Teaching practice review #3: review of your practice written by a tutor. 

“Sonia, thank you for sharing your session with me. I really enjoyed reviewing the slides and Padlet and hearing your narrative of the session. One of the things that struck me most was how you had made choices to foster a compassionate and supportive environment and had also built in inclusive practice measures (mostly notably in relation to students providing peer feedback).  

You shared that students had been introduced to the Creative Brief task in advance, and that you had shared examples and prompts to support their preparation. Students knew in advance that this would be a group work session. 

You start the session by reiterating what they will be required to do in the session. This helps to reinforce what was covered previously and allows any students who hadn’t been at the previous session (or had forgotten it) to be orientated. 

You let me know that you use a standardised activity format. I shared that this may contribute to a sense of consistency, safety, and predictability for students – which can be particularly important when students are presenting work and may feel nervous. 

You also provide a clear structure for feedback; this is good practice, as it helps to ‘teach’ feedback skills rather than assuming students are practiced at this. Your prompts were designed to help to ensure that students give balanced and developmental feedback, rather than simply focusing on the positive. We talked about how you might bring student voice into developing the feedback rules, to promote a sense of autonomy, and we talked about considering the pros and cons of each approach. 

You made an active decision to allow students to choose their own groups, recognising that this may support them in terms of confidence presenting to others. You also kept groups small, with 4 participants in each group. I shared that this is thoughtful practice which may help to foster a compassion in the space. 

You gave students two ways that they could provide feedback – either verbally ‘on the fly’, on the Padlet, or both. I explained that offering choice is really good inclusive practice – some students may find it easier to respond verbally, while giving written feedback works better for others (particularly students who may take longer to process their ideas, or may be non-dominant speakers of English). I forgot to mention, too, that my recent research found that students often don’t remember the feedback that they’re given because they’re so stressed by presenting – so having the Padlet for written feedback supports students to refer back to the feedback they received, too. 

We talked how you moved between groups, as you were unsure about whether you had taken the best approach. I understood your approach to be facilitative and responsive, stepping into groups where you felt this was necessary. By allowing students to manage their own discussions, it helps to create a culture where student feedback is as valuable at the tutor’s. The use of Padlet also allowed you to provide written individual feedback, alongside the student feedback, to support students in their ongoing work. 

I asked about the assessment criteria and/or success measure for the session, as I wasn’t completely clear on this from the slides. You explained that this was provided in the templates that were shared, and verbally in the briefing. You said that success would be ensuring your group is clear on your idea. This answered my question well, and I wondered whether students would benefit from having that information on the slides – something to reflect on, perhaps. 

I also asked about what might happen if students found presenting in groups too stressful. You recalled that a couple of students who usually attend consistently did not attend this session, suggesting that presentation anxiety may have been at play. We talked about how to offer alternatives/choice to students who may need this, while ensuring that things are fair. After we had spoken, I was reminded of a famous cartoon which you may have seen before (included below) about the difference between equality (the same for everyone) and equity (different provisions depending on what people need), in case this is a helpful visualisation for when you find yourself in similar situations in future.