For this weeks workshop I chose to read “Could Do Better? Students’ critique of written feedback by Kate Brooks. I chose it because I was very curious to find out more about student opinion regarding assessment.
The essay takes a very clear stance on the topic. That students are unhappy and are sometimes given very vague feedback, some students even expressed a “what’s the point” attitude as the project is over, there is nothing to be done now that the grade has been set.
I find the latter point a bit frustrating as it misses the idea that learning never stops, and that feedback should always represent an opportunity to grow, or that students should feel empowered to choose what they feel is useful and throw away the rest.
This is more a reflection on how I have experienced having students who are surprised at getting lower grades when they have made an active choice to avoid any of the learning outcomes set by the brief.
In preparation for workshop 2, I was assigned to read chapter 1 from the book What’s the Use? by Sara Ahmed.
The times when I have attempted to engage with academic writing I have often been left feeling left out, uneducated or worse…stupid. Mainly through attempts of reading Michel Foucault and Judith Butler, who use a very academic language.
Judith Butler’s Gender Trouble (Butler, J 2006) is especially dense and to me incomprehensible. And it is only thanks to the graphic novel Queer A Graphic History (Barker, MJ 2016) that I have been able to grasp what it is about.
I often think about how many of the big books around queer theory needs a guidebook in order to be fully understood, and as a teacher I strive to be more Meg-John Barker & Jules Scheele in my communication.
Ahmed’s text however, felt accessible in its use of language. It is also very subtle and rich. I appreciated the flow of engaging with the word “USE” that then illustrates metaphors around class, race, gender and ableism. (Ahmed, S 2019)
In my notes I wrote: The text tricks the reader into learning about public toilets and gender.
Maybe this is a more approachable way in teaching people about these concepts? I have an impulse to ask someone that doesn’t know about queerness to read it and tell me what they learnt. Her writing has also given me a new sense of curiosity around academic writing. Accessible writing does not negate intelligence and depth.
Another big takeaway from the text is the slow flow of each section, and how the real topic is being revealed to the reader with a clear intention. It makes me think about the tempo of which I use to present theory and practice to students in workshops and how this can be improved. I also use a lot of queer artists as references when teaching, and I think I need to provide more context so that students are eased into understanding the context of these references.
Bibliography:
Ahmed, S 2019, What’s the Use? : On the Uses of Use, Duke University Press, Durham. Available from: ProQuest Ebook Central. [19 February 2025].
Butler, J 2006, Gender Trouble : Feminism and the Subversion of Identity, Taylor & Francis Group, Oxford. Available from: ProQuest Ebook Central. [19 February 2025].
Barker, MJ 2016, Queer: a Graphic History, Icon Books, Limited, London. Available from: ProQuest Ebook Central. [19 February 2025].
Participants engaged with the exercise, and everyone seemed to appreciate the choice of colourful dice and pens to fill out their character sheets.
I feel my experiment was a success and I was happy with the conclusions made by people in the group.
Everyone shared very different stories with their students which was very helpful. And the discussions led to a good point where we arrived acknowledging that we cannot always assume that high achieving students are doing ok. And that a lot of the issues students are facing are out of our control.
There was some concerns regarding the potential of staff making use of problematic stereotypes when doing this exercise. This could be scary for some, but I believe acknowledging friction is important for collective growth. The purpose of this exercise is to reveal prejudice and help each other build a more sympathetic lens when looking at students.
In order to improve, I need to consider the context more and how I introduce it to the participants so that they are more aware of the process as a whole. Generally I would like this to be expanded into a 2 hour workshop so that people can be eased into the idea of roleplaying at a slower pace.
(Character sheets I designed for my exercise)
Key points of learning from other workshops:
One person presented an object in a bag, making us guess what it was by touching it. It added a very nice layer of play that I am now considering to build into my workshops more when teaching ceramics to illustration students.
Another used some very well planned visual aids for typography design. I have never considered using printouts for my own workshops, but the way they presented these worksheets alongside context through speaking was very inspired. Might be able to build this into my comic workshops as it removed a layer of comparison between participants as everyone used the same sheets and was given the same markers to fill in the shapes.
For my micro-teaching day I wanted to push myself into trying something new.
Reasoning behind my idea: I am a big nerd and I engage with games and roleplaying a lot in my spare time, and I run game design and coding workshops as an AL on BA Illustration at Camberwell.
After 4 years on the course I have also noted that there is a lack in knowledge exchange with my peers about student journeys. As an AL I almost never get asked about what I have noticed or If I have any concerns or ideas to help improve student welfare and support.
I want to combine my knowledge of games and roleplaying while also helping staff to have conversations around issues students are currently facing.
This will also be opportunity for staff to hold each other accountable if problematic portrayals of students get presented to the group. I hope it’s easier to flag this when discussing hypothetical student scenarios rather than real life students.
What did I do? I have devised a simple role playing game where teachers use prompts given by me and dice to imagine a student and their journey throughout higher education.
There are studies about how LGBT people use roleplaying games to experiment with gender identity and how it allows people to process difficult conversations through imagination rather than focusing on real life specifics. (Thom, 2022)
(Coloured dice for my workshop)
The Rules:
Step 1: Each player picks one set of coloured dice.
Step 2: The game leader (me) will then ask 5 questions, depending on the answer the player will do nothing or they will remove a dice from their pool. The questions will revolve around financial privilege where the players get to add a bit of themselves into the character that they will imagine.
Step 3: Each player rolls the dice, if they roll less than 12 their student did not make it through school, anything above means that they passed. The higher the number the better the grade.
(Example dice roll)
Step 4: Time to role play. Using the dice in front of them, the players will tell each other about their students. If the pool of dice has a lot of low numbers, what barriers could they symbolise? If they are high, what privileges or achievements can be found?
Step 5: Discuss When all the dice are counted, we go around the table and introduce our students as if they are real. We use the dice to tell a story.
Sharing with peers before the day: In order to prepare for the micro teach day I shared my idea with colleagues, some of who have already done the PGcert and others who are doing it with me.
One colleague mentioned that it sounded very similar to Persona Pedagogy, which is a framework where you develop fictional personas with intersecting identities in order to avoid specific people sharing lived experience. (National Library Of Medicine, 2019)
I did not have time to research this in depth but have added it to my reading list as I think it would be helpful in order for me to develop this concept further.
Bibliography:
James, Thom. (2022) They Came To Slay. 1st edn. Scotland: 404ink.
National Library Of Medicine (2019) Through the Eyes of Faculty: Using Personas as a Tool for Learner-Centered Professional Development. Available at: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6889841/ (Accessed: 13 Feb 2025).
The first workshop felt very igniting. There was something very affirming about being in a room of people who all had the same worries and concerns about the future of higher education as a business while at the same time all of us needing a job. As a non-British person is appreciated the timeline exercise as it gave me useful context around university fees and steppingstones within equality.
Since then, I started thinking about things I have read that have helped me shape what kind of educator I want to be. I will admit that I am not an avid reader and that most of my expertise has come from years of community organising and facilitating workshops within a queer context.
Here are some examples of books that I feel are very formative to my role as an educator and reflections on why:
The book Centering by M.C Richards (1989) is a meditative exploration of the human body, clay as a material, but also contains chapters with reflections about teaching. The main point of advice that I have taken to my own practice is that
“In order to teach, you must be able to listen. You must be able to hear what the person before you means. You cannot assume the meanings and be a teacher.” (Richards, 1989, p. 21)
Making Comics by Lynda Barry (2019) is another piece of writing that has been very influential in the way that I teach drawing as a subject. In the book she presents a series of exercises that always bring an element of silly to learning. I like creating a more relaxed and humorous environment with students when working practically and I am pretty sure this will come across in any observed learning and during the upcoming microteaching day.
My final point of reference for recent reading is Anna Anthropy, who teaches game design at DePaul University College of Computing and Digital Media (CDM). In 2012 she released the book Rise of the Videogame Zinesters, which works as a guidebook for LGBT people who want to get into game design while also using it as a tool to challenge the social norms of the heteronormative scene in commercial game industries.
I hope to spend some more time with these books, but after spending the day re-reading parts of these texts I have created a list of goals that I want to uphold as a teacher working within a HE context.
Here are my key points:
Accessibility is important to me. I want to be able to challenge experienced students while also making sure my lesson plans are easy to grasp for students who might struggle whether it is reading, language or just confidence.
I want to make sure that I have a good understanding of equality around gender, race and class so that I can stand up for my beliefs with more confidence.
I want to put student welfare above all, and make sure students can think for themselves and set goals with their art practice before thinking about grades.
I want to learn how to bring my community organising ethos into my university teaching practice more. I think art schools can learn a lot from a more non hierarchal education model.
Bibliography:
Richards, M, C. (1989) Centering: in Pottery, Poetry, and the Person. 2nd edn. Conneticut: Wesleyan University Press.
Barry, L. (2019) Making Comics. 1st edn. Quebec: Drawn & Quarterly.
Anthropy, A. (2012) Rise Of The Videogame Zinesters. 1st edn. New York: Seven Stories Press.
My name is Fred and I teach on the BA and MA of Illustration at Camberwell as an AL. My illustration practice is centred making comics, ceramics and sometimes video games. Most of my work touches upon LGBT themes.
I also co-run a free arts school programme called Queer Youth Art Collective, where the main focus is to make arts education as accessible as possible while holding space for young LGBT people to develop their own artistic practice.
