“…the defining characteristic of this model is the importance of the one-to-one relationship, generally between two teachers, which is designed to support Continued Professional Development (CPD).” Kennedy, 2005
Notes from the session:
In the session in which we looked at Peer Observation as a concept, two questions arose for me that I decided to explore on my own.
- Is an “enjoyable experience” for students the aim?
- What is the relevance of charisma and ego in the role of the lecturer?
In developing my lecture series for the BA Costume Design year three students, I was very anxious regarding my position in this context. I have found through talking with other lecturers and practitioners over the years that a sense of imposter syndrome is common no matter the level of experience. It a feeling that pushed me in formulating the lectures to focus on authenticity. I had been trying to build a PowerPoint presentation for my initial introductory lecture and the very process of putting this together had caused me great anxiety as each page created felt contrived and an inauthentic, simplified representation of what it was I was trying to communicate. I could feel the presentation becoming a wall behind which I was slowly hiding from my students. I stopped and I thought back to memories of what I felt were my most fruitful experiences as a student with a lecturer. As I considered this, I recognised that none of these experiences had involved any ‘visual guide’ as such. They were all relatively didactic experiences with the lecturer or professor engaging directly with the group. In one such case I had often felt confused after the lecture, but then after spending some time with the material that was considered at in the session and allowing the time to think, certain understandings began to develop naturally through my own activity in relation to the subject. Many in my cohort found this approach, which often felt free of context, too confusing and wanted to be told what to study, what to write about, and ultimately how to get a good grade. This gave me the confidence to rely upon my examples that I had chosen and my notes to talk around the subject, focussing on the areas that I wanted my students to think about.
“Arguably, a ‘good’ lecture is one that probes and questions propositional or professional knowledge. This approach to lecturing challenges students to re-examine their own knowledge base rather than simply transferring information uncritically from the lecturer to the student. However, making learing challenging in this way may result in students feeling less, rather than more confident and positive about ‘what they have learnt’ from the lecture.” Macfarlane 2004
In my short time with the students I teach, I am attempting to ‘unlock access’ to a knowledge or understanding that students already have. I talk to them about this in the sense that they are all fluent in reading film and television, since they have all grown up with some relationship to these conventions, whether aware of it or not. The hope is that this reconsidering of one’s own knowledge will lead to ‘eureka’ moments regarding the technological and theoretical language we are attempting to break down.
In considering the case studies we explored in the session, the question of ego in observation and reflection was evident. This is where I feel that ‘imposter syndrome’ can be a blessing, to keep a lecturer honest and authentic. In the case we looked at there were various issues to unpack, but one that rang out was the fragility of the ego in a situation that feels like being compared to one’s peers. This last issue has appeared before me in discussions about the design of online courses and pre-recorded content. Academics have struggled to engage in use of the technology necessary to create this content, sometimes hiding behind their technical difficulties when what is clear is that the experience of recording oneself is a much more intensely anxiety-inducing process than ‘performing live’ in front of a group of students. This reminds me of my first experiences of screening a film I had made; I had a great deal of experience of performing as an actor on stage at this point, which always carried with it a nervousness backstage before the ‘release’ of the act of performance before the live audience. The experience of the film screening never provided this release, and so the experience lacked the feeling of euphoria that would regularly follow a stage performance.