The first workshop for the PgCert at UAL took place on 12th January 2024 – a great way to start the year! I really enjoyed the day and in particular the opportunity to meet with and get to know colleagues from lots of different parts of UAL. As an associate lecturer who largely teaches online, I don’t always have a strong sense of belonging at UAL so the opportunity to be part of this course is really helpful in getting to know the institution better. Being an arts university, my fellow students are a very creative bunch so I’m looking forward to learning with them over the coming months.

We did a range of different exercises as part of the day which really got me thinking about interactive teaching methods. I made notes on several devices which could be useful when programming my intensive weekend for my course (MA Arts & Cultural Enterprise). For example, passing around a ball of string to make sure everyone has a chance to talk and also getting people up and moving with the simple task of pinning cards on the wall.

We were asked to read one of 5 readings in advance. Mine was about an online object based learning exercise using drawings of botanical flowers to in the context of colonisation. It was quite a long read but really interesting context with a lot of useful learnings. We formed groups of 5 (each had read a different article) and were asked to share the content of the article with the group. I thought this was a really clever way to share insights into a variety of different subjects while also giving us practice in summarising articles and sharing reflections. I tend to read things fairly quickly and absorb them at a high level rather than necessarily engaging indepth with the content. I noticed how some of members of the group had very deeply engaged with their articles and spent many hours reading, digesting and making notes on them. It is a useful reminder for me to make space in my working life to engage fully with the class materials. I could see that my fellow students had gained a lot from their deep engagement with the texts.

We also leared about educational policy and how it has shifted and changed over the years which was really interesting (& slightly depressing!!) context. I am looking forward to the journey the course will lead me on over the coming months.