when it is their second language. Encouragement and patience is paramount, to help the student feel at ease when speaking.

I intend to use this film ahead of collaborative group work or as part of an introduction to studio culture and the studios as inclusive safe spaces.  

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References The Room of Silence www.vimeo.com/161259012 Witness: Unconscious Bias www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6XDUGPoaFw Peekaboo We See You: Whiteness www.shadesofnoir.org.uk/journals/peekaboo-we-see-you-whiteness Retention and Attainment in the Disciplines: Art and Design www.advance-he.ac.uk/knowledge-hub/retention-and-attainment-disciplines-art-and-design Conversations About Race www.williamdevlindesign.com/copy-of-creating-the-canvas