INCLUSIVE CURRICULUM DESIGN
CRITICAL REFLECTION
Introduction
This paper reflects on my recent re-design and teaching of the Fashion Buying and Product Development unit delivered to Ravensbourne’s year one Fashion Buying and Brand Management students. I chose this unit to re-design as the topic evolves rapidly requiring regular updates to maintain relevance. However, after years of minor modifications the unit felt bloated, with student outputs lacking the authenticity of current industry practice as well as functionality when using them as a tool to reflect on to inform future projects. (K6)
There were several processes, workshops and formative assessment tasks that informed my re-design process discussed below and recorded within my journal [Appendix 7]. (A1)
Formative Assessment Task Review
Creating the inclusive curriculum principles [Appendix 1] as a triad brough to my attention the differences in cohorts of students, not only in terms of diversity but also their backgrounds and pervious experiences too. Sengupta and Makhanya (2019) discuss the need to be mindful of this when re-designing curriculum addressing the needs of individuals and reducing the barriers in curriculum design to make it overall more accessible. Richards and Finnegan (2019) acknowledge broadening diversity within student cohorts expressing the need for art and design subjects to develop a flexible and anticipatory approach to meet those needs. (V1, V2, V4)
The collaborative annotated bibliography [Appendix 2] developed with my triad sparked further discussion around inclusivity, different frameworks for unit design and the effects the pandemic has had upon teaching and learning. This led me to focus my re-design around the FLOATS curriculum model (McKimm et al, 2021) making sure my unit is flexible while being learning centred, being open to blended delivery, technology enabled and above to seek stakeholder input from industry figures to maintain authenticity and relevance. (A5)
During the unit design workshop [Appendix 5], I identified three key threshold concepts (Hudson, 2020) students would need to achieve to understand the subject. (K3) This led me to split the brief into three sections accordingly: part A covering research and range development, part B mapping the production process and part C investigating better practice within the supply chain. (K6) Furthermore, I designed the unit poster [Appendix 3] to act as a timeline illustrating each of these sections applying Kane and Mushare’s (2018) theory of ‘design thinking’ working backwards from the final summative assessment then placing in formative checkpoints to conclude each section/threshold before building in the learning objectives through teaching and activities accordingly. (A1, V3)
In previous years, feedback suggested that the original formative was too late not allowing students enough time to react to feedback before summative. Adding in additional formative assessment activities (Robinson and Udall, 2016) will not only provide students with feedback earlier and more regularly but will also allow me to gauge and react to their understanding too. I designed the formative activities to reflect authentic industry signoffs while adopting Earl’s method of ‘assessment as learning’ (2013). For example, the buyers sign off formative for part A, students presented then received feedback on their trends, consumers, and initial range plan designs. Once students have responded to feedback and had their work ‘signed off’ they were able to conclude on Part A in their range plan rationale before commencing the production process in Part B. (V4, K5, A3, K2)
Throughout the brief re-design I considered Biggs and Tang’s (2011) theory of constructive alignment considering the lessons and activities students should undertake to meet their learning outcomes and aligning them to the formative assessment activities. Considering the variety of students needs and the original FLOATS framework, it was important to consider UDL (Nave, 2020) offering variety in the teaching methods to maintain motivation. For example, in Part C I wanted to give students a chance to work collaboratively investigating and advocating for ways in which brands and retailer can be more ethical and sustainable within the fashion supply chain considering the UN’s sustainable development goals (THE 17 GOALS | Sustainable Development, 2020). In contrast to previous individual written outputs, in Part C students can create either a five-minute film or podcast to present back to the rest of the class offering variation to those who struggle with written outputs while offering a shared learning experience simultaneously. (A1, A4, V4).
I presented both my poster and re-designed to peers and students in various classes and workshops. Student feedback on the poster [Appendix 4] suggested that infographic timeline not only provided an overview of the unit but also helped them position the unit within the wider context of their degree as they map the process from concept to consumer. Several students also expressed their preference for learning with visual aids finding the poster provided a clear overview of the unit rather than relying solely on a written brief. With this feedback in mind, I decided to align the VLE to reflect the posters timeline and became aware of populating the areas with additional visual resources. Furthermore, after recording increased attendance during online sessions and feedback from students saying they enjoy the opportunity to re-watch trickier theory-based content, I organised the brief so this type of content could be delivered online and recorded for students to re-watch. (K1, K3, A4)
Observation feedback [Appendix 6] of my Part A unit briefing brought to my attention added considerations for online content. Feedback noted that only two of the students had their cameras turned on for the duration. When I observed a triad member’s briefing, they paid particular attention before commencing the briefing to encourage each student to turn their cameras on informing them why this was helpful for her to measure engagement. The following session I made each student switch their camera on explaining why this was necessary resulting in the majority following the request. Other feedback suggested that including regular intervals to encourage students to ask/write questions or even create an activity that could measure their understanding of the briefing would have been beneficial. I decided to set up a shared padlet for the part B briefing for students to share questions which could be revisited in future sessions. I also added in an activity at the mid-way point to engage students placing myself as a ‘meddler in the middle’ rather than the ‘sage on the stage’ (McWilliam, 2009) I’d become in the Part A briefing. (K3, A2, K4, K5)
Critical Incident
There were numerous incidences throughout the unit design process and subsequent teaching to reflect upon. However, I chose to review the importance of creating flexibility in curriculum design to be best prepared for the everchanging teaching environment. “We tend to think of curriculum as a fixed entity, but all curricula have a life cycle and are affected by internal and external changes. In order to thrive, a curriculum needs to be dynamic, agile, and flexible to cope with societal and organisational variables” (McKimm et al, 2021). Research also shows that “flexible learning … helps to promote quality education” (JOAN, 2013). At a point in which the university is approaching a new semester format and thus all courses are due for revalidation, I felt this was my key takeaway to consider moving forward.
Once I completed the teaching for part A, ending in the Buyer’s sign off formative, I realised my unit could have been far more open to flexibility benefiting me and my students. I’m a natural planner, meaning my lesson plans and briefs often become too rigid. Reflecting further on my peer and mentor feedback helped guide and reassure me how I can embrace flexibility in unit design and teaching without feeling vulnerable or unprepared. (K5)
This term faced many new challenges with large numbers of students self-isolating due to Covid, forcing us to offer a (very basic) hybrid teaching environment. This meant that I needed to regularly re-consider the best methods for delivering teaching. Some of my planned activities weren’t practical for the hybrid environment thus needing last minute amendments so that all could participate. This also meant it became critical to record content for students to watch/re-watch. Furthermore, it became vital to keep students informed of changes acknowledging Drew’s (2021) pedagogy of ambiguity where as teachers “…we may fail to transition students from the safety of the ‘concrete’ or ‘expected’ to the ambiguous and contingent, in a way that makes them feel safe or enabled.” By offering transparency in learning and teaching (transparency in teaching and Learning, n.d.) I was able to explain to students why teaching was happening in different ways to what was planned in order to help make sessions more inclusive not only to suit the current circumstances but also to promote wider inclusivity and participation at times too. (A4, K1, K4, A2)
After receiving feedback that my pace in class can often be too fast, I became reassured by my mentor recommendation of adopting ‘pedagogy of care’ (O’Shaughnessy, 2020) reassuring me that it’s fine to slow down and even pause to allow students time to respond to my enquiry without seeing brief silences as a negative. I observed this pedagogy in action while observing a triad member’s briefing which felt so well paced, relaxed, and overall, a much safer environment for students to stop and ask questions than my more rushed approach. By slowing down, I will not only give students more agency in the direction of the lesson content but will also be able to monitor students’ engagement and understanding and react and change the lesson direction (where necessary) while still being in control. (A5)
Taking into considerations Kleiman’s (2008) idea that “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” will be a key consideration for re-designing future units. This will also allow me to react to differences within cohorts and be ready for change while truly embracing the FLOATS curriculum model (McKimm et al, 2021) which was my initial inspiration for this whole re-design. In the future, my briefs could be more open to flexibility by streamlining written content then using support sheets to provide further information. By reducing potential barriers within the brief and curriculum design itself my units will hopefully become far more accessible too (Senecal, Coochwytewa and Kraft, 2021). (K1)
Finally, the extra formatives became critical in gauging the pace, participation, and overall understanding of teaching at a much earlier stage. (K6) In this instance, the part A formative sign off allowed me to move content back a week to allow students to catch up and react to feedback before moving onto part B. I also noticed that attendance was falling after the formative so switched a scheduled in-class session to online. This got nearly full attendance and allowed me to catch up with students I was concerned about in one-to-one tutorials. This also allowed me to gain feedback that students had been struggling with writing their rationale which created the opportunity to do a re-cap in the afternoon and record it so students could re-watch during independent study. (K2)
Conclusion
Learning how to truly embrace flexibility helped reassure me that it’s alright to change the plan and further endorsed the need to consider flexibility during the unit design stage to antisipate change. “Unprecedented change is now part of everyday life. Design for learning is impacted by this continuous change, [this increased] pace in change means that learning itself will be a topic of study for all who learn, and it is a life skill that must be regularly employed to adjust to future changes. This calls for a learning design that is open, flexible, explicit, and inquiry-base” (Beetham and Sharpe, 2020).
While at times teaching has felt quite isolating the past couple of years, the support from triad and class discussions, regular journaling, lesson observations, research and reflections has helped me embrace the benefits of continued professional development. I intend to continue to catch up with my triad and journal independently. As a result of the PGCert I now feel in a position to put my original educational philosophy into practise with solid pedagogy and confidence with an openness to embrace the unknown. (V3, V4)
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