I began my ARP with a different focus, and only realised I wanted to change the focus to the use of Miro in the Classroom several weeks in. This meant I ‘wasted’ some of my reading time on other subjects and doing lots of deliberating, and only came into planning quite late, and leaving less time.
I wish I had engaged the students earlier in the ARP. In retrospect I would have put them into groups and done more of a workshop, rather than making the Pre Session task something to complete in their own time.The Action had to be fitted into quite a busy time, meaning student attendance of the event was poorer than I hoped. If I had engaged them earlier, I think they would have been more invested, and attendance would have been higher.
In turns out, the Miro was far less effective than the artefacts at garnering student engagement in the context of a Guest Lecture. Miro needs to be used in combination with other elements, although it did have some impact in disrupting hierarchies, and cementing a sense of the communal. As one student commented, it works well as ‘Chat Box’ in Crits, which I felt really hit the nail on the head – hence the title Group Chat. Essentially, a mediating artefact is key in my teaching, with a strong emphasis on session design and pre planning.
I would have liked to have spent more time looking into Research Methods. The Microsoft Survey was actually the right fit for what I wanted to find out, but I much prefer working with qualitative data and interviews as I think this is more valuable for drawing out nuance and gaining a deeper understanding. It was the first time I did a Survey, and I would use this method again, and I did learn about the different ways you can construct questions to get data. I had planned to try a Mentimenter which I didn’t use in the end, but would like to try another time.
I enjoyed bringing in pop cultural references to this project, it really brought me joy, creatively framing the project in these terms; as was seeing how my interest in relational practice can be applied in a pedagogical setting, reading more about Dialogical approaches, and what these theories they are rooted in.
I also liked using Miro to plan my own thinking, something I have been advising the students to do, and was yet to try myself. I found it very useful for lateral thinking and connecting the dots between ideas. I actually found the World cafe day quite joyful. Seeing the students engaged, responding well, seeing the space transformed!
While I’m fairly satisfied with my ARP as an initial experiment, but It’s hard to measure how much impact it made in terms of social justice. It feels like a lot of work and planning went into it, but almost didn’t look like it from the outside – which was kind of the idea! But the research / insight doesn’t feel as concrete/ measurable as I might have hoped. However, there is plenty I can take forward into my teaching.
I really think made the most of the advice available, and did a lot in response to tutorials/peer feedback. Alongside this I had lots of peer conversations which helped steer my approach; Tanveer Ahmed, Wande Awoniyi, Dal Chodha, Philip Clark, Kira Salter, Eve Yu LIn were all colleagues I spoke to.
I would run another World Cafe Event in the future. I would use Miro again, but try and get the students more involved in session design next time. I’d definitely use the insights from the Student Survey to program the most relevant guests, ofcourse. This information has been really valuable in better understanding the cohort’s Industry focus, and I have passed it onto Wande Awoniyi who leads Unit 8.
Perhaps I also could have spent more time evaluating the data, looking at research analysis frameworks? My ARP was more heavily weighted towards doing something and the action.
The most overarching thing would be that Peer learning needs to be more embedded and sign-posted throughout the Stage 2, and I need to advocate for it. I have lacked confidence I think. Meeting Kira Salter helped me recognise it as something worth continuing to explore and support with resources.
Looking back at my first Blog to what I hoped to achieve; Overall, from a personal perspective, the PGCert and the ARP in particular has helped me integrate roles as educator/creative practitioner. I have enjoyed engaging with theory. For this Unit, my blogging has been more in note form – time has been limited. But I do feel like I have grasped core concepts I wanted to better understand. I forward to applying this within and beyond the classroom setting.