Below are my slides:
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Images/notes from Analysis
Below is an attempt at analysing a longer interview from a staff member key quotes are highlighted and sections are broken down into some loose themes.
This section of text below is trying to observe the nonverbal cues when it came to analysing and trying to make sense of them,
I offered some dates for students to speak to me to feedback on the sessions and chose to adopt a semi structured interview type approach.
Because I wanted to allow for opportunities for unexpected view points to come through. I was also inspired by Harris (2020), to see if I could spot anything here.
Going through my analysis of the activity sessions I feel that there was a missed opportunity to film this, as looking back I was trying to remember what peoples body language was like which I didn’t get in the audio recording. Though of course as my tutor pointed out having an audio recording felt less invasive than a whole camera set up recording the session. As well as the time and capacity to get this together (would almost need another person to help).
The decision was also made because I noticed that in an unrelated hybrid event I was hosting I had borrowed a webcam so the speaker could see the audience, on spotting the webcam many of the Asian students gathered to sit behind its line of sight, on asking why they said it was because they didn’t want to be seen on screen. Knowing and picking out the right tool for the research job was an important thing to consider. And even knowing the tool you are going to use knowing how that will affect your responses is also a factor. Do I go with the hefty field recorder or does this look too intimidating, but it captures better audio? Or do I go with the basic one which may suffer from a lack of quality but can be more covert.
Due to timings issues (this was right at the end of term, when many already had left) only two students came forward and this was done on Microsoft teams, having had experience using a small field recorders for interviews, teams is becoming quite a good option for conducting interviews, the record and transcribe feature saves time and is even more covert as you just press a button and get on with it. Of course you loose the in person experience of it (Harris 2020).
Ok onto the analysis.
I have used pseudonyms here to protect Identity. So the first students I talked to will be known as Max for the sake of this research.
23 mins
Some of the key points are below some of the transcripts and responses on the form can be seen in the appendix.
Some of the questions in the teams interviews were similar to those in the questionnaire, so I have grouped them together. Other questions emerged during the interviews some of those are highlighted.
When asked do you remember the methods that I used and in particular what one would you say kind of, you know, resonated with you the most?
-Max responded straightaway saying yes I do remember them definitely (with a slight chuckle and sense of humour in their voice as if thinking back), the folding cube was the one that was preferred. Quickly stating (as if to not disregard the other method) out of the two that one had to most potential.
What do you think the research was about based on the two activities?
-If just guess in the dark, new ways of teaching that bring design driven interactive approaches into a teaching context.
Good mention design as that is my background.
If you were to use these methods what would you change or do differently?
-(Mentions quickly) yes I thought about it because we were having this call, what I might do differently is. What I liked, what I would do next time.
I said the first one I really liked because, it forced the narrative that you tell people about your work in a non-linear format, interrogated it a bit. Not sure if it was supposed to do that, but did for me.
You write the story down the way you imagine telling it but then it becomes a cube, so the linear structure is gone, so you can move to any point of the cube and pick up an aspect of your story, and you have to be able to explain that aspect so it forces you to develop your story more.
Would do to push it forward, very outset was unclear, make the cube linear so instead of folding in a t shape (demonstrates line with hands) it folds in a straight line so they write their story from start to finish one square at a time, so they think they are writing a linear story (chuckles) but they fold it up and maybe it expands the impact a lot more.
Maybe I don’t know, thats one thing I thought about.
I wasn’t thinking about the linearity of it (both chuckles)
What was useful was that, and what we have to learn to do is, where I had this experience in the last months or weeks where you prepare your prepare the way of telling the story of your project to different groups, maybe with industry science focused people I would prefer a certain story then the next day with your peer tutorial group, I would go ohh hold on the story is not the right way to tell it anymore. I need to change it up a bit for this group.
So when you force someone to just pick on a piece and you have to throw away that linear structure and tell the story of that piece, then its like training for being flexible I the way you approach your own idea, thats useful.
Max asked if other people felt the same?
I respond by saying that I am trying to get as much feedback as possible so don’t know yet.
I ask if it was distracting or took away from the tutorial?
Umm, I don’t think so, umm tutorials for me are about like critique you know and critiquing each others work getting ideas and feedback and reactions so worked in that sense.
Perhaps in the second one I think where I would change something is again it might just be me but, one thing that took away was that it was just focused on grade.
Hmmm
And because of that focus it changes your mindset from the ambition of my project to how can I maximise my potential for marks at the University, and it makes you less critical of each others work because there is a nervousness of ohh I don’t want to influence degrade that person thats getting an A. So A’s all around! (Said with delight).
So I thought how could you do it differently
Instead of a scale of grades, a scale of personal ambitions for the project, so its more personal, for example I want a working prototype to get energy, then I want to do this, then that, and it makes you think big because you start at your minimum.
You get to the extent of what you can imagine and then people challenge your ambition and hopefully make you more ambitious in your project by pushing you further up your own mountain or extending your mountain further beyond what you thought you could do and that maybe.
That would work, but that was the only idea I had.
The environment I set it in? Did you like it?
Didn’t think about it being in the studio was fine.
In our session it was disrupted people came late, ours was a smaller group? Would you like to see more engagement? What did you think about that?
Yes it had a massive impact, of course you can’t force someone to be motivated, people need to motivate themselves. It colours the whole atmosphere.
In terms of peer collaboration, was there anything else this term that you might have noticed in the cohort. Changes that bought people together or apart?
Just this term in general?
Or you can talk about other terms.
Very very tight knit cohort, people spent a lot of time at uni, everyone is there 5 days a week, always a lot of people there. So we get a lot of time informally talking and sharing ideas. Strongly ambitious cohort, most people driven, energy of motivating each other, even better now people making and sharing.
Does studio environment help with that?
Yes studio is the centre of it, and the changes the things you have bought in with the 3d printer and making space and Timelapse helps a lot because people are coming in to do things and make things even more.
Plus it just adds to the ambience like the place is really. It’s really important to have a good space to.
Working, we can always make it better.
Say for example with the 3D printer, just having that in studio are there like side conversations that happen or are students coming together to be like I don’t understand how to use this.
Can you kind of help me?
Yes all the time, like at the 3d printer we have WhatsApp group, all day everyday. All that is happening.
OK. And do you notice any differences between like I don’t like more international cohorts of students and more kind of is there like a division or are people kind of slowly kind of integrating a bit more this term compared to like previous terms?
More integration this term, think people integrate as time goes on
Division we can work on, is a language one, where people naturally speak their native language which causes conversations to split. But I think it will be improved overtime and does improve over time.
The only division that needs intervention is the one based on motivation thats the one problem every year.
Do you think that could be because of lack of confidence, lack of feeling accepted, as being part of the community hesitancy to be involved, fear of being sidelined?
Yes I think we can help with that a lot, you know with the things that are already helping you know in peoples groups where there is effort to bring people into conversation to make sure people know whats going on. All these things help and it will be the reality of working across the world. But there is a small chunk thats just people at different points in their lives and have different priorities, and when you have a situation where people are highly invested and a few are not it creates conflict that is difficult to resolve because priorities are not the same.
Are there any questions you have for me?
Ummm I think not questions so much, if there is anything you want to pick into.
Yes lots of food for thought, use these interventions.
Bigger themes around collaboration. Different stages of their lives.
Can’t force community. Having a place to share things sitting on the couch, asking people about 3d printing.
It’s hugely useful. Like these things are bringing like maybe like you said, when all of the staff are are not there five days a week like us, you maybe don’t see it all the time, but it is happening all the time.
People are hanging out in the studio every day on the couches or whatever the 3D printer. People are chatting. That may not have always been chatting or, you know, have have had conversations in the past last year it’s happening more and more like it definitely works the.
Space definitely works, and we have a good space, so that helps.
sometimes there’s instances, but for the most part it works well.
What are these instances?
Vaping, shouting stuff that are obviously not allowed. But those are very few.
I have never seen anyone get into an argument, but I have had to say to people can you not do that.
Below are a screenshot from Otter.AI and playing around with asking on the AI Chat to help find instances of ‘peer exchange’, as well as the outline feature seen in the other image.
All the combined student feedback is collated below
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Notes on Reading and Methods
Key readings references in my topic:
- Ingham, M. (2021) ‘Becoming Lost and Found in Translation’, In: Cumulus Conference Proceedings Roma 2021, Track: Design Culture (of) REVOLUTION. Cumulus, pp. 17-34.
What I got from this:
- Small actions such as translating the design school manifesto into the languages that represent the diverse student body can help new students feel visible and welcomed and a sense of belonging, Ingham (2021, pp. 3953)
- For many students it was challenging to shift into the culture of Higher Education, faced with integrating with mature students, diverse languages and cultures, and social and educational backgrounds, Ingham (2021, pp. 3956)
- Challenges to English as a language, dominance in Art and Design education as well as being a colonising force, Ingham (2021, pp. 3956)
2. Geng Rui (2015) MIND THE GAP. 23 May. Available at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0zLtT0IG6k (Accessed: 10 November 2024).
What I got from this:
- Short film which interviews the perspective of Chinese students at UAL how they face challenges such as language barriers, lack of English speaking friends, understanding of your tutor, how to pose the right questions, the extra effort taken to process and understand, Loneliness and missing of family, Geng Rui (2015).
3. Cain, S. (2013) Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking. Available at: https://open.spotify.com/show/19wPKGdSblvGwW3xNWkUHq (Accessed: 7 January 2025).
What I got from this:
- Different Cultural values East Asian classroom, traditional curriculum emphasises listening, reading writing and memorisation talking is not a focus and is discouraged. Rude to participate in class as you don’t want to waste your classmates time. In the USA there is a lot of discussion, peers often talk nonsense but it is encouraged. I the US as soon as you start talking you are fine. Susan Cain (2013)
- Should International student conform to western standards or do western universities change their standards?
- Asian attitudes to spoken word, talk is to communicate need to know information. Words are dangerous weapons. Susan Cain (2013).
- Even the proverbs between two nations are contradictory with Western prizing speech and while Asia preferring silence. Susan Cain (2013).
4. Odeniyi, V (2022) Reimagining Conversations with Multilingual Students. UAL Decolonising Arts Insitute Available at: https://www.arts.ac.uk/ual-decolonising-arts-institute/publications-and-podcasts/reimagining-conversations (Accessed: 8 January 2025).
What I got from this:
- Analysis of conversations between tutors and multilingual students at UAL to raise awareness around the educational potential of the use of language Odeniyi (2022, p. 6)
- In Example 4 understanding why multilingual or Asian student do not participate actively in class due to, English as a barrier, personality type, anxiety or not knowing enough about a topic. This is broken down further into social and cultural orientations from respecting authority to communication such as has turn taking Odeniyi (2022, p. 42-43)
- To consider how you invite students to contribute, what are some ways to encourage active participation, are there was to do so without pressure? When communication breaks down what do you do? Odeniyi (2022, p. 47)
- Not talking is different than not participating, students may still be participating even if they don’t talk, constructed to students who talk a lot but are communicating any new forms of knowledge Odeniyi (2022, p. 67)
- On language and social justice, attainment challenges faced. To bring in more staff with similar multilingual background to students. Or multilingual resources. Odeniyi (2022, p. 74)
5. Davey, A. (2016). ‘International Students and Ambiguous Pedagogies within the UK Art School’, International Journal of Art & Design Education. 35, pp. 377-383. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/jade.12124
What I got from this:
- Ever growing number of international students in HE UK continues to be a popular destination. Davey (2016)
- Ambiguity of Art school navigating this capital, for those that do not ask questions and challenge will not benefit from this ‘cultural capital’ Davey (2016)
- International students can offer new multiple cultural perspective that challenge universalism of teaching and learning in the west. Davey (2016).
- Uk has to become more interested in the students who study there and more reflective of its own pedagogy and teaching. Davey (2016).
6.(HESA, 2024)
HESA (2024) Higher Education Student Statistics: UK, 2022/23 – Where students come from and go to study. Available at: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/news/08-08-2024/sb269-higher-education-student-statistics/location (Accessed: 6 January 2025).
- Statistics on where students come from and go to study: A high percentage at UAL are from non uk background.
This concludes the section above on international or multilingual students, these insights were used to create this short narrative below as an exercise to tie everything together into one place.
Methods used for data collection and analysis
The methods I devised for data collection are more drawn from design (since this is my context),
And are qualitative in nature. I wanted to embrace uncertainty and risk seen in such method like the cultural probes, as well as the tactile and engaging, Lury and Wakeford. (2012). Though unlike the probes I didn’t have capacity to overdosing or make anything so bespoke. The story cube method I took inspiration from Proboscis (2023). The cube seemed like a good starting point, what is an easier 3d shape to make than a cube, this was something universal as well.
There was a vast amount of data to analyse. Some of the approaches I took were:
-Multimodal approach, I went back to listen to the transcripts and videos looking for signs in the video footage or quirks in the voices. This was tried out through one data set with one of the students I interviewed. He often laughed, I tried to make sense of some of the things he may have been laughing at, it was better to observe this through the video recording to look at signs of body language changes Harris (2020).
-For the Staff datasets, I listened through again and highlighted key section and events. For the longer staff interview, I tried grouping themes that emerged as well as highlighting parts of the text that were relevant. Kara (2015)
-For the audio recordings of the sessions I used Otter.AI to help transcribe the recordings, since they were hours long and six sessions to go through. I felt that looking through key events around how the methods were used would be sufficient enough.
If I had more time in my analysis with these texts, it would be interesting to try some art based techniques here, perhaps similar to the I poems we used in workshop 3, Kara (2015). One method I had in mind would be to translate the text into another language that I don’t speak and go through it to immersive myself into the way in which multilingual students may feel, and on finding a familiar passage translate it back into English to see what it says, this could be repeated a number of times. Again this could be seen as a more artist approach, Kara (2015).
Lury, C. and Wakeford, N. (2012). Inventive methods. 1st ed. London: Routledge.
Kara, H. (2015) Creative Research Methods in the Social Sciences A Practical Guide. 1st Edition Bristol: Policy Press
Harris, R. (2020) The Tyranny of the Transcript [Podcast]. 17/November. Available at: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5GPdL9Vo5sBwSMfu2f0eEH (Accessed: 11 January 2025).
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Examples of Data
For the first Intervention some of the data would be the images and photos taken throughout the sessions:
Images from Intervention 2
Survey Responses and results
Transcripts from 2 Interview Sessions with Students, pseudonyms have been used in place of real names to not be identifiable
Transcripts from Staff Interviews
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Intervention Notes 2
It took a while to figure out what to do for my iteration on the first method. Should I just make the cubes larger? Should I use a different shape? This wasn’t an easy task. I needed something that was quicker to prepare but also just as engaging for the students to use.
The students had an assessment coming up so creating a session in the group tutorial around their assessment would be beneficial. I created a ‘Make the grade’ checklist (UAL, AEM support, 2024) for this unit, to be provided to them.
I thought of an idea around using a topological map and flags being plotted to help the students plot their grades to work towards getting the highest.
On the morning of the 26th of November I printed an A2 sized map I had designed before out made up from two A3 sheets stick together it included the learning outcomes on one side, I covered it with tracing paper to act as a surface to write on if needed.
The first group arrived and we used the same couch set up as the previous session, again I verbally explained the consent, we went through the check list first and I explained how we assess as a team and what the learning outcomes meant. Then all the students were given a blank flag where they could write their project name or draw a representation of it. They all plotted on the map going from E to A what they thought they currently had based on what I had told them. We then went round where each student presented their portfolios and videos (or whatever they had), the other students in the group helped to assess and give them tips on how to improve their submission and were invited to move the flag. Throughout the session when an important fact was spoken about we wrote it down on an extra flag this was shared with each group.
All the sessions ran smoothly and was an engaging way to discuss assessment and grades. Most of the students put their flags on the B area and moved them up no one was brave enough to move any of their peers flags down. So this aspect failed to some regard.
Reflecting back I can see from the TPP unit I had an idea for a ‘Make the grade’ type timeline board game, where students can navigate through key assessment dates and events, Flint (2025).
It is interesting to see the subconscious effect the PGcert has had on me even after a long stretch of time.
References
Flint, J. (2025) ‘case-study-3-assessing-learning-and-exchanging-feedback’, WordPress, 8/March. Available at: https://joncflint.myblog.arts.ac.uk/2024/03/08/case-study-3-assessing-learning-and-exchanging-feedback/ (Accessed: 10 January 2025).
UAL, AEM support (2024) ‘Reducing referrals and resubmissions’, Using Make the Grade. Available at: https://www.arts.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0021/190155/AEM-Reducing-referrals-PDF-304KB.pdf (Accessed: 10 January 2025).
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Intervention 1 Notes
12th November, my alarm wakes me up at 6:45am. Today is the day, I will have the difficult task of trying an intervention out during a group tutorial session, I have no idea what will happen and the very idea of me going up to my students with a series of cubes seems daunting, a simulated conversation plays out in my head between two students in my tutor group, “remember that day Jon bought in those cubes to that tutorial session, ohh yes, what was that about?”
Ok onto the task at hand, I have to make sure I bring double sided tape with me, I am not sure where it is in the office. I pack my things making sure my Zoom H1n field recorder has fresh batteries and that my camera batteries have charged, I send the cube templates to print so that when I get to CSM I can print them on the way to the office. Arriving at the northern line platform at around 7:45am it is incredibly busy, I hate this about London, people cramming onto the train carriages, ridiculous. I miss a train because it is too packed to get in. I hope I get there in on time, I have to cut out 10 sets of cubes and apply double sided tape to the sides.
I arrive on a little bit late but manage to print and head to the studio to grab a cutting matt and metal ruler. Then I head to the office, our office is on the opposite side of the building to the studio, everyday I teach I must go back and forth several times to both spaces.
I head to the office and begin to cut the cubes out, this takes longer than expected, it is about 9:10am I have about 40 minuses before the session starts. It takes even longer to apply double sided tape to the cut outs. It is about 9:50am when I make it down to the studio, students are already gathering ready to join their tutorials. I catch my colleague moving the couches out the way, ohh hold on I want to use them I say and we push them back to the corner, this year the year 2 students have set up a social space in the studio and placed a plinth on its side to use as a coffee table, I planned to use this space to host the session in, it was out of the way a bit and wouldn’t get sound coming through from the other tutors. It was also quite a relaxing and comfortable space next to the only windows where natural light comes from in the studio. Reflecting back on a first teaching observation I had on the PGcert It was pointed out from my peer observing me that the studio had some noise issues back then and maybe pointing away from other tutors would have helped, and that it does have an effect on students learning and motivation especially if English is not their first language Flint (2025).
My first group of students arrive, I am bit nervous at first to announce to intervention but get to it. I explain what I am doing and mention that I will provide a consent form and information if happy to take part a bit later on, I ask if I can take pictures and audio record, everyone says it is fine. I set up the Zoom H1n on the side of the table out of the way. I keep thinking about the time and how they may feel this is a distraction. The students start filling out the templates and some begin to fold and stick them together, it proves to be difficult to peel off the double sided tape in order to stick things. After all the cubes are completed I ask them to put them in the middle of the table, we pick the first students and being aware of time I get her to start, as students study her cube and pass it around it comes to me, I look at the sides but miss some of what was said because I was reading the cube.
For the next person we spent time passing and observing the cube before the student started talking. This group was enthusiastic and seemed to enjoy the method.
At the End of the session I asked if they would be able to group and cluster the cubes in anyway they liked, they eagerly discussed how they could group their cubes, trying to group them around themes explored in the tutorial from ethics to the living aspects they were exploring with their work.
-The next group were less enthusiastic but took part, the cubes worked well as a prompt here and a question aid a quieter student could explore it and point out something for another student to explain. This group clustered theirs based on materiality.
-The last group of the day only had two people taking part in the activity, they still explored and used them, though we didn’t get chance to cluster them at the end.
On reflection of this session, I think the cubes and setting helped to break down some of the barriers between some of the quieter and more vocal students. It was an interesting tool for quieter students to pick up and explore, as well as allowing enough room for everyone to use it. The time taken to set this up was a big factor, now I see why Proboscis sells the original pre-cut out story cubes kit . How might I iterate on this and what other shapes could I explore next? This may have been a simple enough method to use in this setting, but if methods become too complicated are students likely to not pay attention.
References
Flint, J. (2025) ‘Record of Observation or Review of Teaching Practice 1 Peer Observation’, WordPress, 6/February. Available at: https://joncflint.myblog.arts.ac.uk/2024/02/06/emma-observing-jon-6-2-24/(Accessed: 10 January 2025).
Proboscis (2023) StoryCubes. Available at: https://storycubes.net/ (Accessed: 10 November 2024).
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Data Collection Tools
During workshop 2 we were introduced to a Data collection tools swap shop, e shared and discussed some tools in our groups of method interest. I sat on the experimental table and was introduced to one of my peers methods which used a series of rotating wooden cubes based around an activity to reveal hidden disabilities. This reminded me of a method I was introduced to during my MA called ‘Storycubes’ a series of blank cubes people could use to draw or write stories on, then group together to form interesting assemblages (Proboscis, 2023). Tangible methods and activities from the world of design could be useful to try here in this context, as pointed out in my TPP case study 3 we often forget that we are practitioners and should bring our creative energy to challenges we face as teachers, Flint (2025). Allison Shreeve explores this concept in chapter 4 of her thesis where different strategies are shown through her interview data with practitioner tutors in art and design. Most notable is the strategy around collaborating, where activities remove the hierarchy between student and teacher, where you feel you are collaborating rather than teaching, Shreeve (2008). Could this result in a more equatable classroom environment? What activities might be developed to encourage this?
From this workshop what did I do to create data?
The table below explores some of the tools I used and with them the ways in which I created data.
| Method | Corresponding Tools |
| Inventive qualitative method (Intervention ideas) The Cube and Map | Activity / Plan for the method/ image and audio recordings / Objects created by the students |
| Interviews | Recording Audio and video on Microsoft teams / live transcription/ Questions / email/ |
| Survey | Online Questionnaire post intervention / email/ |
I wondered if I needed to capture audio recordings during the intervention, after all this would generate hours worth of data. Was this necessary? What I was more interested in was capturing the students interactions and behaviours using the different methods. Yet the thought of setting up a camera on the day would not only be invasive of the students, but require more time to set up and get working. In an idea world it would have been good to have a camera there, but a discreet field recorder seemed like the next best thing.
In the podcast the tyranny of the transcript,Rick Harris discusses the use of body language and pauses as interesting data points that can reveal more than what someone is saying, what was unsaid (Harris, 2020). I thought this might be an interesting approach to take in the interviews, since they used the Microsoft Teams platform it was easier to record than to set up a camera, so Teams became a useful tool here.
As for the survey initially I was reluctant to do an online questionnaire, yet again time was a deciding factor here, I would have much rather generated data from an Interview than on a survey, opportunities for more unexpected responses could could through going beyond what you might get on a form. Students had gone home for the Christmas break so I only managed to interview two online. The rest I had to email and ask to complete the questionnaire in there own time, of course this generated more straightforward results, questions for both the interview and survey were similar. Yet the online questionnaire format did prove more time saving to go through when getting the data back, I was able to get a balance of both then.
References:
Flint, J. (2025) ‘case-study-3-assessing-learning-and-exchanging-feedback’, WordPress, 8/March. Available at: https://joncflint.myblog.arts.ac.uk/2024/03/08/case-study-3-assessing-learning-and-exchanging-feedback/ (Accessed: 10 January 2025).
Harris, R. (2020) The Tyranny of the Transcript [Podcast]. 17/November. Available at: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5GPdL9Vo5sBwSMfu2f0eEH (Accessed: 11 January 2025).
Proboscis (2023) StoryCubes. Available at: https://storycubes.net/ (Accessed: 10 November 2024).
Shreeve, A. (2008) Transitions: variation in tutors’ experience of practice and teaching relations in art and design.Doctor of Philosophy. Department of Educational Research Lancaster University. Available at: https://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/id/eprint/62002/(Accessed: 11 January 2025).
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Participant Facing Documents and Consent form Dilemmas
Autumn always seems to be quite packed and fast paced. This year our course was organising a December work in progress show, which limited my time in preparing documents in advance. So for this reason, and due to the fact that time was running out, I had to do my actions and data gathering before creating my consent forms. My tutor mentioned I could send a retroactive consent, which seemed like a good solution.
I took verbal consent from the participants explaining what I would be doing as well as telling them that I would be sending a consent form at a later date and that they could withdraw at any point.
One dilemma I came across was that our course is very small, it would be easy to identify some staff members if any data was online even if it was anonymous. In the BREA guidelines this is called identification by association (BERA, 2024), so I added this to the information sheet making participants aware of this.
The other dilemma I faced was the consent and confidentiality itself. I created an online questionnaire for students to feedback their thoughts on the activities, there was an option to make their names anonymous when answering this so I selected this option. As the days went on, one student answered the questionnaire, I thought if I wanted to use their responses would I need to send a consent form? But I don’t know who to send it to because the form was anonymous! I could send it to everyone asking for the person that filled out the form to fill it out, but then that would reveal their identity to me! And they might have filled it out initially because of that anonymity. I found a source online that explained, if data collected from humans is fully anonymised you don’t need consent to share this, but you should inform your participants how the data will be used (Darby, 2025).
This made sense, so I send through my information sheet to all the participants, and as more people answered the questionnaire, it made it less likely for me to know who they were, I decided to also send through the consent form just to be extra safe in the matter. I think looking back, the idea of the retroactive consent seemed like a time saver but given more preparation time, sending something through before the activities and interviews would be less painful in the future. This is something to feedback to students, most of them now have copies of consent forms which they can also edit and use for their own research. I made two versions of the consent form, for the student version I didn’t add my phone number and replaced it with an alternative email address.
References:
BERA (2024) Ethical Guidelines for Educational Research. London: Available at: https://www.bera.ac.uk/publication/ethical-guidelines-for-educational-research-fifth-edition-2024 (Accessed: 9 January 2025)
(Darby, 2025)
Darby, R. (2025) Research ethics and data protection. Available at: https://www.reading.ac.uk/research-services/research-data-management/data-management-planning/research-ethics-and-data-protection (Accessed: 9 January 2025).
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Ethical Action Plan
I am writing this blog post in hindsight it was many months ago in a panic state of frenzy that I submitted my action plan. At the time I didn’t know what I wanted to focus on so kept delaying this, I kept going between different ideas ‘should I just do my Intervention from the previous unit or something completely different?’ I felt as though there was a lot of pressure on the significance of this final unit ( could it make or break my career as a newish lecturer? What if it didn’t work? What would my students think of the action I would have to do? Would they get it?)
In some ways studying on the PGCert reminded me about all the hopes and fears I felt as a student as well as what it must be like to be in a students shoes taking part in deadlines, tutorials, workshops etc. We always tell them about best practises, but sometimes we don’t practise this ourselves!
My Ethical Action Plan is attached at the end, let’s analyse my process a bit closer.
- Reflecting back on my research question, I find this to be too broad, my reasoning behind this was to keep it quite open because I had quite a lot of ideas at the time but didn’t know which one to choose, there was an idea about non verbal forms of communication that came out of an early tutorial session and creating a new language with my students.
- I split the readings up into three sections, covering methods, language and small group learning since some of the activities were planned for group tutorial sessions.
- I came across the lost and found in translation paper in the Decolonising Language and the Multilingual University roundtable video a peer in my tutorial group mentioned to me. This was a key moment in my process, as I learnt about the ways translation enhances learning through the translation of the design school manifesto Ingham (2021 p.3952) which creates a sense of belonging for students who came from diverse backgrounds and cultures Ingham (2021, p.3956) as well as how the dominance of English has become a barrier for many students and their learning Ingham (2021, p.3958).
- I looked back on some of the readings in the TPP unit and remembered how Lindsey had described Phil Race’s work, there were some useful tips here on tutorials from high learning payoff activities such as solving problems to apply assessment criteria to their own or each others work Race (2006, p.21), some of these tips proved useful when developing my actions.
- My quite ambitious list of actions (4 in total) were pointed out by my tutor to be perhaps too many, which I agreed with. My reasoning was that I looked at all the sessions I had left in the term and just plotted them down. I only ended up doing actions 1A and 1B during two group tutorials. It is interesting how I have ended back full circle as tutorial sessions were the ones I had my teaching observations done about, https://joncflint.myblog.arts.ac.uk/category/observations/ some of the the feedback I received from those observations would be useful when designing my actions.
References:
Ingham, M. (2021) ‘Becoming Lost and Found in Translation’, In: Cumulus Conference Proceedings Roma 2021, Track: Design Culture (of) REVOLUTION. Cumulus, pp. 17-34.
Race, P. (2006) The Lecturer’s Toolkit. 3rd Edition. London: Routledge.
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Reflective Report – Critical Café
My Positionally in relation to my teaching practise
I teach on the MA Biodesign course at Central Saint Martins, Biodesign is a cross disciplinary design field, where designers are introduced to the notion of learning and collaborating with living organisms to foster more holistic and regenerative futures (UAL, Postgraduate MA Biodesign 2024)
When discussing positionally Rebecca Y. Bayeck states identities change shape, multiple identities are revealed and because of the context space and intersection of both some become more prominent than others (Bayeck, 2022). When thinking about my positionally in relation to my teaching practise, I move between the roles of educator, learner and collaborator (mediator), informed by my practise and experiences as a designer, at times in some spaces I am not an expert and learn from the students and staff on the course and college. In this regard I move between as Bayeck describes as being an insider/outsider (Bayeck, 2022) in my spaces of learning.
In my practise I am a mixed race half White British and half South East Asian, male designer/educator/technician, born and raised in London to a multicultural working class family, I have had the privilege of studying design at known western institutions and I am a product of my education and cultural system, I am learning to build on, understand and shape this through my teaching and learning practices and engagements with different people and communities.
Early on in my teaching career I was preparing some slides for a session around design research methods, after compiling all the slides I realised my sources were drawn from dominant western societies so I tried to look for some examples that were not. In doing so I came across a pdf of Linda Tuhiwai Smith’s book ‘Decolonizing Methodologies’ and quickly went through the book to find examples of Indigenous research method to add to my slides. But when reading more of the book I realised what I was doing wrong, Smith writes that the book is written primarily to help themselves and bring Maori people being viewed as research objects to Maori people being their own researchers (Smith, 1999). Reflecting on this I was about to take from this community and misplace their context, I was not the person the methods were designed for or the right person to take and share them in this way, instead of a displacing mindset one of more nuance and care was needed here.
As a designer and leaner I am excited and inspired by new thoughts and ideas, yet one of my limitations is being a product of my education system as well as the western capitalist society I live in, therefore It is important to champion and respect the work of diverse communities (as allies or mentors). Danah Abdulla states the choices we make as designers is political and has potential to exclude and to oppress, but by engaging with the history of colonialism this will make us more aware around how power structures have formed society and how they dominate what we understand as design (Khandwala, 2019).
My Intervention
There is an urgency to decolonise Art and Design education so that the diverse student body of UAL can be reflected in the curriculum (Patel, 2019) campaigns such as ‘Why is my curriculum white?’ (Fig 1) aim to embed race equality into teaching as well as minimise euro-centric bias into curriculum design (Doharty et al., 2020).
Yet as the previous section highlights this isn’t easy to practise, decolonisation as Anoushka Khandwala puts it is about changing the way we think, by acknowledging that in Western society we live in systems of privilege and oppression (Khandwala, 2019). A dominant canon of work produced by European and American male designer has undermined work produced by designers from non-western cultures and lower income backgrounds (Khandwala, 2019), this needs to change, this dominant canon is what I was taught as being “good” design, and highlights the gaps and limitations in my positionally.
In order to change our mindsets as Dr Gurnam Singh mentions dialogue can be a vehicle to engage in critical pedagogy (Vikki Hill, 2018). And as Asif Sadiq mentions on diversity training, learning through stories by getting groups of colleagues together to share their experiences is impactful, as we learn through each other and through human engagement (Sadiq, 2023).
With the principles above in mind my intervention takes the form of a short communal event, called ‘Critical Café’. It serves as a space in which staff on the Biodesign course at CSM (and eventually all staff members) can share, challenge and diversify their design references, knowledge and sources.
I haven’t been able to test my event but I envision it taking place once a month during term time on Wednesdays between 13:45 to 14:00 a time when people may normally grab a coffee or drink before returning to work. I will prepare and bring a series of reference cards (fig 2) chosen based on themes of inclusion and decolonisation some may highlight more of a social justice or intersectional mindset (though I don’t want to categorise or box a source too much), it is important when selecting the cards to choose from diverse sources beyond my existing knowledge base, this will be highlighted on the card. I will also provide a series of blank cards for staff to add any of their own references to (which can be prepared for the next event). A series of light prompts can also be prepared in which staff are invited to share, comment, challenge or adopt the references. The aim is to build an archive of sources, to trigger creativity, collaboration and knowledge sharing (Välk et al., 2022) as well as a create a space for discussion to make a dent in the debates in decolonising design and Biodesign.
Inclusion and Intersectionality
UAL has a high proportion of international students, on my course alone (Fig 3) international students account for nearly 72% of the cohort, that is 38 international students out of 53 (UAL, Active Dashboards 2024). International students are not accounted for in the equality, diversity and inclusion reports UAL publishes (UAL, Equality objectives and reports 2024) or in the Ethnic Representative Index (UAL, Ethnic Representation Index 2024). International students intersect with political issues, immigration as well as University funding systems and face barriers to support (Migrants’ Rights Network, 2024). Is it possible to go beyond the optical notions of diversity to offer a curriculum that reflects on the diverse international student body that makes up UAL, and create better change for everyone ?
Early on in the IP module the term intersectionality was introduced to us, coined by Professor Kimberlé Crenshaw to address how different aspects of oppression intersect and overlap with aspects of someone’s identity (The Institute of Art and Ideas, 2021). I wondered how intersectionality might be applied in a design context and came across a review of a symposium organised by the Decolonising Design Group. The Allies and Decoloniality (Workshop) by Jabe Bloom and Dimeji Onafuwa offered some interesting insights which informed my intervention, they got participants to consider intersectionality as a way to be more critically aware of our own conditions and experiences and those of other people in the world (Onafuwa, 2018). A tool they used was the ‘Appropriation versus Allying Strategies Matrix’ to help people map distinctions between the two as well as understand spaces where those lines may be blurred (Onafuwa, 2018). These approaches informed my intervention as a way to use prompts.
As mentioned the choice of cards (Fig 4) in my intervention will be selected based on an intersectional mindset, highlighting references such as in the case of ‘Queer Theory of lichens’ example where sexuality intersects with gender and queerness as well as human and non-human organisms. Social Justice is another theme in which my intervention considers, in another card example Deepa Butoliya’s methodology of critical Jugaad was selected as a valid alternative to western narratives of design to interrogate and critique repressive power structures and practises (Atzmon, L, 2023).
The ‘Critical Café’ event part of the intervention is designed to bring together the perspectives and identities of staff creating an intersectional knowledge base when reviewing as well as offering their own references. I am no expert or authority here and shouldn’t be, this is why a community way of engaging is needed to hopeful create a space that can benefit all.
Reflections on Feedback
Feedback sessions with my peers and tutor helped me to develop and shape the intervention idea. The blog group mentioned the idea was a good way to invite the community to build on and be involved and bring different perspectives. They asked about logistics and if the cards would be physical or digital, mentioning platforms like Padlet if digital. I agreed with some members of the group that lots of digital cards are overwhelming, and liked the tangibility of having a few cards laid out at a time to engage and converse around. My Tutor mentioned the idea was a good way to create change by looking at things differently as well as bringing staff together.
From my colleague on the MA Biodesign course, we discussed the design of the cards, she suggested if an authors positionally could be shown, as well as ways to theme the cards and suggested it could be a method for students to adopt in an assessment by submitting five cards each. I liked the idea of the positionally being shown, but there was not enough space to do this I will include this during the session if appropriate. Eventually I hope the intervention will feed into student experiences on the course in various ways. (complete feedback notes are documented in the appendix section).
When suggesting how to implement fungal teachings into our lives, Ostendorf-Rodríguez (2023, p. 308) makes us aware that interesting conversations occur when we are relaxed and not just sitting behind a computer, such as socialising over coffee, we learn from one another and it can help ease the burdens on ourselves when we do things as a group. Ultimately my intervention seeks to create a platform where groups of colleagues can come together to share their experiences and learn from each other in the process (Sadiq, 2023).
References:
Atzmon, L. (2023) Design & Science. 1st Edition . London: Bloomsbury Visual Arts.
Bayeck, R.Y. (2022) ‘Positionality: The interplay of space, context and identity’, International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 21, pp. 1–9. doi:10.1177/16094069221114745.
Doharty, N., Madriaga, M. and Joseph-Salisbury, R. (2020) ‘The university went to “decolonise” and all they brought back was lousy diversity double-SPEAK! critical race counter-stories from faculty of colour in “decolonial” times’, Educational Philosophy and Theory, 53(3), pp. 233–244. doi:10.1080/00131857.2020.1769601.
Khandwala, A. (2019) What does it mean to decolonize design?, Eye on Design. Available at: https://eyeondesign.aiga.org/what-does-it-mean-to-decolonize-design/ (Accessed: 23 July 2024).
Migrants’ Rights Network (2024) The Hostile Office-International Students. Available at: https://migrantsrights.org.uk/projects/hostile-office/international-students/ (Accessed: 24 July 2024).
Ostendorf-Rodríguez, Y. (2023) Let’s become fungal!: Mycelium teachings and the arts. Amsterdam: Valiz.
Onafuwa, D. (2018) ‘Allies and Decoloniality: A Review of the Intersectional Perspectives on Design, Politics, and Power Symposium’, Design and Culture, 10(1), pp. 7–15. doi: 10.1080/17547075.2018.1430995.
Patel, R. (2019) ‘Why is my curriculum white’, Decolonising the Arts Curriculum Zine (Issue 2), p. 29 Available at: https://issuu.com/theexchangeual/docs/final_v_online_zine2 (24th Jully 2024).
Sadiq, A. (2023) Diversity, Equity & Inclusion. Learning how to get it right. TEDx [Online]. Youtube. 2 March. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HR4wz1b54hw (Accessed: 23 July 2024).
Smith, L. T. (1999) Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples . 12th Impression. London: Zed Books.
The Institute of Art and Ideas (2021) Kimberle Crenshaw on Intersectionality | The Big Idea. 18 November. Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BnAW4NyOak&t=207s (24 July 2024).
UAL (2024) Active Dashboards. Available at: https://dashboards.arts.ac.uk (Accessed: 24 July 2024).
UAL(2024) Equality objectives and reports. Available at: https://www.arts.ac.uk/about-ual/public-information/equality-objectives-and-reports (Accessed: 24 July 2024).
UAL (2024) Ethnic Representation Index. Available at: https://www.arts.ac.uk/about-ual/equality-and-diversity/ethnic-representation-index (Accessed: 24 July 2024).
UAL (2024) Postgraduate MA Biodesign. Available at: https://www.arts.ac.uk/subjects/textiles-and-materials/postgraduate/ma-biodesign-csm (Accessed: 20 July 2024).
Välk, S. et al. (2022) ‘Supporting collaborative biodesign ideation with contextualised knowledge from bioscience’, CoDesign, 19(2), pp. 142–161. doi:10.1080/15710882.2022.2138447.
Vikki Hill (2018) Critical Pedagogy #4 ‘What does it look like in practice?’ – Vikki Hill with Dr Gurnam Singh. 9 March. Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6ghTlyBDNk (Accessed: 23 July 2024).
List of Images:
Figure 1. Adeola Gay research from final year London project Not* on the Shelf from:
Patel, R. (2019) ‘Why is my curriculum white’, Decolonising the Arts Curriculum Zine (Issue 2), p. 29 Available at: https://issuu.com/theexchangeual/docs/final_v_online_zine2 (24th Jully 2024).
Figure 2. Reference cards with blank card examples
Figure 3. UAL dashboard data for MA Biodesign from:
UAL (2024) Active Dashboards. Available at: https://dashboards.arts.ac.uk (Accessed: 24 July 2024).
Figure 4. Close up of four of the Reference cards
Appendix:
Notes from discussion with blog group
Bring in the physicality of it the cards
How would they be made? Will this take time? Could it be a blank card?
Could it be a ‘Padlet’ resource as well but could get overwhelming.
Different perspectives, invitation for community building and involvement
Multicoloured pens
Staff perspective
Work on the logistics of the event to trial
Notes from discussion with tutor
Discuss process thinking about doing.
How it is part of my practise. How thinking of implementing it?
Key thing to tease out. Inclusion, social justice, or intersectionality at centre of it
New way of seeing things. Creating change, looking at things differently
In conclusion:
Critique about current practise and what seeking to do, outcomes.
Looking more internally, inclusion always a theme.
Bringing staff together.
Notes from discussion with a colleague on the MA Biodesign
Bi-monthly might be too ambitious
Likes the idea of the flash cards how it can grow?
The students have a wider breadth of knowledge about specific topics that would be good to share and make known.
Could be good to develop it further into a deliverable for students as a form of assessment, they could submit 5 cards. Where else could it be used with students?
It could be part of the M school meeting or JTM meeting
What will the cards look like?
What size are they? A5 or A6
Authors positionally as sometimes we don’t know
Where they are based
If it is a group or individual
Instagram or link QR code
Be good to theme the cards could relate to themes from new course handbook (biomaterials, food etc)
Disclaimer way of sharing knowledge discussion will form, I am not an expert here just finding a way to group together more diverse references
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