Research Method Reflection

I quickly realised that I tried to cram too much to cover into each meeting and that following the semi-structured questions approach would have hindered the effectiveness of my research since I’d have to overwhelm my colleagues with info and save their feedback for the end. Carys reassured me that it’s okay if I deviate from my plan to do semi-structured interviews and if I don’t have time to do a proper thematic analysis because they understand the time pressure of this unit. She suggested I make notes after all my meetings, find the golden thread to improve my workshops, and then document that instead. After every meeting, I have made improvements to build on in the next meeting. This feels more suited to my research approach and more manageable given the one-week turnaround I have to conduct and analyse 7 interviews, develop my workshop resources, and deliver my workshops for students. 

Sarah Campbell and Judy Willcocks

• Sarah and Judy really like my workshop proposal and object selection. They think that it has a great representation of different perspectives and there’s more stuff to do than listen to, which is key for my intended student group. They can see a lot of thought and care has gone into planning it
• Sarah and Judy advised me to remove the video piece from my object selection since the audio would be too distracting for the rest of the groups, especially those who are sensitive to sensory stimulation
• Sarah and Judy agreed I should send my workshop resources to participants in advance to let them digest the resources in their own time and have the option to become familiar with the material if beneficial. I will do this via a SharePoint link to keep things organised and accessible
• Judy shared the British Dyslexia Foundation’s style guide with me to help me create accessible and inclusive workshop resources, noting things like font style and font size. She suggested 16 points for anything large format and sans serif font since it’s easier to read
• Sarah suggested I minimise the number of points per slide, so I don’t jam too much in one page. Judy said I could animate my slides, so points appear one by one too
• Sensitive language was a big takeaway from our meeting. It’s important I put a trigger warning on my slides since we will talk about contentious subjects, like race, ethnicity, gender etc. They suggested I breakdown difficult terms into simpler words and offer alternative terms to explain them
• Both agreed I could condense my workshop into two hours to maintain their concentration and use the final hour to gather feedback or discuss anything students may want to talk about
• Judy shared the Women @ CSM’s definition of women to help me make my workshop more inclusive
• They reminded me to not stress because this is a pilot and is part of my research, so I am not expected to be an authority or expert on this subject
• Judy suggested I put a short explanation of intersectionality with a definition and quote from Crenshaw on my emotional reading sheet to adapt it to my workshop
• Judy suggested I ask Annabel if I could shadow any of her sessions as I will learn a lot from her and she is a neurodiverse woman of colour herself

Graham Barton and Natasha Sabatini

• Natasha and Graham warned me that the ratio of sign-ups to attendance for AS workshops is 30%, so I shouldn’t be disappointed if some people don’t attend
• They both agreed I could condense my workshop by an hour and include a comfort break in there. They said I could keep the timings as they are, but share a workshop breakdown in my email I send in advance
• Graham suggested I improve the wording on my consent form by calling them my intended audience group and explaining what I mean by women, so people who aren’t biologically women do not feel excluded
• We agreed to update my AS workshop description to include my definition of women in there and put the sentence about my research in the first paragraph to manage students’ expectations
• Graham and Natasha would like me to roll this workshop out to staff after my PgCert ends as they see great potential in it
• Rather than an icebreaker, they suggested the first section sets the scene and gives everyone a basic level of knowledge about intersectionality. They said I could pose some questions to my group and ask them to write their thoughts on post-it-notes so I could investigate some together afterwards before showing possible definitions. This could be a powerful and vulnerable moment in our workshop that gets people speaking
• They suggested I ask students to inform me if they have any access or impairment concerns they would like to share with me in advance
• Graham suggested I finish with a closing discussion about the relationship between intersectionality, neurodiversity, and emotions and how that lands with people in the room

Carys Kennedy

• Carys reassured me that it’s okay if I deviate from my plan to do semi-structured interviews and if I don’t have time to do a proper thematic analysis because they understand the time pressure of this unit. She suggested I make notes after all my meetings, find the golden thread to improve my workshops, and then document that instead. After every meeting, I have made improvements to build on in the next meeting
• Carys thinks my plan is very thoughtful and effective
• She suggested I include some wayfinding instructions in my advance email to help people with potential access issues, especially if they are coming from other colleges. She shared a great UAL visual guide to use in my wayfinding instruction
• She suggested the think-pair-share technique for the beginning section where we discuss what intersectionality is and what it means for us as it is easier to talk in a team than on your own at times
• She suggested I write a glossary of terms for things like intersectionality, gender, women, race, barriers, stigma, BIPOC etc, so there is a basic level of knowledge, but also acknowledging this is one definition and it can be contested. Carys sent some of her own resources to me for guidance
• Carys suggested something along the lines of a trigger warning and to state it’s important for everyone to be respectful of different opinions in the room
• Like Judy, Carys said it’s great I will offer instructions verbally and in written form
• Carys got me thinking about disability and the social model of disability when discussing neurodiversity since some people think it is a disability and others don’t
• International students are much less likely to share disability data than home students. She told me there is a real inequity to access to diagnoses and cultural differences in attitudes, so worth bearing in mind
• She told me to be kind to myself and to not expect too much from my first workshop as I am learning and there is no way to get it completely right

Chris Kelly

• Chris recommends I ask students to write their names, pronouns, and courses on sticker badges rather than ask them to introduce themselves at the start since they may have social issues
• Chris thinks that the objects will be a great vehicle to get people to share dialogue as they are tangible
• He suggested I move the group into a different location, ideally nature, if possible as that really helps neurodivergent people feel stimulated
• Chris suggested I take students into the stores to get them excited about the objects and let them acclimatise to the environment
• Since neurodivergent students can feel distracted easily and require a safe space, he suggested I introduce my colleagues onsite at the start in case they come in and out of the room
• Make myself as vulnerable as possible to encourage students to speak and share. Remind them it’s a safe space and nothing will be recorded
• Demonstrate as much as possible so they know what I expect, whether that is the activity of think-pair-share or object handling or group discussion of objects
• Look at his collaborator, Beatrice Sangster, who specialises in graphic design for neurodiversity
• Good tips for making resources are to never use a white background, use red as it’s the most accessible colour, large font scale and as many images as possible. ADHD students benefit from having key words boldened as it helps pull them through the text
• Chris said we should talk after the PgCert about rolling this workshop out to Foundation

Annabel Crawley

• Annabel really likes my workshop plan and says it’s thoughtful and considered. She likes my emphasis on spacing and not overcrowding activities
• She thinks choice is the most important element of teaching neurodiverse students because they learn and process in different ways. Giving them flexible modes of engagement is key
• In the email I send in advance, she suggests I ask students to bring whatever tools will help them during the session, like fidget toys, stim objects, headphones etc
• She advised me to be explicit about what I want students to do during the discussions and offer verbal, written, or digital contributions
• She recommended Miro and Padlet for teaching tools and said the column template works very well as it gives a linear sense of where you are going. She also said Padlet introduces the idea of blended learning, which opens up my workshop to the online learning teams long term
• She said my workshop embraces Paolo Freire’s dialogic approach of education. She reassured me that I don’t need to know everything and be an expert because we all have “unfinished business”
• Annabel liked my glossary and suggested I add a citation for each term, like Judy Singer for Neurodiversity and Neurodivergent as a term since they mean different things
• “The more you learn, the more you realise you don’t know”
• She recommends skin, tooth, and bones as a reference to go with Crip Theory
• Annabel recommended I look at Jhinuk’s Thinking through Sensory Mediation workshop. Find the link to Jhinuk’s padlet
• She recommended I use light pastel colours as backgrounds for slides and docs and use black for text. Verdana, Helvetica, and Arial are good sans serif fonts to use
• She said visual agendas work quite well for students to know what they will be doing and social cues are also very important for neurodivergent students
• She said communication cards are quite effective because they help students focus and know what to do, like speech bubbles to speak etc. That technique and the thread to talk one are examples of person-centred facilitation tools, which is by Helen Sanderson

Jhinuk Sarkar

• Jhinuk encouraged me to start the workshop by asking everyone what interested them in signing up as it helps me gauge their expectations. She also suggested a verbal code of conduct to ensure everybody’s views are respected and listened to etc. She said I can emphasise that I am inviting controversy through the objects and honest discussion about a sensitive topic in a safe space
• She really likes the title of my workshop and said it immediately caught her attention on the AS webpage
• She said I’ve set up my workshop in a friendly and accessible manner and should lead with my own vulnerability
• She likes my glossary and said I could invite students to add their own terms to it after the group discussion
• She said I should give warnings about controversial objects, like the nipples and let people choose their object to analyse to ensure they are comfortable
• She encouraged me to pitch my workshop for the Inclusive Practices Unit of the PgCert as she thinks it would be a valuable addition to the program. She also suggested I tailor it to specific courses in the future. She is keen for me to run it for the GEMS network too