Microteach Pt 1 Approach

This session went through a number of iterations before finding its home.

The journey is as integral as the final product, a key learning and pedagogical pillar.
(Lots more to come)

First, a melange of images, a create your own lecture/tutorial.
*But no, not enough time for the required depth, less is more*

An image of the singer Adele wearing a Jamaican Bikini top & Bantu Knots
*In testing, one viewer did not realise it was a famous English musician.
Consider the potential audience member, it may trigger defensiveness.
Lets not go there*

Dragonball Z – 4+ images
*Less is more, consider the anti-blackness inherent in sharing blatantly racist caricatures
will the audience know the series, is it juvenile? does this hinder or help?
Do I want to talk about white supremacist ideology in Japanese culture?
This is heavy stuff, I would rather save this for a more appropriate setting.
Character design is appropriate for BA Illustration, but less so for a PGCert.
Let’s go less confrontational.

There is value in choosing the past of least resistance.

The decision to veto DBZ (for now) was fuelled by a desire to listen to the annoying voice in the back of my mind. Often when taking a creative risk I have ignored this feeling, perhaps deluded and blind to a conceptual flaw, masked by an egotistical desire to centre my will.

Here the lesson was to listen to your own advice.
It is often mentioned that we’re able to give better advice to others resulting from our lack of emotional attachment. It is important to look within for the signs of self deception and pull at the thread. Often we see the same loose thread thinking it’s a mirage, after a few times…pull at it, see what happens.

Note: as this goes to submission and I reflect, the decision was in some ways a good one. Perhaps many of these images suit particular audiences. There is an inherent risk when playing with fire. In retrospect, I’d consider Tony Bliar. (No typo).

Object Based Learning

Thinking in retrospect, images as objects has been core to my practice for many years now, and it is through these objects that I have learnt my craft. From the films of the French New Wave, fashion design icon and iconoclasm. It is through looking and learning that my skill, craft and pedagogy have been practiced and sharpened.

Icon and Idea by Herbert Read was influential before my artistic practice developed. Recent years have seen this consideration of the image extend into its myriad forms; still, moving, sonic.

Existing in many dimensions, allows the learning to take place in a multitude of settings. From the well known physcial university setting, to a particular context that imbues a feeling and online, where still and moving images come into their own. New technologies further enhance this, with novel methods of visualisation (i.e. 3D modelling) allow us to explore images in a completely new way.

This poses the object as a problem/challenge to be deciphered question to be questioned.

Whether it is a personal object, ambiguous one, or one contextually charged with meaning.

This links very clearly to a core pedagogical desire of mine: the improvement of visual literacy, considering intersectional modes of thought.

Centring something external to the group, we navigate and unpick it together.

It allows space for individuals to bring a part of themselves and express agency and selfhood, whilst connecting with peers and engaging in peer-to-peer learning. Sometimes it is helpful to give this upfront, sometimes it is better to return at a later point.

It is helpful to gauge the group and their commitment at any given moment.

It is important to consider the image (object) very carefully as they can be triggering.

Signpost appropriately and allow space for people to leave the room.

Finally the replay-ability of online is core to my pedagogy.

I believe in balancing commitment with sustainability.

Burnout culture and expectations put pressure on people to perform.

Lecturers in delivery, students in absorbtion.

I have learnt better in re-looking, re-visiting, re-watching.

Pedagogy of Re-