Contextual Background
The teaching of my current first year group of BSc/MSc Fashion Management Students is first and foremost a large cohort of around 140 UK and international students. As such, they have a very broad range of academic backgrounds and a very diverse cultural base for their studies. We have many students with a variety of learning needs and differences, and many are very far from home for the first time in their lives.
The diversity in student culture, education and background, I believe, makes for a far more interesting experience, and contributes to the success of both students and educators (Polger & Sheidlower, 2017 Ch 3).
Evaluation
My general strategic approach is one of listening, compassion and encouragement. I try to make sure that I am as approachable as possible, and spend at least some of the time in each weekly seminar working my way around the room to speak to students individually or in their table groups, as they are working on tasks, exercises or projects. In the words of Stephen R Covey ‘Seek first to understand, then be understood’. In doing this I can begin to guage which individuals are going to be high achievers without the need for intervention, and which might need more support.
The group work increases opportunity for peer to peer learning, cross-cultural friendship and classroom debate, all of which have the potential to make for a more fulfilling student experience. Recontextualising studies in this way has created opportunities for students to learn more freely and creatively. “Signature pedagogies enable students to learn to think and act as a professional would. These pedagogies also help to create social learning environments where students learn collaboratively.” (Orr & Shreeve, 2017, p. 90)
The opportunity is in engaging all of these students in ways they can relate to, ensuring that they all progress to achieve their best possible outcome.
Moving forwards
Lectures in person: I will continue to vary the content, including video, thought provoking imagery and real life examples from my own experience, in order to “bring the subject to life” in a realistic and engaging format. A good example of this is the video I often use at the beginning of a lecture on Sustainability & Ethics in Fashion Sourcing (Fairtrade; The First Step, 2017), which shows the impact of the fashion industry in producing regions (in a factory I have visited), and a day in the life of a garment factory worker – it really hammers home the responsibility we have as individuals and businesses to do better!
Having recently learned how to add subtitles to any video I am showing, this will become a consistent element of my teaching, to reach every one of this diverse student cohort. I am also learning how to use Slido, in order to increase the interactive connection in lectures, and encourage real time responses from students who might otherwise feel intimidated by speaking up in front of such a large class. I have also begun to reference content from previous units and my colleagues to encourage students to think more holistically about their learning experience and development of their knowledge.
Seminars in person: I plan to increase the activity and workshop elements of my seminar classes, breaking each 2.5hr seminar down into manageable segments and varying the content each week to include activities such as the object-based learning techniques (Hardie, 2015). Hardie quotes: “Objects can be particularly stimulating in relation to learning processes when handled and studied closely. Objects can act to ground abstract experiences, can enable recall of knowledge, and can arouse curiosity.” (Hooper-Greenhill, 1999, p. 21, cited in Hardie, p. 19). Combined with group work, problem-solving learning, as described by Biggs (1999), who explains that “the teaching method is to present them with problems to solve; the assessment is based on how well they solve them”, and a quiz element to guage the success of the techniques used, I aim to further develop the evolution of my academic practice.
Group tutorials and formative assessment: Having experienced a lack of enthusiasm and engagement with the formative assessment process in the past, I plan to run these presentations and verbal feedback opportunities in a small group format, rather than as a whole class. The first objective is to make the process less formal, and more palatable for the students, particularly those who suffer from anxiety when presenting. The second objective is to encourage them to share information and learn from one another, and demonstrate my own willingness to learn from them in the context of my own personal and professional development, particularly in relation to their diverse needs and cultural backgrounds.
In conclusion: Engaging in use of the above techniques, in addition to individual online and in person tutorials, will help me know and work with the students more closely, and potentially drive improved engagement across the cohort.
As Hardie states in relation to object-based learning “Students are encouraged to interpret the objects: ‘Interpretation is the process for constructing meaning. Interpretation is part of the process of understanding.’”
I anticipate that applying these strategies will improve the overall student experience of the unit, and drive engagement in the formative assessment process, culminating in an uplift in the attainment level at summative assessment.
References
Biggs, J. (1999). What the Student Does: teaching for enhanced learning. Higher Education Research & Development, 18(1), 57–75. https://doi.org/10.1080/0729436990180105
Fairtrade: The First Step (2017) Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1gIKo0kti4
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)
Orr, Susan, and Alison Shreeve. Art and Design Pedagogy in Higher Education : Knowledge, Values and Ambiguity in the Creative Curriculum, Taylor & Francis Group, 2017. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ual/detail.action?docID=4941429.
Polger, Mark Aaron & Sheidlower, Scott (2017), Engaging Diverse Learners: Teaching Strategies for Academic Librarians, Bloomsbury Publishing USA. Available at: https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ual/detail.action?docID=4797324
Slido (2012) Available at: https://www.slido.com/
Stephen R. Covey, Franklin Covey, Available at: https://www.franklincovey.com/courses/the-7-habits/habit-5/