A Handbook for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education Enhancing academic and Practice

The visual arts
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All these tasks had previously been done by the staff. Looking at all aspects of the
project made the tutors aware of not only how complex the project is but also
what a rich learning experience it offers. The team tasks were advertised as jobs
with a list of skills required. Students were asked to sign up for a team, taking into
careful consideration what skills they wished to develop. Each team had a tutor
to support its role. Once the teams were briefed they were given an ‘Indigo Journal’
to log all information such as meetings and time plans. This record provided a
source to refer back to after the completion of the project when students are
briefing the year below them to undertake the Indigo project again. Mentoring of
the year below is a key way in which sustainability is built in: students become
knowledgeable and in turn can support others. This adds to their own ongoing
learning and reflection on the skills required to become professional designers.
The team tasks gave students the opportunity to extend, develop or even discover
new skills that would otherwise go untapped. Student feedback was positive
about teamwork and the experience of seeing themselves as textile designers
within a professional arena:
• ‘I realised my strengths lay in selling, not in design.’
• ‘I was able to practise another language and improve my interpersonal skills
and work with other students.’
• ‘I don’t normally tell people what to do, I worked with people I don’t know
very well.’
• ‘Everyone played a part in the organisation of the event.’
• ‘I enjoyed being part of a team and knowing I was helping towards the show.’
• ‘Paris rocks!’
(Melanie Bowles, Senior Lecturer, Textiles,
Chelsea College of Art and Design, University of the Arts London)
Interrogating practice
How can you maximise the learning opportunities for personal and
professional development in the curriculum? How can you encourage
students to see how essential these skills are in relation to the practice?
Writing in the visual arts
As indicated above (point 10), writing in the visual arts can be difficult territory. This is
partly because a relatively high proportion of students and tutors have specific learning