Claire Undy

Record of Observation or Review of Teaching Practice         

Session/artefact to be observed/reviewed: Y1 BA Fine Art Photography, Unit 2 crit.

Size of student group: 47 students altogether, crit groups of approx. 10-12 students.

Observer: Victor Guillen

Observee: Claire Undy

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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?

The crit on February 4^th constitutes part of the Unit 2 assessment process for Year 1 across all Fine Art courses. Students are assessed on their practical work in an exhibition-style crit session. This is supported by an accompanying Research File that is submitted the following day. Unit 2 is the first larger, 40-credit unit within the course and so the assessment marks a significant milestone in the first year and is likely to showcase the most resolved outcome students have produced so far on the course. 

How long have you been working with this group and in what capacity?

I am first year leader and have worked closely with this group since September. 

What are the intended or expected learning outcomes?

• Students will develop their skills articulating difficult ideas, comprehending artwork they haven’t seen before and giving constructive feedback to others. 
• Students will have exhibited their work to a professional standard and understand how their artwork might be interpreted by others.
• Using the feedback given, students will be able to evaluate their work and reflect on how they might further develop it in the future.
• Some students will understand their exhibited work within the context of an ongoing art practice that relates to their specific interests and approach.

What are the anticipated outputs (anything students will make/do)?

• All students should have finished a new piece of work to be exhibited for the crit.
• Students will all receive formative feedback in verbal and written form from their peer group and tutor. Each student will have a record that praises their successes, highlights areas to work on and makes suggestions for future research areas.

Are there potential difficulties or specific areas of concern?

Unit 2 requires much more independent practice than Unit 1, and so for some students this reduction in structure is challenging. The Unit 2 assessment allows us to celebrate and encourage successful first steps into self-directed work and identify students who need further support.

There are a number of students who find crits intimidating and prefer not to speak. I ran a session last week to try and help students manage their anxiety and prepare to get the most out of the crit session, however many of the students who might have found this beneficial did not attend.

Several students struggle to maintain engagement through a full day, so might need to take regular breaks. There are several international students in the group who have difficulties understanding the dialogue and struggle to join in or stay focused on the conversation.

Unfortunately we are short-staffed due to some last-minute absence, so will be working with colleagues who are unfamiliar to the students. This might exacerbate student shyness, though also might offer interesting new perspectives.

Some students haven’t installed their work as they were due to today and aren’t responding to emails. This usually means they are having issues and may appear late for the crit, or not at all. Luckily one of our cover staff can only start an hour later than the main crit, so we are experimenting with giving her a group of any latecomers, rather than disrupting the other groups.

How will students be informed of the observation/review?

I will introduce Victor at the start of the session and explain why he is there.

What would you particularly like feedback on?

I try hard to make the crits a positive occasion that leave the students feeling confident and encouraged, however the contributions of different groups vary enormously so this is not always successful. I am often trying to strike a balance between keeping a conversation going and leaving space for other contributions- I’d appreciate any guidance about this. 

I want to convey a sense of calm organization to the students, but the challenging logistics of the day can mean I’m often running around a bit frantically, which makes this difficult! Any guidance about encouraging reticent students into the conversation would be useful.

How will feedback be exchanged?

Email or in person.

-CU

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Part Two: Observer to note down observations, suggestions and questions:

Sustaining Conversation/Discussion and Encouraging Participation,

As you point out, it’s tricky to get the right balance between sustaining conversation and allowing space for quieter students to contribute, but many factors can impact student participation, including level of preparation (e.g. the more prepared for the crit, the more confident they may be), understanding of expectations (e.g. how to engage during a crit), knowledge of relevant terminology to articulate their thoughts, power dynamics within the wider group (e.g. certain students may dominate discussions), cultural differences (e.g. some cultures encourage direct critique, while others favour more polite or reserved feedback), or fear of being wrong or losing face. However, I thought there was a good balance between you leading the conversation, inviting students to participate and building on their contributions (e.g., “Does anyone see it as a moving image?”), also allowing students to spontaneously offer their views. You didn’t seem too concerned about short gaps in the flow of conversation/discussion, which is great; silence itself can be a useful tool and jumping in too quickly to break the silence can actually discourage participation.  

I missed the beginning so you may already do this, but it may help to start the crit with the ‘ground rules’ and clarifying expectations; before commenting on a piece, you could also ask them to work in pairs for a couple of minutes to give the more reticent students a chance to articulate their ideas to someone else, and then gain a bit more confidence when you open up the discussion.  There are more structured approaches to participation (e.g. round robin) but this really depends on each group of students; for example, students could be given a bit of time to think (or jot down a couple of ideas, or initial feedback) and then each can take their turn to speak before the open discussion begins, it could be an observation, question, or reflection, not just ‘critiques’; however, some students may feel they’ve been ‘put on the spot’, so it may not suit everyone.

Managing Logistics and promoting a positive atmosphere

Again, it may have been because I missed the start of the crit, when it may have looked frantic, especially given the constraints of the space, but by the time I got there, you projected a sense of calm and seemed in control of the situation, the session seemed focused, not frantic or rushed.

In terms of encouraging a positive experience, again, you rightly point out at how contributions of different groups can vary enormously, so it’s hard to control. As you probably already do, it’s important to frame critiques as a dialogue that generates learning opportunities, shifting the focus from judgement to exploration of ideas, this can help students feel more confident. I think it’s Terry Barret (2018, Crits: A Student Manual) who says crits are about growth and discovery, not about proving artistic ability, so it may also help to share some of your own artistic challenges to ‘normalise’ vulnerability in artistic discussion.

Other practical things may help, for example, before the crit, you can ask students to think of one thing they would like feedback on, shifting the focus from general critique to more targeted comments, questions or feedback. You can also create a framework in collaboration with students (e.g. one star = 1 positive and one wish = area for improvement), and this could include a list of elements that you and they think would be useful to comment on such as elements of form, composition, or theory/key concepts. I note though that you already provide a sort of structure for the written feedback at the end, which I’m sure most students appreciate.

Other examples of good practice

I really liked your mix of commentary and questioning, prompting engagement, reflection and critical thinking (e.g. Being good at. What does it mean? It’s worth questioning what’s good at university level.). You also provide a rationale and links to practice. For example, you asked Do you see it having a category e.g. sculpture? That’s something to think about. Categorising helps with what to focus on.// What do you think would change if it was done digitally? You listen actively using both verbal and non-verbal clues (e.g. nodding, pointing to specific parts of the piece as student presenting describes/explains). You acknowledge all responses, and often offer other possibilities and reasons for possible changes (e.g. you could use hand gestures in the images and this would give it a more…) In short, great facilitation techniques that promote student agency, peer learning, and critical thinking while maintaining a calm, focused and positive atmosphere. 

-VG

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Part Three: Observee to reflect on the observer’s comments and describe how they will act on the feedback exchanged:

I am grateful for Victor’s input into the crit session. Having also explored the crit for one of my Case Studies, I’ve found it really valuable to consider something which is such a critical part of our course structure in depth and take input from colleagues on best practice.

My own experiences of crits as an art student were often quite negative and that has left me with a strong motivation to make them a more constructive and supportive part of the timetable. Further reading has started to help me build an academic framework for these approaches, and I have found resources such as the ‘Supporting inclusive and developmental crits’ very useful for articulating these approaches. 

Victor has offered some interesting suggestions that would give students agency over their learning during the experience- for example, asking them what they would like feedback on. I think this would be an effective mode of engaging students in the process and helping them to understand that they have control over their learning in this context – it is something they can actively contribute to rather than just passively endure.

As recommended, I have taken out Terry Barrett’s ‘CRITS: A student manual’ as a reference and moving forwards would like to use extracts of material like this, and the ‘Supporting inclusive and developmental crits’ text to run a ‘pre-crit’ session with students, where they articulate what they would like to gain from the experience, and we consider best approaches to achieve this.

As suggested, I do begin the session with the introduction where I discuss ‘crit etiquette’- covering basic rules such as engaging respectfully with one another’s’ work, being generous with contributions and taking notes for one another. I also make expectations clear- telling students the timings of the day and reminding them they can take breaks where needed. I think I could certainly extend this opening part of the session to be more student-led, and cover ground rules or approaches that the students have devised as part of the pre-crit session. 

I was interested in the suggestion to share some of my own artistic challenges to ‘normalise vulnerability’ in the crit, as this resonated with other work I had been doing with Year 1. On the first day of the course I run a workshop that is about vulnerability, leading a number of activities where we position different modes of artmaking along different spectrums of ‘public – private’ and ‘most vulnerable – least vulnerable’. It may be possible to extend the project across different points in the year, revisiting the notion of vulnerability as part of pre-crit sessions, and linking the learning through studio practice to crit sessions under this unifying concept.

Thank you, Victor for your thoughtful responses and references for further reading.

References

Ellis, M., Sherwood, C. and Tran, D. (2024) ‘Supporting inclusive and developmental crits: a guidance for staff at UAL’, UAL and Arts Students’ Union guidance document.

-CU

Record of Observation or Review of Teaching Practice         

Session/artefact to be observed/reviewed: Y1 BA Fine Art Photography. Preparation session for Unit 2 crit

Size of student group: 47 max – expected closer to 25

Observer: Renee Odjidja

Observee: Claire Undy

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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 one of our weekly Year Meetings, where I would normally do briefings or prepare students for forthcoming events. It is a week before their first assessed crit, so the session is designed to help them prepare. The aim is to relieve anxiety and improve the standard of presentations by being clear about what to expect in the crit. I also hope to challenge the more capable students into being more ambitious with their intended display.

How long have you been working with this group and in what capacity?

I am first year leader and have worked closely with this group since September. 

What are the intended or expected learning outcomes?

• Students will be able to identify how different approaches to installation might support them to communicate their ideas through their work. 
• Students should think through the practicalities and challenges of installing their work as they might in a professional exhibition space.
• Students will understand the requirements of the forthcoming assessment, and how to get the most from the experience.

What are the anticipated outputs (anything students will make/do)?

Students will fill in a form at the end of the session asking a range of questions about the practical and conceptual implications of their intended exhibition. This is intended to provoke them into more detailed planning. They will be encouraged to discuss these forms with their peers and reflect on suggestions for improvement.

Are there potential difficulties or specific areas of concern?

Attendance is often particularly poor from the students that would find this session most beneficial. I will make sure the slides are available on Moodle and that students are aware of the importance of the meeting in advance. Information needs to be explicitly clear and written as well as spoken as often inaccurate hearsay amongst absent students perpetuates misinformation.

How will students be informed of the observation/review?

I will introduce Renee at the start of the session and explain why she is there.

What would you particularly like feedback on?

I am conscious that I am giving a lot of information and want to ensure I am doing so in a way that is digestible and not overwhelming for students. Any feedback gratefully received!

How will feedback be exchanged?

Email or in person.

-CU

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Part Two: Observer to note down observations, suggestions and questions:

Thank you for having me observe your Year 1 Photography Year Meeting. Here is my feedback:

• Having a designated space for the meeting – often a rare find in termtime – was beneficial. I found your lecture-style arrangement with an aisle to be an inviting setup for students. 

• Your manner was engaging and reassuring. I appreciated how you introduced the sections you would be covering, which set clear expectations. The section on Managing Anxiety was particularly thoughtful in acknowledging the pressures students face before assessments.

• Your willingness to listen and engage in students’ feedback, as evident in questions like “What can we do to enhance the experience from the Winter Show?” and “Did any questions come up?” demonstrated your commitment to student input.

• Introducing Installation Approaches and asking students to share their installation experiences from the Winter Show encouraged reflection and peer-to-peer learning was fantastic. They discussed technical challenges, such as issues with the SD card and projector, the decision to use headphones, and not using double-sided tape in future. It was evident that such an opportunity to learn from each other was highly valuable. 

• I found the Unit 2 Assessment slides quite text heavy. It was challenging to stay focused on you as you spoke because my mind was simultaneously trying to make sense of the texts. I suggest highlighting the main points on each slide, so the information is easily digestible. I also liked your idea in the debrief about using the PowerPoint transitions feature in future to break down how much content shows up at one time. I also suggest a 5-minute break to ease the transition from the U2 Assessment section to the Installation Approaches section of your talk. 

• The form and exercise you introduced to students to complete in preparation for the U2 Crit were brilliant in helping them consider the implications of their display. Some students could not participate initially because they did not have pens.  I suggest having a QR code to access the form online could provide an alternative way to complete the exercise. Having said this, it was heartwarming to see a spirit of generosity in the cohort when you asked those who had finished to lend their pens to each other, allowing them all to participate. 

• You were attentive to the students who needed individual support, such as the two reluctant students behind me or the student to my far right who was quietly working on her own. It was great to see them open up and participate in discussions with others through your prompts. Generally, the peer discussions were lively. 

Thank you for having me observe your meeting. I have taken back valuable tips to BA Drawing, including your Assessment preparation forms, asking students to share their installation experiences to encourage peer learning, and strategies for managing anxiety. I look forward to hearing your thoughts. 

-RO

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Part Three: Observee to reflect on the observer’s comments and describe how they will act on the feedback exchanged:

I found the experience of being observed by Renee very valuable. The knowledge that she would be observing the session made me expand my planning to consider what students of different abilities or states of preparation might take away from the meeting. I’m certain that this helped me to improve my delivery as it gave me a clearer idea of my intended outcomes and motivated me to produce resources that would support students after the meeting had finished.

Of the UAL courses, I think that BA Fine Art Drawing (where Renee is based) is the most similar to BA Fine Art Photography, so it was helpful to discuss where our approaches were alike or different when dealing with similar challenges within the group or timetable. 

I would agree that the presentation was too text-heavy in places, so I will be amending it for next time to spread details over more slides and cut down the amount of information shown at once. Following this feedback I have asked a number of colleagues about the font and number of points they tend to use for presentations, in order to create ‘style guidelines’ for myself. The general consensus seemed to be no smaller than 18pt font and no more than three bullet points on a slide. In recent weeks I’ve adopted these guidelines, and I think this has had a positive impact on the clarity of my presentations.

The suggestion to provide a QR code so that students could fill in a form digitally was a good one and would provide added benefits for accessibility. In this instance I was keen for students to have a physical takeaway that they could stick on their studio walls to aid planning, but I did provide a digital version on Moodle for those that missed the session or who would like another go. I could certainly bring some spare pens for the students in future!

I was pleased that Renee appreciated the facilitation of peer-to-peer learning. I have observed that students are much more willing to listen to advice from one another, so try to adapt my approach from saying “Last time, some people’s media players didn’t work so you need to test them in advance” into asking “Who used a media player last time? Did you have any issues?”

I am grateful for Renee’s time and guidance and am looking forward to observing her in the near future. Hopefully we can continue to discuss comparable sessions between Drawing and Photography as an ongoing process of good practice. 

-CU

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Additional links:

Presentation: Preparing for your Unit 2 Crit

Worksheet: Unit 2 Crit Preparation

Record of Observation or Review of Teaching Practice         

Session/artefact to be observed/reviewed: Curatorial Strategies Talk

Size of student group: 2 – 25

Observer: Claire Undy 

Observee: Renee Odjidja 

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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?

Through this talk I will introduce students to two key exhibition making strategies: developing curatorial concepts and prototyping.

It forms part of a day-long workshop on Curatorial Strategies needed for the professional realm. Throughout the day students will work collaboratively or independently to develop a compelling rationale or idea for an exhibition and construct a model of it. Through their selection of works, spatial arrangements, display approaches and consideration of audience encounter, they will test new connections and propose new narratives.

The entire workshop sits within Unit 10: Practice and Presentation which emphasizes in students realizing a body of work for the degree show and developing professional skills needed for their future beyond the course. 

How long have you been working with this group and in what capacity?

Since September, Y3 Tutor.

What are the intended or expected learning outcomes?

Through this talk, students will be able 

• to understand and identify different strategies for developing curatorial concepts or rationales.
• to understand the importance of prototyping – drawing, writing, and building a model – for testing and improving a concept.

What are the anticipated outputs (anything students will make/do)?

During the talk, there will be an opportunity for students to ask questions and share some initial ideas of concepts they might want to develop in the afternoon. 

I will also introduce the task of developing concepts and give them a printed document with key slides from the talk to look over during the break and in the afternoon session. 

Are there potential difficulties or specific areas of concern?

Attendance. Since this is my first time running this day I am not sure how many students will attend. I am concerned that they will think of it as solely relevant to students interested in curation, overlooking its benefits to their individual practices such as conceiving space and situating their work, and therefore might decide not to attend.  

How will students be informed of the observation/review?

I will introduce Claire and her role at the beginning of the talk. 

What would you particularly like feedback on?

There are several parts to the day so I would like feedback on if there information is clear enough for students to proceed to the next stage and whether there is too much content. 

How will feedback be exchanged?

Email 

–RO

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Part Two: Observer to note down observations, suggestions and questions:

The observed session provided the conceptual underpinning to the otherwise practical curatorial workshop, summarising three components of a curatorial concept – theme, content and audience. It was attended by a small but interested group of 12-15 students, who had previously been making scale-models of gallery spaces in the studio. The previous session in the lecture theatre overran by 15mins, which was unfortunate but you handled the situation gracefully and the students did not seem concerned by the delay.

The examples in the presentation were thoughtful and exciting, and these were delivered in a warm and enthusiastic manner. Moving away from the podium to discuss Amy Sillman’s exhibition strategies and the position of works within this show made this section more engaging. Newly introduced names or concepts were put to the group- eg. ‘has anyone heard of John Akomfrah?’ – this allowed you to pitch the information correctly but also made it clear there was no expectation of prior knowledge. Participation was invited, and input from students was referred back to, making it clear that it was valued.

There was a lot of information covered, however it was delivered in a way that was relevant for the group, for example situating social justice as a UAL theme within a wider professional practice. A good definition of terms such as ‘sightlines’ was provided. This might have been a good opportunity to get students involved in describing sightlines in order to check their understanding. I appreciated when the relevant ’strategy’ was shown in the top corner of a slide as sometimes the examples were fairly in-depth and this helped me remember which strategy it related to. A short recap at the end of the session would have helped to consolidate the information. 

It was a privillege to hear about such significant exhibitions from ‘behind the scenes’ and this supported the ideas discussed with a high level of professionalism, which the students respected. They were impressed by your industry experince and had several questions about this. Hearing about how you had overcome various professional challenges made the examples more relatable. The exhibitions were discussed to illustrate the different strategies for developing a curatorial concept. I wondered if it would be worth pairing examples at high-level institutions like Whitechapel Gallery with a few more low-key references, like a show curated up by students or recent graduates. This might allow them to envisage more accessible steps for them to begin to apply their own curatorial ideas. 

The session was very successful at applying conceptual curatorial principles to anecdotal examples. When asked to talk about their own work at the end of the session, students fell silent. My impression was that they were in ‘listening’ mode, and busy digesting a lot of information. Applying the knowledge learned to students’ practical prototypes within the hour might have been too ambitious. They might have more confidence to share their thinking after a break and chance to recap the information in a different environment after lunch.

Overall, it was a highly enjoyable session and I was grateful to be part of it. It’s a shame that a bigger group did not take part as I think there were many insights and skills that would have been relevant to all, regardless of whether they saw themselves as potential curators. Thank you for inviting me!

–CU

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Part Three: Observee to reflect on the observer’s comments and describe how they will act on the feedback exchanged: 

Thank you Claire for taking the time to review the session. I am glad you found it highly enjoyable. This was my first time delivering it so your constructive feedback has provided prompts for reflection and adaptation. 

In retrospect, for the overrun of the previous session, I could have walked behind the students towards the lectern to make my presence more known to the speaker after other attempts failed. It is a useful lesson going forward. The shortened time impacted on my ability to do a recap at the end, I will endeavour to include this in future. 

Diversifying the content to include some low-key references enabling students to imagine more accessible steps is a great recommendation! In addition to this, I will also include images of some of the models created and speak about them briefly. Hopefully these will inspire and help them envision what can be achieved in the workshop and beyond.  

Asking students to describe sightlines to ensure they have understood it will also be a good addition. It became more apparent as a curatorial strategy when deciding on the placements of their selected works in the afternoon. 

Indeed, asking about ideas right after the talk was too ambitious. It would have been better saved for discussion after lunch when they had had more time to digest the information. Some interesting prototypes emerged from the workshop, you can view some here. 

Attendance was a major concern for me considering the subject matter. Given the uptake, the workshop could potentially be opened up to students from another course in future.   

Thank you again. While I have primarily focused on the areas for improvement, I appreciate the strengths you have highlighted as well. It has given me valuable insights into how to adapt the session and generally for my teaching practice.

-RO