Session/artefact to be observed/reviewed: Tutorial Session
Size of student group: 20 students (2 in this observation session)
Observer: Emma Charleston
Observee: Jonathan Flint
Part One (completed by Jon)
What is the context of this session/artefact within the curriculum?
This will be a one-to-one Tutorial Session for Unit 3 of the MA Biodesign course (2-year program) this is with year 2 students.
How long have you been working with this group and in what capacity
I have been working with this cohort since I joined the program in September 2022 (they were year 1 when I joined). I work 2.5 days in my role and I am the main tutor for the year 2 students.
What are the intended or expected learning outcomes?
These focus on design development and project contextualization for unit 3.
What are the anticipated outputs (anything students will make/do)?
Students will present their final project progress and discuss their plan for the upcoming joint review event taking place on February 21st 2024.
Are there potential difficulties or specific areas of concern?
To check how much progress the students have been making. Sometimes not much progress is made.
How will students be informed of the observation/review?
I have emailed the 2 students in advance and they have confirmed with me that the observation is fine.
What would you particularly like feedback on?
General feedback, no one has ever observed me giving tutorials, so anything you notice about the session will be helpful such as:
What I can do better? How to build engagement if students haven’t done anything or made much progress? How I can help when the students have a future tutorial? How to keep notes etc?
How will feedback be exchanged?
Verbally and written if possible
Part Two (completed by Emma)
Observer to note down observations, suggestions and questions:
Positioning
Sitting side by side is good — it means you can turn and do direct eye contact where needed but also it’s lower pressure — more like you’re looking at a thing (the student’s work/a shared resource) together, rather than having to look directly at each other the whole time (feels less like an interview).
Students work/critique
As I’ve learnt, it’s very important that the students actually bring their work to tutorials. Are they just better students than mine? (Highly possible, they are MA students!)
With my undergrads I often feel like they don’t want to share their work because they are scared of constructive feedback (I hope this is a first year undergrad thing, not a me thing!) “I’ve done my thing and I like it, I don’t want to have to change it!” — but with these more mature students they are clearly ready for conversation and they understand what this process is about, which is pushing forward their work together with your help. They see and respect the value in your feedback, and you offer a really in depth conversation in a way which shows it’s really clear you really know and understand the individual students and their projects.
Pastoral
I did note there was no pastoral element to these tutorials — but I am lacking in context here (for example, you may have spoken to them all pastorally very recently!) I like to always start by asking students how they are doing, and try and make clear that I am really asking, not just as a courtesy. This opens up the possibility for them to raise any issues that might be affecting their work, and by doing this in every tutorial with every student, they come to expect it, and it never seems like you are singling someone out as ‘a concern’. I never force the point, but try and make sure there is space for it. But you will know best whether this is appropriate for you!
Noise issues
You undertook tutorials in a room with lots of other people/some noise. You may not have had a choice in this! I personally always prefer to conduct scheduled tutorials in a separate space, due to the challenges of noise pollution (especially when communicating with non first language English students). It also means that, if there are any pastoral issues, the student has a safer space in which to raise them. It can also be also easier to address any students who are having real challenges with their work if there aren’t other students present.
Could you have sat further down the room/angled yourself so noise pollution would be less of an issue? Again maybe a me thing, realising how much I personally am affected by this. For example, I could more easily hear the more loudly spoken student and tutor on the other side of the room than I could you and your student.
That said, I love the feeling of studio culture, with other people working in the space, it does give a good energy in some ways.
Sharing notes with fellow tutors
What is your process for communicating what you learn in these tutorials with other tutors? Is that relevant here? Do other tutors need to know what you have discussed / do you document these tutorials in any way? I saw you taking some handwritten notes, what happens to these?
We did briefly chat about this afterwards and it sounds like you have a conversation with your co-tutor afterwards to discuss each student’s progress. This works well currently with your small cohort but it did seem like with your larger group next year there may be value in some shortform notes on each student that you and your fellow tutors can refer back to later.
Sharing external references
It was good that you had a pen and paper at the ready to sketch things out for students (I always make the mistake of not having these to hand and having to run off to get some when I inevitably want to draw something!)
It’s also great that you refer to external sources in your tutorials — like showing a book, and something you looked up on your laptop screen. Being able to offer students external inspiration ad hoc is really valuable.
Overall, you’re really good at listening to the students. You strike a good balance between advice and letting them develop their own ideas. You offered a good summaries at the end, and a warm, friendly conclusion, which should leave your students feeling buoyed and inspired to continue their work.
You give a very generous energy — nothing feels rushed, everything feels thoughtful, you feel genuinely engaged with, and interested in, your students work.
Part Three (Completed by Jon)
Observee to reflect on the observer’s comments and describe how they will act on the feedback exchanged:
Positioning: Emma made a good observation around the way that I sit with students through one-to-one tutorials.
I hadn’t noticed I was doing this, and naturally just sit side by side with a student. I will notice my positioning more and adapt according to different situations, it is important to make people feel more at ease.
Students work/critique: Emma had reflected on the fact that it was great to see my students bringing work with them to tutorials, whilst some of her students don’t always bring their work due to fear of them not wanting to change anything.
I have gotten to know the students over the course of the 2 years, but this is not always the case when it comes to bigger and bigger cohorts. I do remind the students a week in advance to bring their work with them, and in the past have tied this into a deliverable task, which had varying degrees of success (some uploaded and bought the task to the tutorial, and many didn’t). The two students who you observed happened to bring their work, but this is not always the case some have work that is growing in the lab (though in some tutorials I have jointly given with my course leader this is not an excuse and they should still bring their experiments and lab work to the studio).
This unit is always a difficult one as everyone is at different stages in their process. I relate to how your undergraduate students feel like they don’t want to share anything to avoid feedback and find it very difficult to give feedback when someone hasn’t bought anything to discuss. Perhaps there could be an alternative activity or plan making session I could introduce in a context where someone hasn’t got anything to show perhaps linked to pastoral care. I also want to try to encourage more students to bring things in no matter how refined they are and create a safe space in which they will want to share. Yes, some will be stubborn and not want to change things too much, but perhaps this is where peer learning exchanges and group tutorials might be useful. I try to encourage peer exchanges to happen as much as I can by signing up our course to take part in group events at CSM (such as the recent joint work in progress we put on this week in collaboration with 4 other courses)
Pastoral: In terms of content during the tutorial Emma saw how there was no pastoral element included.
In our tutorial provision year 1 has an element of pastoral concerns but year 2 focuses on design development. The students know we have office hours, in which to contact us and some have in the past. But I agree I think it will be a good way to start tutorials in the future by just small things even as a sort of ice breaker to relive the tension a bit and understand their contexts.
Noise issues: There was a good observation about the studio environment and how it was noisy as we had tutorials running in parallel.
This was the first session we had run tutorials in parallel it has normally just been me giving tutorials, so this wasn’t an issue. But this is good to note, I can also ask students if they prefer a quieter space as well, or a change of environment. This could be included on their tutorial sign ups, but giving the students the option could be nice. I did one tutorial last term walking around outside, which was quite engaging and more conversational and sometimes I do some outside the studio near the canteen space or in our office, though this is on the other side of the building.
Sharing notes with fellow tutors: Emma had queried about how I communicate with other tutors around what was discussed.
The notes I write down are for the students I sometimes give them the notes, the notes are also for me to remember what was discussed, I have tried to type these up as I go but find it distracting for me and the student. I share my notes verbally with my co-tutor through a catch up at the end of the day, where we might flag concerns or next steps for the student. But there is no formalised way in which this takes place and will be useful for a larger cohort. Maybe a good way would be to create a template or simple form in which we can fill out and share at the end, or a digital space where we can write notes as an archive of the students’ progress.
Sharing external references: Emma had picked up on how I share sources and explain things during tutorials.
I find myself with a thousand tabs opened at the end of the day’s tutorials, I have tried to send students references straightaway, but this again becomes a bit of distraction, but perhaps digital tools like Miro or Padlet could be useful here where I can post links and references so students can refer to them after and not have to crawl through emails to find them.
The notes and structure of the observation is very helpful and made me more aware of the things I might subconsciously or naturally do, as well as what I feel I am expected to do. There were a lot of useful suggestions mentioned that Emma drew from her teaching experience, going forward I am excited to implement and test out some of the suggestions but also reflect and observe my own teaching practise more critically.
When, I starting teaching on the Biodesign course at CSM would create some notes reflecting on the session, this was in more relation to workshops I was giving, asking what worked well? What could be improved? What questions were raised? What seemed confusing? I stopped doing this at some point because of more and more time constraints. I may find a way to revive this mini reflection and implement something new per session to see how it works.