The Teaching and Learning unit on the PGCert has been a valuable learning experience. Firstly, being a student again has enabled me to feel so much more empathy for students. I have realised that navigating various projects, particularly in the online context, can be extremely confusing. At times, I really felt quite overwhelmed. This has enabled me to understand why students, especially first years, often seem so anxious, and even though I explain things as carefully as possible, they still ask the same questions over and over again. I am now far more patient when it comes to their questions and uncertainties and respond with care.
My teaching observation feedback form both my tutor and from a peer opened my eyes to quite a number of issues in my teaching practice. Most of the feedback session with my tutor dealt with the inappropriate issues that had arisen during my lecture. It was a shock to realise how many ethical boundaries I had crossed and the provocative nature of images I had chosen to share. I realise because of the power of images; I really need to question why I select specific images. I need to contextualise them and be aware of how other people may read them. Despite the extremely uncomfortable nature of the feedback, I recognise that this was a transformative experience for me and that my pedagogical approach is in urgent need of reconsideration. My tutor emphasized that I am paid to be a teacher not a speaker. The primary ethical requirement of being a teacher, as opposed to being a speaker, is that I have a duty of care to my students and that whenever I am developing material and content it should be oriented towards the students’ current experience. Going forward I will endeavour to take more care of content and images shared.
After receiving feedback for my Teaching & Learning assignment I realise I still have a large amount of work to do to shift my own consciousness. I have recently completed the ITLHE unit, and this has led to a deepened awareness around issues of race, anti-racism and whiteness. I have been engaging with the content in the Shades of Noir Terms of Reference Journals and this has helped challenge my own preconceived ideas. I noted the extensive use of trigger warnings in the Terms of Reference Journals and realise the least I could have done in my portfolio, and in my presentations, would have been to include a trigger warning with each offensive image. I really need to carefully consider the impact images may have on the viewer who is unwittingly exposed to them. Also I have been reflecting on my positionality and the work that needs to be done to address my ‘whiteness’. I realise this is not something that can happen overnight, but I am willing to do the work.
There were many interesting issues raised in connection with my teaching strategy and methods that will certainly help me going forward, for example I did not follow up on students’ comments in the chat box, and the pace of the lectures were way too fast. I realise I need to slow down, have less breadth but more depth in my lectures, and give students more time to respond, acknowledge their responses and expand on them. In my lectures, I need to pay attention not to over intellectualise, nor to over-simplify, and pitch my lectures more appropriately according to the students’ academic level. Another area that needs to be worked on is my use of outdated teaching methods – asking students to answer questions as a means of engaging their attention – instead I should engage more with their comments in the chat box and encourage conversations and debate.
With the move to blended delivery, I need to rethink my teaching and learning strategy, and move away from the standard lecture model towards a blend of asynchronous teaching material such as pre-recorded lecture and online tutorials, then use synchronous online and live delivery sessions to encourage discussion and unpack lecture contact. In my readings on pedagogy what has become apparent to me is the importance of creating a learning community that students can feel a part of. Encouraging a sense of belonging and forming strong tutor-student ‘relatings’ is paramount.
I am extremely grateful to have been given the opportunity to reflect on my own teaching and learning, and make the necessary adjustments to become a more caring, considerate, reflective and professional educator in line with the UAL ethos. This will no doubt be an ongoing process.