Before and After: Reflections around Workshop 1
Reflections are visible only when you pay attention to it- Kayalvizhi Jayavel
Everything was new for me as I had recently moved to the UK, and I was quite unfamiliar with the education system here. The only way I had to learn things was by trial and error, reading documents, or talking to people. Once again, I felt like a student, realizing how important it is to guide students systematically as they might also face similar challenges coming from mixed backgrounds and diverse cultures. Time went by with no real solution as to how I was going to cope, and that’s when I decided to register for the PgCert program. It was during the first day of PgCert “Workshop 1” that I felt the answers to my questions started unfolding. I see this journey as a systematic “Table of Contents” of a book where after every session, there is an incremental understanding of the HE sector.
I aimed to capture in this essay what it was like before and after Workshop 1. A few of the questions I already had were: Why am I asked to complete a course on “Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion”? It sounded a bit odd, as I felt these were things which are simple and I knew it all. To be honest, I completed it, but I wasn’t really sure how useful it was until I attended Workshop 1 of PgCert. It’s the same scene, but each one observes it differently. I felt my hanging dots started connecting and gave me answers under three sections: Icebreaker session on Equal Participation, Activity around Social Justice, and Arts Pedagogy Reading.
Lesson 1: Coming from an Engineering background but teaching Arts students requires a different way of engagement and interaction. I have started including similar icebreakers in my units and observed how effective this simple technique is to return to moods comfortably.
Lesson 2: I thought social justice was a bigger term, and it is the responsibility of governments and policymakers to take control of it. But after retrospection of what was learned from the class, I felt that every day in class, this needs to be assured. But still, I am working out ways of how consciously I can get this to the classrooms and beyond.
Lesson 3: I read an article titled “The Design Critique and the Moral Goods of Studio Pedagogy” as part of the reading task and found out how important critical feedback is to one’s growth. Though this technique invites mixed opinions and criticism for the practitioner, I wanted to try it myself, which I introduced under the Assessment Feedback. To my surprise, students had the courage to take it in the right sense and improve. But I understood we should also be willing to accept similar comments if offered back. Sometimes ego gets in the way, and we should consciously attempt to overcome it for the greater good.
In conclusion, when you are clear with your questions and ask the right people, you have the answers. But what hinders one’s growth is how willing one is to accept and change.
Reference
McDonald, J.K. and Michela, E. (2019) ‘The design critique and the moral goods of studio pedagogy’, Design Studies, 62, pp. 1-35. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.destud.2019.02.001