This felt a bit of a roller coaster ride. I spent a long time planning this, getting the resources ready and in the end I felt it landed a bit flat This is a link to my resources: https://padlet.com/timmorgan02/PgCer
I wanted to ‘demystified’ Green Screen and three point lighting and make a pop video – all in 10 minutes so it was a big ask. On reflection too big an ask and by playing a bit smaller I think I could have included the whole group – we could have taken photos rather than video and then everyone could have taken or been in the photos and using the green screen we could have added any background we wanted to.
Regardless of this I think the video looks fantastic and this is something I could explore again with another group in another context. Link to finished pop video: link: https://youtu.be/mA7bREm0KfU.
Feedback included:
Good to use with students as an ice breaker
I liked the name
The class was very fun and engaged
Great choice of song
Liked the idea of the app so the technology is accessible for everyone to use
Thank you for the time and effort you put into this
How might you encourage people to get involved other than asking – who likes Karaoke?
I think there were a few tricks that I missed and had thought everyone would want to get involved but I was lucky to get Rich, Jon and Mark. I will look into this for next time and create roles to demonstrate different aspects of the process.
I enjoyed many of the other presentation particularly Graham’s. He brought in a Polaroid instant cine camera which was both interesting to look at and feel and there was a great story behind it, Many people used an object which made complete sense given the task and many involved a group activity.
Despite my initial disappointment it was a rich and varied day with a lot of participation and insights.
I was observed by Ola Olayinka. I thought she was really excellent and I appreciated that she arrived on time and stayed for the full 2 hours of the session. I was with MA Arts and Cultural Enterprise students and spoke to them about the ‘Online Intervention’ project. I applied what I thought was logic to how I delivered the session but needed to move things a little around on the fly as it became clear that students wanted to know things immediately which I had planned to discuss a little later. Things that went well:
I arranged a former student to speak about her project and why she found this part of the course so rewarding
The hands on card activity went very well and student could turn theory into practice
What didn’t go so well was that I miss calculated the order in which to deliver the project information and this led to one student exclaiming that he had no idea what was going on.
What I got from this is that even with a lot of planning there are no guarantees that you will get it right. I did however feel I could be spontaneous as I know the material. The hands-on was vital to the students understanding and confidence and they will create a Google Doc to continue their ideas in preparation for the following unit.
Thinks I would like to improve include:
Looking at the different ways the session was delivered
Overall I enjoyed the seminar with Linsey. In terms of course delivery the session was split between group working, pair working and lectures with Q&A.
We were split into groups and the first exercise involved talking about how we felt working in groups. I generally avoid groups whether this is at work, or socially. However I feel this is an important area for me to address particularly with regards to teaching and knowledge sharing.
The next couple of exercises drew on a reading that we had read as homework. Interestingly the exercise was done in such a way that if you had not read the text you would still get something from it although of course having completed this before hand would be beneficial. It revolved around reading a sentence from ’Understanding Art: The Play of Work and Spectator’ which focused on Gadeamer’s publication: Truth and Method. We were in groups of 3 or 4. In this exercise if you commented on the reading you would pick up a card. I personally liked the process of picking up cards and I spoke about my ideas of ‘playing the game’.We were all respectful and gave each other a chance to speak and finish. Once the exercise was over we then discussed how we felt about the process of picking up cards and what meaning we attached to this. We used string in the feedback activity to indicate ‘noisy’ and quieter people. Again very interesting to map the conversation in a visual way and I noticed that I had a lot to add.
After the break we worked in pairs (people were moved around the room), looking at the UAL marking matrix. We used this to consider what our participation would look like in terms of grades ‘C’ ‘B’ or ‘A’. This reminded me very much of how myself and the MA Arts and Cultural Enterprise leader marked the project ‘Online intervention’. ‘B’ grade students showed some creative and collaborative input but grade ‘A’ students were extremely pro-active and used this opportunity to passionately explore topics that they would go onto further develop after graduating.
We spent along time on the Teaching excellence Framework. This was a lecture based discussion which brought into focus the complexity of assessing an institution. We looked at league tables and discussed the pros and cons of this, as a way to assess teaching quality, student satisfaction and graduate work opportunities. In a previous roll I was responsible for developing an e-learning strategy policy (Barnet and Southgate College) and this process was key in seeing the bigger college and government agendas. Where possible I attend the seasons chaired by Jeremy Till which often make reference to the government (and the possible impact of Brexit) NSS scores, student numbers and how UAL and CSM are preparing for the future. Without this big picture overview it is easy to become insular and small world.
We finished off with a couple of group activities which focused on UAL knowledge and values. In new groups we worked on one of these sheets and then spoke about our findings to a group next to us. They did the same for us. Again this was valuable as it showed that most of the things we considered to be important as educators was represented in the ‘marking matrix’ but that the marking matrix wording was generally seen as being ‘muddy’
Summing up I enjoyed the interaction with my peers and although sometimes I thought ‘I am in the wrong group’ or ‘I have the wrong partner’ there was something I could learn from everyone. I was very grateful that this session involved a number of different activities and this is something I am currently considering for my micro teach where I am looking at balancing the presentation of information, with hands-on group work
Very enjoyable first PgCert group meeting. Jon was very relaxed and made everyone feel at ease. We all wrote our names on post-its and then took it in terns to give our ‘5 minute’ presentations. A real mixture of ages and experience in the room, all arts based and all looking at making a difference with teaching. Here is the link to my presentation PgCert 5 slides We then discussed the two readings. The first was by Aldridge and the second by Holmwood. These were both very different, the first being very academic and the second much more accessible. With both readings I found looking up the terms using YouTube very useful. The Aldridge text reminded me very much of being at school again and felt baffled by the text. I really retained nothing despite re-reading this a couple of times. In contrast to this I really enjoyed the Holmwood text and felt enriched by learning about Meritocracy and Neo Liberalism.
Jon mentioned last week that we will each be delivering a 10 minute micro teach some time in March. I spoke with a fellow student about ‘green screens’ which was something that came up during my 5 minute (introducing myself) presentation. Currently I would like to use this topic for my micro teach. Below is my current structure:
Teaching objectives
Be able to identify real and green screen images
Understand basics of green screens and different set ups (lighting, shadows, surface)
Be able to set up a simple green screen
Be able to create own green screen images using the free Veescope live app
Understand where to download the app from.
Activity
Real or green screen? – presenting different images and asking the group if it is ‘real’ or ‘green screen’
Hands on activity – using an iphone to take photos using the – green screen app veescope live
My name is Tim Morgan and I Work at CSM in the department of Culture and Enterprise as an eLearning technologist. Together with my colleague Damien, I am responsible for the design and administration of the departments two distance learning courses.
The key aspects of the job I like are design (I studied Fine Art at Coventry University) and working with staff and students. Despite being on an academic grade, my role does feel ‘technician heavy’ with much more admin than I had imagined. I do have some contact with students running the Unit 7 ‘online intervention’ project which I facilitate but I would be looking at how I can be more active in teaching either through staff development sessions or should it become realistic, running some of the teaching sessions. I did do a PeTTLs teaching qualification many years ago but would like to build on this now with the PgCert.
Finally on a more personal level, in May 2018 I moved with my wife (Heide) to Berlin. This is a fabulous place and one in which I lived before between 1995-1999. I have an office at the Humboldt University where I do all my CSM work and fly every 3 weeks to London for various face to face meetings. I love cycling, languages and have a motorcycle.
