The task was to arrange for a colleague who is also taking the PgCert to observe my teaching practice. I worked with Xunnan Li as he also teaches on the same course and is familiar with online teaching. As my ‘live’ teaching for the year had already finished, I exchanged recorded sessions with Xunnan for feedback purposes.
PART 1: Completed by Me
What is the context of this session/artefact within the curriculum? This session is week 4 of Unit 5 (Business Models and Planning) on MA Arts and Cultural Enterprise. It is an online session with the UK cohort.
How long have you been working with this group and in what capacity? When this was recorded I had completed 3 weekly sessions with the students and an in-person face-to-face teaching weekend.
What are the intended or expected learning outcomes? For students to have an understanding of some of the different business models which exist. I also discuss not for profit models and the differences between charities and social enterprises. I use case studies to bring the examples to life.
What are the anticipated outputs (anything students will make/do)? This should be useful content for their Unit 5 assignment in which they need to discuss the business model for their cultural venture.
Are there potential difficulties or specific areas of concern? As it is an online session, it can be difficult to get students to engage in the content. Attendance is often lower than I would like at these sessions. Also there is the challenge of the students all having very different professional backgrounds and therefore some have greater knowledge of the content than others – it can be difficult to find the right level for the content at times.
How will students be informed of the observation/review? As it’s pre-recorded there’s no need to tell students.
What would you particularly like feedback on? My delivery, clarity of content, choice of content and engagement with students
How will feedback be exchanged? Via email or perhaps on teams call
PART 2: Completed by Xunnan Li
The session is about different business models in arts and cultural sectors. It firstly introduces various types of business models, providing their history and clear definitions. Then, it proceeds with a more critical analysis and evaluation of these models. One of the most intriguing aspects is the next part, where real-world examples are linked to the models to enhance students’ understanding.
General thoughts:
This session is very thought-provoking! I learned a lot. The categorization of types of business models is very clear, with a strong logic behind it. The incorporation of numerous real-life examples and detailed case studies is very impressive. As an observer, I can truly connect it with my industrial experience.
Content of the session:
1. The housekeeping at the very beginning of the session is very thorough and thoughtful.
2. Almost all examples are provided with contexts, which gives students more real-world experience.
3. Your approach of engaging students through typing is highly inclusive and effective.
4. You also check with students whether they have questions or comments, which is so considerate for students.
5. It is also nice to give students a chance at the end of the session to ask questions, with a very warm ending to the session.
Things to think about:
1. I’m wondering if it would be helpful to provide a content page for students to better understand the learning outcomes of the session.
2. There could be more time or chances for students to work during their group discussions.
3. It may be helpful to give a bit of time after each model for students to think about it before we go into detailed case study analysis.
PART 3: My Thoughts
This was really helpful and encouraging feedback. I am fairly new to teaching so I find this to be confidence inspiring and I’m really glad to hear that Xunnan found the session informative and interesting.
Although I focus a lot of learning outcomes at the start and the end of my unit, perhaps they could appear more thoughout the sessions – making it very clear what the students are learning and how it ties into the wider outcomes for the unit. I will review my teaching materials for this session and think about how I can make this more explicit.
I will also consider timing and whether group work and greater thinking time can be afforded. It’s always tricky to know where the balance is with this as I’m conscious also of not losing student’s attention if I give them too long to complete a task.
In relation to Xunnan’s third point, I will endeavour to slow the pace of the sessions a little and allow more time for questions / discussion in general.