Initially I found it quite difficult to come up with a topic for my object based learning microteach because I kept approaching the task by trying to think of the object first.
After much deliberation, I eventually realised that it was much easier to decide what I was going to teach first and then the rest flowed more easily.
I decided to cover Dieter Rams’s 10 principles of design – I chose this topic because he is a well known designer of everyday items and therefore I felt this might make the session more relatable to a group coming from a variety of disciplines.
After witnessing my daughter on a scavenger hunt set by her teacher whilst home schooling (she had to find things around the house with high and low kilojoules for science class) I had the idea for a hunt around the home for a good design object. I wanted to see if this would be effective in disrupting the domestic space and boosting concentration levels. When the participants brought their objects back, I asked them to post a photograph on the Padlet board and then state which of the ten principles applied to their object. Unsure about how it would go time-wise, I had a back up question (what would your 11th principle be?) to help fill any extra time.
I feel the session went really well, I was able to cover everything in the allotted time, there was good participation and positive feedback, and time flew.
Some feedback I received:
- It was really well-structured and really clear. I liked how you put the outline of the ten principles on the Padlet board as well so we could refer and relate to them to them.
- good combination/balance of different activities
- information was very accessible and good communication of the design principles, you couldn’t help getting drawn in and engaging.
- Makes me want to learn more about Dieter Rams
Things that didn’t go so well were technical and planning issues – the short time frame made it difficult to resolve technical problems in the session and I was unable to help two of my participants in order for them to take part. A few participants were unable to access the Padlet board which was an error on my part as I made the assumption that everyone had already used Padlet in other sessions, so I should have made sure prior to the microteach that everyone in my group was able to access and use the Padlet board I’d set up.
Below is the Padlet board for our general feedback for our combined Microteach sessions. I really enjoyed this session, the topics in our group were so varied – in one morning I learnt about functional fashion, sound, poetry, time and stone. It was fascinating and inspiring to see how my peers presented their topics.
Some techniques to remember for future sessions:
- Building some mindfulness into sessions. Not always filling the space and allowing moments for thinking reflection and thinking.
- Supplying a PDF beforehand, allows the opportunity to go at your own pace
- Shift of focus is important in maintaining engagement
- some anonymity encourages more engagement