Author: Sarah Masters

OB2 Peer Observation Report

Session to be observed: BA Costume year one. Bustle Technical Workshop

Size of student group: 22      

Type of activity:  Technical workshop

Observer:         Kasia Idzi                                           Observee: Sarah Masters

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Observations, suggestions and questions

You made sure that I found the space where you teach by meeting me at the reception. It was very useful to see and get the feel of the space before the observation had started. Especially that I was observing an hour out of the whole day workshop, so it provided a background to what you were working on that day.

The workshop was taking place in a very lively and busy environment with lots of staff and student working on different projects at the same time and sharing some of the spaces. You remained calm and professional when dealing with a difficult situation just before starting the class.

When we entered the workshop at 2.00pm it was lovely to see many students engaged with their work following your morning classes.

You gave students a few minutes to gather around you and your colleague Marta, (who shadowed you in this workshop) for the next set of instructions on making a Victorian bustle.

It was well planned and easy to follow session. I enjoyed your use of humour and real life examples in the lesson. This made it fun and engaging!

You used questions to prompt students to think why they need to do parts of the garment in the certain way before explaining the next steps in more detail. It gave the participants food for thought and made this part of the lesson really memorable.

You also referred to what students had learnt when working on the other types of garments using similar techniques. What a great way to revise what they are learning!

Regarding suggestions on how you could improve managing the cohort with a diverse skills levels I think you could start this part of the workshop with the Q&A session and checking the progress in the students’ work. Then encouraging the students to take notes, take pictures or film the further steps in producing the garment could help as well. You asked them to take notes in the second part of the presentation and I could see that some of the students got closer to the teaching area, which helped with their engagement.

You also asked me to feedback on inclusivity of your workshop. The idea of keeping one of the rooms as a quiet work space and the other room with low volume music on gave students a choice of environment they want to work in. You used very accessible language and paced your workshop well, so everyone could keep up with what had been said or shown. You were very approachable and the students were asking you questions freely. The section of the lesson that I observed felt very inclusive.

I am interested in inclusive teaching practices myself and have just started reading Inclusion and diversity: meeting the needs of all students by Sue Grace and Phil Gravestock. I think you may find the chapters on teaching small and large groups useful too.

The hour of the workshop I observed did not include getting the students’ feedback. I know that you have the workshop feedback form that you will use at the end of the two day teaching making the bustle. It would be interesting to see how students assessed their learning. Gathering better students’ feedback on my teaching is what I currently work on improving and got interested in using Stephen Brookfields critical incident questionnaire (recommended to me by our tutor after observing one of my sessions) and adapting it to suit the library teaching context. You may find it helpful too.

Reflection on the observer’s comments and ideas to follow up:

Thank you for your feedback, I am really glad you enjoyed the session.

D Block at Lime grove is a busy environment this time of year as 3^rd year performance students are in the peak of their final projects. We also have 1^st and 2^nd years returning for technical workshops and master classes in preparation for collaboration one and two which adds to the already lively environment. It is the only time that 1^st and 2^nd years see 3^rd years working within the studios, and this can be very inspiring for them to share the spaces when fittings are taking place, rather than being distracting for them. However, I always make sure that my demonstrations are taking place in the room that we do not share to make sure that students stay fully engaged.

When I have my first technical workshop with students, I am aware that the majority will have no experience in industry but they will have a keen passion for the subject. I inform them at the start of the year of different industry practices and why they are implemented when it comes to costume construction. As we progress through different workshops, I start to ask the students why they think these new techniques I am showing them are used, reflecting on what they have learned previously to figure this out. The aim is to keep students engaged while giving insight and making the techniques memorable by knowing the ‘why’ as well as ‘how’.

I really appreciate your suggestion on starting the afternoon session with a Q and A. This would be a good indicator of the information they have retained from the morning session. This is also useful when workshops take place on different days, to see if they can recall parts of the previous session. This is something I intent to implement immediately within the workshops. I allow students to film the demonstrations rather than note take so they can concentrate on what I am doing. They do have a class WhatsApp group and previously asked permission to share the videos within this group and each take turns in taking the videos. This means they all have access and not one student is burdened in taking the video every time, and I don’t have 20 cameras on me at once. We also have the LCF technical resource pages which have videos, photos and text of each step of the workshop if they need to refer back to a process. There are QR codes to these pages in the rooms and links are posted to Moodle. By providing these options to the students, they can choose what works best for them.

The feedback forms we asked the students to fill out showed that they were 100% satisfied with the workshop. Suggestions we received were about the supplying a more interesting fabric. We choose calico as it is cost effective, made from recycled cotton and can be recycled again. I intend to inform the students as part of the workshop as to why we chose this as the most sustainable option.

Thank you for your book suggestion, I have got this on my reading list for the Easter break. I think this will be really useful on how to manage the ever-increasing cohort sizes.

OB2 Peer Observation Report

Session to be observed: Tuesday 7^th March 2023, Victorian Bustle Making Session

Size of student group:  Approx. 15    

Type of activity: Victorian Bustle Making Session

Observer:   Carole Morrison                                                               Observee: Sarah Masters

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Observations, suggestions and questions

You are an experienced, competent, and confident practitioner with a passion for your area of practice and for teaching.  You have asked for feedback on inclusive practice, and I include two suggestions below.

The session begins with you calling the students in the room around a main cutting table at the front of the studio.  You point out the completed bustle on a mannequin to inspire the students and show the direction or end point of the session.  One suggestion is that you could perhaps reference the learning outcomes for the session in more detail at this point.

You run several short, accessible, and flexible demonstrations to accommodate the groupings of students that arrive later than planned.  This flexibility enables inclusive practice.

You give clear, precise instructions for constructing the garment, using intricate pleats, and pointing out ‘that attention to the waistband is key’.  Some students are filming the demonstration, and a few ask questions.  You intersperse your instructions with short stories and anecdotes about working in TV and Theatre. These anecdotes delight many of the students and help to keep them engaged and focused.  Your personal narratives offer real life scenarios that root the demonstration in industry practice and links their learning to the real world. Another suggestion is that it might be useful to link these stories explicitly to the professional framework of UAL’s Creative Attributes Framework. You reassure the students that using a Victorian pattern has its challenges and encourage them to ‘have a go’ and to approach you with their questions if they are stuck. After the demonstration you circulate amongst the students in the room and this variety of teaching approaches demonstrates inclusive practice.

Reflecting the range of learning styles, around half of the students require follow up tips and repeats of parts of the demo – suggesting that your approach to running a few demonstrations followed by more 1-2-1 trouble-shooting moments with the students responds to the variety of learning styles in the studio and this demonstrates inclusive practice. 

The session has a relaxed yet focused quality, with all students on task, and as I leave the room you continue to move around both spaces responding to student needs.

Reflection on the observer’s comments and ideas to follow up:

Thank you, Carole, for these comments. Teaching has been the most rewarding job and I love passing the knowledge on to the next generation of costumiers.

My aim is to deliver workshops that are accessible by all, and by delivering short demonstrations and explanations has worked the best so far. Ensuring that students stay engaged and inspired throughout the session and creating a positive and productive environment while building the students confidence in their own ability has remained a priority.

I appreciate your suggestion to remind students of the learning outcomes after returning to the class from lunch. This is something I do at the start of the class in the morning, but I had not considered a refresher at the start of the second half. This would get them back to focusing after their break and remind them of what is coming in the second half of the class.

The Creative Attributes Framework is something I only discovered recently while researching for one of my blogs. I think it is a great idea to link to this during my technical workshops to allow students to become familiar with it also. Giving the students the skills to succeed in industry is something I feel very strongly about and I have been discussing with the other performance technicians. I have recently been designing sign up workshops for activities week in areas where there are current gaps in the skills and knowledge to improve their employability. Sign-ups such as skills and techniques to work as a dresser in theatres. A job that is ideal for students while studying which is paid well, after classes and will give students experience in the industry to add to their CV. As we are unable to deliver embedded technical workshops outside of the units, sign up sessions are the only options currently. But by using the CAF, I hope these will be embedded in the future.

I am always open to developing my delivery to be as inclusive as possible. Your question in class about the use of cameras so students can see clearer has led me to inquire about facilities at Stratford. The current equipment we have in the rooms is not sufficient and we often use our LCF Technical resource pages on the screens in the room instead. Being able to show on screen what I am doing live would really help with the cohort sizes increasing. 

Assessment and feedback

As written in the UAL staff guidelines to assessment (22-23), formative assessment is explained as “an assessment for learning. It is a process of evaluating learning through work-in-progress to provide feedback to assist students in developing their learning further.” As a technician, I am mostly involved with formative assessments and feedback daily. My role is to teach new skills and provide guidance and advice on practical outcomes through technical workshops and supervised studio. Giving continual feedback on student’s individual projects throughout the technical workshops or units is vital to helping them improve practical skills as they progress. Mistakes are made during this time which is part of the learning process with garment construction and how it is dealt with can make a difference on the student’s confidence and create a positive or negative learning environment.

The need for formative assessment is to identify issues in the learning process and intervene in real-time before students fall behind their peers and become demotivated. This can be challenging when working with all students but especially first year undergraduate students, who may have little or no experience of sewing when joining the course. It takes time, practice, and patience to sew a straight line, let alone construct garments. Some students have the expectation that they can learn this quickly and become frustrated when this expectation is not met. It is important that during this time that I deliver honest feedback with appropriate advice on how to improve, focusing on positives to keep motivation high and feeding forward. As they state, Biggs and Tang (2011 p64) “Arguably the most powerful enhancement to learning is feedback during learning”. This can be challenging when a student may need to repeat the action 5-10 times in order to get it right, but compassion and understanding can help keep the student compelled to continue and not give up. “Errors are important learning opportunities, but feedback is essential if students are to learn from error” Biggs and Tang (2011). The tone of voice, inclusive language and a solution when a student has made a mistake can make a difference on how the student proceeds. Formative assessment gives me the opportunity to see how students are progressing with their skill level and encourage those who may need more support and practice to attend open access and independent study if required.

Some students may prefer a harder line as they progress and understanding each student and how they respond to advice and feedback is vital to deliver a tailored approach in each case. Being perceptive about their preferred methods of feedback delivery is required to get the best out of that student and build trust. It is also important to allow students to experiment and make mistakes rather than give them the answer to allow them to develop independence and problem-solving skills as they progress. This is something that is well received by students and documented in technical workshop feedback forms and the NSS free text comments.

The biggest challenge is I have faced is giving students enough one to one time for formative assessments. Due to cohort size and more complex learning differences, it can be difficult to give each student the feedback they require in the time available. I have adopted peer to peer feedback through technical workshops which has worked well. However, this can be difficult to achieve in supervised studio when students have very different constructions and may be working in different spaces entirely. I have made use of the Scheduler on Moodle for students to book time slots during supervised studio for 3^rd year students. Asking students to book earlier slots if they need immediate help and later slots if they have work they can continue with, to ensure students have an equal amount of one to one time. Many students still prefer to work at home and offering slots online ensures fairness. Moving forward, a look at the staff to student ratio, or additional supervised studio sessions would allow for more time especially to those who made need it more “those whom you think may be headed for a 2.2 or 3rd class degree: research evidence suggests that your time is most effectively spent with them.” UAL (2023). Timetabled peer assessments would also be a worthwhile addition.

References

UAL (2022-23) Staff guidance to assessment. Available at: https://artslondon.sharepoint.com/sites/CanvasContent/Documents/London%20College%20of%20Fashion/L&T%20Hub/LCF%20Staff%20Guide%20to%20Assessment%2022_23%20.pdf Accessed (12/03/23)

Biggs, J. and Tang, C., 2011. EBOOK: Teaching for Quality Learning at University. McGraw-hill education (UK). Accessed (12/03/23)

UAL (2023) Eliminating Inequality in formative assessment. Available at: https://www.arts.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/190153/AEM-Eliminating-Inequality-Formative-Assessment-PDF-288KB.pdf Accessed (12/03/23)

Teaching and supporting.

When I started in my role in 2017, I had very little knowledge of theories of teaching and learning and learned techniques from my peers. When I covered the grade 4 teaching and learning position in 2019, I researched into what teaching methods worked best with art students. I read an interesting article about the use of storytelling to help students learn, which really inspired me. Vanessa Boris’ article (2017) explained the many benefits of storytelling while teaching. Building trust, making complex topics manageable and memorable and most importantly this is accessible by different types of learners. I have always been selective about when to incorporate stories into my delivery. I want to make sure they are relevant and inclusive and for a specific reason. To get through a complicated process and make it memorable and keep them engaged. Connecting them to real life scenarios helps them to create a picture of their potential future and fuel their passion for the subject.

My job as a technician is to teach students how to do their practical work. There is also an importance to explain to students why alongside the how. I can tell students that in costume we use bigger seam allowances than fashion and leave it at that, but by adding the why, – because in the industry costumes get sold to hire companies and then get reused for different productions/cast changes. Bigger seam allowances allow costumes to be altered to fit different performers rather than being remade. By referring to the theatre and film industry, it gives students a better understanding about costume construction while giving them insight to industry practises and sustainability in costume. By giving the students details on how the industry currently supports sustainable practice we can also support UAL’s policy of “Embedding social and environmental sustainability into the curriculum” (2023). With the aim to encourage students to be forward thinking about how they could push this further when they graduate and enter industry and “Help Navigate change”. UAL (2023)

After starting on the PGCert course and being exposed to different types of pedagogy and teaching methods, it has made me think about how I teach and how I could improve this going forward. With the focus of many researchers suggesting the best method for student learning is a student centred approach. There is little research on how this applies in terms of a practical skills class. Maclain (2018) explains that “when teaching a new concept or skill to a group of younger learners, the choice might be to adopt a more restrictive and teacher led approach, with questions being used to gauge recall and understanding. This restrictive approach will limit the range (and potentially the creativity) of outcomes, whereas a more expansive approach (where learner potentially make more choices) can result in a broader range of outcome, which might be less skilfully realised if the requisite skills have not already been developed.” With all of my technical workshops frontloaded in the first year, it has made me question if remaining teacher centred for the sake of Y1 students building a solid foundation of practical skills is more beneficial than adopting a new student centred approach and encouraging more experimentation, and a weaker skill base. To explore this issue further, talking to fellow technicians about this may be the key along with a student survey to see their preferences.

References

Boris, V., 2017. What makes storytelling so effective for learning. Harvard Business Learning. Available at  https://www.harvardbusiness.org/what-makes-storytelling-so-effective-for-learning/#:~:text=Visual%20learners%20appreciate%20the%20mental,and%20feelings%20from%20the%20story.&text=Storytelling%20also%20helps%20with%20learning%20because%20stories%20are%20easy%20to%20remember. Accessed 10/3/2023

UAL, 2023. Sustainable learning, teaching and research Available at https://www.arts.ac.uk/about-ual/sustainability/sustainable-learning-teaching-and-research (Accessed 10/03/23)

UAL, 2023. Our Strategy 22-33 https://www.arts.ac.uk/about-ual/strategy-and-governance/strategy/guiding-policy-1 Accessed 10/3/23

UAL, 2023 Creative Attributes framework Available at https://www.arts.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0012/204330/Creative-Attributes-Framework-OVERVIEW-2020-FINAL.pdf

McLain, M. 2018 Emerging perspectives on the demonstration as a signature pedagogy in design and technology education. Int J Technol Des Educ 28, 985–1000.

Designing and planning case study.

I joined UAL in 2017 as an Arts temp support technician due to over recruitment on the BA costume for performance course at LCF. Having come from industry and having no experience in teaching, I had the benefit of observing the BA and MA specialist costume technicians for the first two years of my employment. I witnessed what worked and what did not work during their technical workshops and supervised studio sessions. When the BA technician retired, I was employed as the specialist technician to take over. I had the opportunity to look at the workshop plans and redesign them if I wanted to.

In the performance courses, we front load as many technical workshops that we can, to give the students the skills they need to become innovative and independent faster. All my technical workshops are delivered in Y1 with the aim to teach a range of processes in a short period of time that is fun for students and cost effective. I could not think of better replacements for these workshops and instead decided to redesign the delivery instead.

The previous technician delivered all the processes for the session at the beginning of the class. This meant the students had to keep focus for an hour and a half before attempting to remember and replicate all the steps they were shown. This resulted in cognitive overload. I could see that students were making multiple mistakes due to forgetting steps and the order in which they were done.

I decided to redesign the delivery of the first technical workshop that I would deliver, for Y1 BA students, to see how successful this was before modifying others. I focused on a scaffolded model of learning, delivering shorter demos, no longer than 15 minutes or three to four steps of a process, allowing questions to be asked, then allowing 20-30 minutes for students to then replicate the processes. Then progressing with the next demonstration to continue the following steps. The main aim was to help students keep focus and avoid that cognitive overload I had witnessed previously.

I planned to measure the success of this delivery would be through formative assessment during the workshops, feedback from students and whether the learning outcomes were met. Repetition of techniques through later workshops showed that students were able to retain these processes.

When I had chance to first put this new design into practise in November 2020, I noticed instantly how engaged students were compared to the previous years. The demonstrations were more manageable to deliver This led me to changing all the workshop plans that I deliver to the same format. Little research has been done on technical workshops and practical demonstrations, which has made it difficult to consider alternative methods. Vaughn and Mays (1924 cited in Petrina 2006, pg. 16) suggest guiding principles in teaching demonstrations.

1. The demonstration should be timed as to meet the immediate needs of the class with the work at hand.

2. The demonstration must present a single fundamental use, procedure or general fact (should leave a single strong, indelible impression in the minds of the students).

3. The demonstration must be brief.

4. The work of the demonstration must be creatively and skillfully done.

5. The whole performance must be accompanied by concise and discriminating questioning and by a clear, accurate statement or discussion of the vital points involved in the demonstration.

 6. The demonstration and accompanying questions must not be confused by discussions of various related matters. Do not confuse the demonstration with subsequent discussions of details or content.

Discovering that my delivery is in line with these guidelines, albeit written 100 years ago, confirms that I made the correct choice to redesign the delivery of my demonstrations.

The change in delivery of demonstrations has been successful so far. However, due to cohort sizes increasing in line with the UAL Strategy guiding policy 2 (2023) , I am revisiting the workshop plans to see if I can make the delivery more effective using new AV systems/technologies that will be in place for Stratford.

Example of workshop plan 2020

Costume Technical Workshop Plan 

WORKSHOP TITLE	The Petticoat, pattern cutting to half scale
TECHNICIAN	Sarah Masters
TARGET COURSES	BA Costume for performance
OPTIMUM CLASS SIZE	18
DURATION	3h Synchronous + 1h Asynchronous.
PREP TIME / CLEARUP TIME	1 hour prep, 15 mins clear up
RESOURCES REQUIRED	Room D101/D104  Spaces for Technician to demo  Pattern cutting tables  1.75m Calico per student/technician  50cm Petersham 1” tape per student/technician  50cm 1” Cotton india tape per student/technician  40cm ½” Cotton india tape per student/technician  Trouser hook and bar  Bobbin and bobbin case  Pattern Master/set square  1m ruler  Tape measure  Pins  Paper scissors  Fabric scissors  Chalk/Muji erasable pen  White Thread  Irons  Sewing machines  Overlockers with white thread  Half scale dress stand
LAST UPDATE	16/6/2020

LEARNING OUTCOME SUMMARY
Students will learn be told about the history of the petticoat and how we make it for theatre/T.V    They will learn about how to prep fabric before cutting. Washing/Steaming    They will understand how to turn the half scale pattern into a full scale pattern.    They will learn how to cut the fabric without the need for a paper pattern    They will be told how this pattern can be altered in the future.    Students will be taught how to do three different types of seams in the construction. Flat seam, Jean seam and French seam. Creating a samples before sewing the garment
DURATION	TEACHING PLAN	STUDENT ACTIVITY
1h (Async)	Students to look at processes in preparation for class.	Pre Read  https://artslondon.sharepoint.com/sites/LCFTech/SitePages/1-2-scale-petticoat-class-one.aspx
10mins	Intro into the room, and explanation of what they will be learning.	Listening.
10mins	Handing out materials needed for the lesson.	Let students set up spaces and machines.
30mins	Demonstration of techniques	Listening.
30mins	Supervise and give direction	Students work on processes shown.
15mins	Break	Break
30mins	Demonstration of techniques	Listening
30mins	Supervise and give direction	Students work on processes shown
10mins	Relective crit and feedback on session	Class discussion
15 mins	Tidy up	Tidy Up.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

Students must photograph finished petticoat for their technical log book alongside technical instructions

HYPERLINKS AND SUPPORTING LEARNING REFERNCES

Written and photographed instructions available on Moodle.

HEALTH AND SAFETY / NOTES

Students must have prior induction on workshop health and safety, sewing machines, Overlockers, irons and fire exits routes explained.

REQUIREMENTS FOR A REMOTELY TAUGHT SESSION

Computer/laptop  Internet access  Access to Moodle/BB collaborate  Webcam/ camcorder  Microphone

DURATION	TEACHING PLAN	STUDENT ACTIVITY
3h (Async)	Students to learn the construction process from LCF Tech.	Read through LCF Tech guide and complete samples/ construction of petticoat.

Petrina, S. ed., 2006. Advanced teaching methods for the technology classroom. IGI Global.

Masters, S 2020. Technical workshop plan, The Petticoat, pattern cutting to half scale 

UAL Our Strategy (2022-2033) Accessed 10/3/23