Background
As a lecturer for the BA Bespoke Tailoring course, I deliver the practical tailoring sessions to the first year students. During these sessions, I provide the students with in-person technical demonstrations and diverse learning resources, including presentations, worksheets with illustrations, and instructional videos. These resources are available via the online platform Moodle.
Evaluation
Positives:
-The blended learning model has “an online asynchronous core that provides a foundation and structure into which synchronous online/onsite sessions can be integrated” (Darrren, 2022).
-In accordance with UAL’s Guidance for Inclusive Teaching and Learning the resource are available electronically before the sessions, allowing the students to prepare (2019).
-By providing different modes ofcommunication, “students can access information whichever way works best for them” (UAL, 2019). The videos and illustrations are especially helpful for students with dyslexia or who haveEnglish as second language.
-The resources also support students who miss a session and needto catch up (UAL, 2019).
Challenges:
-The amount of resources can be overwhelming and confusing for students. Neurodiverse students can be especially susceptible to cognitive overload, but reducing the risk of overwhelm is good practice for all students (Damiani, 2018, Armstrong, 2012).
-After an update that was meant to make these technical resources available across all our year groups, the Moodle page no longer works.
-It is laborious and time consuming to change our delivery. If we want to update a technique, we have to update all the resources linked to it. This means we are less flexible and agile when it comes to improving our content. During the pandemic, we had a budget allocated for making instructional videos, but these are now 5 years old and the techniques used have been superseded. Instead, I allow my students to film when I show instructions. There are many possible issues with this, since I have no control over how these videos are used.
Moving Forwards
To reduce the risk of overwhelm, I suggest removing outdated or duplicated resources. It is also important to align the content, so that different resources and staff members show techniques in the same way. Such coordination and collaboration within the teaching team, which consists of both lecturers and technicians, require staff retention and regular communication. It also requires time to update resources.
To help with continuity in design, UAL has provided templates for documents. However, they are sometimes cluttered with unnecessary information such as logos, lines and footers, distracting from the content. I suggest removing “visual noise”(UAL, no date) and creating stripped back templates that we use within our course team.
To resolve the Moodle issue, I will keep chasing the IT-team and my line manager. For now, I have prepared a shared folder that all my students can access with their own devices. I hope this is a temporary solution, since “limiting the number of core online ‘spaces’[…] helps students navigate their course” and reduce anxiety (Darren, 2022).
To update the resources we need more time allocated. I propose timing how long it takes to produce different resources (for example an edited instructional video and a worksheet with CAD-illustrations) and presenting this data to the college to highlight the efforts required to maintain high quality and up-to-date resources for blended learning.
References:
Armstrong, T. (2012) ‘First discover their strengths’, Educational Leadership, 70(2), Available at: https://www.ascd.org/el/articles/first-discover-their-strengths. (Accessed: 14 March 2025)
Damiani, L M. (2018) ‘On the spectrum within art and design academic practice’. In Spark: UAL Creative Teaching and Learning Journal. (Vol 3/ Issue 1. pp. 16-25).
Darren, G. (2022) Inclusive Core Practice. Available at: https://support.myblog.arts.ac.uk/2022/10/31/inclusive-core-practice/ (Accessed 24 March 2025)
UAL (2019) Guidance for Inclusive Teaching and Learning. Available at: https://canvas.arts.ac.uk/documents/sppreview/3550bb2f-db31-4a28-8223-6a13d80001e7 (Accessed 24 March 2025)
UAL (no date) Creating Accessible Documents. Available at: https://canvas.arts.ac.uk/sites/explore/SitePage/61338/creating-accessible-documents (Accessed 24 March 2025)