During this onsite workshop, Sergio introduced the cohort to thining about the keys values in each our methods of teaching. Working in a smalle group, we came up with the following:
4 key values of teaching activities at UAL
- Empathy/Compassion (1)
- Sustainability (2)
- Diversity (3)
- Inclusive / Equality
- Independence
- Creativity
- Momentum
- Decolonisation
- Accessibility
As group we felt empathy toward studetns’ learning abilities was the most important value. Trying to engage with them about personal issues which have affected their engagement, critical thinking and relationships with fellow peers is essential to making an inclusive and compassionate environment. Nevertheless, this ‘blue-cloud’ thinking needs to dissected and broken down into more practical terms. (I will come back to this later on)*
Other values proposed by the other groups were:
- Bringing in world news/current affairs integrated into the units
- Don’t assume the acknowledgement of theories and terms
- A temperature check in the morning, of worlds news of that day, see where each student is at and if they need to talk about issues effecting them.
- Live collaborative reading list
- Culture of ‘more’ ( this is also an intriguing point, do we need MORE frameworks/spreadsheets/tools/online platforms to overwhelm each of us?)
Our group’s second most important value was ‘Sustainbility’. It was an intriguing perspective when a group mate said
“…let’s redefining the term sustainability…”
Like rather than thinking it’s all about the environment/climate, it was more meaningful to consider what this term means to us as teaching staff and feedback from feedback. For staff, we thought sustainbility is about keeping us relevant in our practices and ties to our specialised industry. Perhaps time for self-initated research separate from the institution, making research and development funding much easier to access. Don’t just load staff with admin within or outside of their teaching hours: AVOID “I used to be an artist”.
Most importantly, keep staff relevant to their industries/disciplines and actually align the values of sustainability into the teaching systems. Not just drip ’10 commandments’ from higher management because they need to ‘tick the boxes’; try and diversify the definition of ‘sustainability’ and work it into the assignment briefs/units. Projects should be engaged properly in the real world and outcomes are reflections of each student’s interpretation of these values. (see Institute of Kunst ‘Der Tank’)
* Back to the values of inclusivity…
Our group came up with several practical ideas for potential implimentation:
- Collaboration between academic and technical teams.
- Running workshops together at the studio so technical workshops are not overwhelmed. This encourages the use of space within the cohort’s studio space.
- Unify the approach across UAL of running tours at the beginning of your enrolment
- Pairing buddies with different years within the cohort and sustain their relationships with milestone events (field trips, socials)
I unfortunately had to leave in the later part of the afternoon for my year 2’s social event at LCC. I wasn’t able to work with my group towards coming with more practical solutions to carry out these values. Nevertheless there are several food-for-thought questions to arm myself with in my own critical approach to teaching:
- How do we (or can we) practice those values?
- How do we inscribe those into the curriculum?
- Above all, ask “What does this mean for my daily pedagogical encounters?”