Reflections from my Readings
Reflections are meaningful only when you pay attention to it- Kayalvizhi Jayavel
All my teaching for around 20 years has been with engineering universities, and I don’t have any experience teaching at any arts schools. So, I took every opportunity that came up through the workshops to hone my skills to give my best to the arts students. One such occasion was reading articles and discussing them among fellow participants. I was fortunate to have chosen to read the article “The Design Critique and the Moral Goods of Studio Pedagogy” by Jason K. McDonald and Esther Michela from Brigham Young University, USA. After reading it, I felt fortunate that I had decided to read it among the other articles. The reason being a fan of “critical reviews”, that article resonated well with my thoughts. In fact, it even broke open the little hesitation I had to try it in my new workspace at UAL.
The takeaways from the article, I would like to list as follows:
Crux: Critique is essential but should be done with care, and findings from the research (6 Participants) confirm the importance of exercising moral good for critiques and the positive impact on participants.
My Learning: Though there may be habitual ways of responding fueled by historical/cultural backgrounds, efforts should be put in for informed choices to be exercised. Gradually, it becomes a natural process and easy to practice.
How do I relate?: Though the article was in the context of Design Studio Instructors, I could relate to it when writing feedback to my students in Assessment Briefs.
My Inspiration: Also, findings revealed “interest in studio forms of teaching and learning is growing outside the fields of design” (p. 1), which at this university includes areas such as public relations and law. (McDonald & Michela, 2019). This is a clear message to me that I can also try this in my classroom.
Challenges: I found there may be some challenges I might have to address when following the critique approach, namely colleague’s disapproval, being looked down upon, students being unwilling to collaborate, community standards conflicting with students’ learning experiences, job insecurity, feeling like a middle child, frictions, etc. But I would like to draw inspiration from these lines of Arao and Clements: “Rather, we propose revising our language, shifting away from the concept of safety and emphasizing the importance of bravery instead, to help students better understand – and rise to – the challenges of genuine dialogue on diversity and social justice issues,” to adopt the critique approach and address the above challenges with bravery instead of succumbing to the fear of being judged.
References:
Arao, B. & Clemens, K. (2015) From safe spaces to brave spaces. In: The Art of Effective Facilitation. Stylus, pp. 135-150
McDonald, J. K., & Michela, E. (2019). The design critique and the moral goods of studio pedagogy. Design Studies, 62, 1–35.