Record of Observation or Review of Teaching Practice
Session/artefact to be observed/reviewed: 1 hour Feedback session on student projects
Size of student group: 18
Observer: Alina Potemska
Observee: Serra Ozdemir
Note: This record is solely for exchanging developmental feedback between colleagues. Its reflective aspect informs PgCert and Fellowship assessment, but it is not an official evaluation of teaching and is not intended for other internal or legal applications such as probation or disciplinary action.
Part One
Observee to complete in brief and send to observer prior to the observation or review:
What is the context of this session/artefact within the curriculum?
This is a student project feedback session for the Collaborative unit. Students have been working on their Collaborative projects for the 8 weeks. I run regular peer and tutor feedback sessions with them. They will be submitting their work in 2 weeks and this session will focus on reviewing their current work and provide feedback.
How long have you been working with this group and in what capacity?
I have been teaching them weekly since they started on the course on October 2024.
What are the intended or expected learning outcomes?
Collaborative workflows withing the 3D Computer animation and other diciplines. Working on live briefs.
What are the anticipated outputs (anything students will make/do)?
Students will be asked to present their works to their peers and tutor in small groups, in the format of ‘desk crits’. If they don’t have any project statement/synopsis they will need to work on that during the session as well.
Are there potential difficulties or specific areas of concern?
Engaging in discussion on other students’ work for peer reviews.
How will students be informed of the observation/review?
I have informed students in my last session with them that an observer will be attending to their session as part of my PGCert course.
At the start of the session, I will also introduce Alina and briefly explain the PGCert.
What would you particularly like feedback on?
Nothing specific
How will feedback be exchanged?
I prefer a written feedback
Part Two
Observer to note down observations, suggestions and questions:
Since the session is a review of student’s Collaborative projects after 8 weeks, that had a nature of individual tutorial feedback with a tutor’s short presentation at the beginning.
Tutor reminder what is Unit assessment and reviewed if students have any questions.
Tutor demonstrated clear communication, established a positive mood in an class with humour and student’s interactions.
One of the playful interactions appeared after the silence for the question: “Do ou have any question?”
Tutor approached one of the students: “Are you ok, you look sad?”
Student: “No, I’m not.”
Other student said intead: “I am sad”
Tutor: “Oh, you are sad, because the unit is finishing?” — was a smart twist
Same student: “[heart emoji imitation gesture — sharing appreciation and warmness]
After the general interaction with a group of students, tutors started the circle with a individual review for students’ work.
Tutor established trusted and welcoming climate for questions and interactions between students, encouraging to interacts with peers, making sure they exchange their skillset which their enquired during the unit.
When students who looked sad tried to leave the class with justification of some other students are waiting for him for rendering the projects, there were sequence of questions from tutor which convinced them to stay in the class under conditions.
Arranging the space: when two students are discussing their project, tutor was inviting them to sit down next to each other.
It felt a bit too warm in the room and I would imagine there was a need to turn on air conditioner. However, some students were sitting in the jackets, so I would assume they didn’t feel the same way. On my request air conditioner was turned on, but after 30 min if felt quite cold. That could have been benefiting to give ownership of changing temperature in the room to the participants of the session or announce planned change of temperature. By the time of writing the feedback, the air conditioner was turned off by tutor’s initiative.
That was helpful to see how students use Miro board and how it can be used for educators.
Continuation of the session was consisting of feedback to the group, providing critical evaluation and suggestions on the further progress needed before the project submission. I found the session efficiently structured and benefitable for student’s progress.
Part Three
Observee to reflect on the observer’s comments and describe how they will act on the feedback exchanged:
Alina’s observations of my feedback session on student projects have highlighted some parts that I would like to mention. I am glad that Alina thought the session was structured well and engaging for the students.
In my sessions, I try to engage with students through a series of questions to learn how they are feeling at the beginning of the session and about their projects. I will continue to incorporate more interactions with students to provide a comfortable learning space.
The observation regarding the students’ need to leave the room is something that happens quite often when it is a collaborative unit project. Sometimes, groups can’t find enough time to work together at the same time, which is why they tend to ask to leave early to continue working on their projects. I try to be flexible with my students as long as the session’s objectives are met. I am glad that Alina observed that asking a series of questions to the student made them realize they should actually stay in the session, while accommodating their concerns about their projects’ progress. In the future, I can consider a different session structure, where I allocate some time to help them actively collaborate on their projects.
As a tutor, I see a lot of benefit in students doing peer reviews and desk crits. This helps them facilitate knowledge exchange and share their ideas with their peers, while also actively getting help from me during the session. I will make sure to continue these sessions in the future.
Alina’s note on the room temperature is a good point. I myself tend to be cold during the sessions. In the future, I will tell students to feel free to adjust the room temperature, or ask them once or twice during the session if the room temperature needs adjustments.
The feedback has provided good points to refine my teaching approach, focusing on a more comfortable and engaging learning environment.