I really enjoyed the microteaching session! It was a great opportunity to see, practice and participate in a variety of different pedagogic scenarios, which offered insight into several different teaching styles and techniques. It also evidenced the fact that we are an incredibly diverse teaching community, employing widely different teaching methods, to teach an equally wide variety of creative subjects. This is one of the reasons I love working at UAL – the diversity and breadth of knowledge and experience amongst the staff is second to none!
Object based learning was a new concept for me, having not come across this as an academic teaching method previously, although I have employed similar techniques based on industry scenario’s in the past. It plays into the need for active learning, employing the concept that, particularly in the teaching of creative subjects, experiential learning, or ‘learning by doing’ is a fundamental way to energise and inspire a group of students (Hardie, 2015).
Touch, feel and critical observation of product is a necessity in the study of fashion for business, and this exercise really demonstrated how the process of engaging the senses has the potential to develop skills in visual literacy, team working and communication.
My own 20 minute session was based on the concept of examining a piece of clothing, and understanding what we could learn from it, purely by handling the fabric, looking at the labels and following the QR codes to see what information the brand was providing. I also provided a mind map for this “garment ecology” which included prompt questions, to get the conversation started.
It was a great learning experience, with the participants diving into the detail about the garment, and out of the discussion came a number of insightful and thought provoking questions about fibre content, country of origin, fast fashion and sustainability. Of particular interest and consideration was the impact of the use of fossil fuel based fibres for clothing production, primarily polyester, and the subsequent discharge of microfibres into the environment through processing and washing of these garments.
It was great to hear such positive feedback, with some of the group feeding back that much of what I had explained was new information to them. There was also a really great point made about the potential to have alternative fabrics available to hand, so that participants could really begin to understand the better solutions that are available.
So positive was the experience and the feedback, that I went on to use a very similar exercise in a seminar during the first week of a unit on Product Management. It proved a really effective ice breaker, to encourage students new to a subject, to explore, discuss and develop questioning techniques and powers of critical analysis. The groups were evaluating the products, making observations and taking action/asking questions in response.
My conclusion, having reflected on both exercises, was that building further object based learning activity into my teaching will be a valuable tool to encourage curiosity, critical analysis and active decision making amongst my students.
References
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)