Uncategorised – Creative Evolution

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.