A mixed bag of responses, mainly due to the fact that students had to choose based on an outdated course description that did not reflect the content that I was asked to deliver. Still, many have found more than ‘sustainability’ (whether they liked it or not!).
Some found the pace of ECC too intense and would have preferred theory lessons to be more spread out, rather than compacted in the first weeks. Others, however, understood the logic behind it and found it a good start to really see what the issues are. It should be possible to find a balance, by having shorter but more frequent sessions in the first 6 weeks of the term.
Many students found the Campfire Story and Spectrum Lines engaging and meaningful, although the latter would work better spread out across classes. Some exercises (like Climate Deniers and Mapping Causalities) were meant to take them out of their comfort zone, into their learning zone; this did not have the intended effect on everyone. I intend to keep the best elements and include more ‘upper days’ with inspiring examples of creative projects.
I am surprised about the overall positive responses to this question (to the point that I wonder if it was unintentionally ‘guided’). It is good to hear the confirmation that ECC helped level the playing field between students who had different understandings of the issues and themes. Considering how personal and creative forms of writing were appreciated, I hope to encourage them even more in this direction.
No particularly new insights emerged from the answers, which might be due to the way I formulated the question. I take note of the need of earlier communications, otherwise I am particularly satisfied that the tutorials are appreciated.
<aside> ✍🏼 Dear students, it’s time to swap roles!
As you know, I’m taking a Basic Didactics Course to become certified teacher. I’m building a ‘portfolio’ as an educator, and I’m giving a prominent place to the Crash Course we experienced together. This is why I’d like to invite you to respond to the following survey, where you get the chance to give me feedback/feedforward to become a better tutor!
This won’t be your standardised survey by managers to measure my performance or whatever, so the questions are quite specific and the answers are meant to be deeply personal. It will be anonymous and will have no repercussions on you (you can be as ruthless and blunt as you find fitting!). Since we’re such a small group, I hope enough of you will respond so that I can get an accurate representation!
</aside>
For reference, see the standardised Course Evaluation produced by the management the previous year:
WDK_Online Course Evaluation Results_2021_Term 1_Year 4_New Earth.pdf
| What were your expectations from New Earth Minor before we started the semester? What were they based on? (ex: student gossip, course description, personal intuition…) To what extent the course content matched (or differed from) your expectations? | Ecological Crash Course was planned as an ‘intensive’, with frequent full-day lessons. Is it useful to have this pace, with theory lessons earlier rather than later, so that you can focus on your essay and project afterwards? | Which activities / content / moments did you find the most meaningful / engaging / moving? Which ones didn’t work for you, and why? What was missing? [think: Campfire Story, Spectrum Lines, Ecological Timeline, Mapping Causalities, Climate Deniers, Disobedient History, Future Visions…] | How relevant was the ECC for your essay / research / thought process? How useful is it to write your personal positioning / artist statement / political manifesto towards your graduation project? | How clear / effective / helpful have my communications been (course plan and handout, Teams announcements / messages, 1-on-1 coaching, written feedback…)? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I expected New Earth to be a commercial course, where we would look at a product or idea that we could make/design. I think it’s obvious that that doesn’t really match with what we do, but what does match is that we look at solutions and what exactly the problem is. I just didn’t know it would be a social practice. | I understand the logic behind it, but it made me feel unmotivated for the minor. My motivation came back, but I think it was too intense for me. For me personally, it would have been better to have these kind of theory lessons a bit more spread out over the first weeks. It was a lot of information and feelings to take in, while still getting used to the minor. On the other hand it was a good start to really see what the issues are, it was just very exhausting to do it in those few days. | I liked that we could have our own collective presentation before we made groups, that way we found out a bit more about each other and our behavior in groups/work. I also liked the spectrum lines. | ||
| What didn’t work for me was the climate deniers. It was very hard for me to do, especially when it came down to the “not so hardcore” climate deniers. I have a lot of these people in my surroundings, and I recognized myself a bit in it. It might be because I felt confronted, but I had the feeling that it was expected of us that we were ‘above’ these types of people. Not everyone is there yet, we’re all learning | It was helpful for my essay, especially all the visual examples that were in the course. | Very clear and helpful. I like that you make time for 1 on 1 conversations and really think with us. The feedback is very insightful and personal. I’m really positive about the communication | ||
| My expectations were that the course would be focussing on 'sustainability' and everything that comes with that. It was based on the course description I red from previous years and I looked up the works previous students made in this minor. | I would prefer more examples from other artists working with this topic instead of facts and looking back at history | I liked the start with the campfire story, this way we got the know our classmates and how they look at the situation. Spectrum lines were nice but I think we did too many, especially on the introduction day. I didn't like that we spend so much time on the timeline and the mapping, I would have rather done a more artistic exercise for example. | The ecc was useful to get all the students to the same kind of level of information on the topic. I don't know how useful it is for my essay, but it was useful for expanding knowledge on the topic | At the beginning there was a lack of communication, but I believe that had nothing to do with you but more with the school itself. Later in the course there was clear communication |
| I thought it would be more focussed on making the products I make more sustainable/ good for the environment, but I found out that it's more about the whole world and about changing/improving/ the "worlds system" into a more sustainable way. I do like this too, but it was different from what I expected beforehand. | Yes, but I sometimes had the idea that it was one full, super intense day, and then a few days of no classes. With the very long classes I had the feeling that everybody was completely exhausted after a full day (especially the downer days). It would've been nicer for me to have classes of around 4 hours I think. | |||
| Also it felt a bit weird to start with our own projects so late, but I think that's just because I haven't done that before at the WDKA. The moment to write the theory is perfect, also very nice and helpful feedback from you! | Campfire story was nice, especially as a get to know each other (also a bit frightening to tell your story to a group of strangers). Spectrum lines where really nice, but a bit to many maybe, at some point I was a bit done with it haha. Ecological timeline was nice, mapping also very interesting, climate deniers: good to know that they exist (fuck them!). Disobedient history: very cool, I also really liked all the art pieces and movies you showed! Future visions, also cool. | |||
| I would like to have some more upper days, because I think most of our class was mostly interested in that part and got them exited (including me) and in the crash course, there where more downerdays, where I would've been interested to see some more nice entrepreneur projects being shown, to get more inspired instead of having the feeling like: shit, the world is lost and there's no hope anymore. It's really good to get this reality check off course, but also nice to get into a better mood. | ||||
| Also, you telling us that you had the feeling like there was still hope gave a good feeling and was nice to hear :) | Hmm, I don't think I will do anything for my graduation with this topic so in that sense, no to much. |
That said, it's nice to write something again, get more acquainted with writing again, and it's also nice to get your feedback on how to write and what the possibilities are. Normally I write an essay only writing facts, it's nice that you gave me the tip to start writing in a more personal way, it's something where I'm sometimes struggling with, because I usually don't do projects where the "me" is involved, I usually make things that's either functioning or not haha. So yeah, good feedback, really happy to have you as our teacher! :) | Especially in the beginning it was still very vage how our curriculum would be, but that was schools fault by not hiring enough teachers. I'm not very structured, so in most cases not up to date, so that isn't helping. Also in the beginning it was not really clear for me what your role was (theory, practical teacher?) This became clearer when Irina came. You guys explained it again and it became more clear. Apart from that everything was super nicer and clear. Your classes are very very informative and you are extremely passionate. That's cool to see! Teams announcements, messages, 1:1 coaching, feedback: all really good and helpful! Thanks for all your help! | | My expectations were high, due to being disappointed in other practices, I was really hoping this could be a practice that suits me. I feel and felt a necessity of working with these topics. They have been matching them quite well, especially later on, noticing I can navigate towards overlapping ideas with content shared in the class. I think what was being taught was very interesting and it has definitely opened my eyes to new insights. It's definitely something I'm gonna read into more, and it has made an impact on me. | It worked well for me, I appreciated a lot of the knowledge shared and it was a good fundament for the rest, perhaps more shared reading would have been nice. I think to have in between theory/ lectures I would appreciate that, to go more in depth. For example the lecture of Debra Solomon, I loved! Also more interactivity with the classmates, updating each other on our topics we are researching on, but I think that is something that has to be done between classmates, but sadly don't experience that energy or initiative yet. Perhaps this could be guided more by you. | I really loved it when we got more examples of what artists and people do to actively do somethign to help the climate change, think of Liberate tate, fossil free culture, ... The campfire stories were a fun and insipring start. which gave a lot of inside in how people think and see things! The ecological timeline is interesting and necessary but was something I enjoyed less. Mapping causalities resulted in realizign how everything is connected, which really influenced the way I looked towards the whole climate crisis. | I think it is very useful and necessary, I have always enjoyed writing this, creating bridges between topics to better understand what the driving force is behind my art and way of thinking. | It has been clear, although both you and Irina often send things very last minute. One or two days beforehand asking us to watch and read things. You are not strict on if we didnt read it, but clear communication is super important and helpful for our planning. | | At first I was a little sceptical, as I found the P3 topics that I heard about quite structured, given. The Topic felt less free, the guidlines were there. This changed in the first classes. Everything was open, everything was possible. Everything was heard. | Always. I do feel like there could be more theoretical lessons though. Or talks that are given or where we are hosted. Sometimes I missed the touch and connection to the class and the actual focus | Going to the climate protest. Beutiful and powerful. Mapping Causalities was also an astonishing revealing moment. Things I knew already suddenly appreared in a more clear picture. | It is always relevant. If not for the project itself or for the essay (depending on chosen topic), it is super relevant to have these crash courses, if not more often, to feel the rage, but also the energy to step up, to defend and to rebel. | Announcements were often a little late, a day before. But that changed over time. Feedback sessions are great. Non judgmental, giving loads of input. Understanding. The moment when I realised that I can talk completely vague and chaotic, but you still understand. | | I expected it to be even more intense. But that was not the case. Furthermore, it is exactly the same as last year only in real life instead of online! It felt like a safe space where everything could be said. In the beginning I found it difficult to share my ideas and the fish bowl opened me up. | I wouldn't have minded if the theory had a little overlap with the projects and essay. I think that the crash course 1 week would have been sufficient. I also think it's a shame that it went so quickly. I was also quite pleased with the check-in and check-out. That was very nice | I found the first class very strong about past present future! I thought the spectrum lines came across better online last year than in real life this year. Furthermore, everything that was interactive was super fun to participate in! | Very important! It gives more insight into where you stand as a designer and allows sharing your own ideas and compare them with the world around you | Very nice! Some more 1 on 1 conversations would have been nice. Nothing else to note. |