It seems to me that to foster change and progression towards ‘decolonisation’, ‘EDI’, ‘change making’ in real world terms, reducing the ‘attainment gap’, not just words in a document, powerpoint presentation, course material, university ‘policy’, government legislation, etc, I must start with making change by having difficult, uncomfortable conversations with my white, black and brown counterparts. To have discussions about racism, to experience more ‘silences’ with colleagues, students, peers who may be in a more privileged position than myself as a black academic, and that of brown and black students, in order to encourage thought and consideration of others’ backgrounds, experiences, knowledge and approaches outside of what is deemed ‘the mainstream’, dominant, white, middle class, neuro-typical experience. Perhaps it is like taking a nice slurp of wholesome soup, that in the mouth, feels more like indigestible bones and sinews that one might not want to swallow.

I had the opportunity to address this during a discussion with two white peers after a micro teach session. Peer 1 was relaying her experience of a student who ‘didn’t speak’, expressing her frustration at the international students’ lack of communication and willingness to engage. This sparked my interest. The conversation, inevitably, moved on to issues around race and minorities. Later that day Peer 1 messaged me and asked for a reminder of the term ‘wilful ignorance’ that I had used during our conversation, which I was happy to provide. While it was an uncomfortable conversation, in which I, again, experienced the silence, it felt good that Peer 1 felt she could reach out to me to presumably communicate her own experience of ‘wilful ignorance’.

I want to continue to have difficult conversations, to make even small changes to the white mainstream comfort zone and perspective of mashed potato and gravy.

As I set out to design a micro teach session I thought about what I wanted to find out about my peers’ responses to, attitudes towards and experiences of drawing were. My interest in drawing as a multi-faceted tool and skill has been with me for many years, through my childhood, as a student up to master’s level, and as a teacher. I am interested in questions ??? such as ‘what’s is drawing for’, ‘how can drawing be used as a thinking tool’, ‘ why is drawing a valuable activity (for art students and visual thinkers)’, and ‘what is the value of drawing by hand in a digitally driven environment’. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, why am I so interested in drawing by hand? What is it about drawing activity that I believe is so valuable?

https://sparkjournal.arts.ac.uk/index.php/spark/article/view/99/175

• Berger (2012) ‘On Drawing’
• The Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize (I submitted work for this prize in 2019 and am working on a submission for 2023)
• A peer drawing group I instigated as an MA student that explored observational drawing techniques for illustration and graphic design students
• Qona Rankin’s research into the links between drawing and dyslexia https://www.rca.ac.uk/more/staff/qona-rankin/

https://www.academia.edu/32424343/ExPLORING_THE_LINKS?email_work_card=view-paper

• My work as a Specialist support teacher to children with dyslexia and co-occuring issues ie. the deployment of visual and multi-sensory learning methods to engage visual thinkers in learning literacy

The above research further informed my thinking around the subject of drawing in planning my micro-teach session. Particular, more focussed questions arose centred around the possible purposes of drawing – research, documentation, reflection, to enhance memory, for communication, expression, for mindfulness, auto-ethnography and biography, the cognitive processing and effects of drawing, to create meaning and understanding of experience and emotion.

What do I mean by ‘drawing’? Using traditional and non-traditional drawing mediums to create marks on a surface resulting in a unique manifestation of the drawer’s identity and view of the subject/world/experience ,mind and more.

Drawing as a sensory experience – I consider the ways that learning and experience occurs in complex ways, and in addition to the commonly accepted 5 sensory experiences of sound, sight, touch, taste, and smell, with neuro diverse brain types: proprioceptive sense (experience of one’s body parts in relation to each other, and other people, ‘personal space’); visibular sense (the body in relation to surrounding space, eg. dangling feet, hanging from a tree branch in a forest or playground); introceptive sense (internal bodily sensations, eg. stomach cramps or ‘butterflies’ (due to nervousness; hunger, cold, thirst). This needs further research in order to develop my thinking around how these additional senses might impact on learning in general, and in the context of drawing activity (eg, sensory processing disorder’).

I considered the different ways in which research can be structured and recorded. A good research question needs specificity. Reporting research can go academic writing styles to include, eg. a report, interviews, visual imagery (as seen in a peer’s introductory presentation that included a series of images as their PhD paper, something I had not seen previously), media and sound.

I also considered the wider context of the purposes of research: the national and international impact and context of myself and student participants; the possibilities for community building; issues of inclusion and diversity; cultural experience; silence; the theorisation of human experience (ontology, ethnography, sociology, auto-ethnography).

Making a timeline of the last 5 years helped me to think about the students I teach and what their experience might have been like prior to entering HE, the impact the pandemic might have had, and may continue to have on their learning and personal development as individuals. As a parent to teenagers I am aware that this generation have a very different experience of some of their formative years. Traditionally 16-18 year olds might have experienced extra curricular activities such as the Duke of Edinburgh award, or the National Citizenship Scheme, other events and opportunities within local communities to encourage interaction with the wider world, within homes and communities, peers and potential employers. This time was lost, and the impact remains for some, in the form of anxiety, depression and mental health conditions became more prolific during and since the pandemic. This will have an impact on learning and the requirements of my pastoral responsibilities as a teacher.

Jan 2023

https://www.arts.ac.uk/colleges/central-saint-martins/csm-innovation/partnerships-and-sponsorship/swarovski-hub

I looked at this policy to update my knowledge on the current design aims on my host course BA Textile Design

Some notes…

Jan 2023

This resource/policy led me to re-thinking my biases around the fashion and textiles industry. As a creative practitioner I made a decision early on that I did not not want to work in the fashion industry, because of the social, political and ethical implications that did not sit with my personal values. The Crafts Council exhibition ‘Cotton, land, labour, body’ spoke of the economic, historic, colonial and social justice issues surrounding the production of fabric, textiles and design history documantation, and ways that these have been skewed from original practices, meaning and sources, eg. the origins of the ‘paisley’ design. For me these issues are important for my own knowledge, practice and self-growth. Expanding my knowledge of the political, social, historical, racial, intersectional spaces surrounding Textiles inform my creative practice and my pedagogy. I would like to be in a position to inform my students of these hidden, suppressed histories. I would hope that young people at university level, and the colleagues I work with are at least aware of their own cultural history and have some understanding of the impact of colonialism and Empire on current practices in a global, national and local scale, and the ways these impact our lives and work. Sustainability is a much used word. But a less utilised practice in reality. Myself included.

https://www.craftscouncil.org.uk/whats-on/cotton

I enrolled on this session on digital learning to help me gain a better understanding of the issues that arise on digital platforms in HE. What I learnt from engaging with the session and some of the questions that arose for me were:

• How can I gauge efficacy of interactive teaching and student learning on different platforms? Teams functions: Polls (though these can be misleading or unreliable as individuals can vote more than once on a single poll…), emojis, images, text chat, camera on, live chat; Microsoft: forms; Moodle:quizzes; Padlet: posts, at time of learning and post event. Synchronous and asynchronous possibilities. Break-out rooms are another way I can facilitate and check individual and peer-peer engagement, bonding, and support. To check for student engagement the ‘Do then Review’ model model can be employed: eg. capture imagery or written feedback, then ‘share’ feedback/responses in chatroom, verbally. A consideration is as a teacher I may be limited in viewing, reviewing or knowing who students are sharing information with. Therefore at the beginning of an online session boundaries would need to be explained about confidentiality and the sharing of content outside of the meeting/session. Although, in reality, I have limited control over this. UAL Social Media policy states staff and students are not permitted to share information in certain circumstances, however in the digital world how much control or influence can I have to limit any individuals freedom of speech or expression through a personal device (mobile phone, laptop or pc)? The policy is supportive for me as a teacher because although it is not realistic in terms of HOW to limit undesirable engagement with social media, the fact this policy exists protects me as a representative and employee of UAL.

• How can students gauge their own learning? As above. Discussion in the workshop revealed that on digital platforms it is sometimes better to set a specific activity for students to engage with, rather than just discussion.

• Padlet platform: can be better for students who struggle to engage socially as posts can be anonymised. Good for peer-peer engagement and feedback as students can add responses in their own time, and respond to peer posts

• an introduction to UKPSF and the three areas for engagement for the TTP unit. I began to think about how I might engage with these three areas in my teaching practice, and how my past experience of teaching in secondary education compares to the standards.

9.1.23

It took me some soul searching to come to the point where I decided to take on the PgCert. I completed a PGCE during the pandemic and questioned whether I wanted to go back into academia for yet another year. Personal circumstances would make studying again difficult, travel, costs, time, and managing family life are all part of the mix and I knew time management, and some sacrifice of quality time would be key to my success on the programme. Ultimately, I am passionate about art and design, teaching and working with young people. I want to develop my pedagogy in HE, from a constructivist standpoint, and to facilitate meaningful learning. As a woman of colour my positionality is a key element of my teaching and learning, I want to be completely self aware in relation to the institution, within the course structure on which I teach, in relation to my students, peers and colleagues, politically, socially and culturally. Developing a greater sense of who I am and why I want to teach is one of my aims on the course. I want to develop this same self-awareness in young people in relation to the wider world as I believe it is crucial to developing a meaningful and productive creative practice. I want to be visible to students of colour and to eventually be part of efforts to reduce the attainment gap in HE. My experience of being a student in art school had many instances where I felt I wasn’t supported or understood. I want to redress this imbalance, particularly but not exclusively, for students who fall under the commonly-used but less understood labels of ‘black’, ‘bame’, ‘disabled’, ‘neurodivergent’, ‘LGBTQ+’, ‘female’, ‘underrepresented’, ‘socially disadvantaged’, ‘poor’….