Session/artefact to be observed/reviewed: YouTube video of Unit 10 element 1 briefing
Size of student group:
Observer: Carys Kennedy
Observee: Matthew Plummer-Fernandez
Note: This record is solely for exchanging developmental feedback between colleagues. Its reflective aspect informs PgCert and Fellowship assessment, but it is not an official evaluation of teaching and is not intended for other internal or legal applications such as probation or disciplinary action.
Part One
Observee to complete in brief and send to observer prior to the observation or review:
What is the context of this session/artefact within the curriculum?
This is a recording briefing that introduces Unit 10 element 1, for year 3 BA Fine Art: Computational Arts. It is hosted and unlisted on YouTube, so that it can more easily be embedded on a Slack post, which is our main form of communication between tutors and students on the course. Using YouTube is advantageous for providing generated captions and different viewing speeds. It also displays well on mobile phones.
How long have you been working with this group and in what capacity?
Although I am Course Leader, my teaching time is fully devoted to year 3 towards the practice and presentation elements of their units. Six of the students were my students during the first year of their studies, when I was the only member of staff on the BA.
For context, the unit briefing and preparations would also be done with the Year 3 Leader however they went on sick leave the week before the start of the unit, so this video has had no second author to help improve the quality of the briefing. It is why this observation is useful to me.
What are the intended or expected learning outcomes?
The learning outcomes for both element 1 and element 2 of unit 10 are as follows:
What are the anticipated outputs (anything students will make/do)?
Commence unit 10 element 1.
Are there potential difficulties or specific areas of concern?
Not communicating the learning outcomes. Cutting corners in putting together the presentation in order to produce it in time. Delivering it as a video recording.
How will students be informed of the observation/review?
Not applicable, I don’t think.
What would you particularly like feedback on?
Any feedback is welcome.
How will feedback be exchanged?
On this form?
Part Two
Observer to note down observations, suggestions and questions:
Thank you Matthew for sharing the Unit 10 briefing video for your course.
One of the first things I noticed was your friendly, personable and supportive delivery throughout. You expressed warmth and enthusiasm for the students as they move into the ‘final boss’ of their course, and I am hopeful that this helped to generate excitement at a time when students may be feeling quite overwhelmed. You also seemed very approachable and I got the impression from the recording that you have a positive relationship with your student cohort.
The content of the briefing was clear and well-structured. This included sharing a week-by-week timetable, which clearly let students know key dates. You shared images of the Wilson Road lecture hall, which will hopefully give students plenty of time to consider how to use their space during the degree show. I spotted examples where you refer back to students’ prior learning (e.g. how Unit 9 was structured, use of the Miro board you have used before) which also added to the sense of the briefing and the structure of the unit being clear and well-organised.You also closed with clear homework and next steps.
There was just one slide that I thought was a bit ambiguous, and it was the Element 1 breakdown slide. I interpreted this as 20 images (of which 5 are of the installation and 15 are supplementary) – but because the bullet points are all at the same level, it was slightly unclear. Hopefully I interpreted it right. There were also certain bits of the slides which weren’t visible because of the cutout video of you speaking. This could be easily mitigated against if the slide deck was shared with the students, which you may well have done.
Unless I missed it, the Learning Outcomes weren’t shared with the students at this stage. Are you able to share more about how the students are introduced to the Learning Outcomes?
I really enjoyed seeing the three examples of student work from last year; I am hopeful this will have inspired the student group. I did notice that the students you referred to all seemed to be male, and seemed to have Western names. I’m wondering if that’s reflective of your student cohort?
You also mentioned in the recording that you did the YouTube recording because you had been unwell. I’m curious what the usual practice is for briefings: are they always recorded? I ask because producing a video like this is such inclusive practice. The briefing video gives students something to refer back to, and supports students who might have been unwell/absent at the time of the briefing. You also considered accessibility when choosing YouTube as a platform, because of some of the accessibility features (e.g. captions) and its integration with Slack. One thing students sometimes feedback is ‘mixed messages’ between different tutors in briefings, and having a single recording helps to ensure consistency.
Thanks again for sharing such a clear and supportive briefing – I enjoyed watching it!
Part Three
Observee to reflect on the observer’s comments and describe how they will act on the feedback exchanged:
Thank you, Carys for the feedback. Having reflected on the notes, there are some things I could do better for next time:
- The slide with the hand-in breakdown was lifted directly from the official assessment brief for Unit 10. Although I wanted to communicate to students the ‘official’ submission requirements, I appreciate that the formatting isn’t ideal, and that I should reformat it and clarify it further for the briefing. I will also inform the Program Director that the official assessment brief could be made clearer as the bulleting is ambiguous.
- My presentation is recorded with OBS and my screen is overlaid on top of the slide deck. I realised later that this covered up some parts of my slides. In future, I’ll download the OBS plug-in that uses computer vision to cut-out the speaker (like a tiktok video). I had also shared the slides with students, so at least they had that if they missed anything!
- The learning outcomes were an omission, however I also aim to be balanced and not overwhelm the students with too much information. I will follow up with another recording that delves into learning outcomes. In any case, there is repetition of information across unit 9 and unit 10, which I mention in my briefing.
- The examples of work will be more varied next year once we have more graduates. Unfortunately, we only have one cohort of 10 students to pick from, 4 of which were female but transferred late to the course. The gender balance this year is something I’m keen to resolve which is why I’ve asked Zaiba to co-run unit 10 element1 – director of ‘Hervisions’ which showcases female digital artists. This briefing was followed up with a presentation of her curatorial work. Of the three male artists I showed, one is British, one is Indian-American, and the other is Lithuanian. Again, for the sake of not overwhelming students, I was keen on saving examples for other seminars.
- I appreciate the positive feedback about the accessibility provided by a Youtube video recording that students can rewatch when needed. I have been doing more recordings this year and find it works well for students that can’t make it in and miss out on understandings if just the slides are provided. I think I will continue to experiment with my briefings, and then encourage my team to do the same, passing on the lessons I’ve learnt from this observation. Thank you!