Experimental Design Micro-teaching
Summary of feedback and reflection
This sessions aim is to provide students with a way of creating a drawing and sample in a short space of time. This also enables “students to be independent learners through their development and testing of their own experiences, reflections, ideas, investigations…” (Hardie, 2015, p.20).
The handout’s intention was to better communicate the task and support the students. In the feedback it was mentioned that the handout had simply been given out which led to it not being used. It was also mentioned that images with examples of the final outcome would have been useful at the start of the session (these were in the handout but not seen until later on). The feedback above highlighted something crucial, that although all the information needed was there it was not looked at because I did not draw attention to it and explain its purpose. This is such a simple change to implement, but one that I believe will make a big difference in my teaching going forward.
There was also conflicting feedback on whether it would be best to give the handout at the start of the session as a guide or the end of the session for reference. I believe it would be better to give the handout at the start of the session and to explain it and encourage students to read through it before starting the tasks.
There was also feedback on how to develop this exercise further, by developing the use of different colour wires. These have different gages and properties and thus are more useful at different stages, so there is a clear direction for me explore i.e. handing out the wire at different stages of the task to highlight a design addition such as a connection between pieces.
It was also encouraged to push the exercise further in terms of making different variations of the same object, perhaps with different purposes. It was also suggested to not just engage with the object visually (look at it and draw it) but to interact with the object in different ways such as touch and sound, and to see how this further expands on the interpretation of the object. In object-based learning (OBL), a variety of “pedagogical approaches” are used “as powerful tools for learning” (Hardie, 2015, p.4). I will research ways of implementing OBL in my sessions, which other participants did do ad it was very revelatory.
The feedback also noted that the participants found the exercise useful in terms of keeping the participants engaged in experimenting and exploring instead of focusing on having a perfect outcome. Lastly it was noted that there was a good balance on guidance and individual freedom in the task and that this led to participants feeling supported in their experimentation.
I am really pleased that the task was successful in its original aim and that the participants enjoyed it. I have many points to reflect on, develop and apply to this session going forward.
References
Hardie, K. (2015) ‘Innovative pedagogies series: Wow: The power of objects in object-based learning and teaching ’, Innovative pedagogies series: Wow: The power of objects in object-based learning and teaching, pp. 1–25. doi:https://s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/assets.creode.advancehe-document-manager/documents/hea/private/kirsten_hardie_final_1568037367.pdf.
UCL (2022) Teaching & object-based learning, UCL CULTURE. Available at: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/culture/schools/teaching-object-based-learning (Accessed: 17 March 2025).