Contextual Background
Teaching on the BSc & MSc Fashion Management 2024/25 course, and in particular leading the current unit, Product Management, I have had the opportunity to employ a wide variety of pedagogic techniques. It is a 12 week, 40 credit unit, with a diverse cohort of both UK and international first year students. The challenge is in finding ways to ensure that we reach and develop the engagement of every student, on a fast paced unit with high content level.
Evaluation
The current strategies for addressing this challenge include a blend of in person lecture based content and seminars, engaging guest speakers and practical activities such as comparative shopping. I have also included weekly self directed study in the form of relevant reading material, a video to watch and a podcast to listen to.
The Language Development team have been absolutely instrumental in developing content alongside the unit, which will help the students improve their use of professional business language and the construction of their portfolio for assessment. Additionally, we have two BSL practitioners in every lecture, and the relevant seminars, to support a deaf student.
Moving forwards
In person lectures – my teaching in this unit is very much focused on the broad nature of the topic, and its’ interconnectedness with the world at large. In introducing the students to the concept of the ‘impact’ of the fashion industry on both society and the environment, we are asking them to question the very fabric of garment development & production. In his paper ‘Towards the Ecological University’, Ronald Barnett talks about how higher education might contribute to ‘better futures for all’, and the and the ‘supercomplexity’ of the world in which we now live. As such, I see our role as educators, not just to teach the subject matter, but to help our students understand the topic in the context of the rapidly changing world around them. This is intrinsically linked to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, of which UAL is a signatory.
To generate more discussion around this during lectures, I am testing different methods of delivery. For example, putting less written content, and more visual content, on the lecture slides to provoke questions & encourage students to pursue their own judgements (Barnett, 2021). I am also working on introducing a more interactive style of lecturing using Slido for support in making the content more interactive, having seen it used at conferences, and engaged with speakers through participation.
In person seminars – I will be continuing to drive ‘learning by doing’ (Hardie, 2015) by introducing more group work and integration of further object based learning sessions into the seminars. An example being the library session I plan to run on fabrics, in the first week back after spring break. This is a fun, interactive session, during which groups of students are given a pack of fabric swatches, and compete with each other to see who can identify the most compositions and constructions. They then have the opportunity to explore the library for innovative new fabric developments, made of everything from chewing gum to banana leaves, to discuss with the class.
Group tutorials & formative assessments – I am trying a different approach during this unit, giving students presentation skills practice & peer to peer learning opportunities, in smaller groups of up to 6 students. Being first year students, and having had brief discussions with many of them during these first few weeks, they find presenting in front of a large class very daunting. I want them to have the opportunity to practice these skills in a less intimidating and anxiety inducing environment.
Open office – I run a drop in unit leader open office once a week, but very rarely do more than 3 or 4 students join me for this. It is an opportunity for them to ask any questions they may have about the unit, or content. Post spring break I am going to try allocating a more specific topic to each week, to see if I can generate increased engagement.
I plan to run both mid-unit and end-of-unit reviews to guage responses and feedback to these modes of teaching so that I can reflect on their impact on student learning and enjoyment, and adjust the content accordingly.
References
Barnett, Ronald (2021), Towards the Ecological University, UNESCO: Futures of Higher Education Project, Available at: https://ronaldbarnett.co.uk/Futures%20Project%20-%20concept%20note.pdf (Accessed 14.03.2025)
UN Sustainable Development Goals, Available at: https://sdgs.un.org/goals (Accessed 14.03.2025)
Hardie, Kirsten, Higher Education Academy (2015), Innovative Pedagogies Series: Wow: The power of objects in object-based learning and teaching. Available at: https://s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/assets.creode.advancehe-document-manager/documents/hea/private/kirsten_hardie_final_1568037367.pdf (Accessed: 14.03.2025)