I started working as a technician at UAL two years ago. Since then, I have been asked by all the course and unit leaders to deliver random, out of context technical teaching. I think this approach doesn’t help students in the long run, as they don’t develop technical skills in a useful and logical way. They are just getting technical teaching that is semi-helping them to solve an immediate problem without any context. There isn’t a clear learning curve that helps students follow the path to become graphic designers. Due to the lack of organisation and learning outcomes, students aren’t acquiring the technical skills necessary to become graphic designers.
Some of the standard methods of sequencing content across units include logical, thematic, project-led or problem-solving, and psychological approaches (Stephens and Staddon, n.d.).
For this pilot mini-course, I want to use the logical, thematic, and project-led approaches. Logical in the sense that the design of the sessions will build the knowledge from zero. Thematic because it will focus on learning Editorial Design. Lastly, it will be project-led, as the skills learned during the 13 weeks will be applied in the final project that students must complete for the unit. A design printed publication of their design portfolio.
This Introduction to Editorial Design ‘mini course’ pilot is based on student-centred course planning. Student-centred planning ensures course accessibility (Stephens, Salines, and Warner, n.d.). The course is designed to provide students with an introduction to the topics during the workshops, and then to offer Padlets with extra learning resources and a record of their progress, so they can refer back to them whenever needed. Additionally, I have created teaching and study materials with the same information in various formats, allowing students with different learning needs and those who don’t meet the required English level for the course to follow the sessions as easily as possible.
I am currently at the stage of delivering the sessions for this Pilot test, so in the Action Research Spiral, I am between the Act and Reflect stages of the second spiral, as the first spiral consisted of all the teaching I did before planning this pilot test.
References:
Stephens, T. and Staddon, E. (n.d.) Course Designer 6: Course Structure. London: University of the Arts London, Teaching, Learning and Employability Exchange.
Stephens, T., Salines, E. and Warner, C. (n.d.) Course Designer 3: Defining Course Aims. London: University of the Arts London, Teaching, Learning and Employability Exchange.