Monthly Archives: October 2024

Reflecting on my Second Group Tutorial

Reflective Posts, Unit 3

During the second workshop at LCC, my colleagues and I discussed and shared feedback on our data collection methods. This was more helpful than I anticipated because I received valuable feedback on modifications I hadn’t already considered.

My original semi-structured interview questions were:

  1. Can you explain what your experience of neurodiversity is as an individual and/or academic practitioner?
  2. Based on your experience, what is your top tip for teaching neurodiverse students?
  3. How well do you think the workshop plan addresses the needs of neurodiverse students of colour?
  4. Are there any aspects of the workshop content or delivery that you think could be challenging or not inclusive enough for this group?
  5. What suggestions do you have to make the workshop more engaging for students with different learning styles and disabilities?
  6. Is there anything specific you think should be added, removed, or modified to make the workshop more effective for this audience?

My colleagues advised me to write an introductory paragraph to introduce the key subjects my study entails and give context to my workshop plan and research aims. They also recommended I send my material in advance and schedule a 30 minute meeting to not put colleagues off from participating. Finally, they advised me to conduct the interviews on Teams so I can share my material and easily record the sessions, once their consent is given. Lastly, they recommended I add a question about their feedback on my post-workshop questionnaire to ensure it achieves my research aims.

My original post-workshop questionnaire questions were:

  1. How do you feel after attending this object-based learning workshop?
  2. In what ways did the object-based learning approach help or hinder your understanding of the material?
  3. Did you feel supported and understood in the learning environment?
  4. What elements of the workshop resonated most with you, given your learning needs?
  5. Were there any moments during the workshop where you felt unable to participate fully?
  6. What improvements do you think could make the workshop more effective for students with neurodiverse conditions?

My colleagues advised me to remove terms, such as ‘disability’ and ‘exclusion’ from my questions to prevent ostracising and making my students feel self-conscious or bad about themselves. Moreover, my colleagues helped me edit my questions to make them more concise by removing two-part questions and superflous words.

Reflecting on my First Group Tutorial

Reflective Posts, Unit 3

This session was useful because it helped me draw parallels between my ARP and that of my colleagues. We were able to bounce ideas off each other and practice communicating our proposals to a larger audience.

Key Feedback and Insights

  • Use Times Higher as an educational resource – Judy has recommended a useful article for me about neurodiversity within higher education
  • Use my network to market my pilot workshop to my target audience of neurodiverse women of colour. Lindsay suggested I post my workshop in the PgCert Q&A – Misc forum and ask colleagues to share it with their students to encourage sign ups
  • My group thinks I should use my positionality and experience as a former neurodiverse woman of colour studying at CSM to strengthen my pilot workshop call-out and inspire current students to participate
  • It would be great if I can complete two action research cycles by piloting my workshop with colleagues first, but as long as I complete one cycle, I will be on track for the unit
  • The main thing I need to consider is how I will meaningfully document and evaluate my workshop. This is something to trial with colleagues first and seek their critical advice before I approach students
  • Lindsay said I could borrow her copy of ‘Rethinking Disability’, which she recommended for my research
  • Andrea’s project inspired me to contact Academic Support to get an insight into how neurodiverse students are using workshops to support their learning needs

Next steps

  • I should reflect on the 250+ student responses I have collected after my object-based learning workshops through my Google feedback form and see what suggestions would be beneficial to implement in my pilot workshop
  • I should spend some time researching the Universal Design Principles and various research methods so I can figure out how to improve my pilot workshop draft structure and collect meaningful feedback from colleagues and students
  • I should make an Excel spreadsheet of all the courses I have already delivered OBL workshops for and list the email addresses of the course leaders to send my pilot workshop open-call
  • I should get some provisional dates in the diary to run the pilot workshop with my colleagues and also to run it for students

Planning my Action Research Project Timeline

Reflective Posts, Unit 3

Project Focus

Promote inclusivity in arts education by developing an object-based learning blueprint and workshop that benefits all students, with a particular focus on addressing the learning needs and lived experiences of neurodiverse women of colour.

October 2024

  1. Do a literature review on key subjects and theories
    • Intersectionality theory
    • Critical Race theory
    • Learning Styles Theory
    • Universal Design Principles
    • Inclusive Pedagogies
    • Neurodiversity
  2. Complete ethics approval documentation
    • Write my ethical action plan
    • Write my participant information form
    • Write my participant consent form
    • Receive feedback on above from tutor
  3. Explore research methods and data collection tools
    • Semi-structured interviews
    • Questionnaires
    • Thematic analysis

November 2024

  1. Develop my pilot workshop plan:
    • Implement feedback from IP Unit
    • Apply knowledge from literature review
    • Shortlist objects to use during workshop
    • Evaluate workshop with museum team
  2. Plan semi-structured interviews with colleagues:
    • Plan my interview questions
    • Schedule interviews with my colleagues
    • Record their responses and insights
    • Summarise findings and key themes
    • Use insights to refine the workshop design
  3. Recruit students for object-based learning Workshop:
    • Create a Participant Information Sheet
    • Distribute my Participant Information Sheet

December 2024

  1. Deliver workshop to students
    • Conduct the workshop at the CSM Museum
    • Collect data through a student questionnaire
  2. Analyse data from questionnaire:
    • Identify major findings and themes
    • Begin compiling insights for the report

January 2025

  1. Prepare for final submission:
    • Edit and write more blog posts
    • Create my 10-minute presentation
    • Submit coursework by 17 January 2025

Writing my Ethics Approval Form

Reflective Posts, Unit 3

Name of practitioner-researcher: Dayna Tohidi

What is your project focus?   My project aims to promote inclusivity in arts education by developing an object-based learning workshop that supports all students, with a particular focus on addressing the learning needs of neurodiverse women of colour.  
What are you going to read about?

I will read about neurodiversity, inclusive pedagogies, intersectionality, participatory action research, critical race theory, Universal Design Principles, Learning Styles Theory, Synaesthesia, Bera’s Principles, trauma-informed research, cultural safety, and various research methods  
What action are you going to take in your teaching practice? I will complete two action research cycles in my teaching practice. For the first cycle, I will use my research findings to plan a new object-based learning workshop that will better support the learning needs of neurodiverse women of colour. Then, I will act by trialling the workshop with my colleagues, observing their learning experiences, and reflecting on their critical feedback. For the second cycle, I will plan modifications to my workshop and act by running it with Academic Support, so all CSM students are invited to attend, observe their learning experiences, and reflect on their critical feedback to finalise my workshop. With regard to collecting feedback, I will research the Universal Design Principles to find an inclusive and meaningful way to collect feedback that goes beyond my current post-workshop online feedback form.  
Who will be involved and how?   I will ask colleagues who I work with at the Museum and who have expressed interest in my project, such as Judy Willcocks, Sarah Campbell, Silke Lange, Jhinuk Sarkar, Richie Manu, Carys Kennedy, and Annabel Crowley, to participate in a trial workshop before I run it for students. If it is not possible to get all my colleagues together, I will ask them for individual feedback.   I will ask my colleague, Natasha Sabatini, to facilitate my workshop by running it with Academic Support as an open-call event for all students, but particularly encouraging neurodiverse women of colour to attend.   N.B. If any of your participants/co-researchers will be under 18, please seek advice from your tutor.  
What are the health & safety concerns, and how will you prepare for them?   To protect my workshop participants from potential hazards, I will cap each workshop to 15 participants, so the study room does not become overcrowded.   With regard to emotional safety, I will encourage participants to share their lived experiences and engage in meaning-making with objects, but also assure them that they do not have to share sensitive information during the group discussion. I will be conscious to reflect on power dynamics and ensure students from marginalised backgrounds feel empowered rather than vulnerable during the workshop.   To protect our museum objects, I will show a limited number of objects, carefully explain handling instructions, and monitor individual handling.  
How will you protect the data of those involved?   I will give every participant the right to withdraw and save data in a private digital folder for the duration of my action research project.  
How will you work with your participants in an ethical way?   I will research concepts, such as cultural safety and trauma-informed work, and take my findings into consideration when working with my participants.  

Feedback from Lindsay Jordan

This is looking great Dayna — I love that the first cycle is a pilot and that you have such knowledgeable & expert colleagues signed up to take part. It’s a real strength of your project design and will help you to revise and refine the workshop.

It will be great to see how the workshop design evolves and what changes you decide on that will better meet the needs of your ‘target audience’. I also look forward to seeing what you come up with in terms of how to document and evaluate what takes place; make sure you work this process into your first cycle with colleagues; I’m sure they will have lots of ideas. 

Understanding Action Research

Reflective Posts, Unit 3

Overview

  • Step 1: Identify – define the problem and frame research questions
  • Step 2: Plan – collect data and decide how teaching could be changed
  • Step 3: Act – implement the selected changes to teaching
  • Step 4: Observe – monitor and evaluate the changes made
  • Step 5: Reflect – review and reflect upon the changes. Repeat cycle if necessary

Key Points

  • Action research is a term that refers to a practical way of looking at your own work to check that it is as you would like it to be
  • People do action research as a way of helping them understand how they can influence social change
  • In traditional research, researchers do research on other people, but in action research, researchers do research on themselves
  • Action research is open-ended. It does not begin with a fixed hypothesis. It begins with an idea that you develop
  • In an action research report, you should aim to show not only the actions of your research, but also the learning involved in order for it to be authentic
  • As a self-reflective practitioner, you need to be aware of what drives your life and work, so you can be clear about what you are doing and why you are doing it
  • Critique is essential for helping us evaluate the quality of the research
  • A validation group is a group of 4-10 people you invite to look at your research from time to time to offer critical feedback
  • By showing other people what you are doing, you can establish a systematic evaluation procedure

Reflections

  • I can improve my Ethical Action Plan by explaining that my colleagues will be part of my validation group and that I intend to include them as part of my systematic evaluation procedure
  • I can also improve my plan by explaining that my project focus is driven by my personal values and my desire to make arts learning more inclusive and accessible for neurodiverse women of colour like myself. It is strongly influenced by my positionality as a practitioner-researcher and former learning needs as a CSM student
  • Another modification I can make to my plan is explaining that my idea was inspired by the issue I identified, which is the attainment gap between White and BAME students at CSM and knowing that supporting neurodiverse learning needs better can help to close this gap