When it came to considering the theme for my ARP, I had a number of different ideas, which it seems worth mentioning below — though these have been pursued no further than vague initial thoughts, they all present areas for potential future research or ideation into my teaching practice.
Pronoun practice
Having had a number of both students and university colleagues whose pronouns may fall outside of what is typically expected (as well as my long-term partner being they/them), I have thought a great deal about how pronouns can be introduced in the context of the university classroom (and/or staff room) in a clear, compassionate, respectful way. This may be of particular relevance to those for whom English may be a second language, and/or to those for whom unconventional pronouns may be a new thing.
Pastoral pondering
I am particularly passionate about the pastoral side of student interactions, and the role that academic staff can play in both supporting and signposting students appropriately. In my free time I volunteer with the anti-suicide charity Samaritans as a ‘listener’, which has further enhanced both my skills and curiosity around the power of ‘listening’ and creating safe spaces for students. I had considered the ideas of creating some structure for tutorials which prepares students for the pastoral aspect that may come into play. i.e. ‘When I say ‘how are you’? what do I mean?’ — the fact that ‘how are you’ transends the typical ‘fine thanks!’ default response that is often expected, and that tutorials are a safe space to open up. “When I say ‘how are you?’ I mean — how is your accommodation, how are your friendships and relationships, do you feel safe, how are you doing financially, how is your mood, and more.” There might also potentially be some power in introducing the Samaritans ‘listening wheel’ to both tutors and other students, to help expand on our ability to meaningfully listen, and hear.
Sustainability in UX workshops
I have often pondered the challenge of moving past paper workshopping activities in UX. How can we do post-its and/or brainstorming sheets differently? While there are online solutions (miro, figjam etc) they often lessen engagement and animation amonst students. But sometimes I feel like some workshopping activities take an entire tree’s worth of paper to do well. Exploring experimental approaches to reducing paper while maintaining physical tangibility in a workshop context felt like it might have some potential.
Decolonising project concepts
Considering how to celebrate and recognise (and encourage) when students are bringing aspects of their own culture into projects (specifically with relation to UX) — asking how to better support students undertaking work which may be about unfamiliar things to us. For e.g. I had a student last year who was determined to research enneagram tests — it turns out these have substantially more cultural significance in China, which I was not aware of until finding out by chance after her project ws complete. We have also had lots of students wanting to do projects about ghosts/dreams, which have seemed to have sepecifc cultural relevance that I have not been aware of. Also more generally, we regularly get students wanting to undertake projects about services or experiences in other countries, like a fascinating project about undertakers in China (which it turns out is a very stigmatised profession there), and another great project about midwifery services in India. Asking: how to bring a non-western sensibility to supporting students, while also acknowledging that we cannot possible know everything about every context. Potentially developing tools or workshops that faciliate students to better articulate the cultural context of their ideas in a way which ‘helps us to help them’?
Workspace toolkit
This sits adjacent to my final project concept and may yet connect further.
As part of another role, I played a part in compliling a publication which we called a ‘Guide to inclusive events‘. The publication was aimed at those who were already dedicated to putting on trans-led or trans friendly events, and supported them to understand more intersectional access needs, particularly for the trans disabled and/or neurodiverse community. It included a simple questionnaire to help events organisers reflect on what they were alredy doing, and what they could do better. In reference to this, I wanted to consider putting together some kind of similar tool kit to help students better understand where and how they work best, why, and how to find/build their ideal work space. It might describe many possible work spaces, so that students can reflect on them (our studio, small work rooms, library, coffee shop, your house etc).
My next blog post will discuss in more depth my actual ARP concept!