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 4th 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