In one of my previous blog posts, I have been referring to learning from the past and the importance of not repeating the same mistakes in the future. As I was offered in the past (all the way back in 2016) a role of University Lecturer Majored in Game Design teaching specifically Object Orientated Design & Development for University in Changde, Hunan Province (4h / 400 km outside of Wuhan) I have been following closely any developments from People’s Republic of China.
This is why I got really concerned about the new flu disease developing and being reported as early as in January by various mainstream media (AFP 2020, Associated Press in Beijing 2020, BBC 2020) as I am old enough to remember the SARS outbreak almost 20 years ago I knew it can get bad really quickly, as since then international travel and trade only grew and there were no significant investments to prevent this from reoccurring (Gates, 2015). What made matter worse was that at that point, there was already chatter about the potential second bigger wave of UCU strike actions, which were later confirmed in February (UCU, 2020).
Both of those events made me realise that it is only a matter of time until my students learning will be heavily disrupted and/or fully cancelled with no access to facilities. This is why I have decided and informed my line manager to speed up my teaching delivery to close off the year as early as I can. I focused on presentations and materials needed for my students’ final year projects and skipped over some in-the-work extras that would smooth out the curve. I have made it with the full awareness that I will go into summer term (if such would even take place) with no teaching materials at all as I was delivering month-long materials (based around practice and activities) within a week by skipping the practice, in the class and shifting it to homework + online support, and focusing on the theory side. I am able to do this as a major part of materials I teach is available online on my course Moodle page and can be worked on by students either in class or at home, but this was a conscious choice in delivering and teaching such way to make this possible.
Also consequentially I have cancelled extra activities like year 3 and year 2 students coming to see 1st years and talking about their experience prior to the student survey, to push the survey earlier on all 3 years and getting 100% response rate from all participating students for both years 1 and 2, and over 80% for year 3. As I wanted to be evaluated based on their experience so far, and knowing what we have done right or wrong, rather than external factors outside of my control dominating the dialogue. I am looking forward to the results, whatever they may be.
I do think that IF this turns into a pandemic and IF we go into lockdown or for any reason we will be forced to do distance teaching (as we would not have enough prep time or experience to do online teaching, which requires very different skillset) I do believe it is going to impact not only our intake for years to come but how we run the day to day operations. I do think that universities to cut costs and increase class sizes will push for reduced in-class contact hours to swap them with online 1/1 tutorials or even subject delivery as it will relieve many of their resources.
As such I might not be able to have time to keep this Blog up-to-dated as much as I wanted and discuss everything I read, so please feel free to check out my Trello Board for this Unit and discuss any of the subjects you find interesting down in the comments.
This post has included a presentation from a session with Iestyn representing myself in which I forgot to mention impactful movies. As such I am attaching them with some comments below, and presentation has audio recording to provide some context for the slides. Unfortunately, as the slide is over 10 MB I cannot add it to the blog post itself but please find its copy on my OneDrive.
Slide 1: Presentation started with introducing my name, role, email as well as artistic pseudoname.Slide 2: It followed with showing diversity of the work in games I have done in the past, visualised as a slot machine.Slide 3a: Starts with underlying my pashion for the subject and then expands with the examplesSlide 3b: Demonstrating my Interview while still being a High School student for Industry paper, live TV and Radio interviews and event I founded Zjazd Twórców Gier, renamed to Game Industry Conference (www.gic.gd)Slide 4a: Starter from highlighting my profile as public figureSlide 4b: Demonstrated variety of events, panels and talks I was invited to.Slide 5a: Highligting my educational backgroundSlide 5b: I have BSc (Hons) in Games Design from BNU, MA in Games Theory & Design from BUL and now undertaking PgCert at UALSlide 6: Demonstrates book I choose as impactful on my teaching which is On Games Design (Crawford, 2003) discussing playful nature of learning and gamesSlide 7: Asked for Questions (if you watch the online one in the comments section).
The conversation I had in class with one of my peers (Sheldon) made me reflect on playful aspect on games and it reminded me of a variety of movies that led me to my current role, and impact my teaching and staff/student relation. When I was a small boy several movies made a huge impact on me personally as well as my perception of the role of the teacher:
Stand and Deliver (1988) taught me, that anybody can learn however individual circumstances and needs must be recognised to be able to deliver on both ends. That being a teacher is much more than just a 9 to 5 job, it is a lifetime commitment to the betterment of the world as a whole.
Forrest Gump (1994) and Good Will Hunting (1997) made me aware, that despite not being understood by others you may succeed at your own goals and be much more valuable to society as a whole than you think.
Lean on Me(1989) and Dangerous Minds (1995) taught me that everything in our life is a choice, no matter the circumstances nor skin tone (also the latter inspired my love for Hip-Hop music)
White Squall (1996) taught me that even in the darkest of times what we inspire in students remains for the rest of their lives, and it may take them a different amount of time to realise it and reflect on it.
In my teens and twenties several other movies remained me of those aspects and pushed me to even greater focus on pursuing my dream career (which have happened in 2018):
Facing the Giants (2006) allowed me to think on a longer-term goal, then just a success than just achieving something, you have to look at the journey, not the end goal.
Captain Fantastic (2016) reminded me that the education system as such is broken and does not teach many valuable life-long skills, widening of one’s horizons are also the base of the movie.
Hidden Figures (2016) made many people aware of issues of lack of representation of not only minorities but also genders, that your background should not matter as long as you can do the job.
Gifted (2017) a moving picture of the host of unleashing someone’s potential for the greater good of society but at a price of childhood versus individuals values, plans for life and happiness.
References:
Captain Fantastic. (2016). [Online] Matt Ross. dir. USA: Electric City Entertainment, ShivHans Pictures.
Crawford, C., 2003. On Game Design. Indianapolis, In.: New Riders.
Dangerous Minds. (1995) [Online] John N. Smith. dir. USA: Hollywood Pictures, Don Simpson/Jerry Bruckheimer Films, Via Rosa Productions.
Facing Giants. (2006). [Online] Alex Kendrick. dir. USA: Carmel Entertainment, Destination Films, Provident Films, Samuel Goldwyn Films, Sherwood Pictures.
Forrest Gump. (1994). [Online] Robert Zerneckis. dir. USA: Paramount Pictures.
Gifted. (2017). [Online] Marc Webb. dir. USA: Dayday Films, FilmNation Entertainment, Fox Searchlight Pictures.
Good Will Hunting. (1997). [Online] Gus Van Sant. dir. USA: Be Gentlemen Limited Partnership, Lawrence Bender Productions, Miramax.
Lean on Me. (1989). [Online] John G. Avildsen. dir. USA: Norman Twain Productions, Warner Bros.
Hidden Figures. (2016). [Online] Theodore Melfi. dir. USA: Fox 2000 Pictures, Chernin Entertainment, Levantine Films.
Stand and Deliver. (1988). [Online] Ramón Menéndez. dir. USA: American Playhouse, Olmos Productions.
White Squall. (1996). [Online] Ridley Scott. dir. USA: Buena Vista Pictures
During the first session, all three cohorts were put together, that meant that over 100 people would be in the same space. I was able to assist with some classroom setup, which I also used to research the best possible locations to sit (as due to my dysgraphia and other learning difficulties I work from my laptop all the time and need access to power sockets) unfortunately none were available for attendees as all leads were locked around the presentation desk.
My group consisted of the following people:
John – T&L Staff for PGCert
Richard – CTS Fine Art @ Wimbledon
Simon – AL Spatial Design @ Chelsea
Manrutt – Lecturer Fashion Styling & Production @ LCF
Tascha – Wood Workshop @ CSM
One more gentleman whose name I do not remember (sorry!)
However I have found dreadful the behaviour of the full room of academics, they did not pay attention to the lecturer who had to flashlights and whistle to get crowds attention, what is worse they left the classroom in total disarray and filled with rubbish. Personally, if that is the way how some of my colleagues act as students I am concerned about the way they teach and care for students, obviously it was not all of them, but still, such behaviour should not occur, we are too old for this.
Despite difficulties in taking notes and other things we have had a very interesting exchange of views and opinions due to our varied backgrounds and tried our best to argue for our world view. I was doing my best to back my stance with real-world examples that I will attempt to present and refer to below. Those references may not be “academic”, but I personally believe that we should reach out always for best practices and “common sense” rather than just books or theories.
Examples used:
Jack Ma is the founder of Alibaba, one of the biggest e-commerce companies in the world, but he is also a former academic. In his 2018 visit to Davos, he presented several very interesting points in the way how he runs his company and how he believes people should learn and teach. I will quote only some fragments, but the whole hour-long interview is attached below.
The first view he presented was based on age. That in your 20s you should follow a good leader, and learn proper attitude, that gives you skills to do something for yourself where you are in your thirties. However, when you reach the 40s you should focus on what you are good at, and not risk it. When you are in your 50s you should focus on training a new generation, and afterwards in 60s focus only on the family (Ma, 2018). I find this approach very healthy and allowing for a certain flexibility. But it also puts a pressure on me as a teacher to ensure that I am a “good boss/leader” for my students and that I can help them in moving forward with their lives and not waste their time at HE, as teaching is not just a job for me but rather my mission.
He points out that there is a tendency in the West on focusing on survivor bias (‘Survivorship bias’, 2020) stories, those who made it, rather than learning from those who have failed. We all will encounter hardships, struggles, issues and pitfalls, learning from those who did not make it, prepares us for them and allows us to be ready and know what to do when they come (Ma, 2018). After all, if you follow only successful people, you follow their footsteps and can get only as far as they did, but if you step off the path, who knows what awaits you? Everyone would like to be the next this or that, him, her or them, but what if everybody were just themselves?
As academics like myself often struggle with imposter syndrome, it is impressive to learn that Ma believes in surrounding himself in people who are smarter and better than he is at any of the fields necessary to make his business work. He does believe that thanks to those people and their skills and experience it is easier to run company, as they do believe in a long-term vision, and can be creative and pro-active, instead of just focusing on day-to-day 9-5 tasks and going home without the passion. However many of those people are individuals and managing them is a challenge in its own, as every day is fighting for survival (Ma, 2018). This part is very strongly related to our course where we focus on the promise of the show with the games industry, a possibility of building a network of connections, of showing your skills and being offered opportunities. However on the way every day, every class, every submission is a constant fight for the quality, for the support, for the well-being of each and every one of our students
Next point made by Ma relates to the work of Dall’Alba I have discussed in my previous blog post. The teacher should always have a desire for their students to do better, to become better, to succeed in life, otherwise, they are terrible teachers (Ma, 2018). However to achieve that, not only teacher should expect that other people can, and often times are better than them, but they should have a constant desire to learn more and share that love of learning with others. (Ma, 2018).
Ma points out that for past 200 years our education system has been knowledge-based and that we have to change, as, with the constant progress of technology, machines will be better than us in next 30 years or so. So for our children to have a fighting chance we should teach them something unique and different (Ma, 2018):
Value
Believing
Independent thinking
Teamwork
Care for others
And this can be achieved by a greater focus on:
Sports
Music and painting, or arts in general
Ensuring that we are different than a machine, that we are more human than machine. After all, we already have not only Artificial Intelligence that beats the best human players at traditional games like Chess (BBC News, 2017) or a game of Go (Vocativ, 2017) but even as complex Real-Time Strategies like Starcraft 2 (Statt, 2019) with hundreds of variables. We also already have AI that creates games, either by mixing and matching (Greene, 2018) or building from scratch: 2D (Dormehl, 2018) and 3D (Bedford, 2018b). Or even creates sceneries with a high amount of details (Takahashi, 2019) or even whole pieces of art (Bedford, 2018a).
Ma is also a strong believer that man-made environmental disasters are a reflection of our heart, values presented with Knowledge-Based education system. The system obsessed with getting more, knowing more and always looking outwards for more, instead of inside. And the Big Data, our habits, our desires, who we are makes machines know us better than we do (Ma, 2018).
This video from Davos 2015 can help in better understanding some of Jack Ma background and views:
A similar yet slightly different approach is presented by Sal Khan, founder of Khan Academy. He does believe that the rigid structure of academia – repeated teaching, homework, assessment, acknowledging gaps in one’s knowledge and then moving on rather than filling them (and thus mastering the concept) causes people to believe in a fixed mindset and incapability of learning a new subject (Khan, 2016). The concept of mastery, repetition and learning until something is learnt in full and only then moved on to the more advanced stage – as it is in karate or music (Khan, 2016).
However, education is not set up for mastery, but rather a continuous progression, as people are grouped by aged and moved according to curriculum week by week. Even if examination identifies lacks knowledge (any score below 100%) it is not being focused on and improved, but rather left behind and moved on to more advanced subjects that are building on those lacks. This will finally be shown by crumbling students confidence, disengaging them and making them believe that they cannot learn the subject. (Khan, 2016)
He uses a metaphor of education being like house construction, which reminded me of Shearing Layers concept from Stewards Brand’s book “How Buildings Learn: What Happens After They’re Built”. Khan says that if we use a contractor to build a house and give him a fixed deadline, that every 2 weeks inspection will come in to decide to progress or not with construction. After the first 2 weeks, foundations are not finished but they get 80% and pass, then the first floor, second, but by the time we get to the third the structure collapses. Obviously, we could blame the contractor and inspection, argue that maybe we employed the wrong person or maybe that inspections were not sufficient, but what really happened is that issues and gaps have been identified but where left behind rather than acted on, ensuring a variable outcome, failure. Failure not on the contractors nor inspectors end, but of the whole process, as the process in itself, is broken (Khan, 2016).
Khan recommends turning the system up-side-down, to keep as a variable when and how long students take on the material and the only fixed element should be the outcome – student mastering the subject. Students should be taught how to have grid, perseverance, agency over their learning and focus on mastery, rather than building on incomplete knowledge (Khan, 2016).
With advancements of modern-day techniques such an approach is no longer impractical:
Students should have access to explanations on their own time and pace (on-demand videos, annotated class materials)
Students should be provided with adaptive exercises for practice and feedback
Similarly to Ma, Khan points out that we are moving out from the Industrial Age into the Information Revolution, and that will bring consequences to the fibre of society. A small creative/ownership class build on wider bureaucracy and much bigger manual labour is no longer functional as automation and computerisation are taking over the last two. But what if we inverse the pyramid, what if by mastery of concepts we unlock everyone’s potential to be creative and have input into our society? (Khan, 2016)
This approach is something I have tried to utilise on my course this year. I have added a variety of weekly activities (Workshop on Moodle) to check students progress and engagement and as soon as it dropped acted on it and tackled it together with my course leader. We both came with different types of activities that engaged students differently and helped us to assist disengaged students who wanted to stay on course but struggled and did not want to admit to it earlier on.
Neil deGrasse Tyson argues that visibility matters, as it provides “existence proof” if somebody got somewhere, it means I could be there even if I do not know how, despite my background and ethnicity. And “that can have a tremendously invigorating force on your ambition” (deGrassse Tyson, 2020).
He also pointed out that he thinks that idea of exact role model is overrated, due to its impossibility. Giving himself as an example, there was no dark-skinned person who left the Bronx and became Astrophysicist, so if he would require such a model to succeed he would not. However there were other people, of different skin tones, that got out of the Bronx, who succeeded in life, who were scientists and used several characters to create his own A La carte Role Model. As he points out it is not about the person but overlaps in the type of challenges and hurdles and approaches to them (deGrassse Tyson, 2020).
One of his final remarks was also in terms of the structure of current education system which he summarised as follows: “You spent years teaching your kids how to walk and talk, first few years, and the rest of their lives to shut up and sit down, let them free-range” (deGrassse Tyson, 2020).
Facebook video is available here (deGrasse Tyson, 2020).
The last person I have mentioned was Sir Ken Robinson and his great Ted Talks. He focuses on them not only on the benefits to the economy of reducing kids drop-out rates from schools (that in the US can reach 60-80%) but also disengaged students who are left behind in the system of education. (Sir Robinson, 2013)
He believes that there are three principles on which human life flourishes:
We are naturally different and diverse
Curiosity is our engine of achievement
Our life is inherently creative and we make it as we go
However, they are contradicted by the culture of education.
Educational policies are focused on conformity to narrow spectrum of pre-selected criteria, not diversity
Teaching is not just delivery, but a creative profession that requires a broad approach
The dominant culture of education is not teaching or learning but standardised testing and compliance
He believes similarly to Ma, that Math and Sciences are not sufficient and “A real education has to give equal weight to the arts, the humanities, to physical education.” as “Kids prosper best with a broad curriculum that celebrates their various talents, not just a small range of them” (Sir Robinson, 2013). Also he believes similarly to Ma, that teaches should mentor, stimulate, provoke and engage to help students to become more and achieve great things. That education is about learning, and without it, there is no education. Teacher role to be fulfilled requires the facilitation of learning which clearly refers to Heideggers quote I used in the previous post that “Teaching is more difficult than learning because what teaching calls for is this: to let learn.” ( Heidegger, 1968, p. 15).
Similarly to Khan, Sir Robertson points out that the most successful education programmes that are alternatives to the mainstream are the ones that provide individualised teaching and learning. (Sir Robertson, 2013) By recognising their student’s needs and capabilities they are able to engage them, spark their curiosity and build on their individuality and creativity, similarly to concepts of mastery presented by Khan. Similarly, he points out that the biggest asset academic institutions have is their staff, and investment in them and allowing them to run classes to get the job done brings the best results, as similarly to Dall’Alba I quoted on the previous post there is certain discretion in the relation between teachers and students that can bring the best out of everybody involved.
Sir Robertson believes that having a mechanistic conception of education is incorrect, that data and fine-turning are not going to work as the process is human, it thrives under certain conditions and suffers under others. Beneath the surface, there are seeds of possibility, but they would not grow until the right conditions arrive. This is why leadership in education should not be about command and control, but climate control to create a climate of possibility through:
a different sense of possibility
a different set of expectations
a broader range of opportunities
As you hopefully can see, there is a great correlation with approaches of those successful men and how they see flaws and chances for education to benefit us on a global scale, as a human race. Art may not be the best value for money in terms of career, but it is opposite for investment. It reflects our deepest desires and fears, it communicates to us on much deeper normally untouched levels and it makes us more human. This is why I am proud to be part of the teaching team on the course with high (96%) student satisfaction (Discover Uni, 2020) at #2 Art and Design University in the World (Tseukouras, 2020), 2nd year in a row (Cooper, 2019).
References:
BBC News (2017) Deep Blue vs Kasparov: How a computer beat best chess player in the world – BBC News. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KF6sLCeBj0s (Accessed: 9 April 2020).
Heidegger, M. (1968). What is called thinking? (F. D. Wieck & J. G. Gray, Trans.). New York: Harper & Row.
Jack Ma in World Economic Forum (2018) Jack Ma: Love is Important In Business | Davos 2018. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zzVjonyHcQ (Accessed: 9 April 2020).
Neil deGrasse Tyson in Steve on Watch (2020) Are Role Models Overrated? Hear Why Neil deGrasse Tyson Says Yes! Available at: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=144588640052085 (Accessed: 9 April 2020).
Sir Robinson, K. in TED (2013) How to escape education’s death valley | Sir Ken Robinson. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wX78iKhInsc (Accessed: 9 April 2020).
Prior to our first session, we were asked to read two texts of varied length and complexity. I will try to summarise them as I understand them and then reflect on them one by one. Finally, I hope to conclude with comments on the in-session team activity.
First Text – Holmwood
In his chapter on “Race and Neoliberal University: Lessons from the Public University” Holmwood started from discussing changes to Higher Education funding in England. More specifically its marketisation and removal of public funding for arts, humanities and social sciences while STEM studies would upkeep their funding due to their significance to the economy (Holmwood, 2018; p.37). The main argument behind it is for the student to recognise studying as an investment in the future, a shift from “a social right to it being a personal responsibility of individuals and their families” (Holmwood, 2018; p.38).
This shift according to him, instead of resolving socioeconomic inequalities will only reinforce them under the impersonal face of the market, rather than ‘status’ which varied forms – class, race, gender prevailed as factors of institutionalised differential treatment in public Universities. (Holmwood, 2018; p.38-39)
The changes to the funding systems are some of the latest changes to the everchanging climate of HE started in the 60s (Robbins Report, 1963). HE meant to be a foundation for the continuous growth of the economy and society as a whole by providing a public benefit (Holmwood, 2018; p 42-43) of:
a skilled and educated workforce (para. 25)
HE producing cultivated men and women (para. 26)
securing the advancement of learning through the combination of teaching and research within institutions (para. 27)
providing a common culture and standards of citizenship (para. 28)
Holmwood argues that HE should remain public to serve its purpose, but even to do it it has to be decolonised. Only by doing so, it would be able to extend and enact social justice on foundations of social structures that are the cause of disadvantage of many due to racialised difference and inequality (Holmwood, 2018; p 50). While personal responsibility does not provide means to challenge it, but rather keeps it untouched.
I have found this text to be easy to follow and understand. I do believe that going to University and being educated to a higher level is a privilege and not a right. Yet being able to choose to study at HE level is a fundamental right, that should be available to all purely based on their capacity of understanding and benefiting from it, their merit as per article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (United Nations, 1998). And it should be a personal choice to or not to study, and if one chooses to study, it should be their responsibility to tackle the cost of it and get the value for the money. And I do hold this belief due to my experience of radically different systems:
In Poland, the education is “free” as meaning it is paid by taxes with no real understanding of its costs and value. This causes a variety of issues which I saw and witnessed in my youth within the country and society as a whole:
There is a syndrome of “Eternal student” somebody who constantly changes courses without graduating from any of it as they do not find it worthwhile after year-two of studying it
All school teachers have at least masters qualifications – primary, secondary, high school, you name it, few of them have PhDs.
Variety of lower-paid jobs (cleaners, checkout clerks etc.) also have MA degrees from overfilled courses that do not have many jobs/real-life applications like Political/European studies.
It is often treated as a car park for unemployed (as I have referred to this stance by prof Wolniewicz in my previous post) and even specialised degrees like Game Development do not hold any value in respective industries, they are perceived very often as worthless and people studying them as someone who cannot/does not want to study, to be self-taught and needs to be babysitting all the time.
Students can pursue their careers and gain more education and after receiving final papers move cities and countries with total disregard and lack of gratitude to the investment university and staff have done to help them to get to that point.
On the other hand, we do have an American system where all HE is fully commercialised and paid by individuals:
Parents not only have to tackle mortgages but also set up a “college” funds to enable their children to have a chance at tackling university costs.
As all student loans (even the ones offered by Federal Government) are fully commercial loans they do impact your credit rating, mortgage applications, they can force you into being bankrupt
The cost of education is counted in dozens and hundreds of thousands of US Dollars and with high-interest rates (6-20% a year), it makes them rather impossible to be paid off as proved by many (Baliūnaitė, 2019)
And there we have an education in the United Kingdom. The one very often misunderstood and criticised due to a variety of changes in the last decade and overall political turmoil:
All pre 98 loans have been sold to private companies and missing repayments counts against your credit score as with commercial loans (Lewis, Roberts, 2020)
Loans between 1998 and 2012 are using Plan 1 (and many of them doubled the cost of tuition from £1500 to over £3000) that counts interest based on lower of the two Bank of England rate + 1% or RPI (Lewis and Roberts, 2020)
While 2012 onwards loans on top of tripled (to over £9000) currently charge their students RPI (3.3%) + up to 3% depending on their income now on average of 5.4% (Lewis, 2020a)
This differentiation between years and increase of tuition fee, maintenance loan and interest rate made current students very unease about the total cost of education. Consequentially interest going into thousands have put many off the university and those who decided to pursue it are “forced into colossal debt” (Sultana, 2020)
Due to way Student Loan Company is structured this is a common misconception and is not only limited to naming but also several of its calculations and working outs as presented by Lewis in his “The five changes needed to improve the current student finance system” (Lewis, 2018) a part of a larger process of education and myth-busting undertaken by this well renowned financial advisor (Lewis, 2020b)
I do believe that the British System is the best, as it makes people aware of the costs of Education and allows them to make informed decisions over their future, in stark contrast of commercially predatory system placed in the US (despite tax backing) and hidden costs of education through complex tax spendings in the majority of continental Europe. However, I do find current Interest increase to above inflation levels to be an ill-willed act, that is on edge of being criminal. As with the increase in the fees, it makes just interest rates unmanagable and perceived as a loan (rather than the personal tax that you might contribute to if you earn enough) adds a lot of tension and anxiety. And as a person who has done all of his studies here within the UK, I am speaking from personal experience with the system.
The American system of student loans, is a common theme in various programmes offering financial advise like The Dave Ramsey Show
September Update:
I was able to find following video by Evan Edinger that compares USA and UK Student Loans systems:
Comparison of USA and UK Student Loan Systems
The terms I had to check for this material were:
Neoliberalism – refers to market-oriented reform policies and reducing state influence in the economy most often via privatization and austerity.
Meritocracy (my new favourite before Technocracy) – a political system investing in people on the basis of talent, effort, and achievement, rather than wealth or social class. With progression ensured by a system of examinations and successes.
Questions:
Q: To what extent are individuals personally responsible for their success? A: I do believe that society, ought to fairly provide equality of opportunity, but how that opportunity will develop into the outcome is the sole responsibility of the individual.
Q: What is the justification for some people earning less than others? A: Education, experience, skills, job responsibilities and requirements, surely not gender, orientation, religion or ethnic background.
Q: What does social solidarity mean to you? A: To act as one in time of need, to pay for commonly shared services: Police, Medical, Bin collectors, Sewage and Water systems.
Second text – Dall’Alba
Dall’Alba chapter discusses how we can enhance ways of being university teachers while the academic practice has shifted towards efficiently measurable outcomes due to increase in bureaucratisation, instrumentalisation, professionalisation, vocationalisation, corporatisation and technologisation of the education process (Dall’Alba,2005,p. 362). Further, the argument focuses that epistemology in terms of pursuing measurable knowledge and skill acquisition is insufficient to help people to in ontological term, become a skilful practitioner of their respective field and guide students through this transformative process (Dall’Alba,2005,p. 362-363).
This process can be achieved by creating a relationship between the learner(s), teacher(s) and matter at hand as a shared responsibility of all involved parties. By having this common understanding, a desire to learn can be revealed through any formats (be face to face, or technologically embraced) and be a foundation for improved educational practice (Dall’Alba,2005,p. 363).
As our knowledge and understanding expand we came to the realisation that there is no one and absolute truth, that there are various contexts for various knowledge sources and that the ways we learn are also varied. This process democratises the knowledge and stripes it of its privileged status, which allows us to engage in discussions and critical reflection on our own educational practice, which can only result in better understanding of it and its enhancement (Dall’Alba,2005,p. 363).
However, as a consequence, this new understanding challenges conventional notions of educating how we teach and how learners acquire knowledge. This allows us to contextualise, create, enact and embody the knowledge as not just possession within our minds but an experience that shapes who we are. (Dall’Alba,2005,p. 363)
Considering ontological qualities informs us as teachers, that we no longer transfer knowledge to others. We interact with the vast body of not one but many sources of knowledge and experiences from all participants. Creating together something new, embodying the new perspectives as individuals and as a shared community, which transforms us and our perception. (Dall’Alba,2005,p. 363)
As all participants share what they know, their minds open and learning becomes a group rather than individualised process. However, it should not be perceived as the acquisition of information or just learning by doing but rather transforming one, within the practice by embracing its social aspects as one’s way of living. (Dall’Alba,2005,p. 364)
Dall’Alba in their practice creates an environment in which students can see their own strengths and weaknesses, but also be able to challenge others including the tutor. This closes the gap between their roles as students and teachers, despite being time-consuming. (Dall’Alba,2005,p. 366)
By examining our own practice, taking a step back, looking from a different, bigger perspective we may turn the familiar in unfamiliar. Variety of available literature not only within our practice but also research alongside the experience of our colleagues from varied fields can fuel our critical reflection of our own practice and best practices. And this internal, yet external perspective will support participants in their inner transformation. (Dall’Alba,2005,p. 366-367) It is all achieved by participation in a community that is committed to student learning by establishing a dialogue about participants educational practice and changes to it based on owns practice interrogation and in reference to educational literature & teaching models. Dall’Alba,2005,p. 367)
However, as old habits die hard, it is hard not to resist and become defensive towards one’s olds ways (Dall’Alba,2005,p. 370) As in true teaching, the teacher has as much to learn from their students, as students from their teachers (Dall’Alba,2005,p. 370) rather than assuming its superiority of knowledge possession and students lack thereof (Dall’Alba,2005,p. 364-365)
Teaching is challenging as teachers we have to allow students to journey, to learn in their own way. To let them wander and get lost, so they can find themselves and what they seek (which usually carried with themselves along the way). It is a process of exploration and experimentation, of discovery and becoming of allowing all participants to learn. (Heidegger, 1968, p. 15).
What I had to check to understand this text
Epistemology (theory of knowing) – regards its methods, validity, and scope of obtaining and upkeeping knowledge. Distinctions between justified belief and opinion.
Ontology (theory of being) – Studying philosophical concepts of being, becoming, existing and their relations with reality.
Transmission model – Describes communication as a one-way, linear process (like a radio station and receiver) the transmitted message can be disrupted by a variety of factors like semantics.
Constructivism is a learning theory found in psychology which explains how people might acquire knowledge and learn by constructing new understandings through the process of the first-hand experience.
Dall’Alba chapter started with a very thought-provoking quote by “Teaching is moredifficult than learning because what teaching calls for is this: to let learn.” (Heidegger, 1968, p. 15). It strongly echoes with my personal belief that teaching should not be focused around just theory or just practice but as well as the skilful application of both to one’s personal life. For their studies to become their hobby, for their workshop to become their love, for them to become curious explorers, not only asking “what if” but implementing it and keep moving forward.
For those reasons, I am attempting to have my students engaged not only in the dialogue on the course but also in its structure and materials that are being delivered. They propose ideas or discuss certain mechanics or solutions, which I then turn into in-class activities, workshops or even games. If time allows we are even analysing them in more detail, but this is a very time-consuming activity.
References:
Baliūnaitė, I., 2019. 30 Alarming Posts About How The Student Debt System Affects People’S Lives And It’S Terrible. [online] Bored Panda. Available at: <https://www.boredpanda.com/student-debt-crisis-posts> [Accessed 5 April 2020].
Dall’Alba, G., 2005. Improving teaching: Enhancing ways of being university teachers. Higher Education Research & Development, [online] 24(4), pp.361-372. Available at: <https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07294360500284771> [Accessed 5 April 2020].
Heidegger, M. (1968). What is called thinking? (F. D. Wieck & J. G. Gray, Trans.). New York: Harper & Row.
Holmwood, J. (2018) ‘Race and the Neoliberal University: Lessons from the Public University’ in Bhambra, G., Gebrial, D., Nişancıoğlu K. (ed.) Decolonising the University. London: Pluto Press, pp 37-52.
Managing timetable for full-time work, covering for lost colleagues, tackling additional responsibilities and initiatives and studying PGCert at the same time, visualised.
As I always attempt to be ahead of the game, I decided to schedule my initial tutorial, with a personal tutor (Iestyn) as early as possible. We managed to get it done and over with already on the 3rd of January and to a degree, yet it did not help me with my Imposter Syndrome. The realisation that I am not the only one was not really calming one. Reading articles by a variety of lecturers (Blyth et al, 2018) who feel similar and realising that the issue is often trivialised rather than tackled (Simpkin, 2020) also added to certain self-doubt and burnout.
What is more attending Inductions following week, added even more uncertainty as confusion grew with relation to what type of workload is expected of us. What we meant to submit, how I can fit it around my work and around my students, as I am not going to compromise on my practice and their learning. Those worries grew especially considering that despite asking in my opinion straight yes/no questions I could not receive a clear and unified answer, anything and everything goes is not what tech person wants to hear.
Despite being “forced” to take part in PGCert we are not being covered or recouped by the time it takes to do anything course-related or even to get around to do it. I had to organise my own covers, ensure that all materials were prepared for my students and that I am constantly ahead of the curve, to minimise the potential disturbance to my students by the potential UCU strike action.
I am doing my best to pull my weight and cover as much ground as possible and all this business slowly killing my creativity (Beres, 2017) I somehow manage to attend all related sessions, tutorials and be able to take them in, which was close to impossible due to my specific learning difficulties, so fires continue to burn.
Personally, I do not understand a British notion within the education system that one’s grades cannot be known to others. Maybe I am biased as my whole education prior to HE was in a different system that everybody knew everyone else grades, but nobody really cared. I mean, yeah if somebody was always failing and somebody else was an A* pupil they almost never been friendly, but knowing other people grades enabled me to create support groups for those students, one to one-afternoon classes where I was helping them to better understand the subject and at the same time practice skills I would down the lane require as a teacher – patience, understanding, acceptance of different views, simplification and breakdown of complex concepts.
This approach of mine, using knowledge of other people grades to benefit them and myself was caused by my experience from playing video games and board games. Whenever you play games you can more often than not keep track of peoples score and as such change your strategy. For instance rather than implementing play to win which with luck and aggressive play can cause a positive feedback loop (Salen & Zimmerman, 2004) you may change your strategy to create negative feedback, punish best performing players to bring them in line with the rest and assist everyone else, or at least losing/new players to reduce the gap and balance out the gameplay.
In games like Mario Kart 64 (Nintendo EAD, 1997) the losing players are getting high likely hood of the most disturbing weapons – Thunder (slowing all enemies and making them vulnerable to us driving over them) and Blue Shell (hits anybody on its way while it aims to hit and slow down the first player, whoever that is), that allow them to catch up to players way ahead, in board games, it can be done via rules, as extra bonuses for players depending on their play order as in mobile RISK: Global Domination (SMG Studios, 2017).
I do believe that university should be a chance for students to explore their passions, their personality, their inner self. But this should be done by the students themselves while studying on hopefully right course. A degree that is sold to them with a high price margin on the promise of a better life afterwards: being a better job candidate due to having a respectable degree, getting a better-paid job, employment in their dream career. For those reasons I find it immoral to keep students on the course if they do not want to do it or if they are not engaging and not attending it. Obviously, there are plenty of potential reasons for that:
The student was sold on a title/advertisement only
The student did not read the description of the course (and did not attend any of open days/offer day holders)
The student was forced to go to university by their family and choose “easy sounding course”
The student thought that the course would be different in nature
Variety of personal reasons (mental health, changes in personal circumstances etc.)
Instead of keeping those students on the books, and charging them horrendous amounts of money for something they cannot and do not benefit from they should be contacted and given options to either defer the year or withdrawn. To reduce the amount of anxiety related to the financial debt aspect of University and show them that we care about their well-being and the future right for them more than just having them as a name on our register.
As such I do not agree with several of my colleagues in terms of grading students for their “personal development” and growth as “artists” and people as both are very subjective and do not hold merit when evaluated by external assessors or even different members of the same team giving drastically different grades.
I believe that grading should be reflection of students understanding and application of what has been taught and what they have learnt. And if the course is strongly related to the respective industry, it can reflect as well on their employability and give students honest answers on what is their likelihood of survival outside of the university walls. An approach like this would stop the grade inflation and devaluation of degrees which is a huge problem in modern-day academia (White, 2020). I do believe that grading requirements should be known ahead of the time and given in context to students:
D – This is the bare minimum acceptable. In the case of games, is the most basic, limited barely working due to amount of ducktape and WD-40 game prototype.
C – This is a fair maximum grade if students accomplished all tasks as required and told – simply put they just followed what was expected of them and were not creative at all, they could last in the industry for some time but would not be happy bunnies.
B – This grade requires some creative output from the student, additional mechanic, change in visuals, extra feature, something unexpected and different that lets them stand out of the crowd. They have a fighting chance as employees or as independent artists.
A – This grade should be reserved only for work that shows the industry standard of work ethics and quality, if this person was given a job next Monday they would be able to deliver it and enjoy doing it.
The act of studying should be like a game. Fair and fun with clear rules, yet challenging and adaptive, allowing to be explored by anybody. It should respond to students performance and needs but remain coherent and true to its core to its curriculum. All students should be given the same equality of opportunity, but not equality of outcomes. Grades should be achievements, something that requires commitment, dedication, hard work, time and understanding. Something that will make people who own them proud, and others envy and hopefully motivated to become better and earn them themselves.
References:
Nintendo EAD (1997) Mario Kart 64. [Catridge] Nintendo 64, Europe: Nintendo.
Salen, K., Zimmerman, E. (2004) Games as Cybernetic Systems In Rules of Play. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press. pp. 212-230
SMG Studio (2017) RISK: Global Domination. [Mobile] iOS/Android, World: Hasbro.
During my time at University both formerly as a student and now as staff I have noticed a varied approach to what is being considered a success for a student and a course as such.
Some do believe that University is a teaching ground to provide students with higher qualifications needed for high-skill based jobs – and thus their courses are too industrialised or industry-focused. However, some of the academic institutions do change and adapt to job market requirements (Independent, 2003)
As polytechnics were turned into universities in the late 1990s they looked into ways of how to attract potential students away from more “traditional” institutions. One of the approaches was to offer a huge range of unique courses many of which were dubbed “Mickey Mouse” by former Higher Education minister Margaret Hodge (House of Commons, 2003).
The name came from research analysis that various universities had a too high drop out rate up to 45% due to the “nature of the course”. At those courses, there was no “appropriate rigour and content and purpose” while structure “set students up to fail” rather than to help them “complete their studies, get their degree, and take with them the benefits that that degree offers (House of Commons, 2003)
As a result (House of Commons, 2003) the National Student Survey has been created, External Examiners results meant to be made public and higher importance of continuing QAA institutional assessment. All of those would “give better information to students to make their judgments “.
My BSc felt like a Mickey Mouse course, as within the first two years out of 8 modules only one was directly related to my studies. I had 2 Modules focused on Web-technologies, 2 on Adobe Packages, 2 on the creation of 2D Flash Animations, 1 on 3D and 1 on Games Design which was focused around a single book available of eBay back in the day for £45. Variety of complaints and students drop-out rated forced the course into revalidation and our year 3 was much stronger focused on building individual portfolios, projects and works at the end I was one of two graduates. Yet I am pleased with the experience in three ways.
I know how bad courses can be and I will do anything I can to ensure my students will never experience it
It allowed me to better promote my convention (now GIC.GD ) as a student of Games Design from the UK rather than anybody from anywhere in Poland.
Despite struggles of a full-time job and private life as well as resubmissions on year 2, I managed to graduate and advance to well well-respected MA course that was the next milestone in my career as well as an invaluable experience.
As I was raised in a post-communistic pseudo-democratic country called Poland, we are familiarised with variety of socialistic quotes, that are often presented to us without the original context and left to be “self-reflected” and understood. One especially true for me is apparently Karl Marx one: “Practice without theory is blind. Theory without practice is sterile. Theory becomes a material force as soon as it is absorbed by the masses.” that is attributed to his Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Law [Right? – my own addition], Jan. 1844, MECW, Vol. 3, p. 182 by Gus Hall Action Club (GHAC, 2008), however, I could not verify it with any legitimate source (Marxists, 2000). And as such, I would explain how I did understand its parts for years:
” Practice without theory is blind.” – if you just practice something without a deeper understanding you are barely scratching the surface, you are gear in bigger machinery and as such, you can be easily worn out and replaced.
” Theory without practice is sterile.” – if your work is only theoretical, conceptual and does not have any practical application it does not bear any fruit to society as a whole. Your ideas remain just that, untested concepts, unchecked what-ifs.
” Theory becomes a material force as soon as it is absorbed by the masses.” – as soon as a greater understanding is applied by a bigger group it becomes a force to be reckoned with. This was true for craftsmen unifying into Guilds back in the Middle Ages, and was true for early independent/hobby game developers of yearly 2000s as one of our sayings back in the day was “Make games, and you will be great” which was directed to a lot of “talk” by “wannabe” developers, but no practical conversion of their concepts and ideas into playable prototypes.
Prior to my arrival in the UK, I have seen an interview with Prof. Wolniewicz, a great rationalist philosopher and critic of Marxism who argued strongly that the modern university system has dropped in the quality of academic output, something that he strongly opposed, and is used as a “car park” for unemployed (Wolniewicz, 2008).
He argued that there is less work than potential workers, and studying 3 years for Bachelors or extra 2 for Masters degree offsets them from the main workforce with hopes of finding employment “later”. Which was a true statement not only in the times of financial crisis but in years before that while the Polish economy was adapting to the new capitalistic reality of market-driven supply and demand economy.
This interview and my later interactions with Industry and their experience of the quality of students versus self-taught at home candidates (which were often time better due to passion for learning and practical experience) were eye-opening to me and resulted in me committing to a full transcript in both Polish and English if you are interested in learning more about this fundamental view of my approach to teaching.
This is why personally, I am very pleased with my courses focus. That our premise is built around the all-around industry-inspired teaching with the industry-focused show at the end of it. The show is an opportunity for our students to network and to become employed if their work is showing enough of the premise. That we offer enough practical and theoretical teaching and practice that our students are comfortable to work for themselves and be successful.
This is why I want my classes to feel like industry orientated workshops: giving my students a variety of real-world examples: games, mechanics, challenges, and activities to experience and explore. To let them fail, learn, be challenged and inspired. To let them be creative during their learning while being uncompromised on my expectation of them meeting certain learning criteria. I am aware that they do more “games” in a single first term of their first year than students at other courses throughout the whole 3 years. But all of this, in my opinion, ensures that our students have the best shot at industry job with a varied range of external speakers, events, notifications and opportunities to go alongside their practical skills and theoretical skills.
P.S. Sad truth is that LCC is the biggest single employer of LCC graduates…
Wolniewicz, B. (2008). Interview with Bogusław Wolniewicz for iTVP, Ring. 9th November 2008. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdBPp8TwASo. [Accessed 3 April 2020].
While shopping for a new board game, you may lead yourself via a variety of factors – from external artwork, through someone recommendation to “weight and size”. On occasion, you might have a favourite genre, mechanic,designer or just maximum/recommended amount of players. However, whatever your motivation is, you should always start by reading the rules and agreeing on them.
Otherwise, you may embarrass (Nygren, 2019) yourself by interpreting house-rules (usually misunderstand, or misread versions of originals) as officials rules. This is especially true to long-lasting games like Monopoly, which has dozens of house-rules varieties (Dodgson, 2017) and some of them even made it to official special “House Rules” (Hasbro, 2014) edition.
But how does it refer to academia you may wonder? Our assignment briefs are those rulebooks. Rulebooks that should be easy to pick up and read. Clear in communicating what is expected of the student to be delivered and how it will be marked.
The education before Higher Education is heavily standardised. It is partially due to its industrial roots (Next School, 2016) and partly due to the desire of simplification of the teaching materials and grading nation-wide (Robinson, 2013). Both of those reasons hurt (Robinson, 2013) the whole purpose of teaching: learning and undermine the fact that we all learn slightly differently (Romanelli et all, 2009) and at varying speeds is unquestionable.
I experienced passionate teachers that went above and beyond to inspire students, and who were destroyed by official complaints from students who preferred to “memorise” everything, rather than a variety of approaches provided. On the other hand, I had teachers who ruled by terror, intimidation, homework-pressure and failing anybody, which to degree broke out from the in-class discipline.
The old grading Matrix (UAL, 2011) was not perfect by any means. However, it provided, in my view, clarity:
If there was no Harvard Referencing (standard technique), the grade for Research could not be higher than D.
Your Analysis should not be higher than your Research as it is highly dependant on it.
Each grade is precisely described and can be easily defended by a tutor or challenged by a student.
While the New Assessment Criteria (UAL, 2019a) are at best lacking (UAL, 2019b) as they can be anything and everything due to being described in a uniform vague, generalised and ambiguous manner. Unless it will be clarified between the teaching team and students and put in writing as a sort of contract that this is what is being understood as “Satisfactory Evidence” it is at best an educated guess.
Students journey feels like an unfair game. They all start with particular skills tree, including their strengths and weaknesses and are put against relatively similar challenges. At the end of it, they unlock their Achievements, and despite the same game time, the end results may be highly varied
I have attended several training courses which were participated by staff from all campuses. On those sessions as well as in various office conversations I have heard at multiple occasions how even lecturers delivering units are uncertain how the brief is going to be marked or what exactly is expected of students to be made. Very often they are not authors of it, and it is more of a hand-down project. Even once I heard of a rare instance of some work to be graded in opposite extremes by two tutors who had a very different understanding of “art”, “creativity” and the brief requirements.
Personally, at first, I have found briefs very confusing what is required of us to be delivered as part of the assessment. And the vague and generic explanation of tutors that it can be anything of any form I like is not very helpful – if I meant to build a swimming pool, what is a point in talking about a sea of possibilities?
In the case of the Teaching and Learning unit:
A set of 8 blogposts with no form nor limits (Harvard Referencing recommended but not obligatory?) I will most likely try to hit the border early to vent out and see if it is going to help me to ease on imposter syndrome.
Paragraph on Microteaching session as well as one on Self-Initiated Project are unclear if they can be a blog post within the 8, or they have to be a separate document on its own.
Pre-observations forms and observation reports x3 (of me by peer and teacher and one by me of a peer) I hope to schedule first with my tutor to have a clue of what is expected at least to get some foundation
Does the brief by links to any Elective Unit work mean by Curriculum Design? How the two are linked in terms of grading is unclear.
Case studies are building in total for a short essay of 1500 words seems like a huge task considering my limited amounts of time. As per initial meetings, I am still unclear what those Case Studies are and what they meant to represent.
In the case of the Curriculum Design:
Why there are options? Like why there is the ambiguity of delivering THIS or THAT? It is for me very illogical and confusing, especially that neither is clear at this point:
Annotated curriculum specification (what it even means?) for a proposed whole curriculum (whole as a course, year, unit, block, term, section, class?)
Part-Curriculum modification (is it current course? the one I teach on? Maybe one of competition? Something new?)
&
Curriculum Development plan (Again, what is meant by Curriculum? How can one develop an idea if there is no clear definition of what I expected to be working with?)
Documentation of curriculum planning meeting (Is it something that we meant to write about if we attend those meetings, or is it just imaginary meeting? Is it something to be done among peers or as part of the work experience?)
As such, by having a variety of group orientated methods being implemented and various colleges sharing their knowledge, I feel worse off. I have a feeling of being lost in translation, confused and dumb. As it seems others do not have such issues and are just getting on with it.
Next School. (2016). 6 Problems with our School System. [Online Video]. 15 December 2016. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okpg-lVWLbE. [Accessed: 3 April 2020].
Robinson, K. (2013). How to escape education’s death valley | Sir Ken Robinson. [Online Video]. 10 May 2013. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wX78iKhInsc. [Accessed: 3 April 2020].
Romanelli, F., 2009. Learning Styles: A Review of Theory, Application, and Best Practices. American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, [Online]. 73(1), 09. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2690881/ [Accessed 3 April 2020].
Hi, my name is Thom, but I am better known online under my nickname Fanotherpg. While writing the blog, I will try to be as I am in class, very genuine, self-critical and open.
When I was seven years old, I have announced to my parents that I will:
study in the United Kingdom (at a time I only knew about Cambridge and Oxford, because of the dictionaries, so even London was a no go)
to be a teacher (so I can share my passion with others) and to make games (because I liked playing them, but they were lacking). I have been laughed at.
Now in a new Millenium, I finally emerged on the top with a quite varied portfolio of skills:
I have worked on 0-hour contracts as well as night shifts in great 3 of customer service (retail, leisure and hospitality) both private and chain while balancing my life at Uni (across Bachelors and Masters).
as a person who “represented” industry in press, TV and radio
a founding father of Game Industry Conference – the biggest event of this type in Eastern Europe, and one of the biggest in Europe
a person with industry network across all continents (except for Antarctica, I think)
proud holder B.Sc (Hons) in Digital Games Design and MA (Hons) Digital Games: Theory & Design
After five years of job hunting, I was finally given a chance to do my dream job and teach.
In the first year, I was put in charge of 2.5 units, and my students (with 100% participation) awarded us with 4x 100% (opportunities, fairness, helpfulness, feedback) on USS
However, despite all that, I still feel like an imposter while standing upfront my students and teaching them about the only thing I feel confident about – games. One could say that I know how little I know, and how much more is there to be learnt. That I am aware of my weaknesses and limitations and how much pressure I am putting on myself to prove my worth. But can it be only it? Was this the only reason why I have been postponing posting those blogposts for so long?
And maybe, just maybe this PgCert course will allow me to overcome this syndrome. I hope that getting back to regular studying and reading will spark that wow factor of discovery and self-realisation.
