PG Cert: Teaching & Learning

Undertaking this PG Cert has proved enlightening for many reasons, one thing being having been diagnosed as dyslexic. Not something that came as a huge surprise, yet something that at 30 years old felt like I finally had a grasp on my brain and way of working. I have always championed hands on learning and ‘understanding through doing’ and with this new piece of information it is not surprising why. I want to understand more about the pedagogy of this way of teaching/learning and in order to do this I think I need to understand more about dyslexia in a further educational setting.

In an 2015 article ‘Rebalancing Dyslexia and Creativity at the RCA’, dyslexia is defined as:

“Affecting the way the brain processes written and spoken language. Dyslexic people may have difficulty processing and remembering information they see and hear, which can affect learning and literacy skills.”

Firstly and very importantly I do not consider dyslexia to be a negative thing. Historically, dyslexia has been considered as a disadvantage, “yet it is widely believed that many creative ‘geniuses’, such as Leonardo da Vinci, Albert Einstein and Pablo Picasso, might today be classified as dyslexic. Twenty-first century artists and designers who are also dyslexic include filmmaker Steve McQueen, architect Richard Rogers and Turner-nominated performance artist Marvin Gaye Chetwynd.”

The article goes on to hear from Robin Howie, an RCA grad of Visual Communication (the course I also studied):

“Communication underpins all of my design work, and for that I require a command of language; whether that be visual, verbal or experiential. Being dyslexic can at times derail putting language to work in what’s considered the right way. Sure, this can be inconvenient at times, but in the creative process a different perspective is always more than welcome.”

I like the idea of visual, verbal and experiential language and for me, this comes back to learning through doing. I was recently observed by my tutor during an interactive session I had planned, where the students were asked to ‘test run’ an interactive activity they had been developing for a professional project. The students were asked to come prepared with the visuals and materials needed and after their ‘test run’ they would receive peer and tutor feedback. I was pleasantly surprised with my feedback which noted how engaged both the students and myself were during the session, I agree that the students excelled at this task and worked really hard throughout the project.

The feedback suggested that this engagement came down to careful planning and I really do think a lot about how the students will engage and experience the sessions I plan. In writing this now it has made me think back to some reading I have done recently about Gadamer’s pedagogical theories:

“Through Gadamer’s discussion of art we have seen an exemplary account of how understanding is something that ‘happens’ only in the movement of our back-and-forth interpretive engagement with what we are trying to understand”

I believe that this is something which is the backbone of my practice. Another quote which stood out to me in this text:

“It is, rather, a dynamic, social, multi vocal process of engagement in which we move beyond the nearsightedness of our own individual perspective, and toward more universal points of view that enrich our grasp on the world and ourselves in it”

I’m still figuring out how to piece all these things together in an intelligible way but there are links here between experience, learning and empathy.

Extra quotes from Gadamer’s texts.

There were many moments of ‘YES, I agree’ whilst reading this text and there were many quotes that resonate with my teaching practice:

“Understanding itself only takes place in a dynamic, interactive, interpretive process of working through meaning with others”

It made me think about the session I ran last week which was observed as part of this course. Whilst agreeing with the benefits of ‘working through meaning with others’ I have also been inspired by the book ‘Quiet, The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking’. This quote from Steve Wozniak has especially stuck with me:

“I don’t believe anything really revolutionary has been invented by committee. If you’re that rare engineer who’s an inventor and also an artist, I’m going to give you some advice that might be hard to take. That advice is: Work alone. You’re going to be best able to design revolutionary products and features if you’re working on your own. Not on a committee. Not on a team.”

I can’t say that I fully agree with this statement, but it did make me think about important balances within the student learning experience. When planning the workshop I was trying to find a middle ground between group working and individual introspection and reflection. To give some context, the students are working on a live brief for the Dulwich Picture Gallery in which they have to create an activity for the galleries Late event. Students were firstly asked to work individually and create 9 drawings based on their research and development so far, after this time they then brought these drawings together in their group and were asked to reflect on the collective idea. 

My observer rightly pointed out in the feedback that at this point not many of the groups had really thought about HOW their workshop was going to run. Reflecting on this now, I think it was okay as the first task was purely about instinctively and individually creating imagery, in the hope that through this process of making something unexpected and inspiring may be revealed. It was clear though that the question of HOW had to be acknowledged during the second part of the task, when the groups reformed to create 3D models/maquette of their ideas. I clearly discussed with them the experiential aspect of these models and the purpose of bringing illustration and visual media ‘off the page’. Unfortunately multiple fire alarms disrupted the end of the session so there was no chance for group reflection. However the following week it was great to see how some of their more fully formed ideas had been directly influenced by this session. 

“The spectator has a task to fulfil. They must devote their full attention to the articulated subject matter before them, and become completely involved in interpreting the truth-claim presented to them”

How to successfully plan and manage this as educators? To give an open experience of creating? Experience is a word that keeps popping up. I feel that experience ignites, poses a question, reveals something which should continue a thread of interest for each student. I think this is why I respect the power of deconstructing and reconstructing; in the deconstructing you learn the thing, you pick it apart and you see how it works and in the reconstructing you piece is back together in whatever way you deem appropriate/necessary/logical. Keep thinking about E X P E R I E N C E…

This to me is more concerned with process than theory, which brings me round to question the hierarchy of these topics: Why do I understand process more than theory? I guess thats where my elective ‘Introduction to Practice as Research comes in’, I just feel there is an honesty in process and I respect that. 

“Handling uncertainty and enrolling people in quests for discovery; questioning existing thinking and building belief in new ways of seeing”

Whilst looking for some of the articles from the group tutorial I came across this paper from Spark called ‘Drawing Laboratory: Research, workshops and outcomes’. The article documents the development and running of a pilot scheme called ‘Drawing Laboratory’ at CSM in 2015. The research culminated in a series of 5 extra curricular workshops that explored the ‘associations between the physical act of drawing and the encoding and retrieval processes of human memory’ *1 .In the words of the papers author Michelle Salamon (Associate Lecturer, BA (Hons) Graphic Communication Design, Central Saint Martins)

“The project informally piloted a co-curricular space where drawing extends beyond traditional expectations and is used as a research tool for developing thinking, improving concentration and enhancing memory. The workshops aimed to identify a series of mnemonic devices to record and recall information from episodic memory and use them to develop a tool for use in Art and Design learning environments.” *2

I think it links to what I was trying to get across in my 5 minute presentation and my question of “what is the pedological role of visual language within academia”. Salamon has put in better words than I can

“ Since the times of de Boisbaudran (1848), drawing has been considered a vital technical skill, essential to the role of the artist whose work predominantly centres on observations. Today, drawing is not necessarily included in the art and design curriculum. It is often presented to students as a voluntary pursuit. Few UK Art and Design departments offer degree courses in ‘drawing’. In contemporary art and design education the role of drawing has become viewed as less essential.” *3

This is something I resonate with and something that is a topic of discussion for both staff and students on the IVM course. This paper made me think of an workshop I ran for our first year students called ‘deconstruct/reconstruct. Within the session there were a number of timed drawing tasks, each one asking the students to concentrate on different parts of the image, considering the textures, shadows, light etc. Pulling something a part to understand it.

‘FOR THE ARTIST DRAWING IS DISCOVERY.’ *4

So I want to get across that drawing (expanded drawing especially, but I’ll come back to that) is more than the outcome, it is the process of seeing, observing, understanding and learning. I think the students enjoyed the workshop and began to understand the process. I think it was successful that they had to turn their drawings into a book, so they began to see their work as a potential ‘outcome’. The paper goes on to state that

“ Pedagogic research indicates the benefits of physical activity for learning. For example, Alan Baddeley uses the term ‘visuospatial sketchpad’ to describe a mnemonic mechanism for enabling recall (2000, p.2). The sketchpad within the mind performs the function of holding visuospatial information and can be broken down into separate visual, spatial and possibly kinesthetic components. These components relate to the concept of kinesthetic learning, where learning takes place by students carrying out physical activities, rather than passively listening to a lecture or watching demonstrations” *5

The idea of kinaesthetic learning is something that interests me, and something to delve deeper into…

*1 Salamon, M. (2018). Drawing Laboratory: Research, workshops and outcomes. Spark UAL Creative Teaching and Learning Journal, Volume 3 (Issue 2), Page(131-141).

*2 Salamon, M. (2018). Drawing Laboratory: Research, workshops and outcomes. Spark UAL Creative Teaching and Learning Journal, Volume 3 (Issue 2), Page(131-141).

*3 Salamon, M. (2018). Drawing Laboratory: Research, workshops and outcomes. Spark UAL Creative Teaching and Learning Journal, Volume 3

*4 Berger, J. and Savage, J. (2012). Berger on drawing. Page(3)(Issue 2), Page(131-141).

*5 Salamon, M. (2018). Drawing Laboratory: Research, workshops and outcomes. Spark UAL Creative Teaching and Learning Journal, Volume 3 (Issue 2), Page(131-141).

Blog for Drawing Labs: https://memorydrawing.tumblr.com/

All the bits of my 5 minute presentation. During the process of making the presentation it got me thinking about visual language and where this sits within the PG Cert? I’m going to follow these threads of interest.

I have been reading these without the PG Cert in mind but have been finding some links and quotes that I think apply. These books are making me aware of the juxtaposition between group work and independent learning and how best to balance these equally important modes of thinking.

Quiet

I’m thinking a lot about balance, how to create an environment where people can learn in different ways. Switching things up but also giving people time and space to breath and think. This particularly stems from the chapter ‘When collaboration kills creativity: The rise of the new groupthink and the power of working alone’.

How To See The World

This is a book given to our first year students within their CTS unit. I read it ages ago and wanted to refresh my mind and I actually found it a bit easier to digest the second time round. It takes you on a journey through the history of visual culture and the ever growing power that this has within the world. It makes me aware of all the backstories, multiple narratives and events that explain a singular image, how everything is so loaded and how other narratives can and have been ignored. It makes me think of the complexities of imagery, an image speaks louder than words, but words are clearer than imagery? It makes me think about impact and time.

Group tutorial #1 started with 5min introductions from everyone. I really enjoyed hearing about everyones practice and the room was full of very interesting people. There were lots of pedagogical references highlighted, and I am going to try to get through these later today.

Some of my key realisations. Why do I always go first? I did this on my MA too, I think it’s about trying to make people feel more comfortable by just DOING IT and getting the ball rolling. I think perhaps I should spend some time in the silence and awkward situations. I like the pauses when I’m talking to students, I think it gives a bit of time and space that is often needed to form an answer.

We did a little blind drawing task as a warm up, I was into it! For me, it expelled some nervous energy.

I liked the presentations, I think it was a good way to see who was in the room and share references.

There was a very long group discussion after the presentations. This made me quite uncomfortable, my bodies natural reaction to this kind of conversation is stress. I think its because i’m over thinking what to say, that is has to be intellectual and profound. I was engaged at the beginning but my concentration wained at the end and I started to move into a pool of anxiety. I think this also has to do with the environment of the tower block, I really really hate it. That lift, those lights and the HEAT.

There was a packet of caramel digestives on the table, I thought they would get opened but they didn’t.

Holmwood 2018: Race and the Neoliberal University

Dall’Alba 2005: Improving Teaching

Thoughts and reflections on the texts.

*Please note: My images are also words.