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