Record of Observation or Review of Teaching Practice
Session/artefact to be observed/reviewed: Informed Practice 1
Size of student group: 20
Observer: John O’Reilly
Observee: Alina Potemska
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?
On 13 March 2025 there is a session for Informed Practice 1 for BA (Hons) Games Art students in W231. There will be a lecture from 10am titled:
Games as social commentary. Political and ethical themes in games.
Characteristic of the games by J.Huizinga
There is a visit to Library at 12:00 to see Academic Support Librarian and apply the Glossary exercise.
How long have you been working with this group and in what capacity?
It’s a third session for the group, second time meeting them in person after online briefing.
What are the intended or expected learning outcomes?
Understanding what the topic for essay of Games as social commentary. Political and ethical themes in games can cover. Also understanding of Characteristic of the games by J.Huizinga
What are the anticipated outputs (anything students will make/do)?
Students will be invited to split in 5 groups to discuss printed materials of Characteristic of the games by J.Huizinga
Are there potential difficulties or specific areas of concern?
Loud air-conditioner. Layout of the room is not very practical for group interaction. Student’s issues with logging in to Moodle, teams, padlet.
Additionally, I have an overseas flight on the day and Thesis assesment deadline. There is certain level of extra stress on the day.
How will students be informed of the observation/review?
At the begging of the session.
What would you particularly like feedback on?
On my teaching style.
How will feedback be exchanged?
In text form, open to a verbal feedback as well.
Part Two
Observer to note down observations, suggestions and questions:
#makingthespace
The class feels well organized from the beginning, you asked the students to log into their Padlet and look at the title of the essay, it is good to have a task they can achieve quite quickly. Some of them work away on the Padlet, some navigate to the library and some browse social media. You are attentive to the space and the comfort of the students, posing the dilemma, “loudness versus freshness” as the air conditioner buzzes in the background. You are every present to the teaching moment and also to any neurodiverse students who may find focusing harder when experiencing different sensory inputs. You connect with the students to create the space too, asking them, “how are you doing? how is your energy?” You could also make this more specific, asking them the best game/best hack/best move they have made in a game since the last class – or create a Padlet for them to write this on and read it out collectively
#slidesandstorytelling
All the slides have an excellent blend of text and image that captures the concept being discussed – the right amount of text alongside a carefully selected image, perhaps this is also the skill of your illustration practice. The layout is really clear and it does make a difference in people being able too quickly get a sense of the subject matter. The image is always really interesting it serves the purpose it’s more than just an illustration it tells lessons it’s sometimes conceptual. But perhaps the most useful aspect of this pedagogy is your storytelling around the slide using the slide as a visual and informative anchor point for the student alongside the wider narrative and context you’re bringing to the information. All the slides are full of really big ideas such as for example the idea of curiosity being related to playfulness, and the idea of play has significant expression of cultural practices and values
#breakdowns
The agenda for the class is clear, and it is great that you foregrounded Johan Huizinga amongst the other task-driven elements of the class. The lesson plan contains a really good balance of activities, of learning, of the students getting familiar with fundamental academic practices –intro to the day, a discussion of the essay, lecture, library tour, and glossary activity. All of this is broken up into doable chunks. The breakdown of the essay is really effective, a really good starting point asking questions of the students as to what an essay should include, pointing to the use of image, working with them to build an idea of how a successful piece of writing might work. As you go through the structure you make sense for them the core elements from the introduction to the theoretical framework which discusses the key concepts but also the historical concepts – that historical aspect is really valuable to show that current ideas were created in time, that they are not immutable. It was excellent when you recapped all of this asking the students themselves to voice and repeat what an essay structure consists of, giving them the opportunity to own this process.
#disciplinarythinking
There is a really accessible introduction to Huizinga’s Homo Ludens and what’s also nice is showing students the book, the artifact of study. You could pass the book around, it always feels like it is extra encouragement to read especially in art school? The overview of the development of ludology for example, was really effective in locating for students something of their own disciplinary landscape, a disciplinary way of thinking that they can feel they belong to. It might be worth highlighting this for students, as much as being games designers they are also part of the heritage and history ludology. The brief genealogy of this disciplinary context was excellent.
#readingasworksheet
The reading exercise elated to the five different groups working on different aspects of Homo Ludens was really good. some students can find reading more of a struggle than others and it was great that you printed it out on A3. That size was also a more interesting and digestible artifact to work with, to draw on, to write notes on, A3 made it look like an inviting worksheet rather than an A4 page dense with text.
#studypractices
The pacing of the class meant that while you covered so many things, everything always felt fresh – you scaffolded each section of the lesson really creatively. One of the students asked about what note-taking, trying to get an idea what that meant, and it reminded me how young these students are and how they’re only learning their study skills. That might be worth thinking about as you move forward in the course breaking down for students basic study activities just as you did with the essay.
#keywordconcepts
You noted apologetically that there were so many game examples you were giving, but that scale of examples worked very well because it meant you were not attributing singular importance to any one of the games. The curation showed such variety of subject matter, purposes and cultural value. It was also excellent in given such attention and analysis to ways of thinking and playing in non-western cultures. In general you could consider a #keyword on each of these slides with a one-word concepts you are highlighting in the slide?
#signaturepedagogy
Writing this afterwards, because I have been inspired by this session on play (as anthropology, philosophy, pedagogy) I wonder if on the unit there was way of foregrounding a style of study based around play? Maybe the students generate a quick ‘set of instructions on how to play-at-research? What are the rules of the space, time and tools of playstudy? Just thinking out loud Alina!
Summary
We discussed the image citation, which you were aware of more in anyway. And despite losing time due to evacuating the building you covered the session with great timing. I imagine given more time you could have talked and discussed with the students even more extensively – they were all really engaged. I have made suggestions in the text above, but my overall impression is how skillfully you arrange the lesson, how creatively you communicate it with text and image, and how well you tell the story of the slides. It is a very immersive experience.
Part Three
Observee to reflect on the observer’s comments and describe how they will act on the feedback exchanged:
This feedback was very supportive and encouraging. The conversation we had with John also inspired me to show students more examples of the games, ensuring they keep seeing variety of different games, the same way we work with visual art.
This experience encouraged me to work more on my research, boosted my confidence and pointed me in the right direction for further improvement.