Coping with a lack of feedback
Source material
Performing with an invisible audience – Hattie Voelcker/UWE, 2020 (video)
General overview:
Tips and helpful information for online teachers to ‘perform’ for their audience via the “little black dot” of their camera from teachers, performers, and academics (Dr Helen King from University of the West of England). Tips include “embrace the awkwardness”, “stop and breathe”, “inhabit the song – really know your subject” and “keep eye contact with the camera and not at the screen”.
Thoughts:
Performing is hard at the best of times. Thirty pairs of eyes staring at you and noting your every word? You’d better know your subject inside out lest a student asks you something you don’t know and loses confidence in your ability, and subsequently, engagement. Who wouldn’t want to get it right everytime?
“Perfection can be a barrier to connection” states the presenter. Yes, indeed. Early on in the pursuit of perfection I realised I was coming across like Dominic Cummings at a press conference, reading from a large amount of notes I had prepared in order to prove – mainly to myself – that I did possess knowledge.
Over time, I had slowly learned to rely less on full sentences of notes and more on bullet points and question prompts:
Being super enthusiastic is also really important. Finding at least one good in something a student has made will encourage them to stay engaged. As I am a technician, my sessions aren’t compulsory (unless they are practical equipment training sessions), which means I have to work extra hard on maintaining engagement and enthusiasm. This video was extremely helpful in providing practical suggestions for the different concerns I couldn’t quite eloquently describe. One of the biggest changes I have made since watching the video is consciously looking at the “little black dot” when talking for longer periods, with occasional glances at students to assess body language (for those that have their cameras on). This isn’t the easiest of changes, but if it as seen by students that I am maintaining eye contact, then that is a win.
Responding to feedback
Source material
Macfarlane, B. 2004. Teaching with Integrity: The ethics of higher education practice. Routledge.
General overview:
Professor Stephanie Rae, teaching Research Methods to postgraduate students alongside spending time conducting research in Health Sciences, is undergoing student evaluations which analyse how students holistically view her teaching. While she has concerns over some of the feedback, she is also quite defensive about her attitude. She then takes part in an observation of a colleague’s lecture, which she compares her own teaching style and politics as well as assessing levels of student engagement.
Q. Which aspects of Stephanie’s teaching practice appear to be the most fertile for development?
Stephanie is open to change. She is aware of the negative feedback and how she comes across as a teacher. From her peer observation work, she understands that students are not only evaluating her teaching, but comparing her to other lecturers. Peer observation is useful in revealing many teaching methods – good or bad – as we see ourselves as if we were in the role of teacher while we observe. Stephanie wants the engagement and positivity shown to her colleague, but she still wants to be true to herself.
Although she had been appointed for her professional research skills and not for her charisma, she still has a requirement to keep students engaged and focused on her teachings. She worries charisma is the reward for being daring or controversial, but looks to seek out the positives in the lecture she viewed as being “highly engaging and accomplished in many respects”.
Q. What could Stephanie do to move past her defensive response?
Stephanie could walk a mile in the students’ shoes and be more open to receiving feedback, good or bad. She needs to understand why the negative comments from the students outweighed the positives. Surely the students don’t have a vendetta against her? She doesn’t help herself when she has “finally seen the back of the postgraduate research methods course…and could now get back to her ‘real’ work”. This mindset will become evident in her personality. Combined with getting the students to assess each other in the name of experimentation (and not a clearly defined pedagogical approach perhaps?) will result in negative responses. Perhaps Stephanie could try having a more useful student-led assessment process with clearer outcomes that will better serve their individual or group needs.
It was a positive achievement not to have binned the unwelcome the comments or “unfair” evaluations – these are a useful starting point, combined with more peer observations, for Stephanie for an action plan.
Q. Are there any interesting questions or problems that this case study raises for you?
Does the course team have regular meetings to discuss:
Student responsiveness/engagement in different learning areas
Is there a unified approach?
Is there regular student course rep feedback sessions throughout the year?
Accessibility – some needs are unfairly dismissed, particularly around making lecture notes available online in advance.
Further reading:
Source material
Macfarlane & Gourlay 2009: Enacting the Penitent Self
Reflection:
1. Conforming to expectations of a journey from novice to fully rounded educators in a short space of time can be dangerous.
2. Hapless novices – are they riding on enthusiasm and instinct? Understanding and interpreting different philosophical teachings and educational theories are important and eye-opening, but is this designed to make teachers toe the line or allow them freedom to explore their own personal philosophers as teachers?
3. The “hidden curriculum of emotional performativity” – communication with emotions makes us more human, more accessible, more engaging and perhaps more articulate.
4. Do our own values marry with the values of the institution that we work for? If not, do we have any place being there, or are we in danger of politicising students with our own views? Sometimes, especially in the current climate, it’s difficult to stay politically neutral.
5. How do we manage expectations, and whose expectations are we managing?
Source material
Example OB2 form (peer observation)
Reflection:
1. A very detailed feedback form. This makes me re-evaluate the depths I need to be observing.
2. It is ok, and not offensive, to be critical and give suggestions for helpful tips. Everyday is a learning day, even for seasoned teachers. It’s always useful to see suggestions for practical tips to make online sessions more interactive and engaging. The person being observed was not defensive about their approach and was thankful for the comments.
3. I enjoyed the ‘rationale’ type questions e.g. “what will you do with their contributions”. Indeed, why ask for contributions in the first place? Sometimes it’s to promote discussions, but sometimes it’s seen as a time filler. How does a teacher cope with students misunderstanding the question, those who have language issues or those that are neurodiverse? Do the answers ever get used to aid future learning or reflection?
4. It highlighted many of the challenges we face in online teaching, when we’re so used to face-to-face teaching. Being online does feel like a community, as long as people are prepared to put in the effort to respect online etiquette. This form does provide useful suggestions on building up interaction in the online community (when we can’t use instincts of reading body language to help).
5. Perhaps the initial video source material should be made to be mandatory viewing for all online teachers in order to train community facilitators in maintaining engagement in stressful times.
How much of our students’ experience is about us, anyway?
Student stories – Kimmy
The student is concerned about organisational issues.
Perhaps the teacher is using a one size fits all approach rather than basing “contact time” on individual or group needs, but this depends on at which point of the year this student was referring to, as long as there parity in contact time.
Some students need more hand holding, some need more autonomy – why are there such varying levels? Have their expectations not been managed from the start?
The student has concerns about issues in the structure of this session, and perhaps the overall approach from the tutor.
Background music can be irritating and not particularly inclusive – some may have neurodiverse needs that means background music can be intrusive in their concentration.
Students value many things about their course – especially if they are paying an inflated international fee – including contact time. This student has raised concerns that time management, part of the overall organisational management of the course, has not been successfully implemented (in their opinion).
Student stories – Dilesh
This student is concerned about a lack of the feeling of a community.
Based on this student report and my own visits, Central St Martins feels like a goldfish bowl. You can only accessed parts assigned to you. You can look/admire from afar, but you can never truly integrate.
UAL is a collection of sites under one heading. A student or staff member cannot access any of CSM’s facilities if they are studying at another site.
Sites that feel more of a campus, such as Wimbledon College of Arts, has more of an integrated approach. As a member of staffing working at Wimbledon, it definitely feels more like a ‘big family’, because we’re such a small site. Students engage more in this large community and strive towards inclusivity. Technicians know their students well and form and maintain good working relationships quite quickly. Perhaps the problem is down to the enormous size of CSM and the fact it’s more like an enormous office block in the middle of the city, so it doesn’t feel like a campus.
A dedicated art college is nothing like a traditional university setup. The student chose to go to a dedicated art school rather than a mixed subject university. I agree that cross-subject (art and science) integration is a powerful learning and research tool, and students should be encouraged to work cross-course for exploring fields different to their own specialism, such as the UAL Creative Computing Institute.