Microteaching workshop
So, blogging! Here we go! This doesn’t feel at all like my food blogging; this time I am not sure what to write or where I am going, but I’ll never get there if I don’t make the first step.
The object based learning microteaching workshop was an interesting experience. I felt very out of place and inadequate whilst preparing and presenting, but really enjoy taking part.
Prepping for my microteaching activity
Firstly I had to decide what to base my micro-teaching on and this was the first hurdle. Based on the fact that my audience was quite mixed, i struggled to find something about Fashion Contour that was basic enough to get started with. I also thought that turning up with a bunch of knickers probably wasn’t appropriate. Actually writing about it makes me have so many more ideas (I could have talked about elastics!). I settled on corsetry because it felt like something strongly present in collective minds.
I was inspired by a reading suggested during the seminar (unfortunately i did not take note of the reference and cannot find it again) and the “trial of objects”… but didn’t want to just copy that format. I thought that design teams regularly go through a sort of trial, when they decide what components, looks, colours to go for. So i structured it around that process.
My microteach activity
My Micro-teach activity was based on the different types of boning that can be used in a corset.
Firstly i used the fact that most participants would not know what the objecs were, and got them to guess. I alticipated Flo would already know, so enlisted her to answer yes-no questions from the others in their attempt to guess.
Then I asked the participants to discuss which was best, the way a design team would. I tried to obviate the fact they did not have the required knowledge by allowing them to make things up.
How it went.
The group was very keen to take part, and the guessing game went well. I did struggle to hold back from answering the questions at first and allow Flo to lead that part, so I had to bite my tongue a couple of times.
The second part was a bit messy. In hindsight it would have been good to give them a brief of sort. I had not wanted to be too specific because I wanted to see what they would come up with, and they were quick to think of some options of their own.
I enjoyed the fact that it was an open conversation and everyone got to participate – I was worried that some may hold back with undefined roles.
Considerations
Compared to how unsure I was about it, it went better than expected. It didn’t feel as much fun as others, or as perfectly formed as Liz’s post-it action plan, but I was pleased by the effort my peers made to engage with the activity and I was able to gage some reactions from pleople who are unfamiliar with the corset componentry. Aspects of sustainability, cost and performance were raised, and inpiration was taken from the look of the spiral steel boning. It never occurred to me that the aesthetic of something essentially meant to be hidden would prevail.
Ultimately, the activity may have intrigued others, but it was valuable to me to gauge the reaction of complete beguinners, something that as an expert I am sometimes blind to. It has also highlighted to me the importance of defining requirements more clearly, setting a brief.
Others’ activities
I found the other micro-teaching activities fell into two categories: fun or reflective. It was great to see everyone involved in games or reflective tasks, and how these could instigate thoughtful considerations, like the face of AI (Adam’s). I did find however that with most activities it stopped at that, a fleeting consideration, whilst Liz’s post-it exercise (action plan to make a cup of tea) really inspired me to create an activity for my students, as I could see the practical benefit it brought.