Creative Evolution – Thoughts & Reflections on my Practice

1st March 20221st March 2022

Tacit Knowledge | 2

At the outset, I spoke about the importance of the initial understanding of a skill and essentially how embedding basic knowledge is key to developing the skill to then advance tacit knowledge. I gave the example of performing shoulder-in on a horse, this could also be going back over lesson notes/videos to embed the information learned. But there is another way we can think about tacit knowledge which Barbara Bolt (2010, p. 29) describes as “material thinking” this is the knowing that arises through handling materials in a practice. Each practice has its own materials (or tools) which vary from discipline to discipline, but these materials are not just passive objects but are used instrumentally by the individual to achieve an outcome (Barrett and Bolt, 2010, p. 29). Whether that be a painting, creating a garment or a movement on a horse, each material will be used and applied differently by each person. Bolt is an Australian academic and a painter herself, therefore her thoughts and reflections come first-hand. She unpicks the meaning of material thinking in comparison to Paul Carter’s book Material Thinking, she agrees with Carter that the joining of hand, eye and mind is where material thinking occurs (Barrett and Bolt, 2010, p. 30), but she disagrees when Carter believes that talking about practice with writers also contributes to the overall material thinking. Bolt believes talking about the work can articulate realisations but does not believe it can contribute to the tacit knowing of material thinking. I can understand Bolt’s perspective, as she appears to be thinking about the doing action or working with the materials to create something however, I think Carter’s talking to someone else (which doesn’t need to be a writer in any case) can also contribute to material thinking if you frame material thinking (the physical act of working with materials) as part of the development of tacit knowledge or knowing, then, I do also think talking about materials, tools, concepts, aids etc. does actually help in the development of tacit knowledge. For me, tacit knowledge should always be advancing, and I think it is important in any practice you engage with. Tacit knowledge is what sets you apart from others and can be gained in a multitude of ways.

When I think about tacit knowledge in regard to my own (research) practice and when teaching students I really do believe in the development of a skill by repetition (Denning and Dunham, 2012, p. 18). Anyone can teach you how to do something, but for you to achieve mastery you need to put in the hours and practice and experiment to advance your tacit knowledge, but this can also include ‘sidebar’ conversations with colleagues, students, or experts, which also contribute to your understanding. An example, last year I had training on a software called Optitex, for each 3hr session it probably took me 6hrs to go over the content to a point where I felt comfortable with that information, but since then I have experimented further using the techniques and tips and tricks learnt to apply to my own garments. This has allowed me to develop my knowledge further, ask more questions and discover beyond what my previous knowledge was. The nuances of each practice cannot be explicitly learned but come afterwards with experimentation and a deeper understanding of the skill.

Tacit knowledge is what sets creative practices apart. When we look at social sciences, they always talk about things needing to be repeatable (Snyder, 2019). But when we consider creative practice is anything repeatable? If more than one person was asked to draw a curve what are the chances that both curves would be the same…. impossible. There are so many different factors that can change or determine a person’s response – their culture, upbringing, learning difficulties such as dyslexia, mood etc. – all affect each individual’s interpretation and understanding. But this is also what makes creative practice exciting as there isn’t always a defined path to follow and depending on what materials are used and the individual’s tacit knowing will determine the outcome. This is what is so magical about tacit knowledge it is the unknown, the knowledge which cannot be documented verbatim and the knowing which allows for innovation.

References

Barrett, E. and Bolt, B. (2010) Practice as Research: Approaches to Creative Arts Enquiry. Reprint edition. London: I B Tauris & Co Ltd.

Denning, P.J. and Dunham, R. (2012) The Innovator’s Way: Essential Practices for Successful Innovation. The MIT Press.

Snyder, H. (2019) ‘Literature review as a research methodology: An overview and guidelines’, Journal of Business Research, 104, pp. 333–339. doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.07.039.

1st March 20221st March 2022

Tacit Knowledge | 1

Through studying the unit ‘research through practice’ I wanted to focus more on my practice rather than following the usual quantitative and qualitative approach to research, which I think comes a little more naturally to me because there are often rules and protocols to follow. But by focussing on my own ‘practice’ and deliberately using studying this MA as an opportunity to develop my own skills, I have come to realise research through practice isn’t as always clear cut, for me, this means I need to think more creatively and outside the box in terms of what I am researching, and I often find the concepts a little harder to grasp.

From research around the area of practice as research the term tacit knowledge comes up a lot, and a term I have come to appreciate, as tacit knowledge is defined as the knowledge, skills and abilities an individual gains through experience, which can’t necessarily be documented verbatim (Oragui, 2020). An example I can share of not inhabiting the ‘know-how’ or having the experience to respond appropriately is from my recent horse-riding lessons. I have been learning a specific movement called Shoulder-in, which is when you ask the horse to walk on 3 tracks, with their inside shoulder off the track moving on an inner track (see Figure 1). Even though my instructor explains to me the aids I should be asking – the explicit knowledge (See figure 2): knowledge which can be easily documented and replicated (Oragui, 2020) – I don’t behold the tacit knowledge to tweak my own body movements or know what I should be feeling beneath me because I don’t have much experience in performing this movement. Therefore, this proves the importance of practice, to inhabit a skill, hours of experimentation, understanding and coming across different obstacles helps to embed the skill, which is trying to be learnt.

Figure 1: Horse doing the movement Shoulder-in
(Image taken from http://artfulriding.com/why-do-we-need-the-shoulder-in)

*Figure 2: The difference between Explicit and Tacit knowledge (Oragui, 2020)*

Denning and Dunham outline a “skill is not the same as a practice – the practice is the context of the skill” (2012, p. 21), so in my example, the practice would be horse riding but the skill would be performing the movement shoulder-in. Denning and Durham believe practice is the exercise of a profession or discipline with the development of a skill by repetition (2012, p. 18). Through practice of the skill the tacit knowledge advances, learning the little nuances of the practice, tips and tricks, and troubleshooting, which is the unknown of which Donald Schön refers to, as he frames practice as something that is not always known and constant (1984, p. 17).

Tacit Knowledge also relates to your working memory, Denning and Durham (2012, p. 4) describe this as ‘embodied skills’ developing those automatic habits or muscle memory to perform an action, gaining those automatic habits, gives the individual greater capacity for their working memory to think about the task at hand. While I have been learning the movement shoulder-in my working memory has been on overdrive, as before I even think about asking for the movement, I need to ensure I have the horse going in a nice outline, the rhythm is good, as well as plan-ahead what I am about to do and ask the correct aids to hopefully feel what I’m supposed to feel. David Oragui (2020) highlights in his piece that individuals “don’t know what they don’t know” often when learning we are too afraid to ask the question in fear that we will look stupid or worse be embarrassed because we should already know that!? As the teacher or the expert, we often take for granted our previous knowledge and omit this when delivering, making assumptions the students or individuals we are sharing knowledge with already know what we are talking about. So, I think collating some of these thoughts from these 3 pieces, it is important to ensure your own understanding and ask the question to help fully grasp the concept, after we have all the information, then further practice will then aid in our development of tacit knowledge and embedding that muscle memory to give us more space to advance further and innovate.

This piece of writing perhaps took a different route than I first anticipated but is still equally important. Although the new skills I am learning for my MA are nothing to do with horse-riding, writing this allowed me to highlight the importance of understanding first and then the tacit knowledge will arrive with further practice and collaboration.

References

Denning, P.J. and Dunham, R. (2012) The Innovator’s Way: Essential Practices for Successful Innovation. The MIT Press.

Oragui, D. (2020) Tacit Knowledge: Definition, Examples, and Importance, Helpjuice. Available at: https://helpjuice.com/blog/tacit-knowledge (Accessed: 1 March 2022).

Schön, D. (1984) The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think In Action. 1st edition. New York: Basic Books.

23rd February 202223rd February 2022

Project Planning

Project Title | Paths of Collision

Research Question | How can inter-disciplinary exploration transform garment realisation?

Is there a need for a literature review in this area?

Yes, this is an emerging research area.
Post pandemic 3D technology as part of garment realisation has come more to the forefront
Combining 3D with explorative teaching techniques i think is relevant as the 3D discipline already straddles other disciplines

What type of literature review would be most helpful and would make the greatest contribution?

Integrative [Contextual] review
- Contextual – Include literature, podcasts, videos, conferences, evaluation of practical work
- The aim to assess, critique, and synthesize the literature on a research topic in a way that enables new theoretical frameworks and perspectives to emerge (Torraco, 2005 in Snyder, 2019, p.335).
- They are normally used to address mature or new and emerging topics, not to cover all published articles ever published but to combine perspectives and insights from different fields.
- The result of this type of review should be advancement in knowledge and theoretical frameworks rather than an overview.
- One key element to this type of review we must not forget is we need to be transparent in how each article was chosen and how the integrative (combining 2 or more things) topics have been defined (Snyder, 2019).

What audience will most likely be interested in the review?

Tutors
Fashion Technology educators
Pattern cutters
Digital fashion designers

Keywords:

Need to Outline:

Develop a search strategy for identifying relevant literature.

Develop a system to decide what criteria to include and exclude e.g. year of publication, language, journal etc

Provide reasoning and transparency concerning all choices made.

References:

Snyder, H. (2019) ‘Literature review as a research methodology: An overview and guidelines’, Journal of Business Research, 104, pp. 333–339. doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.07.039.

23rd February 202223rd February 2022

Literature Review as a Methodology

The purpose of this reading is really about engaging with what already exists to help inform our opinion – what do we think? Is it difficult to understand/read? Why didn’t enjoy reading it? What is the tone? And what does the tone say about the paper? Unknown to me already by having a preference or an opinion of a paper we are already defining ourselves as a researcher (O’Rielly & Smith, 2022). And to develop as a researcher digesting the literature we are reading and writing down what we think of a piece is part of developing your own positionality (hence what I am doing right now), we will not form a position until we in fact begin writing, therefore it is almost like a continuous circle of reading and writing.

I read two very conflicting papers one from Hannah Snyder (2019) on Literature reviews as a methodology and one from Eileen Honan and David Bright (2016) about how we can write a thesis differently. I am going, to begin with, the Snyder (2019) paper as this is the one that made more logical sense to me. Hannah Snyder works as a professor at the department of marketing at BI-Norwegian School of business, with research interests in service innovation, customer creativity and co-creation. She has published a handful of articles on these topics as well as literature reviews coming from a social science point of view (Hannah Snyder, no date). My initial idea of a literature review was that it is used to gather all the different literature you have been reading and to put it into context the topic you are exploring and where you place your research. What I did not realise is there are different forms of literature reviews depending on what the aim of the review is for. Snyder (2019) discusses systematic, semi systematic and integrative reviews.

Systematic: Designed initially for medical science and can be explained as a research method. The aim of this type of review is to identify all empirical evidence that fits with the specified criteria to answer a specific question or hypothesis, to enable a full awareness of existing research to compare and contrast existing data (Snyder, 2019, p.334-335).

Semi-Systematic: or narrative review approach is designed for topics that have been conceptualized differently and studied by various groups of researchers within diverse disciplines and that will hinder a full systematic approach (Wong et. Al, 2013 in Snyder, 2019, p.335). And to review every single article that could be relevant would be impossible (Snyder, 2019).

Integrative: is similar to a semi-systematic, but usually has a different purpose with the aim to assess, critique, and synthesize the literature on a research topic in a way that enables new theoretical frameworks and perspectives to emerge (Torraco, 2005 in Snyder, 2019, p.335). They are normally used to address mature or new and emerging topics, not to cover all published articles ever published but to combine perspectives and insights from different fields. The result of this type of review should be an advancement in knowledge and theoretical frameworks rather than an overview. One key element to this type of review we must not forget is we need to be transparent in how each article was chosen and how the integrative (combining 2 or more things) topics have been defined (Snyder, 2019).

Currently, for my type of research, I think an integrative review would be most appropriate, although Snyder (2019) defines this approach as more complex and requires more skills as a researcher, although it seems the most appropriate for an arts-based research project. My particular area of research, speaking quite broadly at the moment would be – 3D garment simulation, fit analysis and alternative mode of delivery using mixed reality. Snyder’s (2019) approach is very clear to me with defined steps to follow, and following these steps should give a good grounding for the beginnings of a literature review. My next step is to narrow down my research area, identifying keywords ensuring to answer the points below…

Questions to consider:

Is there a need for a literature review in this area?
What type of litrature review would be most helpful and would make the greatest contribution?
What audience will most likely be interested in the review?

Then:

A search strategy for identifying relevant literature must be developed.
This will include key words (word and concepts related to research topic) to search and databases.
And deciding on what inclusion and exclusion criteria – year of publication, language, journal etc
- Provide reasoning and transparency concerning all choices made.

Moving on to Honan & Bright’s (2016) paper, I found this a lot harder to grasp and thinking about some of the questions Smith & O’Rielly (2022) mentioned which I discussed at the beginning, I think for me it was the language which was a turn-off. I found their way of writing very complex with lots of big words which I was not aware of their meaning, therefore I found this piece very difficult to fully grasp the concepts they were trying to portray. With a little help from my peers in class, the overview of the paper was to not always stick to the mould, Snyder (2019) is very concise in her delivery there is a process you should follow which I like and relate with very much. Honan & Bright (2016) on the other hand are encouraging us to break the rules, not following pre-set structures when academically writing but to be free with our thinking and define our own paths. Honan and Bright (2016) speak a lot about major and minor literature, from what I gather major language is what is expected and what hear in the media, but minor language is something new, creating a new way of writing, designed and owned by the writer highlighting different ways of thinking or perspectives. An example given of how to write in a minor language is Milieu mapping (no beginning or end you can start in the middle and still get the same meaning) or writing in song lyrics to get your point across. This piece although written very academically and formally, probably because of the aim of publication, is highlighting the importance of experimenting and including many types of data and outcomes. For me, the concept is rather more conceptual although I can still see the importance of this type of outcome generation although I feel this does not come so naturally to me.

Who are Honan & Bright?

References:

Hannah Snyder (no date) BI Business School. Available at: https://www.bi.edu/about-bi/employees/department-of-marketing/hannah-snyder/ (Accessed: 26 January 2022).

Honan, E. and Bright, D. (2016) ‘Writing a thesis differently’, International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 29(5), pp. 731–743. doi:10.1080/09518398.2016.1145280.

O’Rielly, J & Smith, C. (2022) ‘Literature Review as a Methodology’ [Lecture] 21/22 Masters Project. UAL 21 Jan

Snyder, H. (2019) ‘Literature review as a research methodology: An overview and guidelines’, Journal of Business Research, 104, pp. 333–339. doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.07.039.

17th October 202117th October 2021

Free Writing 20mins/break/20mins

“ This Craving for the one-off is taking hold in the world of machines as well” (Munari, 2013)

The rustle and chitter-chatter in the background from where I am sitting now, flicking through Munari’s seeking comfort in an uncomfortable chair, and towards one of the later pages I see this quote above. I find this really interesting as part of my experiment I have been upskilling in one of the software’s I teach, learning different digital stitching techniques and re-wiring my brain to think in a digital way rather than creating a physical garment. These are 2 different things…

The digital fashion realm has exploded recently particularly through the pandemic as the entry-level has been lowered substantially because of the accessibility of certain software’s such as Clo3D, which is available at affordable rates with lots of open-source help online, anyone can teach themselves and become a “digital designers” is this a good thing? To a certain extent yes it is, as the interest is there and the drive to want to learn, but is it still fashion? I attended a recent tech festival where they were talking about one-off digital pieces an NFT a Non-fungible token essentially from my understanding a digital asset which you can buy, it may be an augmented reality Karl Lagerfeld (image 1) or a digital dress which can be displayed in the Phy-gital (Image 2) meaning we are entering another world here. Where is the limitation, is this all still really classed as fashion or is this a brand new discipline. It kind of blows my mind as I don’t really fully understand it all and the speakers spoke so eloquently and knowledgeable about the subjects of NFT and the now new metaverse!!

Image 1: Karl Lagerfeld NFT (source: https://www.marketing-interactive.com/karl-lagerfeld-sells-out-nft-collection-in-pioneer-launch )

Image 2: Phyg-ital Dress – Digital clothes worn by a physical being. (Source: https://www.thisoutfitdoesnotexist.com/ )

Although Munari wrote this in 1944 the quote still stands but just in a very different way. In the Digital world or the now apparent metaverse, everyone is constantly trying to outdo each other “look what I’ve made, look what I own” It is mad to me to spend thousands of dollars on a digital asset, what do you do with this digital asset, who does this impress? I am clearly not thinking about this in the correct way as NFT’s seem to be the next (or are) big thing. The technology and skill that goes into creating a digital asset are insane, they are couture in their own right as some digital images/gifs/assets probably take as long to make as a couture garment would.

Clo3D is like a thorn in my side, as it seems everyone wants to be using it, but the university already owns software that is comparable but the difference is the software is “unreachable” or “less user-friendly”, because it has been developed by pattern cutting/fashion industry rather than the animation/gaming industry, therefore the simulations, are not as refined but not only that because digital pattern cutting companies are generally stemmed from legacy companies they still want you to pay them to learn how to use the software. This makes it less appealing to the students, as we don’t have student licenses and even if we did, most students have a MacBook and most of the digital pattern cutting software are only available on a windows based device. From the training, I have been having It has become very evident the technical preparation which is required to stitch a garment on Optitex is very complex as it derives from garment development – what is the fabric type, does the pattern need to be amended? Does It wrap around the body, how do you wrap it around the body? Simple gestures on physical garments become very complex when creating digitally, however, Clo3D has less of this technical preparation before simulation, meaning the user can freely move the garment around and effectively almost pull on a garment, whereas on Optitex the pieces must be placed around the avatar in a way where all the stitches can see each other, which when creating a more complex garment can become very time consuming and near impossible to replicate in 3D. Which begs the question what do you want to achieve from the simulation?

Is it to create a digital simulation to say that you have done it, even though it is very challenging and may take substantially longer to replicate in 3D than it would to stitch up physically?
Is it to check the fit digitally?
Is it to use for marketing purposes?
Or for something else?

There has now become a fine line between fashion and digital fashion and weighing up the benefits is important as it can quite easily be very time-consuming to create a garment digitally depending on the complexity of the garment. For me it is about upskilling, and knowing the parameters of the software, if a student asks how you do this, being able to advise them on how they can approach that type of garment or advising if another software may be more suitable for that garment type. It is fun to experiment and be in the know but some of the processes are so complex I think it would be very difficult to teach in a classroom setting.

Munari’s argument is would you buy the same thing as everyone else if you knew you would be comfortable? Or would you rather be uncomfortable? Writing this now is making me realise Optitex is the uncomfortable choice or the one-off, it’s not a sexy software like Clo 3D and the marketing around it, isn’t all razzle-dazzle, so although it may be the unattractive software, it is the one-off to me, as I want to try and make this software sexy, by being in the know-how and having the satisfaction of knowing I can do it. The thing is nothing is impossible, when there is a will there is way.

So therfore yet again I seem to like putting myself in uncomfortable positions, even the chair I am sat on is not particularly comfortable and the gas lift is broke so it always drops down to the lowest level, luckily I am short, but I like to be high….this is just rambling now but what I’m trying to say, when I first got the chair I never thought it was the most comfortable desk chair, but it became comfortable the more I got to know the chair and its little quirks and lets face it, I got it because it matched my sofa not because I knew it would be a comfortable and practical chair….

I am one of those people Munari talks about!!!! What a realisation………………………………

What is Munari going to teach me next, apart from the fact I am one of those people that follows the crowd even though I think I am not following the crowd in fact I am trying to do the exact same thing that everyone else is trying to do.

References:

Munari, B. (2013) Bruno Munari – Seeking Comfort in an Uncomfortable Chair. Verona: Corraini.

17th October 202117th October 2021

10 Mins Free writing

Topic: RTP Part 2- Practice Exploration

Bruno Munari, is someone I only know on a surface level but I have used him as a reference throughout this project. I need to know more about him, but is it ok I know him on a surface level? He teaching about design and often through photographs, should we just get from the photographs a surface-level interpretation or should I be thinking deeper? I think the answer is deeper and I should look at them in more detail like the likes of feeling uncomfortable in a comfortable chair, is the chair even comfortable? It doesn’t look very comfortable, but I resonate with that feeling of uncomfortable …. And really that’s what made me use him as a reference so much, literally only because of the title of the photo essay, it wasn’t even really about the essay itself but just the title! How can a title be so powerful, perhaps he isn’t only a design critic or theorist or whatever he is, but maybe he is really very good with words also? Is he a surface thinker too and that’s why his ‘essays’ are so genius as it is scratch on the surface of his thoughts and we take from that what resonates with us at the time….is it good to always have such a structured plan, I am an over-thinker and plan things although, with this project, I had a plan at the beginning which I have meandered away from, and taken that more fine art approach following the yellow brick road to see where I ended up? I’m still not really anywhere, but I have more knowledge and a different way of thinking from how I did at the beginning of the project. Using references like Munari, Denning and Durham and Brown has help think more creatively in way but at the same time not….I don’t know how to explain I am still me but just less restricted in my own thoughts!? But in a good way. Certain things I have avoided like actually researching methodologies, but perhaps Munari is a methodology it’s just not written as one, and studying his approach further may reveal a methodology to his work which is so incredible.

28th May 202128th May 2021

Reflection on my own Learning experience

Optitex Training | 27.05.21 | David Sultan

It was time to put myself back into the learning the seat, with a day’s training, and more to come on Optitex 3D. We requested from the trainer, David Sultan if we could complete the steps alongside him on our own computers. The training did not go as we had first anticipated, but this wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. Sultan, really wanted to nail down our knowledge base and figure out what we already knew, and where our knowledge was lacking. His teaching style is very thorough and covers everything in minute detail. His approach is, “if I teach you everything, including how to troubleshoot, then you shouldn’t need to come back to me and ask how to do things”.

The day ended up being a lot of discussion between the CAD/CAM team and Sultan. Although we were not particularly doing the steps alongside, a lot of what Sultan was covering was the theory of 3D and how this is visualised in a digital realm, I still felt I like I didn’t have enough screens to work most efficiently. Having been teaching online for the past 14 months, I have used 2 screens for most of that time, which makes a huge difference in terms of teaching efficiency. Although, I have never really had to sit as a student in the same way we are asking our students to work, many of which only have 1 small 13” screen and having to work with a split screen. I found it challenging as I was watching Sultan’s Screen, trying to take notes on PowerPoint and at points trying to use the software, which ideally works best if it fills the whole screen, rather than half a screen, it was almost as if I required 3 screens, to work effectively. This reinforced the realisation of what students are having to go up against while learning online, particularly:

if they are not expecting to work in this way
they are working with 1 small screen
find it challenging to work online (perhaps not their chosen method of learning)

Another factor I realised is the session was the same length as the lessons we teach – 3 hrs – with a short break in the middle. When teaching I feel like this is an acceptable amount of time and we normally finish 15 mins before, so the teaching time is approx. 2.5hrs. Although as a learner this felt very long and tiring. As a lot of the information was new – therefore I was trying to gain an understanding, embed the information either by trying it on the software, or note taking on PowerPoint (see image below). The session was being recorded however I feel I better learn if I take notes to reinforce the information being taught, as like the students if I know I need to go back and watch a specific bit of the recording, this can be time consuming, whereas if I refer back to my notes, it is much easier and quicker.

Screenshot of my notes from the session.

Although Sultan’s teaching style was very much theory-based, there we no real pause points (Lemov, 2020) – therefore no real-time to just absorb the information, which I have come to realise from teaching and from being a student is actually very valuable time. It is not the easiest skill to master, as I feel as a teacher sometimes the silence is deafening, and I need to fill that space, often repeating the same step over and over. While thinking about this now, perhaps this is not useful, as often I will have repeated the step numerous times and there will still be some students who have not completed and/or are having trouble, perhaps this is because they are not being allowed the time to absorb the information and then put it to practice as I am continually talking. One method Sultan was very good at was keeping us engaged, at no point did I feel lost, as I was actively listening and when questions were asked, I was participating – which I think as a lecturer we are more inclined to do because this is the type of response we would like from our students.

Overall, it was a good experience, albeit not what I expected, in the sense it didn’t run the same way as our lessons, but it was a valuable experience to see a different teaching approach, and rather going straight into the ‘process’ the focus was shifted to embedding the basic general knowledge and understanding of required for 3D with some functionality but presented more as a troubleshooting methodology. Which will become very helpful moving forward, and is some food for thought, when planning for next year, if perhaps some of our lessons should focus more on embedding the basic knowledge first before going straight into using the software??

Lemov, D. (2020) Teaching in the Online Classroom – Surviving and Thriving in the New Normal. 1st edition. Hoboken: Jossey-Bass.

28th May 202128th May 2021

Free Writing: Lockdown 2.0

Here is an edited version of some free writing I did at a Writing Retreat on 19.05.21:

Lockdown 2.0 has been another whirlwind.

We adopted VMWare Horizon which is a Virtual Desktop Interface (VDI), a platform which allows staff and students to log onto a website (desktop.arts.ac.uk) and remotely access a computer which is physically onsite (Curtain Road or Mare Street in our case). We were happy that we would be able to teach with the software, this time round. However, this came with so many other problems we could never have predicted.

First of all it was great the student could access the software through VDI, but this also added another layer of complexity to our delivery. The difficulties began when the students first entered the online room, as many of them were not mentally prepared to be back on the software and completing the tasks alongside the delivery. They were all working on different devices windows, mac, ipad etc. some had a mouse, some didn’t have mouse, it was so varied, and became quite problematic in certain instances.

Although we tested VDI prior to the roll out, testing amongst the CAD/CAM team and then tested with a class volume of staff to ensure the was fit for purpose and the students (staff) could follow some basic steps. Which we evaluated and ironed out any issues which arose. Nevertheless, we still came across many issues during delivery. Students log into BBcollab and then log into VMware horizon (VDI) and it was the smallest of things that just tripped us up:

Sharing the link in the chat to access VDI (desktop.arts.ac.uk) – on a mac they would often need to add https:// at the beginning of the url (even though it was pasted into the chat in this way) or else the page would not load, so already this was off putting to the students, as they then thought we were sharing a broken link with them.
Most students had never been on site (in the CAD/CAM rooms) so cannot comprehend that they are logging into a physical machine in Curtain Road or Mare Street (Lemov, 2020).
So, they find it very difficult to differentiate if you need to download a file from moodle, they needed to do this via the VDI screen/webpage not through their own laptop internet browser otherwise they could not access the file on VDI as it is on their own physical laptop, and not the desktop they are accessing on site remotely.
Other complexities were the student having to work with a split screen so they could see my screen and their own screen (VDI) to then complete the tasks. For many of them I think it was truly overwhelming for their working memories (Lemov, 2020) and some really struggled a lot.
We teach windows-based software’s and most students seem to have a mac, they DON’T HAVE THE SAME KEYS! So, this was another learning curve, to be able to give alternative keys/instruction to the students to be able to use the software (Lectra Modaris) on their own device – see table below.

Lectra	Windows	MAC
Fit all pieces to screen	8	8
Zoom in to selected sheet	Home*	Fn + ← (Left Arrow)
Move back a sheet	Page Up*	Fn + ↑ (Up Arrow)
Move to the next sheet	Page Down*	Fn + ↓ (Down Arrow)
Arrange sheets	End*	Fn + → (Right Arrow)
Undo	Ctrl + Z	Control + Z
Redo	Ctrl + W**	Control + W**
Magnifying glass	Enter	Return
Selection tool	s (lowercase)	s (lowercase)
Shrink sheet	a (lowercase)	a (lowercase)
Delete an object	Delete	Fn + backspace
Activate value box	↓ (Down Arrow)	↓ (Down Arrow)
Switch on Grading	F9 / F6 > Nest	Fn + Fast forward
Switch off Grading	F10 / Display > Sizes	Fn + no sound
Smallest / Biggest Sizes	F11 / Selection > Break Sizes	Fn + increase sound
All sizes	F12 / Selection > All sizes	Fn + max sound
Exit F1 > Digit	ff (Keyboard) > right click on screen	ff (Keyboard) > right click on screen
Touchpad
Left Click	1 Finger Tap	1 Finger Tap
Right Click	2 Finger Tap	2 Finger Tap
Both Left + Right Click	Can’t be done	Can’t be done

Table 1 : Different commands to use the digital pattern cutting software Lectra Modaris on Windows or Apple based devices.
*Depending on where these buttons are located on the desktop the “Fn” key may need to be switched on or held down to access these functions if they are a secondary function to another button.
** Do not use while using VDI as this will close the VDI page.

I think the few points listed above evidence the complexities of delivering online in this way. Also, many students don’t seem to know basic computer terminology, such as what a right click is. I think the new generation has been brought up with laptops so although they probably do the action without thinking about it, they are unaware of the terminology so this calls for further explanation to cover all the bases, and in some instances, we need to left and right click at the same time on the software, which is an action which cannot be replicated on a touchpad. So, you can see how overwhelming this can be for a student and for the teaching team having to remember each alternative when none of us have a mac.

Overall, the teaching on VDI has went well from a teaching perspective, although I am not convinced how well the students have got on, as I think the way we teach is quite different from their other lessons they have been attending. But on a plus side, the lesson plans have developed well over the year and I think we are covering more complex tasks to advance their understanding of the software. Having the recordings of each lesson I think is also very beneficial to the students, as they can refer back to the lessons if need be. But the flip side of this is there is now so much content stored on Moodle I think I the students don’t know how or where to locate it again.

Generally, the engagement has been pretty low, the first few lessons the attendance was there but then they drop off quite quickly, and in some cases, I have had no one shows up to the lesson. This is really disheartening when I have put so much time and effort into prepping for the lesson and no one shows up or only a handful of students come. Finding that engagement is also tricky as if you don’t engage students in participation within the first 3 minutes it is detrimental to the rest of the lesson which I can definitely relate to (Lemov, 2020). Logging into VDI does not help, as in some cases if it is a new group this can take up to 45 minutes, which obviously is a substantial about of time. It really is a balancing act to figure out what pace to go, as some students are quick and then others struggle a lot, I’m conscious I don’t want to leave the struggling student behind, because if they can’t even get started then they will just dis-engage completely. It’s all a balancing act.

Lemov, D. (2020) Teaching in the Online Classroom – Surviving and Thriving in the New Normal. 1st edition. Hoboken: Jossey-Bass.

28th May 202128th May 2021

Free Writing: First Meltdown

Here is an edited version of some free writing I did at a Writing Retreat on 19.05.21:

So I think my first major meltdown was when I got given a new laptop which was a Surface Laptop 3, it came and it was super nice in a rose gold colour, so I was over the moon. We had to set it all up by ourselves and install all the software so you can imagine how time-consuming this was, anyway spent a couple of days getting it all set up and the wifi connection wasn’t working. It wouldn’t hold a stable connection with the Wifi and was basically unworkable. I spent hours/days with IT to try and resolve this while also trying to improve my Wifi in my flat at the same time but we still couldn’t get the new laptop to connect correctly so they sent me another laptop this time a black one and I really wanted to try and get the gold one working… I know it sounds materialistic but it was so pretty!!! But anyway repeated the steps on the black laptop the get that up and running, and it seemed to have the same issue, so I was comparing and contrasting the 2 new laptops to which one was working better, they wanted me to send one of them back and I had the black one all boxed up, ready to go because as I said I really wanted to keep the gold one. Anyway, the Addison Lee guy came to pick it up, and literally while he was at the door I made the brash decision to send back the gold one, so quickly packed it up, while it was still warm, then opened the black one, to realise it had the exact same issues because it was my Wifi that was the problem!!! *exploding head emoji*

I was so stressed over such a menial decision, that I basically had a meltdown and had to go for a walk, it was only 3pm, but I just was not in a good state to work, and felt so emotionally drained from the stress and the decision being on my shoulder to decide and determine what was going wrong with the laptops and decipher if it was my Wifi or an issue with the device itself. So that was my first melt down.

Sound so ridiculous now but lockdown just makes you do crazy things.

28th May 202128th May 2021

Free Writing: Lockdown 1.0

Here is an edited version of some free writing (Approx 10 mins) I did at a Writing Retreat on 19.05.21:

Ok so here we go, I am going to talk about teaching online, and do a little reflection of how it has gone. It has been emotionally draining since March last year (2020) and so many hurdles have come my way, being new to teaching it seems I have now had more teaching practice online, than I have face to face. As a planner I always like to be prepared and give my lessons the best possible chance. In face to face lessons things would go wrong, like the projector not working or maybe the licence of the software isn’t connected, which would stress me out, but the pandemic has enabled me to become a slightly more calmer person, maybe that sounds weird because I am still me, but now I take it more within my stride, as online teaching throws different curveballs everyday. It may be my internet is not working, students don’t show up to my lessons, they are having difficulty connecting.

At the beginning of the pandemic the students had no access to the software and I thought “OMG am I going to lose my job?” how will we do this!!! But somehow, we got through it with a mixture of presentations and demos, coming up with little exercises for the students to participate in whether that was drawing on the white board, experimenting with padlet or breakout rooms – which was a nightmare and feel like we needed additional support to facilitate the breakout rooms, but the CAD/CAM group have been there for each other.

WFH has been stressful, when sharing my screen not being able to see the chat box, also having to rely on technicians to let me know if there was any questions, as I was only working from 1 screen at this point. I got a second screen in the summer, but no one really encouraged to get one, and never having worked this way before, I didn’t think it would be that useful, but it has been such a gamechanger. I also had no access to a printer, and had to find new ways of working “online” – I transferred all my work to the OneDrive, so my lesson notes I keep in OneNote and it is amazing, everything is so organised and in one place. I can display my lesson notes, see the collaborate window and share my screen with the students across the 2 screens.

On another note, I have had so many internet issues over this past 14 months, I might as well put PlusNet on speed dial. I have had to abort lessons because my internet connection is so bad, stop sharing my screen and reshare, I have been thrown out of the room numerous times, etc. Alongside I have had to make IT decisions at home from my own initiative, which I found super stressful and I’m not going to lie I have had my fair share of meltdowns, but my saving grace has BEEN GOING FOR A WALK. But we managed to get through lockdown 1.0 pretty much unscathed, the students ended up producing pretty good work, and in hindsight, we must have taught them something considering they had no access to the software for a whole term, as this year some of them have created some really nice work on the software, so that is a bonus.