IP unit: Reflective Report

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Introduction and Context

This report will focus on my personal journey on the Inclusive Practices unit, based on my experience of designing the intervention and supported by relevant theory, i.e., Kimberlé Crenshaw’s theory of intersectionality (Crenshaw K., 1989), the social model of disability (Oliver, 1990), the Inclusive Pedagogy (Anabel, 2021), etc…

Kimberlé Crenshaw is overwhelmingly credited with coining the term intersectionality in higher education spaces during the late 1980s and early 1990s (Collins & Bilge, 2016). Kimberlé Crenshaw (1989, 1991) introduced intersectionality as an analytic concept to address the complex latent power relations that shape the lives of women of colour, and Black women in particular. The Social Model introduced the fundamental aspect was concerns on equality. The Model was based on a distinction between the terms “impairment” and “disability”. The Model argued that, given equal rights, suitable facilities and opportunities to disabled people can address the issues such as under-estimation, then allows potential disabled people to contribute to society by enhancing economic values (Oliver, 1983; Oliver, 1990).

Inclusive education is related to the political, social and cultural processes that take place in schools. Ainscow et al. (2006), Messiou (2017), and Slee (2018) all view inclusive education as a process that maximises learning and increases the engagement of all students.

Working as a full-time lecturer with Fashion Marketing students across undergraduate, postgraduate, and PhD levels for teaching and learning purposes, and also work as a Year Tutor closely with them to identify and support the students who are in need during their university life, for wellbeing purposes. We have a large cohort of students join us every year, students is around 400 per year for the 3 undergraduate courses, and around 300 students for 5 postgraduate courses. Fashion Marketing units are all well designed with a consistent structure following the SoW, individual teachers have less control in the teaching contents’ selection and design, so my intervention proposal will focus more on the ways in which I plan to deliver the content to students, and how I am planning to communicate with students during my teaching practices.

 

Inclusive learning

Inclusion in education in the UK has been a hotly debated political topic for many years. One of the benefits of inclusive education is that it can help to break down stereotypes and prejudices about people with disabilities. It can also help to create a more diverse and inclusive society.

The importance of inclusive education in the UK context stems from several factors that highlight the need for an equitable and diverse educational system. These factors include:

  1. Legal requirements: The UK has enacted laws and policies, such as the Equality Act 2010 and the SEND Code of Practice (2015), which mandate the provision of equal opportunities for all learners, regardless of their abilities, backgrounds, or needs (UNESCO, 2009). Inclusive education is essential for schools to comply with these laws and uphold the rights of students with disabilities.
  2. Demographic diversity: The UK has a diverse population with varied cultural, linguistic, and socioeconomic backgrounds. An inclusive education system ensures that all students, irrespective of their differences, have equal access to high-quality education and can benefit from a learning environment that embraces and celebrates diversity.
  3. Social cohesion: Inclusive education promotes social cohesion by fostering understanding, empathy, and respect among students from different backgrounds and abilities (Ainscow, et.al, 2006; Ainscow, 2016). This helps to reduce prejudices, stereotypes, and discrimination, ultimately contributing to a more harmonious and inclusive society.
  4. Maximising potential: Inclusive education recognises that each student has unique strengths and talents, and it seeks to nurture these by providing an accessible and supportive learning environment (Black-Hawkins, 2010). This approach helps to maximise the potential of all learners, which is beneficial not only for the students themselves but also for society as a whole.
  5. Preparing students for the future: In today’s globalised and interconnected world, it is essential for students to develop the skills and attitudes required to collaborate and thrive in diverse workplaces and communities (Humphrey, 2013). Inclusive education plays a crucial role in fostering these skills and equipping students for a successful future.

I will focus on inclusion as the intervention. UAL is world world-leading university in Fashion and Arts, students join us from different backgrounds every year. They grow up under different cultures, beliefs, and family backgrounds; they speak different languages, with different skin, hair, and eye colour, etc.

Inclusive education means all students, including students with disability, are welcomed by their school and supported to reach their full potential. Inclusion is most effective when schools aim to create a culture that celebrates diversity and builds on the strengths of each student (NSW Government, 2021). Inclusive universities nurture professional learning communities that empower teachers to create optimum learning outcomes for students with disability through the use of best practice approaches and current, evidence-based strategies (Nunan, et.al, 2000).

In other words, an inclusive teacher supports all students to participate, learn, and succeed in all aspects of education. Back to education, no matter what racial, religious, or ethnic background, gender, learning style, or ability should have equal access to educational opportunities in a learning environment where all students are equally safe, valued, and respected.

 

Reflection and Action

Considering the students’ characteristics in the programme that I am working with, they come from different backgrounds/situations may develop different kind/level of needs, and students always set up different sensitive levels under some certain scenarios; then that will be extremely important for educators to identify these differences in advance and support the students in needs with specific communication skills, to comfort them and build up trust.

When working on my teaching role and Year Tutor role, I will always try to create an inclusive classroom, aiming to actively address and eliminate negative stereotypes and attitudes based on racial, ethnic, or religious background, gender, learning style, ability, or any other identifying characteristic. Finally aim to build up a warm and relaxed environment for their university life in UAL, to make it possible for students to maximize their potential.

In practice, I will continually be offering students opportunities to raise, discuss, and update their concerns with me across the year, in a confidential and private environment, for both academic and non-academic issues. I will continually support Marketing students with my best mentoring skills, i.e., create a private and relaxed conversation setting for those who’d like to speak with me privately, tracking the students’ status longitudinally to actively monitor their wellbeing, such as offering 1-1 tutorial slots every semester, etc…

During the group presentations, my peers appreciated my intervention plan, and also offered many suggestions regards it, i.e., they appreciate the broadness of my teaching practice and the limited scope for being able to implement focus on these areas, good to hear about my thought on signposting support for finances and language/learning; appreciate my focus on Year Tutor responsibilities to connect with and support students on 1-on-1 basis; my focus on language differences; and using my own language specialty to provide students a more comfortable setting.

However, few potential challenges should also be considered, i.e, for personal tutorials, the scope to open these up to discussions within class in multiple ways to also allow for online and in person conversation; while I am offering Chinese speaking conversation option, in an ideal scenario, the same offer would be available for students from different linguistic backgrounds – to support other students too, etc…

In the coming academic year, I will continue to reflect on students’ feedback and peers’ comments regarding the Inclusive Practice, aiming to provide students the equal access to educational opportunities in a learning environment where all students are equally safe, valued, and respected.

 

Evaluation and Conclusion

Moving forward, I will continually collect students’ feedback during each 1-1 personal tutorial as a final checkpoint, before I conclude the meeting. However, this method may not work well for every student, so I will also send an evaluation form after each 1-1 personal tutorial to the students by email, so they can leave their comments/suggestions, or raise any additional concerns with me anonymised. All Year Tutors for the undergrounds will update the attendance on the shared spreadsheet, so we can stay on the same page to support students in the best way across the years. Year tutors will have regular catch-up meetings to share evaluations, too.

By reflecting my learnings from Pg Cert into my teaching and admin role in LCF, I believe my team and I can provide a more equal and inclusive learning environment for all our students, regardless tof heir racial, ethnic, or religious background, gender, learning style, ability, or any other identifying characteristic, etc…

 

 

References

Ainscow, M. (2016). Diversity and equity: A global education challenge. New Zealand Journal of Educational Studies, 51(2), 143-155.

Ainscow, M., Booth, T., & Dyson, A. (2006). Improving schools, developing inclusion. London, UK: Routledge

Ainscow, M., Booth, T., & Dyson, A. (2006). Improving schools, developing inclusion. Routledge.

Black-Hawkins, K. (2010). The framework for participation: A research tool for exploring the inclusive classroom. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 14(5), 427-440.

Collins P. H., Bilge S. (2016). Intersectionality. Wiley.

Crenshaw K. (1989). Demarginalizing the intersection of race and sex: A Black feminist critique of antidiscrimination doctrine, feminist theory and antiracist politics. University of Chicago Legal Forum, 1989(1), 139–167.

Humphrey, N. (2013). Social and emotional learning: A critical appraisal. SAGE.

Messiou, K. (2017). Research in the field of inclusive education: time for a rethink? International Journal of Inclusive Education, 21(2), 14 6 –159. doi: 10.1080/13603116 .2016.1223184

Moriña, Anabel. (2021). Approaches to Inclusive Pedagogy: A Systematic Literature Review. Pedagogika. 140. 134-154. 10.15823/p.2020.140.8.

NSW Government (2021). What is inclusive education? Available at; https://education.nsw.gov.au/campaigns/inclusive-practice-hub/all-resources/secondary-resources/other-pdf-resources/what-is-inclusive-education-

Nunan, T., George, R., & McCausland, H. (2000). Inclusive education in universities: why it is important and how it might be achieved. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 4(1), 63–88. https://doi.org/10.1080/136031100284920

Oliver, M. 1990. The Politics of Disablement. Basingstoke: Macmillan.

Slee, R. (2018). The inclusive education workbook: Teaching, learning and research in the irregular school. London, UK: Routledge.

UNESCO. (2009). Policy Guidelines on Inclusion in Education. Retrieved from http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0017/001778/177849e.pdf

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Intervention

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• Brief description of your (teaching/learning support) context for the intervention

I am a full-time lecturer who works with Fashion Marketing students across undergraduate, postgraduate, and PhD levels for teaching and learning purposes and also work as a Year Tutor closely with them to identify and support the students who are in need during their university life, for wellbeing purposes. We have a large cohort of students join us every year, the student size is around 400 per year for the 3 undergraduate courses, and 300 for the 5 postgraduate courses. Fashion Marketing units are all well designed with a consistent structure followed the SoW, individual teachers have less control in the teaching contents’ selection and design, so my intervention proposal will focus more on the ways how I plan to deliver the contents to students, and how I am planning to communicate with students during my teaching practises.

 

• Brief explanation of the intervention/change, why you think it’s needed, and how it relates to your academic practice

I will focus on inclusion as the intervention. UAL is world world-leading university in Fashion and Arts, students join us from different backgrounds every year. They grow up under different cultures, beliefs, and family backgrounds; they speak different languages, with different skin, hair and eye colour, etc.

Inclusive education means all students, including students with disability, are welcomed by their school and supported to reach their full potential. Inclusion is most effective when schools aim to create a culture that celebrates diversity and builds on the strengths of each student (NSW Government, 2021). Inclusive universities nurture professional learning communities that empower teachers to create optimum learning outcomes for students with disability through the use of best practice approaches and current, evidence-based strategies (Nunan et.al, 2000).
In other words, an inclusive teacher supports all students to participate, learn, and succeed in all aspects of education.

Back to education, no matter what racial, religious, or ethnic background, gender, learning style, or ability should have equal access to educational opportunities in a learning environment where all students are equally safe, valued, and respected. I will always try to create an inclusive classroom aiming to actively address and eliminate negative stereotypes and attitudes based on racial, ethnic, or religious background, gender, learning style, ability, or any other identifying characteristic.

Finally aim to build up a warm and relaxed environment for their university life in UAL, to make it possible for students to maximize their potential.

 

• A brief rationale for the design of the intervention (including which readings/resources underpin your decisions)

Inclusion in education in the UK has been a hotly debated political topic for many years. One of the benefits of inclusive education is that it can help to break down stereotypes and prejudices about people with disabilities. It can also help to create a more diverse and inclusive society.

The importance of inclusive education in the UK context stems from several factors that highlight the need for an equitable and diverse educational system. These factors include:

1. Legal requirements: The UK has enacted laws and policies, such as the Equality Act 2010 and the SEND Code of Practice (2015), which mandate the provision of equal opportunities for all learners, regardless of their abilities, backgrounds, or needs (UNESCO, 2009). Inclusive education is essential for schools to comply with these laws and uphold the rights of students with disabilities.

2. Demographic diversity: The UK has a diverse population with varied cultural, linguistic, and socioeconomic backgrounds. An inclusive education system ensures that all students, irrespective of their differences, have equal access to high-quality education and can benefit from a learning environment that embraces and celebrates diversity.

3. Social cohesion: Inclusive education promotes social cohesion by fostering understanding, empathy, and respect among students from different backgrounds and abilities (Ainscow, et.al, 2006; Ainscow, 2016). This helps to reduce prejudices, stereotypes, and discrimination, ultimately contributing to a more harmonious and inclusive society.

4. Maximising potential: Inclusive education recognises that each student has unique strengths and talents, and it seeks to nurture these by providing an accessible and supportive learning environment (Black-Hawkins, 2010). This approach helps to maximise the potential of all learners, which is beneficial not only for the students themselves but also for society as a whole.

5. Preparing students for the future: In today’s globalised and interconnected world, it is essential for students to develop the skills and attitudes required to collaborate and thrive in diverse workplaces and communities (Humphrey, 2013). Inclusive education plays a crucial role in fostering these skills and equipping students for a successful future.

 

• A brief account of any challenges you’ve encountered and consideration of any potential risks or barriers

Students come from different backgrounds/situations may develop different kind/level of needs, and students may set up different sensitive levels under some certain scenarios; then that will be extremely important for educators to identify these differences in advance and support the students in needs with specific communication skills, to comfort them and build up trust.

I will continually support Marketing students with my best mentoring skills, i.e., create a private and relaxed conversation setting for those who’d like to speak with me privately, tracking the students’ status longitudinally to actively monitor their wellbeing, such as offering 1-1 tutorial slots every semester, etc…

 

References List:

Ainscow, M. (2016). Diversity and equity: A global education challenge. New Zealand Journal of Educational Studies, 51(2), 143-155.

Ainscow, M., Booth, T., and Dyson, A. (2006). Improving schools, developing inclusion. Routledge.

Black-Hawkins, K. (2010). The framework for participation: A research tool for exploring the inclusive classroom. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 14(5), 427-440.

Humphrey, N. (2013). Social and emotional learning: A critical appraisal. SAGE.

NSW Government (2021). What is inclusive education? Available at: https://education.nsw.gov.au/campaigns/inclusive-practice-hub/all-resources/secondary-resources/other-pdf-resources/what-is-inclusive-education-

Nunan, T., George, R., & McCausland, H. (2000). Inclusive education in universities: why it is important and how it might be achieved. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 4(1), 63–88. https://doi.org/10.1080/136031100284920

UNESCO. (2009). Policy Guidelines on Inclusion in Education. Retrieved from http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0017/001778/177849e.pdf

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Blog 3 – Race

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Engaged in IP unit, I have gain deeper understanding regards the importance of Race as a teaching staff in higher education, it’s extremely important for us to fully exploring what’s  race in teaching and learning, and what does it means, and how should we manage it equally to all students, to make sure we can be confidence when exchange knowledge with students from different backgrounds, and balance it in our daily activities to provide students an equal and fairness learning environment.

The history of education is rife with instances of violence and oppression along lines of race and ethnicity. For educators, leading conversations about race and racism is a challenging, but necessary, part of their work (Cacciatore, 2021).

“Schools operate within larger contexts: systems of race, racism, and white supremacy; systems of migration and ethnic identity formation; patterns of socialization; the changing realities of capitalism and politics,” explains historian and Harvard lecturer Timothy Patrick McCarthy (2001), co-faculty lead of Race and Ethnicity in Context. “How do we understand the role that racial and ethnic identity play with respect to equity and opportunity within an educational context?” When educators exploring the potential challenges and opportunities in their own schools, universities and communities, McCarthy offer five ways to get started: 1. Begin with the self; 2. Model vulnerability; 3. Be transparent; 4. Center voices of colour; 5. Prioritize discussion and reflection (Cacciatore, 2021).

Another theory called Critical Race Theory (CRT) echoes to this. CRT has become almost the default theoretical position for those researching ‘race’ and education in England, largely due the effective promotion of this perspective in Gillborn’s important work on ‘race’ and education in the UK (Gillborn 2008, 2013b).

In the UK, CRT perspectives have more recently been used to examine how issues relating to ‘race’ in education have rarely been the priority of governments, despite occasional moments of rhetorical concern; for decades, there has been a constant need to ‘fight for legitimacy as a significant topic’ for policy (Gillborn 2005, 493). Indeed, under the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government (2010–15) – the period where the policy under discussion here developed – concern for ‘race’ was ‘severely diminished’ (Warmington et al. 2017). Furthermore, CRT encourages us to think of policy in terms of benefits and outcomes; as Gillborn has repeatedly pointed out the benefits of ‘rising standards’ for different ethnic groups have not been equal in the UK (Gillborn 2008; Gillborn et al. 2017; Gillborn 2005). Back to my future teachings, I will support anti-racism practise by valuing the students’ differences in race and provide them an equal opportunity to learning, interactions, assessment, and feedbacks.

 

 

References

Cacciatore, G., (2001) Exploring Equity: Race and Ethnicity. Available at: https://www.gse.harvard.edu/ideas/usable-knowledge/21/02/exploring-equity-race-and-ethnicity Accessed 19/06/2025.

Gillborn, D. 2005. “Education Policy as an Act of White Supremacy: Whiteness, Critical Race Theory and Education Reform.” Journal of Education Policy 20 (4): 485–505. doi:10.1080/ 02680930500132346.

Gillborn, D. 2008. Racism and Education: Coincidence or Conspiracy? London: Routledge.

Gillborn, D. 2013b. “Racism as Policy: A Critical Race Analysis of Education Reforms in the United States and England.” The Educational Forum 78 (1): 26–41. doi:10.1080/ 00131725.2014.850982.

Gillborn, D., S. Demack, N. Rollock, and P. Warmington. 2017. “Moving the Goalposts: Education Policy and 25 Years of the Black/White Achievement Gap.” British Educational Research Journal 43 (5): 848–874. doi:10.1002/berj.3297.

Warmington, P., D. Gillborn, N. Rollock, and S. Demack. 2017. ““They Can’t Handle the Race Agenda”: Stakeholders’ Reflections on Race and Education Policy, 1993–2013.” Educational Review 70 (4): 409–426. doi:10.1080/00131911.2017.1353482.

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Blog 2 – Intersectionality, Faith and Inclusion

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In this blog, I will focus on the review, reflections, and discussions for the exampled intersectionality and faith relevant resources, under the Kimberlé Crenshaw’s theory of intersectionality (Crenshaw K., 1989).

The first resource is a TED talk given by Philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah, which offers a generous, surprising view about religion. He claims that plenty of good things are done in the name of religion, and plenty of bad things too. So, what is religion, exactly — is it good or bad, in and of itself (Appiah, K. A., 2014)?

On one hand, we’re told religion causes charity, compassion, ethics, good will, kindness, morality, righteousness, selflessness, unity, etc. Religion holds communities together, is a place of comfort/hope, supplies support, addresses social issues themselves, etc. On the other hand, religion is accused of promoting divisions, maintaining power, creating guilt, condoning excesses, fostering intolerance, encouraging violence, oppressing minorities, promoting doctrine, and so forth. Many scientists and philosophers argued that organized religions are sources for both good and bad today and throughout human history (Harvey Whitehouse, 2019). The ways in which religions are a source of good are obvious, in that they promote virtuous behaviour such as charitable giving, and propagate rules that attempt to discourage various bad behaviours.

Kimberlé Crenshaw is overwhelmingly credited with coining the term intersectionality in higher education spaces during the late 1980s and early 1990s (Collins & Bilge, 2016). Kimberlé Crenshaw (1989, 1991) introduced intersectionality as an analytic concept to address the complex latent power relations that shape the lives of women of colour, and Black women in particular. The article written by Jawad, H. (2022), which is titled “Islam, Women and Sport: The Case of Visible Muslim Women,” echoes this theory.

Another evidence about the Visible Muslim Women is the report by the UK’s biggest Muslim women’s sports charity Muslimah Sports Association (MSA, 2022) found 97% of British Muslim women surveyed would like their current participation in sports to increase – but 37% aren’t taking part in a sport or activity in any capacity. The study aimed to map the demands of all British regions for sport participation of Muslim women, and to investigate why Muslim women are underrepresented in sport and what barriers they face. The report said: “It is important to recognise that Muslim women are not a homogeneous group and come from diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds. They have different interpretations of their religious beliefs, and it is up to each individual to determine how they balance their religious and cultural values with their desire to participate in sport.” (MSA, 2022).

Back to education, no matter what racial, religious, or ethnic background, gender, learning style, or ability should have equal access to educational opportunities in a learning environment where all students are equally safe, valued, and respected. I will always try to create an inclusive classroom aiming to actively address and eliminate negative stereotypes and attitudes based on racial, ethnic, or religious background, gender, learning style, ability, or any other identifying characteristic.

 

References:

Appiah, K. A. (2014) Is religion good or bad? (This is a trick question). YouTube [Online]. 16 June. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2et2KO8gcY

Collins P. H., Bilge S. (2016). Intersectionality. Wiley.

Crenshaw K. (1989). Demarginalizing the intersection of race and sex: A Black feminist critique of antidiscrimination doctrine, feminist theory and antiracist politics. University of Chicago Legal Forum, 1989(1), 139–167. https://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/uclf/vol1989/iss1/8

Harvey Whitehouse (2019), Has religion been good or bad for humanity? New Scientist, Volume 242, Issue 3224, 2019, Pages 36-39, ISSN 0262-4079, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0262-4079(19)30604-9.

Jawad, H. (2022) Islam, Women and Sport: The Case of Visible Muslim Women. [Online]. Available at: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/religionglobalsociety/2022/09/islam-women-and-sport-the-case-of-visible-muslim-women/

Muslimah Sports Association (2022) Muslim Women in Sport Report. https://mcusercontent.com/9ff512b2c4b15839ae339461f/files/0af3dd9e-0529-4e4a-156c-387635725a7f/MSA_Reserach_Report.pdf

Reki, J. (2023) Religious Identity and Epistemic Injustice: An Intersectional Account. Hypatia 38, pp. 779–800.

Trinity University (2016) Challenging Race, Religion, and Stereotypes in the Classroom. [Online]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CAOKTo_DOk

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Blog 1 – Disability

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In this Task 1, reflections and analysis on how people who have been identified as disabled interact with other aspects of the individuals’ identities, i.e., race, gender, socioeconomic status, etc, will be provided.

The social model of disability (Oliver, 1990) will be applied to develop my understanding of disability and learning differences, and to implement them into my future teaching context. The idea behind the social model of disability stemmed from the Fundamental Principles of Disability document first published in the mid-1970s (UPIAS 1976), which argued that we were not disabled by our impairments but by the disabling barriers we faced in society. As introduced in the Social Model, the fundamental aspect was concerned with equality. The Model was based on a distinction between the terms “impairment” and “disability”. The Model argued that, given equal rights, suitable facilities and opportunities to disabled people can address the issues such as under-estimation, then allows potential disabled people to contribute to society by enhancing economic values (Oliver, 1983; Oliver, 1990).

The Social Model of Disability views disability as socially constructed and a consequence of society’s lack of awareness. The 3 interviewees in the example films all mentioned this point from different angles. The interviewees claimed that even disability is natural, human variation – it exists at birth, through the life course and across ageing; one which nobody really wants to be part of but which is growing larger by the minute – the largest minority group on the planet, tactile sign larger than life, available for all to join at any moment – disabled people; however, society more often than not views them as a monolithic blob, when in many ways they are the opposite—individuals with identities that intersect and interact with one another in ways that affect their lived experiences.

During my PhD, I worked as a special exam invigilator for disabled students in the University of Birmingham. In my opinion, addressing intersectionality starts with believing people, even when their experience isn’t yours. Watching them, working alongside them, or even living with them is often insufficient to know what they need or want. Proximity is not lived experience. Until you are at the intersection, you will not experience its marginalisation. By listening and caring for disabled students for many years, I have summarised a few points that I believe can help this special group with better life experiences:

  • Active listening: Take time to understand rather than assume.
  • Challenging stereotypes: Actively confront bias and misconceptions.
  • Respecting autonomy: Trust disabled people to articulate their needs.
  • Promoting collaboration: Build solutions with, not for, disabled individuals.

Intersectional inclusion is a progressive practice, not a one-time act. It’s a commitment to evolving your understanding and pushing for systemic change. Start with understanding and listening, I believe the disability lived experiences can be minimised someday. As an educator, I will try my best to understand and listen to our disabled students and colleagues’ needs, to minimise the negative intersectionality impacts.

 

 

References:

Oliver, M. 1983. Social Work with Disabled People. Basingstoke: Macmillan.
Oliver, M. 1990. The Politics of Disablement. Basingstoke: Macmillan.
UPIAS. 1976. Fundamental Principles of Disability. London: Union of the Physically Impaired Against Segregation.

 

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  1. Paul Bench: I remember from our group tutorial that you have, or are currently doing, research on disability. I really liked the…

  2. Sonali Misra: Hi Misha, I enjoyed reading your post and learning more about your longstanding engagement with accessibility for disabled students. You…

Peer Review

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Peer Review 1         

Session/artefact to be observed/reviewed: 2 x online tutorials of 30mins each

Size of student group: students meet one-to-one with tutor

Observer: Misha Xu

Observee: Paul Bench

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?

These are the final tutorials before student submission of their final year extended essay for Contextualising Your Practice. Grades count towards final degree grade.

Students receive 3 tutorials, which are supplemented with group seminars at points during the unit and drop-in sessions before submission. They should have begun planning their projects before the summer. Not all attend tutorials. A tutorial record sheet is produced during the tutorial and emailed later to the student by the tutor.

How long have you been working with this group and in what capacity?

Since early Oct 2024 as an associate lecturer taking seminars and tutorials.

What are the intended or expected learning outcomes?

LO 1 Demonstrate a critical awareness of a range of theories and knowledges relevant to your chosen topic (Knowledge)

LO 2 Critically analyse diverse concepts and ideas (Enquiry)

LO 3 Evaluate and apply appropriate methods related to your research questions (Process)

LO 4 Clearly articulate your research and ideas through an extended essay (Communication)

What are the anticipated outputs (anything students will make/do)?

An extended essay (4,500 words) presented in academic format, including bibliography and references.

Are there potential difficulties or specific areas of concern?

It can be hard to fit everything into the session and offer a good balance, especially at this final opportunity and if students have either not done much work or want me to read a finished essay. It can also be hard to balance useful discussion about their topic with making sure they have relevant notes on their record sheet to refer to afterwards, as well as making them aware of the resources available and answering questions, while sticking to time.

How will students be informed of the observation/review?

Students recorded have consented on e-mail in advance.

What would you particularly like feedback on?

Any tips for how I could improve the delivery of everything that needs to be covered and anything specific relating to the type of student that I could improve on.

How will feedback be exchanged?

Use of this form. Further notes or online meetings if necessary.

 

Part Two

Observer to note down observations, suggestions and questions:

Paul briefed me in advance that the observed sessions are 2 individual final tutorials before students submit their final-year extended essay for the unit of Contextualising Your Practice.

At the beginning of the tutorials, Paul thanked students for giving consent to record the meeting for observation purposes; warmly welcomed students; and checked their progress during the winter break. Students have been offered several opportunities to ask questions before moving on. The submission deadline has been highlighted, Paul also kindly suggested the students submit a bit earlier by considering the potential risk, i.e., technical issues.

The 1st student managed her own time very well, and made good progress; then Paul kindly checked her drafts and pointed out a few potential areas where she could further improve before submission. The tutorial record form has been completed in the last 5 mins, students left the tutorial confidently with a clear understanding of improvements.

The 2nd student was a bit behind the progress as he got new ideas during the break and was still in the planning stage for the whole essay. Seems like the student was not sure about the methodology yet, Paul shared the screen and went through the Learning Outcomes in the unit’s Moodle page with the student together. The record form has been completed in detail for the student. Paul goes through and highlights information with the student professionally even some surprises happened to the student’s progress. I am just wondering how the student should submit his Ethical Form for approval, as this is the last tutorial?

The 2 observed tutorials have been managed well in both structure and time with a well-balanced speaking speed. Considering it’s the final tutorial before submission, Paul shared the relevant screens and reminded students of the key date, format requirements, and who can be contacted for further information during the tutorials.

Overall, the online tutorials are very changeling because of the “online” nature, especially for the last tutorial, but Paul managed both tutorials well with a high standard of professional knowledge. In the future, maybe the tutor can request students to update their progress before the tutorials by email at some certain point, especially for tutorials with big breaks in the middle, to avoid “supervised” big changes.

 

 

Peer Review 2

Session/artefact to be observed/reviewed: 2 hours Seminar for BA Fashion Marketing Year 1

Size of student group: Around 20 students

Observer: Paul Bench

Observee: Misha Xu

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?

· Understanding and discussions on how to structure the summative assessment which is an individual report

· Discuss and make all marketing decisions in the simulation game including Q3, Q4.

How long have you been working with this group and in what capacity?

· Since they joined LCF in Sep 2024, I have been doing lectures (cross 3 courses), seminars, and tutorials

What are the intended or expected learning outcomes?

· Understanding the Principles of Fashion Marketing, and reflecting their understanding in the Simulation Game.

What are the anticipated outputs (anything students will make/do)?

· A marketing report 1500 words

· Students are required to produce a marketing report for a fashion company/brand/retailer/designer of their choice. The report outlines a marketing plan to meet the requirements of an identified target market within a local or global context. The marketing plan should outline clear aims and objectives, implementation activities and KPIs to measure performance and progress towards the achievement of the marketing plan outcomes.

Are there potential difficulties or specific areas of concern?

· No

How will students be informed of the observation/review?

· I will introduce it to students before the seminar starts

What would you particularly like feedback on?

· Student engagement and group participants

How will feedback be exchanged?

· This record form, and email communications

 

Part Two

Observer to note down observations, suggestions and questions:

The observed session was towards the end of a unit. Through this unit, students engaged in an online team game in which students apply theory in active decision making framed as a competition. This was explained to me ahead of time. The session also served to recap on briefing notes before a summative report submission.

Students were congratulated at the start of the session for attendance across the unit. Encouraging students to log on to the relevant game/application and get into their groups, took some time. While students did this and latecomers continued to arrive, key aspects of the session and imminent deadline were repeated, while students were encouraged to excel in the remaining time.

Unless students had been forewarned of the observer presence, it would have been good to alert them to the observation. Organising late students and group working on laptops, while summarising submission requirements was potentially challenging to manage, but done with ease. The break seemed to come a little early, but this may relate to the flow of the session, the impending game deadline and established protocols.

The session was orderly, with distinct shifts from the login and stress on the game, to more formal submission slides. A combination of clear information about deadlines and what to submit with good explanations about how to format the report and why, was supplemented with more active use of the shared screen. This sharing briefly included the outlook app, but ensuring this is closed ahead of sharing to class might be good in future. Sharing citethemright and Academic Support booking areas on screen might have been good, but this had likely been covered previously.

The presentation of information was thorough and enthusiastic, allowing space for questions. Formal elements at the beginning and in the summative briefing were presented at the lectern and at appropriate volume for the class, while individuals and groups were attended to in a modified tone. The pace of some information delivery could be slowed down. However, by this stage students are presumably well versed on the expectations.

There were a number of behavioural/individual student challenges. This contributed to a challenging situation in which some students had to be introduced to the task while the majority focused on summative activities. Misha demonstrated extremely high levels of patience and empathy, sought the assistance of technical staff and managed everything with ease and an even tone.

Some groups/students were more engaged in the task than others. This is inherent in all group work. Perhaps some attention could be paid to each group more systematically. However, I was only able to observe the first part of an extended session, so all students likely received attention across the span of the full session.

Overall, the session was handled with skill, confidence, technical ability and excellent attention to diverse student needs.

 

Part Three

Observee to reflect on the observer’s comments and describe how they will act on the feedback exchanged:

Thanks, Paul for the very valuable feedback. Thanks for highlighting my teaching skills of professional teaching, and I have found the suggestions are all very useful and will take them into consideration in my future teaching activities.

Due to the nature of the observed session, which is a seminar that combined both theories review and simulation game decision-making in groups, a break has been included between the 2 activities to provide students with refreshing opportunities and game login. I will keep in mind to try to offer the break around the middle of the seminar, to maximum the engagement.

Although the seminar is partly reviewing the unit contents, so students are all fimilarised with the requirement, then I did quickly go through the key points in the beginning. In the future, I will bear in mind a more balanced information delivery in my future teaching, and make sure students can follow well (Orr and Shreeve, 2017).

Other information, I,e., Language support, academic support, and citemeright are all shared with students in the previous session. I have also provided the contacts on Moodle, and I will try to keep reminding them in the future.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

Reference:

Orr, S. and Shreeve, A. (2017) Art and design pedagogy in higher education: knowledge, values and ambiguity in the creative curriculum. London: Routledge

 

 

 

Peer review 3        

Session/artefact to be observed/reviewed: 2 hours Seminar for BA Fashion Marketing Year 1, the Principles of Fashion Marketing

Size of student group: Around 20 students

Observer: Dr Frederico Matos

Observee: Dr Misha Xu

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 the final seminar before submission
  • The seminar answers any questions on the ‘make the grade’ checklist
  • Any Q&A on the individual final report
  • Discussions and making ALL final decisions on the simulation game

How long have you been working with this group and in what capacity?

  • Since they joined LCF in Sep 2024, I have been doing lectures (cross 3 courses), seminars, and tutorials

What are the intended or expected learning outcomes?

  • Understanding the Principles of Fashion Marketing and reflecting their understanding in the Simulation Game
  • Prepare the submission

What are the anticipated outputs (anything students will make/do)?

  • A marketing report 1500 words
  • Students are required to produce a marketing plan report for a fashion company/brand/retailer/designer of their choice. The report outlines a marketing plan to meet the requirements of an identified target market within a local or global context. The marketing plan should outline clear aims and objectives, implementation activities and KPIs to measure performance and progress towards the achievement of the marketing plan outcomes

Are there potential difficulties or specific areas of concern?

  • No

How will students be informed of the observation/review?

  • I will introduce it to students before the seminar starts

What would you particularly like feedback on?

  • Student engagement and group participants

How will feedback be exchanged?

  • This record form, and email communication

 

Part Two

Observer to note down observations, suggestions and questions:

Misha, thanks for having me observe your class and for the detailed observation form.

This was a session where you had to adapt and respond to students’ needs and expectations on the spot. I think you did this really well, as it is not always the easiest thing to do. Your expertise of the topic was demonstrated throughout and clearly valued by the students. The initial discussion about how this session could help the student(s) was important, as it made the session relevant for them, especially as the submission deadline looms. You go on to provide a clear outline of the session.  

You addressed student questions very well and provided detailed answers, which students clearly appreciated. I think that it was clear that you really supported students in gaining confidence in completing their final assessment, with really useful examples of how to apply expectations/checklist. I wondered if the checklist is too long, or may did not read very well on the slides as the font was quite small. Could this be zoomed in or maybe separate in sections in different slides? Sometimes I think that we as teachers can speak a bit fast. I notice I do this at times when I teach, and try to remind myself to go more slowly.

You asked students if they were clear about what they need to do for their final assessment– it is great that they feel they can address points of in their submission. Perhaps another question could be ‘why’ they need to the assignment in this way, so as to give a more holistic view of the work and the industry. This is something they will have encountered many the times in the sessions throughout the term but I think it is always useful to remind them. I wonder if you could have asked them how they have addressed specific points in their own submission, so the discussion felt more specific in places. Examples can also be helpful for other participants in completing their submission.

At times, I felt that links between the assignment and its relevance for future careers and the importance of completing it in preparation for ‘how things are done’ could be useful. This is surely done throughout the unit but could have been revisited in this session in my view. Sometimes we, as teachers, need to reiterate some points at different points in time.  

You provided a very good and useful explanation of citation when using Prism in response to a student’s question. You paid really good attention to the students and their questions. There is an increasing engagement between students and you as the session develops. 

It was great to see the discussions about a competition students and staff were taking part of. That really got them engaged. Interesting how it is integrated with the course.

Overall, I think the session went really well in achieving the aims you had set out. You have a very friendly demeanour that creates a supportive environment, and your knowledge and expertise are clearly appreciated by the students.

 

Part Three

Observee to reflect on the observer’s comments and describe how they will act on the feedback exchanged:

Thanks for the feedback regarding the length of the checklist. The checklist is developed by the unit teaching team by reviewing the learning outcomes and assessment requirements (Matsubara and Matsubara, 2024), it looks long but includes all potential points that are easy to be missed by students. Considering this is s Year one unit, and it’s the 1st unit that students are prepared for an academic report, then a checklist that can help students review their work before submission, in detail, is necessary. A simple version will be considered for their following units, once they confidentially build up and develop their academic writing skills. Thanks for this suggestion.

Thanks for the suggestion of asking students questions in another way, I valued it and will take it into consideration in my future teachings. Asking ‘why’ they need to the assignment in this way, can give a more holistic view of the work and the industry, then as tutors, we can easily see if the students fully understand the assessment requirements (Streeter and Miller, 2011). Thanks for pointing out.

How this unit’s contents, knowledge, practices can benefit students’ future careers has been highlighted in the lectures before the seminars. I will make sure I quickly remind the importance of the Principles unit to students at some points during the seminars to encourage their engagement. Thanks.

Once again, I have found all the suggestions quite useful for my teaching skills improvements. Thanks Frederico.

References:

Matsubara, S., & Matsubara, D., 2024, A Checklist Confirming Whether a Manuscript for Submission Adheres to the Fundamentals of Academic Writing: A Proposal, JMA journal, 7(2), 276–278.

Streeter, J., & Miller, F. J., 2011, Any questions? A concise guide to navigating the Q&A session after a presentation, EMBO reports, 12(3), 202–205.

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Reflections

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Reflection 1

In the seminar on designing courses and assessments, everyone shared one of the examples of the planned unit design or assessment brief. In the break-out group discussions, I shared one of my online unit designs for the postgraduate level. I shared information about how I reviewed my unit learning outcomes compared with the toolkit for crafting learning outcomes from Moodle.

In the break-out group discussions, the team members gave me some suggestions and they showed a very clear roadmap in the unit handbook, from aims to learning outcomes, and displaying the five criteria in enquiry, knowledge, process, communication, and realisation relevant to its learning outcomes. The unit aims, learning outcomes, and assessment could be created based on intrinsic motivation or external values. A culture of metrics and rankings is created to answer the question about what we are fostering or enabling for the students.

It can be clearly seen that the learning outcome with ‘successfully applying knowledge into practical’ cannot be purely examined by one method of assessment (O’Brien and Brancaleone 2011), for example, calculations or multiple choices. To review the learning outcomes with the assessment method, it should contain more than one format of assessments for the unit. How to develop and apply the knowledge beyond the lecture contents is difficult to test.

It is back to the original idea in the class, purpose, and perception of purpose are all in the loop (Addison, 2014). Once we write down the learning outcomes and assessment brief, it is helpful to review them again based on the intrinsic motivation or external values. It could be helpful to engage teaching team members to review the learning outcomes and assessment methods, rethink whether they meets the internal and industrial requirements, and also with a sufficient unbiased test method.

References:

Addison N., 2014, Doubting learning outcomes in higher education contexts: from performativity towards emergence and negotiation, The International Journal of Art & Design Education, 33(3) pp. 313-325.

O’Brien, S. and Brancaleone, D., 2011, Evaluating learning outcomes: in search of lost knowledge, Irish Educational Studies, 30(1), pp. 5–21.

 

 

Reflection 2

Data that is available to me is precious as I am a quantitative person. Thus, when I have been asked to write down my feelings about the data and to write down a poem for data. All I can think about is if I have the data that I need, just like the Simpsons lying on the doughnuts in heaven. But also, understand the data limitations and data bias. I shared one quote with my break-out group members, which is quite famous in quantitative analysis “All the models are wrong, but some are useful” – coined by the statistician, George Box (Berro, 2018).

Data provide many positive outcomes, i.e., to tell the stories, to identify the problems, etc… More importantly, we need to understand the limitations and how to interpret the data depending on the availability (Boudreau et al., 2001).

Considering the data that we collected for Unit/Course Evaluations, the data collection may have problems with the biased collection procedure or only collecting limited samples, to interpret the population. This is why when we reviewed the data from the institution, i.e., showing the percentages of home-based students and international students from Asia or the EU is important, because it tells some stories with demographic considerations. The value of these data is partly depending on how we interpret the data, and how to reflect it on our institutions for future improvements.

We need to critically review the existing university data. Even though we could interpret the data in a very positive way, for example, the students are more hard-working, and more happy to learn because of the innovative teaching methods. But also it should leave us to think about whether we are using the inappropriate assessment method or criteria for the students. Both positive and potential limitations could improve the institution’s performance as a whole.

References:

Berro J., 2018, “Essentially, all models are wrong, but some are useful” a cross-disciplinary agenda for building useful models in cell biology and biophysics. Biophys Rev.

Boudreau M. C., Gefen D., Straub D.W., 2001, Validation in information systems research: A state-of-the-art assessment, MIS Quarterly, pp. 1-16.

 

 

Reflection 3

This reflection focused on the exploring of institutional research, as the data collected from institutions could be rich in insight, compared with other general populations (Lepori et al., 2022). We also can benefit by doing the research as insiders because it is much easier to get permission from other students or staff. Also, existing internal statistics data is more possible to obtain from the institution, and we have prior experience and knowledge about our institution.

Not only focus on the positive side, but a few different perspectives also need to be aware before we decide to apply institutional research as the appropriate research method, i.e., the potential difficulties about how to deal with the bias or unexpected if the students are more vulnerable. By doing institutional research, more controlling methods that aim to release the possible tension between the roles of researcher and participants could be considered, because this tension during data collecting might affect how you communicate the research questions (McCormack, 2004).

Other perspectives argue that institutional research lacks the degree of reflexivity and the obvious conflict of interest that may occur (Grimpe, 2020). However, if institutional research has been stopped because of this reason, then there would be a significant lack of evidence to guide and direct future improvements for our institutions. Although conducting research within institution could receive criticises from colleagues, it is a way to review and change the institution.

After critically reviewing the pros and cons of institutional research, I will continually use my professional research skills to keep a neutral, relaxed, and unbiased relationship with participants when doing institutional research, aiming to minise the potential bias.

References:

Grimpe B. et al., 2020, From collaborative to institutional reflexivity: Calibrating responsibility in the funding process, Science and Public Policy, Volume 47, Issue 5, Pages 720–732.

Lepori, B., Borden, V. M. H. and Coates, H., 2022, Opportunities and challenges for international institutional data comparisons, European Journal of Higher Education, 12(sup1), pp. 373–390. 

McCormack C., 2004, Tensions between student and institutional conceptions of postgraduate research, Studies in Higher Education, 29(3), pp. 319–334. 

 

 

Reflection 4

This reflection will focus on the Ethical considerations when we supervise Final Major Projects at the underground level and Dissertations at the postgraduate level. Ethical considerations in research are critical in protecting the safety of study volunteers and safeguarding the legitimacy of results (Nii Laryeafio and Ogbewe, 2023).

Working in the supervisor’s position, I have introduced students to the importance of ethical considerations as a part of their primary research and highlighted the requirements of an approved ethical form from their supervisors before they start the primary data collection. Students are asked to draft their answers to the ethically relevant questions in the form in advance of the supervision meeting, and further clarifications also have been provided by students during the meeting. Then I signed the ethical form to approve the research plan to meet all the criteria in accordance with the Code of Practice on Research Ethics of the University of the Arts London.

Students are asked to provide clarification on a set of questions, i.e., sampling method, data collection method, data storage, confidential process, etc., which are the key concepts for ethical research (Drolet et al.,2022). The methods and actions that students are required to consider for their primary research include the requirements of participants internally within the university or externally outside the university, potential risks for both participants and researchers during the data collection, and how they are considered to minimise the effects.

I will continue to provide guidance on how to do appropriate research as a supervisor in my future work.

References:

Drolet, M., Rose-Derouin, E., Leblanc, J., Ruest, M. and Williams-Jones, B., 2022, Ethical issues in research: perceptions of researchers, research ethics board members and research ethics experts, Journal of Academic Ethics, Vol. 21 No. 2, pp. 269-292.

Nii Laryeafio, M. and Ogbewe, O.C., 2023, Ethical consideration dilemma: systematic review of ethics in qualitative data collection through interviews, Journal of Ethics in Entrepreneurship and Technology, Vol. 3 No. 2, pp. 94-110.

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Microteaching

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I have selected the marketing promotional posters that contain cultural information as the objects. Considering we are an online group and have limited face-to-face interaction with each other, I provided multiple example posters before I moved to the activity.

I did my microteaching on 29th Jan 2025, which is the Chinese New Year. Considering this special event and my teaching specialism, fashion marketing, I then decide to focus on the cultural posters as the objects in my microteaching design.

The main learning outcomes for my microteaching design are communication and understanding of key concepts (e.g. branding, style, etc.). Considering participants’ diverse backgrounds, they may not fully understand what is culture, why culture is important in fashion marketing, how to use cultural elements correctly to maximize the promotional effect, etc., I started the session with an introduction to culture in fashion marketing with few examples in bullet points. Then I presented 6 examples from 6 different fashion brands, which are specifically designed for the Year of Snake 2025. These 6 examples include some similar designs or applications of the Year of Snake, participants are encouraged to consider the similarities between the posters.

After the presentation of cultural poster examples, I listed 3 questions for participants to consider, which include:

  • What cultural elements you can identify from those advertisements?

                (i.e., color, element, language, special day, etc.)

  • What’s the origin of the identified culture?

                 (i.e., eastern culture, western culture, country/regional culture?)

  • What’s the main message these advertisements would like to deliver to customers?

                 (i.e., who can use the product, how the product can be used, any                              marketing purposes for profit, etc.)

Then an activity that offers participation brainstorming and practice opportunities followed. The activity was designed to include 2 parts: Participants need to reflect on what we learned from the 6 examples, then find and share an object that contains cultural considerations themselves, and share it with the class. Group discussion for ideas sharing purposes followed.

Various feedback and suggestions for further improvement have been received from peers, both highlighted the good microteaching design and a few areas still can be further improved. For example, participants suggested that more examples in the earlier slide introduce cultural patterns/colour, i.e., Christmas; and I could collect a collective understanding of culture by using the pool to monitor the learning outcomes (Daniel and Broida, 2004; Nuci et al., 2021).

In the future, I will continue with good structures and content design and also try to include a few quizzes to monitor whether participants are engaged and achieve the set learning outcomes.

Slides used for Microteaching is available here: TPP microteaching.pptx

 

Reference:

Daniel D. B. and Broida J., 2004, Using Web-based quizzing to improve exam performance: Lessons learned, Teach. Psychol., vol. 31, no. 3, pp. 207–208.

Nuci K., et al., 2021, Game-Based Digital Quiz as a Tool for Improving Students’ Engagement and Learning in Online Lectures, IEEE Access, vol. 9, pp. 91220 – 91234.

Microteaching
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Case Study

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Case Study 1: Know and respond to your students’ diverse needs

Besides academic teaching and researching, I am also working as a Year Tutor, to support Fashion Marketing students with their university life. The cases that I received in the Year Tutor role and how I responded are selected for the Case Study of “Know and respond to your students’ diverse needs”.

As a Year Tutor, my responsibilities include organising and completing Personal Tutorials for all allocated students, across all 3 blocks, one tutorial for each block; following up on any issues raised by allocated students (e.g.: Attendance/Attainment, well-being, living, finance, mental health, personal life, etc…); share information with the team as appropriate, i.e., if any cases that need to be paid attention.

During the Induction week in Sep 2024, we introduced the rationale for the compulsory personal tutorial design, and explained when and how students will be contacted for each tutorial, and what they need to prepare for each of them. By doing this, students fully understand what kind of wide support they can receive during their study in LCF. This design follows Johnson et al.’s (2022) statement: “University student support services facilitate student performance, contribute to students’ success, and increase students’ chances of degree completion.”

The personal tutorials for Block 1 are all completed with good attendance. And few students raised their concerns with me during the tutorial, in a private and confidential setting. Further advice has been provided depending on the students’ needs, i.e., 2 students would like to transfer to another course, then I have introduced the related admin teams to students for further information, and I have also cc’ed Course Leaders for their attention; some students said they feel challenging to understand the requirements of an academic report and would like to receive more support on how to do a Harvard Referencing, then I have directed them to Academic Support for further information; as we are an international university with international students from different backgrounds, I do feel few students are not very confidence when they use English in their study, then I kindly provided the information of that LCF do provide Language Support on weekly basis, and it’s free of charge for LCF students, which may help our international students develop their English communication ability step by step.

Now I am still doing the 2nd personal tutorial in Block 2, by reviewing Block 1’s personal tutorial’s outcomes and students’ attendance, I decided to divide my available slots before and after Easter, which can provide students extra opportunities to talk with me when needed. Also, considering our students’ international background, I will try to provide a more comfortable communication environment (Arthur, 2017) by offering the option of using either English or Chinese during the tutorial (PD confirmed that it’s OK for me to use other languages for working purposes). I will keep reviewing the outcomes, and reflecting on the following personal tutorials.

 

Reference:

Arthur N., 2017, Supporting international students through strengthening their social resources, Stud. High Educ., 42 (5), pp. 887-894.

Johnson C., et al., 2022, Student support in higher education: campus service utilization, impact, and challenges, Heliyon, Volume 8, Issue 12.

 

 

 Case Study 2: Plan for and support student learning

One seminar that I taught for the Advanced Research Method unit, MA Fashion Marketing and Sustainability, has been selected for the Case Study of “Plan for and support student learning”.

The seminar’s main topic was “how to develop interview questions”, and I selected an example journal paper from the European Journal of Marketing for in-seminar group reading, practice, and discussion.

This example journal contains what we call measures. The measures identify four academic constructs:

  • Fashion clothing involvement
  • Fashion clothing product knowledge
  • Consumer confidence in fashion decisions
  • Materialism

To achieve a successful group discussion, good planning with clear objectives for the session is needed in the beginning (Fry et al., 2009).

In this exercise, I randomly allocated students into groups of 3 or 4 (Hamburger, 1975). Students were asked to plan to conduct qualitative semi-structured interviews with Gen Z (18-25) fast fashion consumers and to question the participants about all four areas as identified in the journal. I highlighted that the practiced research is not about a specific brand or brand.

Students are asked to use the measures as a starting point and devise a 12-question (maximum) semi-structured interview framework based on the four constructs. Post the completed interview framework to Padlet and prepare the in-class discussion.

Group discussions could enrich peer tutoring, peer learning, and peer support, and it could even be interesting to generate some innovative results with different backgrounds. The group discussions could be in a more relaxed environment for the students, discussing their ideas freely with their peers rather than directly showing the ideas to the whole class as individuals. (Lohman and Finkelstein, 2000; Kirschner et al., 2009). Results revealed that learning gain was greater for students discussing in 4-member groups (Corrégé and Michinov, 2021). I also visited each group during the activity for observation purposes, this made it possible for me to identify any potential areas that students may need further clarification.

Although the group discussions did encourage the students to share and show their ideas, this method still has some drawbacks, according to my observation: not every student in the group actively engaged in the discussions, i.e., one or two of the students were quite active and talking about their ideas but some of them are only sitting there and listening to others. In the even worse scenario, the whole group keeps quiet and works separately in the activity. In another scenario, no one would like to be a group representative to share ideas with the class.

Based on the observations and results of the seminar, I understand some potential barriers to group discussions. Also reflecting on my PG Cert sessions, I reconsidered that a recent and interesting case study/ example that can attract more students’ attention is very important. Other points that I will take into future consideration include making sure the students fully grasp the contents from the lecture, adding a question and answer session before the activity, and considering a backup solution for the students who have technology problems with Padlet, i.e., the students to stick the notes on the whiteboard.


Reference:

Corrégé, J-B. and Michinov N., 2021. Group Size and Peer Learning: Peer Discussions in Different Group Size Influence Learning in a Biology Exercise Performed on a Tablet With Stylus. Front. Educ. 

Fry et al., 2009. A Handbook for teaching and learning in higher education: Enhancing academic practice, third edition. Routledge: New York.

Hamburger, H., Guyer, M., and Fox, J., 1975. Group Size and Cooperation. J. Conflict Resolut. 19, 503–531. 

Kirschner, F., Paas, F., and Kirschner, P. A., 2009. A Cognitive Load Approach to Collaborative Learning: United Brains for Complex Tasks. Educ. Psychol. Rev. 21, 31–42.

Lohman, M. C., and Finkelstein, M., 2000. Designing Groups in Problem-Based Learning to Promote Problem-Solving Skills and Self-Directedness. Instr. Sci. 28, 291–307.

 

 

Case Study 3: Assess and/or give feedback for learning

One cross-course unit that I taught a few years, the Principles of Fashion Marketing for Year 1, has been selected as the case for the Case Study of “Assess and/or give feedback for learning”.

This unit introduces the widely used marketing principles to Year One students, and the covered theories/frameworks/models will benefit students in all 3 years of undergraduate study in LCF. This unit is designed with a simulation game that focuses on the marketing practice of the Jeans industry, to offer students a real-life decision-making experience. Two formative assessments with two online tutorials are included in the unit’s Scheme of Work, before the final summative assessment.

Reviewing last year’s students’ feedback, although mostly positive, still raised some issues for further potential action. The feedback stated the combination of theory learning and simulation game decision-making together every week, divided the overall available time into theory learning and reflecting on decision-making every single week, especially during the seminars (Normally one activity designed for theories, one activity designed for simulation game).

Biggs (2003) pointed out that educators need to create a learning environment that “supports the learning activities appropriate to achieving the desired learning outcomes” (p. 2).

So, when we finalized this year’s Principles’ learning structure design, by reviewing the learning outcomes that we set up in the Scheme of Work together with students’ feedback, we Principles’ teaching team re-designed the unit structure and decided to separate the theories learning and simulation game practice separately, which means we focused on the knowledge build-up and real-world fashion marketing cases activities in the 1st half of scheduled weeks, and then in the later half scheduled teaching weeks, we start with the simulation game decision making which focuses on Jean’s company’s strategic decisions and tactical actions for 7 Ps; which can provide our students a more purely learning environment that focuses on theories, before we move to the simulated decision making practise. By doing this, the teaching teams also can support students with either theoretically relevant feedback given in the 1st formative tutorial, or simulation game relevant feedback given in the 2nd formative tutorial.

It is crucial to reflect and respond to the student’s feedback for the unit (Nuthall, 2007). I will continue to work with teaching team members to observe how students find this new structure so that we can moderate existing structures to make sure they can mirror the intended learning outcomes.

Few more actions will be considered to maximize the possibility of learning outcomes achievement, such as inviting more guest speakers to share the most popular marketing practice to encourage students to reflect on the relevant marketing theories, and then try to apply them in the simulation game. Furthermore, a Padlet link is created for the Principles students, encouraging them to post any questions that they’d like to ask or any suggestions for learning activities.

 

Reference:

Biggs, J. B. (2003) AdvanceHE Aligning Teaching for Constructing Learning. Available at: https://www.advance-he.ac.uk/knowledge-hub/aligning-teaching-constructing-learning. (Accessed 06 March 2025)

Nuthall, G. (2007). Hidden Lives of Learners. The chapter on understanding how students learn and remember what they learn. NZCER Press

UAL (2025). Designing Teaching. Available at: https://www.arts.ac.uk/about-ual/teaching-and-learning-exchange/resources/designing-teaching (Accessed 06 March 2025)

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