ENTRY 19 – REVIEWING LESSON OBSERVATIONS
Thursday 10th February
At a point now where I have co-delivered all of part A of the brief I am now reflecting on design, deliver and feedback I have received thus far. I am about to start writing my reflection which should discuss a critical incidence within the whole process to discuss. I have decided to make some notes of the key incidences within this process to help decide what I will reflect upon.
Authentic:
During the collaborative task of creating our triads inclusive curriculum design principles the differences between our cohorts in terms of diversity and neurodiversity was brought to my attention. I need to be aware of reassessing my cohorts before any unit re-design or minor mods to make sure it is applicable to that particular year group as a whole. Above all, regardless of changes the units I design need to be authentic to industry.
Initial research:
In my initial research I was really inspired by the book I read; ‘perspectives of higher education’ the concluding section that reviewed the effects the pandemic has had upon teaching and the speed of pace methods of teaching are developing. I have been keen to explore blended teaching methods with our students by seeing how it often engages more students than attending in class. By using the FLOATS curriculum model (McKimm et al, 2021). I am planning in less rigidity into my work to be flexible as to how I teach in class and online.
Observations
Briefing:
Key feedback from my observations:
Although the delivery was clear and the presentation is visually engaging, it would have been helpful for students and/or tutors if there was 5-10mins students’ feedback time after the briefing as students are often shy and reluctant to ask questions. (Mio)
There may be time constraints, however, it might be good to deliver some small activity before the seminar to ensure that students understand the brief after the briefing. (Mio)
Students seemed eager, though not many contributed – make sure you have mechanisms in place to draw out students and hear their views, at least once per hour get students to either say or write something. (Virna)
Students to turn cameras on to monitor the engagement. (Mio)
It would have been good to have mentioned how ‘inclusive’ aspects will add/run on the unit during the briefing. (Mio)
Plan in flexibility!
I am a planner – this can mean that some of my lesson plans and written briefs can become too rigid and don’t create enough flexibility for myself or students. Appreciating the differenced in terms of diversity and neurodiversity from year to year has really taught me that I need to allow myself to be and teach more flexibility for the wellbeing of myself and to easily adapt my teaching to suite differences within year groups.
UDL?
Lessons learnt:
Liz’s calm well-paced delivery – felt relaxed!
ENTRY 18 – REVIEWING LESSON OBSERVATIONS
Wednesday 9th February
Today we discussed the importance of peer observations. We also worked on noting the different areas we could reflect on that cover the UKPS framework. Below is a ketso mind map of this discussion.
ENTRY 17 – FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT
Tuesday 1st February
Today the first years attended their first formative assessment checkpoint – the buyers sign off meeting. This essentially concludes Part A of the unit – the area of the unit that has seen most of my teaching reflecting my key industry skills and the area of the brief that I will be reflecting on in my PGCert written reflection of my unit redesign.
Started on time
Attendance: 24/30 (in groups of 5/6)
Told students that they had to have their camera’s on to count as attending the formative assessment – still had issues getting them all to turn them on though.
On average students presented their work within 5 mins which was the budgeted amount of time.
Again, good engagement online. All student presented calmly and confidently without any of the anxiety that often get them in class. Due to the lack of anxiety all students were able to listen and note down their feedback which often doesn’t happen in class due to them standing at the front or overcoming nerves so much that they can absorb the feedback.
Lesson overview:
The formative really acted as an authentic buyers sign off that would happen in industry with comments on risky pieces within the range and the balance.
Anxious students all presented – didn’t in house – which was great to see them included and have the chance to see how others present too.
Clear a couple of students were struggling – In response we will assign them to one-to-one tutorials next week to help them catch up and re-review their feedback and progress from today’s formative
What next?
Students need to further justify where their trend have come from WGSN predictions, term one PESTEL etc.. Make sure they are future colours not colours the store already has? Repeat shapes (best sellers) but be cautious with colours; consumers are not going to buy the same vest top in same colour year on year, for example.
Where do I gauge the students, learning is? Do I need to re-cap anything before moving onto part B?
Students had considered the Boston matrix and fashion triangle in terms of balance the ranges out but need to be cautions that they have a balance of tops and bottoms within their ranges – some ranges it was noted that there was too many of tops in comparison to bottoms or vice versa. They need to be capsule collections remembering that each range would need more tops than bottoms! Certainly, no more than one piece of outerwear.
I will also feedback to the students some of my overall finding from the group on Aula for them to react to as a group and feel reassured that there’s lots of similar comments across all students which is typical at this stage.
Below is overall feedback to share:
Overall comments to feedback to the class (via Aula):
Overall, you all presented confidently and clearly evidenced you have researched your brand/retailers and their consumers thoroughly - well done.
Some points to feedback to you all overall below:
Cameras must be on in all future online classes. If you are present online but your camera is off it will count as not in attendance. You wouldn’t sit in class on your phone or reading a magazine so please come with the same attitude to online classes. Remember you can use a suitable zoom background that hides the room you are if you wish (or haven’t tidied in a while)
Also, please have your microphones set up to share sound – this may also be a computer preference issue OR may mean you need to take out any wireless headphones.
These are both issues you need to sort out independently ahead of online session so these can run smoothly for all. There are literally hundreds of you tube tutorials guiding you through how to amend any of these issues.
Please have your work ready to share and screen sharing preferences set up. Failing that, please send work ahead of session to your tutor so they can share on your behalf. Technical issues like this make the sessions run over which is unfair on fellow students.
Layout: Place your range plans after each of your corresponding trend boards so you can see the relation. Consumers profiles to be placed together after the trends.
Primary research: Now you are on your third project, please try to summarise your questionnaire/focus group results using bullet points or even better infographics (tutorial available on aula). Please avoid pages of screen grabbed online survey results will sentences summarising – instead add this to your appendix. Keep these pages on brand to your retailer too.
Something to consider:
I would suggest you all take some time to visit your stores over the next week. Have a look at how they merchandise ranges (from the same trend/story). You will find there’s more depth in the ranges in terms of spread of colour. See how they use print, stripes, checks etc… Ask yourself – can you add in contrast linings, placement prints, check or even stripes to help add depth to your ranges?
Plan your time
Now you have had the chance to see others work too – plan your time accordingly. You now have a week catch up on feedback and write your rationales. Make sure you get your range plans signed looked at again (if you need to from comment) before going on to conclude your rationale. You will need all of part A complete to be able to move onto Part B will be briefed on Tuesday 15th February.
ENTRY 16 – LESSON OBSERVATION DE-BRIEFING WITH NOEMI
Wednesday 26th January
Today I caught up with Noemi to discuss the lesson she observed yesterday. Naomie made several comments and suggestions ahead of her final written feedback form which I noted below:
Pace/timing of delivery
Like my own self-evaluation Noemi picked up on my fast speed of delivery of lectures. This can obviously be difficult for foreign students to keep up with and is a key area of development for me!
Not allowing students enough time to respond to my questions within lectures. Noemi suggested that I count to allow students at least 5 or even up to ten seconds to respond rather than me answering on their behalf.
I need to be aware that students within the class are working at different speeds and abilities. While some students completed the task in a few minutes (and started to chat with friends) others needed more time. Pausing and adding a phase 2 to the task would have been helpful to maintain a working atmosphere where everyone has something to do rather than sitting and waiting and becoming passive.
Team teaching
While there were two of is teaching during this class – due to lack of staff on the team at present Mandi needed to use the time to prep some items for the afternoon session. This is perceived by students as one of the tutors not being active. It would have been better to get Mandi to also check the students work from a buyer’s perspective.
Confirm knowledge
As with my own evaluation it may have been good to get students to upload their work to Aula so that I could check their understanding or to get them to present their work to each other to check their understanding and allow them to see other outputs.
Tiny mechanisms of care – pedagogy as a system of care
Noemi mentioned the theory of pedagogy being a system of care identifying and supporting students through pinpoints of stress and worry. I should ask myself how do I get them through each point? How can I facilitate in moving past these pinch points?
How to facilitate
Noemi reassured me that I am always the one in control of my class whether that be me in control, shared control or allowing student to be autonomous (get on with tasks independently). While it may feel like the control is on the other hand, each method I have control over, and this should reassure me that allowing students the time and space to figure something out or to complete a task is fine. I also have that flexibility to sense check how much time to allow and can change things up accordingly.
ENTRY 15 – BOSTON MATRIX/FASHION TRIANGLE (MENTOR OBSERVATION)
Tuesday 25th January
Today I delivered the unit briefing for Fashion Buying and Product Development. Noemi Sadowask (my mentor) attended the session in class in Ravensbourne to observe my teaching and provide some feedback.
Boston Matrix/Fashion Triangle Workshop – Personal Evaluation
Overall, I feel the lesson ran smoothly and went according to plan in terms of what was delivered and keeping to timings.
What went well?
From walking around the class, it was evident that students were able to download the templates and plot in garments from their chosen retailer while understanding the importance of using these templates to check for balanced ranges.
What could have been improved?
Issue(s):
The mood and atmosphere in the class felt a little ‘tired/flat’ which was a shame. While all students present were involved and completing the task, the body language from the students lacked a bit of energy. The workshop ran after an hour of fashion maths which the students may well have benefited from having a break from before commencing this workshop.
Solution(s):
1. Allowed for a slightly longer break between the previous topic.
2. Maybe changing up the workshop so that students worked together to make it more interactive?
What next for the students?
The students should continue developing their 3 x capsule fashion ranges. They should consider and analyse the balance within each of their ranges by using the fashion triangle/Boston matrix. Next week they will have a formative checkpoint where they will present their range plan for feedback. They should begin to verbally justify the balance of their ranges by referring to these templates e.g., showing newness/high fashion pieces versus basic/cash cow items.
Other things to consider next time I deliver this lecture?
Maybe positioning this type of activity after lunch as a fresh workshop rather than after such a heavy lecture may have seen the mood lifted?
Things that could help to improve the overall lesson delivery.
It would have been good to have got students to upload their filled in templates to Aula to share and check – However, in the time slot we had allocated for this session there just wasn’t the time. I was able to review most students’ outputs as I circulated the class and I will further be able to check their understanding at next week’s formatives.
ENTRY 13 – UNIT BRIEFING
Tuesday 8th January
Today I delivered the unit briefing for Fashion Buying and Product Development. Virna and Mio attended the lesson as part of my observation too.Below is my initial reflection of the briefing:
Unit Briefing – Personal Evaluation
Overall, I feel the lesson ran smoothly and went according to plan.
What went well?
The poster has been great as a visual aid. This was introduced to the students before the winter break along with the trend forecast that was set over the winter break to help kickstart the unit. All students presented their trends after the briefing and seemed happy with the briefing and comfortable getting started. As we move back to most of our teaching happening onsite – it was good having this session as one of our online sessions so that we could record the briefing for students to watch/re-watch later. Having the recording also means that I am able to add subtitles to further help students.
What could have been improved?
Issue(s):
I don’t feel there were any major issues with the delivery of the briefing. It is always a lot of information that can seem quite daunting. It was good splitting the brief up into three sections so the initial briefing could just focus on part A rather than totally swamping the student with new information.
I know my pace of delivery is always quite fast and can be quite difficult for students to follow – especially those who English isn’t a first language for.
Solution(s):
Slowing down my pace of delivery so student can absorb the information I am giving more clearly.
It may have been a good idea to have given the students the brief to read through an hour ahead of class a flipped learning.
What next for the students?
The students will now read the brief in their own time before re-grouping 2 days later in class to ask further question and to get started on the unit. They have received some feedback on their winter break trend work to get them kick started on the brief.
Other things to consider next time I deliver this lecture?
Maybe stopping halfway through to do an interactive activity.
Perhaps at the end the students could be set a mini task that introduces them to the subject – retailer range plan research for example? We could then return to the brief using this investigation to help put the information into context.
Things that could help to improve the overall lesson delivery?
To encourage student to ask questions (which there were not many of at the end of the briefing). Perhaps we could set up a padlet where each student has to read the brief then post a question or perhaps even and idea or something they hope to be / wish to be covered within the unit?
RECORDING OF MY UNIT BRIEFING
ENTRY 13 – FINAL BRIEF PREP
Wednesday 5th January
This week I finalised the last few finishing touched to the brief along with Mandi, my colleague who I will be co-delivering the unit with. We have also finalised the timetable which I have separated into parts A, B and C with the same colour coding used in my original poster. I have also arranged for Virna and Mio to attend a lesson observation during my briefing and for Noemi to observe me during an activity based lesson on Tuesday 25th January.
Below is an example of the first part of the brief (Part A) which is where my lesson observations will take place and what I will use as my main reflection for my brief re-design.
ENTRY 12 – BRIEF RE-DESIGN FEEDBACK REVIEW
Wednesday 15th December
Guest speakers notes:
Jo Elliot – DeaKin University, Melbourne
Digital Learning Design and Assessment – digital learning leadership (Post grad - fully online course)
How they use peer review
Learning design is a collaborative activity.
Help develop feedback literacy – judge quality of their own work.
Deciphering what feedback to use and reflect upon and what’s not so relevant.
Uses feedback fruits – this allows student’s to peer asses using a rubrik and gives them things to action form the feedback they receive and plan how to act upon the feedback. Tutors can check in and track students’ progress. Positive feedback from students and find the system enjoyable.
Needs a rubric to support students understanding of the level/grade they ere achieving.
Great ideas from talk – I think for first year students its critical to provide scaffolding and accept that you really need to teach and guide students as to how to provide peer feedback and how to take on board and reflect on the feedback they receive.
Over the past couple of weeks, I have been collecting feedback from triad members, peers, mentors and students. Below is a collection of feedback I have received to date.
Mandi Marks-Adler – November 2021
After a discussion with Mandi (FBBM course leader) regarding my initial brief re-design Mandi offered the following feedback:
Agrees that essay heavy areas could be further simplified to create an output that student can look back on and truly understand.
Feels that the first formative should just be the trend, consumer and range plan sign off as it will be too much to go through the rational at the same time. This probably keeps it more authentic to a buyers sign off too.
Mio Jin – 26th November 2021
Contents – Your brief is informative and concise at the beginning and your infographic is clear for anyone to understand. I agree with Liz, I would implement the visual elements in your brief more as this is one of your strengths. Your unit seems to involve a lot of written outcomes, but I wondered if you could deliver the brief itself with more visual aids, especially Part A - Part C (where you have written what’s going to happen week by week). There is a lot you must fit in to the brief so students might engage with the brief more, especially neurodiverse students, if there are more visual elements.
Structure – Your written outputs are consistently well structured. Clearly there are three different parts throughout the brief either visually or in writing. Considering this is a year 1 brief, a well-structured brief will help students to engage and understand the contents better. Just a minor point, I have read somewhere highlighted words can confuse dyslexic students – might be worth looking into this?
Assessment requirements – I love the idea of the podcast; this is an innovative assessment method. I am interested to hear the outcome of this, as year 1 is so open to teaching and can take interesting and unexpected approaches to new challenges.
Neomi Sadowaska (mentor) – 10th December 2021
The video walk through of the poster and the animated visuals were very clear to follow and to understand how different elements in the journey link up, would be useful as a briefing tool in itself to students not just as a PGCert exercise.
The video narrative connects well with future learning and by considering how students learn generates a more interactive and embedded approach to shaping a more grounded teaching approach placing students at the centre.
Poster
The clear demarcation of the check points moments on the poster is really welcomed and it will help to sense check where students are at. Moreover, both staff and students can check if the assumptions about how far progress has been made are aligning with the reality on the ground.
For the line listing the assessments outcomes associated with each stage of the journey, a more visual link would be a nice touch.
For the line listing the meta outcomes such as skill set, understanding or experience, again a visual connect vertically would be useful, but also how they connect across stages and reinforce each other. This will flag that each learning moment builds on the previous ones.
There is an opportunity her to also visuals how this unit learning journey builds on the previous learning where they came from) and how it prepares them for what will follow 9where they are going)?
Brief
It is helpful to see how the assessment brief reflects the curriculum delivery - there is clear evidence of constructive alignment, but there is also a dialogue between the learning journey and what is the content being delivered and the assessment outcomes.
Where the brief outlines the 3 stages in the learning journey, could they be designed into a table to make the access to the information easier, now the amount of text that is needed can come across as overwhelming.
It would be useful to include on the front page of the brief not just the journey part of the poster but also the meta information included in the final row as it effectively shows them 'value for effort'.
For each stage in the learning journey, it might be also nice to start if off with a zoomed in section from the poster to help students orient in the learning journey also through visual ques.
Is there an opportunity to include the icons from the poster to further connect and highlight how the different parts of the brief text relate to the journey?
Taking out the complexity and writing-heavy submissions is really good idea as it offers opportunities for students to submit different formats, so they have the best chance to excel.
General
Super care has been given to thinking this through, so the question arises could this be replicated when it is not part of your training.
Resources:
For references, I felt it would be useful to include few references around sustainability and fashion design process to offer more context to the very specific focus of the unit.
Here are Kate Flecher’s publications with links which would be useful to add to bibliography:
Sustainable Fashion and Textiles: Design Journeys (2008, 2014 second edition)
Wild Dress (2019)
Design and Nature: A Partnership (2019)
Presenting the poster to students
I presented my poster to my students and to introduce next terms unit to them. I also created a questionnaire form to gain some feedback both on what they wish to see in the next unit and how they felt the poster worked in terms of providing an overview of the unit.
Lulu Kimmins (student) – 8th December 2021
Yes [I found the poster] really useful, I am a visual learner when it comes to things like that and it was clear and easy to understand.
Tahima Begum (student) – 8th December 2021
Yes much easier to understand the steps rather than just written on a page.
Chi Grossman (student) – 8th December 2021
I think I understand what we’re going to be doing and feel prepared to get on the Christmas task.
Cassey Cleaver (student) – 8th December 2021
I really liked [the poster] looking forward to developing on it.
Questionnaire results from students:
ENTRY 11 – DRAFT BRIEF RE-DESIGN PRESENTATIONS
Wednesday 24th November
Today we presented the initial re-design of our brief for feedback from peers and triad members. Below is a copy of my brief rationale as well as the first draft of my unit redesign:
ENTRY 10 – UNIT RE-DESIGN
Wednesday 17th November
This week we did a unit re-design workshop in class as well as having two guest lecturers join us. I made the below notes from the guest speakers and made the initial notes to the brief I am re-designing.
Asha Rao – notes from lecture:
Information systems risk management – RMIT
Risk management: must be done in teams - can’t do this as an individual.
Major assessment: simulated work integrated learning. Choose a company and students must find all the information online (not by contacting company as it de-rails information)
Freeloaders and passenger – how do you adjust for that?? Risk manage the company and the team – create a team contract. Assign roles and delegate. Do team meetings and create minutes.
The practicality of measuring the input – interview after and ask questions to assess the engagement of individuals within teams especially with team where the input isn’t satisfactory or appears to not be created as a team.
Nellie el Anancy – Professor in Management in Cairo
Discussing the importance of incorporating podcasts as outputs in learning.
Listen, reflect research, and learn.
Learnt how to put research into another format.
Submit the script – you get a better audio output.
Photos documenting their journey of development.
Justify why you are asking for a podcast as an output.
Challenges: embed podcast into the learning outcome before getting to assessment.
Students can have different jobroles – they don’t have to do the audio recording.
Upload an individual reflection.
Drama based learning to infuse student learning.
My initial re-design of the brief with notes:
ENTRY 9 – INITIAL POSTER DESIGN
Thursday 10th November
This week we were asked to design a poster for our unit to share with students. Below is my first draft with some of the comments I received from peers added to it:
Revised poster design:
ENTRY 8 – REFCLECTING ON THRESHOLD CONCEPTS AND ASSESSMENT CRITERIA
Tuesday 9th November
Ahead of this week’s lesson I wanted to respond to some of the ideas Virna put to us on Aula.
The first was challenging us to think about what threshold concepts we may have encounter on our PgCert journey thus far:
My response:
I think the potential ‘expected’ threshold that most resonates with my journey so far is ‘your values affect the way you teach (hence the importance of articulating/sharing/reviewing your ed philosophy)’. I originally reflected on how challenging I found writing my initial educational philosophy one of the first weeks of the PGCert journey. I knew what I enjoyed about my job and my personal reason for teaching, but I now realise it was engaging with pedagogical research that helped me articulate my philosophy as well as become aware of how to improve and refine my practise rather than acting on my own intuition. I would therefore say that Ray Land’s ‘Transformative: Changes our knowledge about teaching and the way we view teaching’ threshold concept most resonates with my learning journey.
Next Virna asked us to translate what the assessment criteria meant to us:
1. Cultivate:
Engaging with research and applying it to our re-design.
Working in our triad and being open to different perspectives and areas of research other than our own areas of interest.
2. Collaborate
Share ideas with other tutors on our courses - especially those who we may be co-teaching with.
Seek out stakeholders to for feedback and direction with unit re-design to make it current and respond to industry needs.
Offer feedback to other members of triad and wider community.
3. Integrate
Apply collaborative research key take aways to unit re-design.
Looking at areas that have the potential to collaborate with a wider community of practise within and/or outside of the university.
4. Advocate
Acknowledge areas in the unit re-design where ethical and sustainable practises need to be highlighted to enable our students to become more socially responsible as future bodies within the industry.
Supporting peers by offering feedback and contributing to discussion.
5.Originate
Developing new activities putting theory into real life practise (praxis)
Updating/re-designing content so that it is current and influenced by industry.
6. Present
Sharing your unit re-design and explaining how this has been influenced by research, feedback, discussion etc…
Being open to feedback and reflecting and acting on feedback received.
Presenting coherently with a logical structure.
ENTRY 7 – RESEARCH REFLECTION
Monday 1st November
What do I want to action after this research to apply to my unit re-design?
PLANNING
To ensure I’m embedding equality and diversity into my curriculum design before I even get started, I need to pre-asses my cohort as Richards and Finnegan (2014) suggest actioning the following:
Meet with students to discuss any equality issues they may have encountered after their first unit that can be actioned going into the new unit.
Look at the neurodiverse needs within the yr1 cohort that will be participating on my unit. Look at the diversity amongst the group.
Who can we get in as guest speakers?
Re-visit and update the reading list and see how we can review, broaden and de-colonising it.
Look at how we can teach the group ‘as a group’ successfully online and in class to avoid reliance on one-to-one teaching and evaluation.
Create a curriculum map mapping the learning outcomes against the teaching, assessment activities and which summarise key content topics (threshold concepts) (Mckimms et al, 2021).
DESIGN
I think the theory of “constructive alignment” (Biggs & Tang, 2011) really resonates with my educational philosophy where what a ‘student does’ is more important in determining how they learn than what a teacher does. Biggs and Tang (2011) discuss the importance of designing learning outcomes with “intended learning outcomes using a verb indicating a standard of performance, and the content to be learned; the teaching/learning activities that address that verb; assessment tasks that also contain that verb with rubrics that enable one to judge how well the standard of the students’ performances to meet the criteria.” I feel that this kind of alignment feels so obvious for ease of transition across unit design for both student and educator.
The activities I include in the unit design should be “formative assessment activities that provide learners with feedback on their progress towards achieving their intended learning outcomes” (Robinson & Udall 2016). Furthermore, this feedback shouldn’t be solely from the tutor – instead students should self-assess through their own enquiry so “their focus becomes their progress they are making towards the intended learning outcomes of the unit.”
Furthermore, by applying a “student-centric approach” (Healy 2021) to my curriculum design I’ll be asking myself and assessing at every stage what and how I am wanting my students to learn and how I will assess that. I will then reflect this in my learning outcomes and assessment criteria within the brief.
To do this I can implement some of the strategies I use within my design career by applying Kane and Mushare’s (2018) theory of applying ‘design thinking’ to curriculum design by working backwards: firstly, assess students’ goals, then secondly seeing how you would measure that goal in terms of designing assessment then build learning objectives accordingly. They continue with by advising that you ‘maintain flexibility’ within the design so you can react and rectify something that doesn’t go as plan and reassure that being open and transparent with student throughout this process is OK.
There’s a need to make a course as flexible as well as accessible as possible while adhering to universal principles of making things as useable as possible (Senecal Coochwytewa & Kraft, 2021). Portfolios can create an opportunity for student to reflect on their personal progress by including visual and written content. I also feel that by creating an online portfolio from early on in a student’s journey helps build their personal brand at the same time.
Use the FLOATS (McKimm et all, 2021) framework which looks at the future of curriculum, post covid and the need for us to maintain flexibility and adapt to a more hybrid approach to deliver.
PEDAGOGY
Whenever I have taught in the past, especially with first year student, it is always difficult to bridge the gap between the step from further to higher education. Students are often asking ‘have I got it right?’ when they broach a subject like trend forecasting and find it hard to accept that if they have done the correct research that has led them to make an informed decision on a future trend prediction then they are in fact ‘right’. Overcoming, and more importantly, reassuring students and hopefully making them accepting of this ‘pedagogy of ambiguity’ (Drew, 2021) will be key as the first years enter this second term unit.
Taking into the consideration the hybrid nature of the unit I intend to create a “community of inquiry (CoL)” (Beetham & Sharpe, 2020) based pedogeological model in the unit delivery offering learning that is “adaptable, collaborative, and engaging through process as well as content”.
Consider adaptive equity-orientated pedagogy (Kukulska-Hulme et al, 2021) – by regularly seeking students’ feedback on content and delivery and adapting to meet emerging needs. Also consider the ‘digital divide’ making things available on aula and in class rather than assuming students can access online sources at home.
DELIVERY
Kevin Kelly discusses the importance of using metacognition in the planning, monitoring and assessment of learning and the risk of losing student motivation along the way (Nave L, 2020). Kelly discusses the opportunities hybrid learning has at increasing the chances for interaction by incorporate UDL principles to create a variety of pathways for each student to eventually reach the same goal.
Flipped learning (Bergmann 2016) and the theory that flipped learning doesn’t necessarily have to happen alone at home is something I want to re-visit from unit one. As online content in the form of hybrid teaching continues to be a key element to FBBM unit deliveries it is noted that students enjoy dealing with theory heavy content at home, processing it in SDS and then coming together to co-construct (Petty, 2015) that learning in activity based interactive in-class learning.
ASSESSMENT
Following on from Drew’s (2021) pedagogy of ambiguity I think it’s going to be key to look at “assessment as learning” (Earl, 2012) throughout the unit design assessing students progress with each “threshold concept” (Hudson, 2020) as we approach them and to offer regular reassurance of the ambiguity of some of the topics and concepts we approach.
Robinson and Udall (2016) discuss the idea of ‘progress recording’ as a “powerful ‘visualisation’ of the learner’s development and likelihood of success, for both the student and teacher. This could be in the format of an online portfolio that is built and formatively assessed throughout the duration of the unit. At the same time, it provides “the first step in the self-assessment and reflective process and also forms a focal point for conversations between learner and teacher.”
“Understanding is produced by conversation. The fundamental function of the university is to find ways of best coordinating rich conversations between students and staff” (Johnson, 2018)
WIDER CONTEXT
Looking at the future of curriculum design I want to be able to incorporate the FLOAT model overall in my curriculum design following the below framework (Mckimms, J et al, 2021)
ENTRY 6 – THE BOOK REVIEW
Monday 25th October
This week I completed reading Perspectives on Higher Education and submitted the below book review to Amazon. I found the book really helpful at introducing me to lots of frameworks and models for curriculum design which I will apply to my own unit re-design process. I particularly enjoyed the concluding chapter that looks at the current state of higher education, post pandemic which appears to be heading to a more hybrid method of delivery overall. The general consensus from the book is that curriculum needs to be increasingly flexible for both the student and the teacher and that various models and frameworks need to be blended depending on the method of delivery. This also allows us to experiment with incorporating technologies alongside student centred learning with more traditional humanistic pedagogies dependant on the circumstances. This naturally drives us to embed UDL within the curriculum while also making it more inclusive for all the different needs of individual students.
The review:
A very current, easy to navigate guide to curriculum design – a must read for anyone embarking on the challenges of unit design or re-design.
Perspectives on Higher Education provides a detailed overview of different frameworks and models for curriculum design whilst referencing case studies of these models in practise. This step-by-step guide starts by addressing what curriculum is then navigates through principles of curriculum development, planning and design before looking at how these principles can be applied to curriculum and lesson planning itself. Each model is assessed in terms of its pros and cons with suggestions of where best to apply this type of model in practise.
The latter part of the book looks at the issues of curriculum ‘diseases’ that can often occur when units go through regular minor modifications offering practical solutions for busy academics on how to avoid briefs/curriculum becoming ‘bloated’ or ‘overcrowded’ from minor modifications over time.
Finally, the book concludes by looking at the state of current and future curriculum in a post pandemic world and how best to apply emerging ‘blended’ frameworks of curriculum design in an increasing hybrid environment in a reassuring yet practical manner.
ENTRY 5 – RESEARCH MIND MAPPING
Tuesday 19th October
This week we caught up as a triad to discuss the research we had completed to date and start a collaborative mind map of the resources we have been exploring. I had initially created my own mind map of studies to help in this process and have attached below:
We decided to streamline our group mind map to cover the four main topics of the bibliography highlighting our key takeaways from this to make it easier to present to the rest of our group in early November.
We decided to streamline our group mind map to cover the four main topics of the bibliography highlighting our key takeaways from this to make it easier to present to the rest of our group in early November.
Below is a copy of our combined research mind map and a recording of us discussing our key take aways from this research.
ENTRY 4 – RESEARCH PLANNING
Wednesday 19th September
This week we are working collaboratively as a triad to compile a ‘research plan’ based around inclusive pedagogy. We decided what we would each like to read and share and arranged to meet weekly to share our key take-aways from each of the sources and exchange knowledge.
1. The Research Plan:
The books we have each chosen to read, and review are:
Emily:
McKimm, J., O Al-Youbi, A., Al-Hayani, A., Hassanien, M., Elsamanoudy, A., Elsaadany, S., Mills, C., Yousef, S., Saleh, H. and Mahmoud, M., 2021. Perspectives on Higher Education: Curriculum Planning, Design, and Implementation. 1st ed.
Mio:
Ashton, S. and Stone, R. (2021). An A-Z of creative Teaching in higher Education. 2nd ed. London: Sage.
Liz:
Freire, P. (2018). Pedagogy of the Oppressed: 50th Anniversary Edition. Bloomsbury Academic; 4th ed. edition
The resources each of us plan to cover and add to point 3: the shared research:
1. The resources we want to re-visit from our e-portfolio bibliography:
Emily:
Beetham, H. and Sharpe, R., 2020. Rethinking pedagogy for a digital age. 3rd ed. New York: Routledge.
As FBBM continues to teach hybrid I would like to further delve into the topics this book covers in relation to designing inclusive curriculum that takes advantage of the mix to teaching and learning that hybrid approaches can offer.
Blessinger, P., Sengupta, E. and Makhanya, M., 2019. Creating inclusive curricula in higher education. [online] University World News. Available at: <https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20190422070841869>
I would like to further explore how we can make our units more inclusive over all as our student's needs, backgrounds and desired outputs from the course become increasingly broader each year.
Davies, A., 2012. Learning Outcomes and Assessment Criteria in Art and Design. What’s The Recurring Problem? - Arts And Culture. [online] Arts.brighton.ac.uk. Available at: <http://arts.brighton.ac.uk/projects/networks/issue-18-july-2012/learning-outcomes-and-assessment-criteria-in-art-and-design.-whats-the-recurring-problem>
I want to explore how to write assessment criteria and learning outcomes that are subject specific and relevant while open enough to allow for students to achieve them naturally and individually.
Kukulska-Hulme, A., Bossu, C., Coughlan, T., Ferguson, R., FitzGerald, E., Gaved, M., Herodotou, C., Rienties, B., Sargent, J., Scanlon, E., Tang, J., Wang, Q., Whitelock, D. and Zhang, S., 2021. Innovating Pedagogy | Open University Innovation Reports. [online] Open.ac.uk. Available at: <http://www.open.ac.uk/blogs/innovating/>
I wish to further explore the latest developments in innovative pedagogy to apply to my own re-design process.
Mio:
Hanesworth, P. (2015) Embedding equality and diversity in the curriculum: a model for learning and teaching practitioners. The Higher Education Academy. [Online]. Available at: https://www.advance-he.ac.uk/knowledge-hub/embedding-equality-and-diversity-curriculum-model-learning-and-teaching-0. Accessed on 3 May 2021
Orr, S. (2010). Making Marks: assessment in art and design. Networks magazine,[online] (10). Available at: Have a look BOOK http://arts.brighton.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/65308/Susan-Orr article-Issue-10-pp-9-13.pdf [Accessed 20 Sep. 2019].
Hockings, C. (2010) Inclusive learning and teaching in higher education: a synthesis of research. The Higher Education Academy. [Online]. Available at: https://www.advance-he.ac.uk/knowledge-hub/inclusive-learning-and-teaching-higher-education-synthesis-research. Accessed on 3 May 2021.
Wenger, E.C. and Snyder, W.M. (2000) Communities of practice: The organisational frontier. Harvard Business Review, 139-145.
Reeves, T & Caglayan, E (2019) Power to the people: how should universities position community in
Finnigan, Terry, 2009. 'Tell Us About It': Diverse student voices in creative practice. Art, design & communication in higher education, 8(2), pp.135–150.
Liz:
Gibbs, G. (2016). How assessment frames student learning. In: C. Bryan and K. Clegg, ed., Innovative Assessment, 1st ed. Oxon: Routledge, pp.23-36.
Robinson, A. and Udall, M. (2016). Using formative assessment to improve student learning through critical reflection. In: C. Bryan and K. Clegg, ed., Innovative Assessment, 1st ed. Oxon: Routledge, pp.92-99.
Simonsmeier, B.A., Peiffer, H., Flaig, M. et al. Peer Feedback Improves Students’ Academic Self-Concept in Higher Education. Res High Educ 61, 706–724 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-020-09591-y
Dirksen, J. (2014) Julie Dirksen: Designing for how people learn [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0BRVg3mHk4 [Accessed 6 May 2021]
Owusu-Agyeman, Y & Fourie-Malherbe, M. (2019) Negotiating co-ownership of learning in higher education: an underexplored practice for adult learning, Studies in Continuing Education, 41:1, 17-35, DOI: 10.1080/0158037X.2018.1497591
2. The resources we wish to cover from the unit bibliography are:
Section 1: Essential Creative Education Resources
Emily:
Richards, A. and Finnegan, T. (2014). Embedding equality and diversity in the curriculum: an art and design practitioner’s guide. [ebook]
Vaughan, S, Austerlitz, N, Blythman, M, Grove-White, A, Jones, BA, Jones, CA, Morgan, S, Orr, S, & Shreeve, A (2008) ‘Mind the gap: expectations, ambiguity and pedagogy within art and design higher education’. In Drew, Linda (Ed.) The Student Experience in Art and Design Higher Education: Drivers for Change. Jill Rogers Associates Limited, Cambridge, pp. 125-148
Mio:
Ashton, S. and Stone, R. (2021). An A-Z of creative Teaching in higher Education. 2nd ed. London: Sage, pp.30-41 (Chapter: D is for Design).
Notes:
Liz:
Blair, B. (2011). ‘At the end of a huge crit in the summer, it was “crap” – I’d worked really hard but all she said was “fine” and I was gutted.’. In: D. Bhagat and P. O'Neill, ed., Inclusive Practices, Inclusive Pedagogies. [online] Croydon: CPI Group (UK) Ltd. Available at: https://ukadia.ac.uk/wpcontent/uploads/2013/11/Inclusive_Practices_Inclusive_Pedagogies.pdf [Accessed 22 Feb 2021].
Vaughan, S, Austerlitz, N , Blythman, M , Grove-White, A , Jones, BA , Jones, CA , Morgan, S , Orr, S , & Shreeve, A (2008) ‘Mind the gap : expectations, ambiguity and pedagogy within art and design higher education’. In Drew, Linda (Ed.) The Student Experience in Art and Design Higher Education: Drivers for Change. Jill Rogers Associates Limited, Cambridge, pp. 125-148
Davies, A. (2012). Learning outcomes and assessment criteria in art and design. What’s the recurring problem?. Networks, [online] (18). Available at: http://arts.brighton.ac.uk/projects/networks/issue-18-july-2012/learningoutcomes- and-assessment-criteria-in-art-and-design.-whats-the-recurring-problem [Accessed 20 Sep. 2019].
Section 2: Curriculum Design Resources
Emily:
Biggs, J. and Tang, C. (2011). Teaching for quality learning at university. 4th ed. SRHE and Open University Press. Chapter 6: ‘Constructively aligned teaching and assessment’.
Healey, M. (2019). Refreshing the Curriculum: Approaches to curriculum design. [online] Mickhealey.co.uk. Available at: https://www.mickhealey.co.uk/resources
Mio:
Novac, K. and Bracken, S. (2019). Introduction: Universal Design for Learning, a global framework for realizing inclusive practice in Higher Education. In: S. Bracken and K. Novac, ed., Transforming Higher Education through Universal Design for Learning. Oxon and NY: Routledge, pp.1-8.
Bovill, C. (2017). A Framework to Explore Roles Within Student-Staff Partnerships in Higher Education: Which Students Are Partners, When, and in What Ways? International Journal for Students as Partners, [online] 1(1). Available at: https://mulpress.mcmaster.ca/ijsap/article/view/3062/2770 [Accessed 1 May 2018].
Liz:
Blessinger, P. (2018). Rethinking higher Education in the service of humanity. [online] University World News. Available at: https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20180711094726636 [Accessed 17 Jul. 2019].
Land, R., Cousin, G., Meyer, J. and Davies, P. (2018). 'Threshold concepts and troublesome knowledge (3): implications for course design and evaluation'. In: C. Rust, ed., Improving student learning: diversity and inclusivity. [online] Oxford: OCSLD, pp.53–64. Available at: https://www.ee.ucl.ac.uk/~mflanaga/ISL04- pp53-64-Land-et-al.pdf Also available as video conference at: https://vimeo.com/91920616 [Accessed 1 May 2018].
Race, P. (2014). Making learning happen. 2nd ed. SAGE, pp.226-252. Chapter 3 ‘Designing the Curriculum for Learning’ and Chapter 8 'Learning through observing and reflecting'.
Section 3: Assessment
Emily:
Earl, L. (2013). Assessment as learning. 2nd ed. USA: Corwin, pp.25-34. Chapter 3 'Assessment of learning, for learning and as learning'.
Robinson, A. and Udall, M. (2016). Using formative assessment to improve student learning through critical reflection. In: C. Bryan and K. Clegg, ed., Innovative Assessment, 1st ed. Oxon: Routledge, pp.92-99.
Mio:
Robinson, A. and Udall, M. (2016). Using formative assessment to improve student learning through critical reflection. In: C. Bryan and K. Clegg, ed., Innovative Assessment, 1st ed. Oxon: Routledge, pp.92-99.
Gibbs, G. (2016). How assessment frames student learning. In: C. Bryan and K. Clegg, ed., Innovative Assessment, 1st ed. Oxon: Routledge, pp.23-36.
Liz:
Earl, L. (2013). Assessment as learning. 2nd ed. USA: Corwin, pp.25-34. Chapter 3 'Assessment of learning, for learning and as learning'.
Sadler, R. (2019). Transforming Holistic Assessment and Grading into a Vehicle for Complex Learning. In: G.
Joughin, ed., Assessment, Learning and Judgement in Higher Education. [online] Wollongong Australia: Springer. Available at: https://cloudfront.ualberta.ca/-/media/centre-for-teaching-and- learning/symposium/less-teachingmore- learning-2009/royce-sadler/articles/symposiumltmlroyce- sadlertransforming-holistic-assessment-andgrading- into-a-vehicle-for-complex-learning.pdf [Accessed 17 Jul. 2019].
Section 4: General Pedagogy
Emily:
Dirksen, J. (2012). Design for how people learn. London: New Riders; Pearson Education.
Mio:
Bhambra, G., Gebrial, D. and Nişancıoğlu, K. ed., (2018). Decolonising the university. London: Pluto Press.
Liz:
James, A. and Brookfield, S. (2014). Engaging imagination: helping students become creative and reflective thinkers. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Chapter 1; ‘How engaging the imagination fosters reflective thinking’.
Mortiboys, A. (2005). Teaching with emotional intelligence: a step by step guide for further and higher educational professionals. 2nd ed. London and New York: Routledge. Summary available at: https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/system/files/2239_0.doc
Possibly...
McKimm, J., O Al-Youbi, A., Al-Hayani, A., Hassanien, M., Elsamanoudy, A., Elsaadany, S., Mills, C., Yousef, S., Saleh, H. and Mahmoud, M., 2021. Perspectives on Higher Education: Curriculum Planning, Design, and Implementation. 1st ed.
McKimm, J., O Al-Youbi, A., Al-Hayani, A., Hassanien, M., Elsamanoudy, A., Elsaadany, S., Mills, C., Yousef, S., Saleh, H. and Mahmoud, M., 2021. Perspectives on Higher Education: Curriculum Planning, Design, and Implementation. 1st ed.
3. Two subject specific sources:
Emily:
Kane, J. and Mushtare, R., 2018. Design Teaching. [podcast] Tea for teaching. Available at: <https://teaforteaching.com>
Nave, L., 2020. Design for Learning Equity with Kevin Kelly. [podcast] Think UDL. Available at: <https://thinkudl.org>
Mio:
Marginson, S. (2016) The worldwide trend to high participation higher education: Dynamics of social stratification in inclusive systems. Higher education. [Online] 72 (4), 413–434.
Liz:
Woodward, S. (2019) Material Methods. SAGE Publications Ltd; First edition
Redstrom, J. (2020) Changing Things: The Future of Objects in a Digital World. Bloomsbury Visual Arts (first published 2018) (parts)
Smart. J. How Smart Do You Have to Be to Succeed? https://jamesclear.com/threshold-theory [accessed 8 October, 2021]
Coven, R. (2018) Breaking Through: Threshold Concepts as a Key to Understanding | Robert Coven | TEDxCaryAcademy [accessed 8 October, 2021}
Dinther, M., Dochy, F., Segers, M. (2011) Factors affecting students’ self-efficacy in higher education. Educational Research Review
ENTRY 3 – CURRICULUM DESIGN WORKSHOP
Wednesday 15th September
Today we participated in a curriculum design workshop. Our first task was to write a title and pitch for our unit redesign including a USP. We then illustrated our plan for inclusive curriculum using Virna’s ‘roots to shoots’ illustration. Below if my example:
We continued in the lesson with a jam board creating a rough navigation for the plan of content delivery identifying key checkpoints for Timing, Input, Threshold/Key Concepts, Assessment and Evaluation. We continued in the lesson with a jam board creating a rough navigation for the plan of content delivery identifying key checkpoints for Timing, Input, Threshold/Key Concepts, Assessment and Evaluation. The main purpose was to distinguish concepts from threshold concepts – we used the below learning tool to navigate the unit journey
I initially struggled with the freshold concepts. However, after discussing these with Noemi (my mentor) I was reassured that looking at fewer freshhold concepts in more details would be more beneficial to the students. This is something to look at within the output of the brief. After using this brief as a focus for lesson observation in unit one – in particular the sustainability/ethical focused ADVOCATE: ‘Agents for Change’ activity – I believe there is definite need/space to make this an individual element of the brief with its own ‘CHOICE’ output.
ENTRY 2 – CURRICULUM RE-DESIGN PRINCIPLES
Wednesday 15th September
The topic of this week’s class discussion in inclusive curriculum re-design principles. As a triad we discussed what we though were the most important principles and compiled the below shared list in order of importance.
RESPECT/ COMPASSIONATE – to ourselves and each other.
ALL INCLUSIVE – for staff and students.
HONEST - Trust, confidence in students/ tutors and Alumni, University reputation
AESTHETIC - inspiring students and pleasurable experience both student/ tutor, enjoyable, fluidity of learning, celebrating open culture and supporting structures...need to be multi-dimensional
AUTONOMY AND AUTHENTICITY (VR tree we liked) - student ownership and confidence to apply the skills and knowledge taught in real life/the workplace
DEVELOPMENT – the pursuit of excellence
ACCESSIBLE - learning difficulties, languages, UDL, different backgrounds... - reduce inequality. Address inequality = address discrimination
FUN/CHOICE/ CURIOSITY – to deliver and participate in. Its enjoyable to learn. Students learn without realising it. Allow students to have input and choices within the unit and the assessment? Inspiring students to have the motivation of mastering skills
APOLITICAL / CONGRUENT – neutrality and consistence
TRANSPARENCY – aims, positioning of learning/unit in wider context. Unit to program. Awareness of knowledge they are co-construction. Continuum of learning = concept to consumer journey in FBBM
COMMUNITY - Create a safe place to try things out and fail and get supported.
SUSTAINABLE VALUES – acknowledging and incorporating UN SDG’s, ecology = circular economy, no un-necessary printing etc...
I have decided to take FBBM’s year 1 term 2 unit: Fashion Buying and Product Development as the unit I will focus my PGCert curriculum re-design unit on.
Ahead of the following weeks design workshop we were asked to think about the following:
1. Think/decide what 'values' you want to drive your learning design - 5-10 at most. The Padlet we used in class gave you a start, refine them, rank them and then you can use them next week
Having brainstormed earlier in the week and met with my triad I decided to create a mind map of ideas then try to number them in importance.
2. It is important that you review the resources about Threshold Concepts, Flipped Learning and UDL, please check out this Padlet before the lesson:
Threshold concepts is a new concept for me, so I decided to do some extended reading into the subject which I have noted below:Threshold Concepts: A bridge between skills and content
Hudson, E., 2020. Threshold Concepts: A Bridge Between Skills and Content. [online] Medium. Available at: <https://medium.com/@ejhudson/threshold-concepts-a-bridge-between-skills-and-content-54331b2bacd> [Accessed 15 September 2021].
Discussed the process of abandoning teaching being about ‘coverage’ but instead teaching so students gain deeper understanding of the main, most important, principles of a subject well.
For educators to enable those deeper learning skills they need to be able to do two things:
1. Articulate the durable, transferable skills students need to achieve deep understanding (and pursue it for the rest of their lives) and
2. Connect students to content that is rich enough to develop those skills.
Which content builds the deeper learning skills that matter to students’ success?
Threshold concepts may be the answer to these questions.
In the article the ‘concept’ of a threshold subject is discussed:
“Concepts [cause] a transformative shift in a student’s understanding and appreciation of that field.”
Threshold concepts have five essential traits:
1) they transform the learner’s perception of the field,
2) that transformation is permanent,
3) they are integrative in that the learner perceives interrelated ideas in the same way experts in the field might, 4) they are bounded in that mastery allows the learner to move on to other threshold concepts, and
5) they are “troublesome” for learners.
“Threshold concepts as a bridge between skills and content.”
“Mastering a threshold concept requires the learner to enter an uncomfortable space where they must question what they already know, wrestle with abstract ideas, and seek new ways to organize and process information.”
During this process the student can experience emotional struggle and confusion associated with mastering a subject. This struggle is associated with the transfer of knowledge from one context into another, resulting in deeper learning. To succeed student’s, need to learn from mistakes, be resilient and utilise a variety of learning strategies and be aware of how and who to ask for help.
To learn threshold concepts, students will need to spend more time with fewer concepts.
Here are three steps for educators to begin exploring threshold concepts:
1. Identify threshold concepts – collaboration, empathy, inclusivity
2. Align threshold concepts to authentic practice
3. Learn about cultures, conditions and strategies required to nurture productive struggle in students
3. Start articulating what the threshold concepts are for your (re-)designed curriculum - what are the key building blocks which tend to be the sticky points of the curriculum? Those are probably Threshold Concepts.
- Translating trends into coherent balanced capsule collections
- Understanding buying quantities and formulas in relation to a chosen retailer.
- Grasping the extent of. Ethical and sustainable issues (as well as possible solutions) within the fashion supply chain.
ENTRY 1 – CURRICULUM DESIGN - PRINCIPLES, THEORY AND MODELS
14th September 2021
Ahead of this week’s first formative on curriculum design principles I decided to do some of my own reading to get my head back into the game. I read the following texts and made nots after:
Inclusive Curriculum Design in Higher Education:
“An inclusive curriculum is one where all the students’ entitlement to access and participate in a course is anticipated, acknowledged and taken into account”
“An inclusive curriculum design recognises that students have multiple identities that are shaped by their previous experiences and that a diverse range of personal circumstances influence how they study.”
Achieving an inclusive design involves curriculum planning that has strong links to:
- Educational intentions
- Course content
- Teaching and learning methods
- Assessment of student learning while taking account of student characteristics
(Uniability, 2008, cited by Craig and Zinkiewicz, 2010: 11)
As curriculum designers we must be aware that some students need will be known in advance whereas others may emerge during the course of study.
Key factors to consider within curriculum design include:
Diversity; Educational, Dispositional, Circumstantial, Cultural
Elements to curriculum Design:
“It is possible to think about inclusion at any point in the design process and frequently decisions made in one component will have implications for other areas”.
Students identified characteristics of provision they found supportive and facilitative of their learning:
- Local safe space;
- ownership over the programme and its content;
- make friends and networks with their peers;
- consistency of ‘teacher, time, place and pedagogical approach’.
Notes made from reading:
Morgan, H. and Houghton, A., 2011. Inclusive curriculum design in higher education | Advance HE. [online] Advance-he.ac.uk. Available at: <https://www.advance-he.ac.uk/knowledge-hub/inclusive-curriculum-design-higher-education> [Accessed 10 September 2021].
Design for Learning
Challenges how we can apply good design practises principles to the process of curriculum design. One of my key take-aways from the read it that a curriculum should be designed so that I can easily be adapted and updated each time it is revisited with ease.
“Good design enhances the usefulness of the product”
“Enhancement entails continually seeking to improve the quality of the product and the quality of the "user experience". Real enhancement often can be achieved through designing and implementing small, evolutionary adaptations.”
“Enhancing the utility of any curriculum has to be considered in relation to all those who interact with it – students, teaching staff, and administrators.”
“Any well-designed curriculum should be perceived, understood and experienced as fulfilling its prime function – whatever that function is commonly agreed to be. It should communicate clarity, integrity and quality.”
Trust, confident and reputation
“‘designing-in’ flexibility, and the ability to re-configure with relative ease, is a key characteristic of modern design especially where human interaction with the artefact is paramount.”
“Some of the best and most enduring designs manage to retain critical, instantly recognisable elements of the original whilst constantly adapting to meet changing conditions and expectations.”
“An enduring curriculum design is one in which the core configuration, the basic structure, is designed in such a way that not only does it meet the demands of the present, but will be able to adapt to the demands of the future without requiring a complete overhaul.”
“Assessment procedures, feedback mechanisms, hand-in procedures etc. are all details that, if not carefully designed and implemented, can drastically reduce effectiveness and functionality.”
“One of the most significant design principles is to omit the un-important in order to emphasise the important.”
“Good, minimal curriculum design ought to result in the creation of a relatively simple, elegant, functional, coherent set of learning environments and processes that, each and together, provide the optimum conditions for intellectual development and achievement.”
Ideas taken from:
Klieman, P., 2008. Design for Learning. 1st ed. [ebook] PALATINE (HEA). Available at: <https://www.researchgate.net/publication/238709657_Design_for_Learning> [Accessed 15 September 2021].