During a tutorial with Lindsay about assessment we discussed the issue I have with a specific pattern cutting exercise students perform in year 2: “wire up/down”, an exercise aimed at teaching students how to prepare patterns differently for a bra that is wired on the cup and one that is wired on the cradle.
Through conversation it transpired that students find this exercise difficult because it is purely paper-based, and they are more comfortable with the 3D element of the mannequin. I had also observed that, whilst most students complete it, they are often unable to recall the knowledge when working on their own designs in later projects.
Lindsay also advised there was a disconnect in the constructive allignment, between what was assessed and the expected learing outcomes, which meant, whilst I assessed if the studetns had completed the activity, I was not assessing if the learning outcome had been achieved.
In order to make the activity more effective I decided to redesign the format of the exercise to include 3D work on the mannequin. This year’s cohort presented a particular advantage as there is a large number of re-takers who would have done the exercise in the previous format too, giving them an alternative approach, hopefully a more successful one, and an opportunity for comparison, resulting in feedback for my benefit.
The re-designed session run fairly smoothly, and students responded well to the task and completed the exercise successfully – some required extra time after the session, which I was available for during supervised studio time.
After the session I asked for feedback from the re-takers. They confirmed that they could visualise the issue better in 3D and could relate it to a potential garment, whilst they found the purely paper-based exercise less clear.
The students are tasked with recreating the shape of an M&S bra by taping the mannequin.
The shape of the M&S bra is recreated on the mannequin by “designing”drawing” in 3D with black adhesive tape.
One thing I also observed during the exercise is that some students were still struggling with their 3D skills, and needed guidance whilst reproducing a bra shape from 2D (picture) to 3D (stand). Thus, the workshop also served as an opportunity to highlight students who are yet not comfortable with this task, and also helped all students reinforce or practice the skill.
One drawback on the session was that, with the 3D task being the first part of the exercise, not all students were ready to progress to the pattern cutting task when required. I tried to obviate this problem by cadencing the execution of the 3D task giving them a time target for completion and reminders during the task.
For this term, it has not been possible to target the assessment of the learning outcomes without disrupting the Scheme of Work and the Checklist already distributed to the students, so I have not tackled this problem for now and I will discuss this further in another blog.
Resources
Ghigi, C. (2024) ‘Wire up/down workshop handout and exercise’. FU010130: Professional project. University of the Arts London. Unpublished
Images
Fig 1-3 Ghigi, C. (2024) ‘Wire up/down workshop handout and exercise’. FU010130: Professional project. University of the Arts London. Unpublished