I have to deliver a twenty-minute micro teach to peers, evidenced around ‘Object based learning’. Hardie writes about ”a matter of taste activity” (Hardie, 2015, p.6). Hardie encourages students to engage in experiential and active group learning through object analysis. Students work in small groups to examine artefacts, analysing function, target audience, etc. Hardie focuses on personal taste and asks students to question why they find an object appealing.
I decided that my ‘object’ would be a selection of bras from my archives. My peers will look at and assess the bras together, to understand how the lace/embroidery is positioned, cut and applied. I will then show the participants how to demonstrate the lace placement to a manufacturer, to ensure that the garment is as visioned on the design, as per industry standards.
We are early into our PG Cert journey together; I wanted to ‘break the ice’ as I was the first person to deliver in my session. ‘The use of objects in small group work at the start of a course can offer a valuable ice-breaker activity as learners focus on items while developing social interaction with their peers’’ (Hardie, 2015, p.20)
I invited the participants to pick their favourite artefact from the selection. I asked them to explain why it appealed to them to the wider group. I participated in the exercise to provide an example, and to help make the group feel comfortable sharing. The task bonded the group before moving on to completing the learning outcome – individual lace/ embroidery placements.
Choosing the placement is a ‘matter of taste’; each designer/ technologist will have their own preference on how the lace/embroidery should be positioned. By talking about why they selected that artefact, and how it makes them feel, we learn how important choosing the correct placement is to ensure a bra has appeal to the market. By interacting with the objects, students enhance their understanding of taste, reinforcing their ability to analyse design beyond functionality.
‘’I invite students to appraise the objects in relation to notions of taste that they have studied earlier in the curriculum; to explore what they feel about the object and if they find the object appealing and in what ways?’’ (Hardie, 2015, p.6)
Going forwards in my teaching, I will implement Hardies suggestions around ”a matter of taste”(Hardie, 2015, p.6). Hardie explains that often in a learning environment, or in a museum, ‘‘the physical handling of the object is denied’’. (Hardie, 2015, p.4). By offering the participants to feel, touch, and sense the artefacts, this gave a well-rounded and memorable learning experience.
This is something I will practise in my workshops. I have started to curate a small archive to refer to during class, to show students further examples of how a particular construction method can be used in multiple ways, furthering their understanding of complex sewing techniques. I hope that this will help to strengthen independent learning; seeing multiple examples across multiple samples will help to connect learning outcomes to fully realised final garments.
References
Hardie, K. (2015) ‘Innovative pedagogies series: Wow: the power of objects in object-based learning and teaching’ P.6