Mine could be pitched for optional module for 3rd year BIMM students, or to a contact I have at a fashion college

A ballet mime and gesture course for NBS students

A "creating in nature" summer course to pitch to RHS Bridgewater

An introduction to "Growing Your Own" community training project.

Aimed at photographers who want to take their practice and work to the next level, turning ideas into a formal project with the goal of exhibiting. Learning by doing, a masterclass in line with what others photographers offer. Out with cameras, reviewing work and with clear stages of progress.

Darkroom Course

Photographers who want to make exhibition quality black and white prints in the darkroom

Shooting on Film

Massive increase in people shooting film, this would guide people all through all the pitfalls as so much of the knowledge lives on forums and in the minds of older photographers.

Directing Music Videos

Aimed at people want to work with artists and direct music videos for 2025 video consumption (Shorts vs Long Form) to direct fans to tickets, spotify etcc.

Advanced Photography Workshop

Aimed at photographers who want to take their practice and work to the next level, turning ideas into a formal project with the goal of exhibiting. Learning by doing, a masterclass in line with what others photographers offer. Out with cameras, reviewing work and with clear stages of progress.

Darkroom Course

Photographers who want to make exhibition quality black and white prints in the darkroom

Shooting on Film

Massive increase in people shooting film, this would guide people all through all the pitfalls as so much of the knowledge lives on forums and in the minds of older photographers.

Directing Music Videos

Aimed at people want to work with artists and direct music videos for 2025 video consumption (Shorts vs Long Form) to direct fans to tickets, spotify etcc.

A 12 week 15-credit option module for BIMM level 6 undergraduate students studying on songwriting course pathways. 

The course is aimed at students who wish to…

Enhance their individual songcraft’s depth of storytelling through lyrics and the analysis and study of existing song lyrics. Students who want to deepen their creative capacity to connect emotionally with an audience, tell an impactful story, widen their songwriting tool-set and develop their lyric writing to an advanced level will enjoy this course. Anyone who enjoyed studying English literature or poetry analysis at school would also be well-suited to this module.

We value and encourage our students to be…

Curious, open-minded, able to think critically, enthusiastic to give and receive critical feedback, deeply creative, willing to try new methods of working, and keen to view storytelling through lots of different lenses. The students arrive as experts in their crafts, able and willing to continue their journey into narrative form and storytelling practice through lyrics and prosodic songwriting.

And we will support this by…

Welcoming diverse backgrounds and opinions and engendering an inclusive space that will foster creativity and vulnerability. 

This course aims to create an environment which is…

A humanist-centred learning environment fuelled by discussion, creativity and curiosity. The key ethos will be, ‘tools not rules’...

And will achieve this by…

Strong social contracting that is maintained throughout the module and democratically developed by the students and lecturers. Peer feedback will be a key component of the students’ learning development, allowing them to drive discussions and the pace of the module, with the lecturer moving between roles of educator and facilitator.

As a result, the teaching, learning and assessment approaches will be organised along the lines of…

Lessons are 2.5 hours long and take place in a classroom/workshop space. The lessons will largely be scaffolded around whole-class and small group discussions through analysis, practical creative tasks and peer feedback. I’m not certain about the assessment approach yet but as the module is level 6, there is a potential for a negotiated assessment involving a research/analysis component and creative artefact. Alternatively, the assessment could be an analytical essay comparing two different song lyrics. The LOs below involve the latter, as I need to research more on the former.

The course will address the context of…

Narratology, storytelling, prosody, lyrics and literature analysis in songwriting

And inform students on a range of…

Tools and approaches to storytelling in songwriting through prosodically driven lyric writing, analysis of lyrics and literature techniques.

What students might expect on completion in terms of outputs, employment or professional pathways:

Beyond continuing development of their songcraft skills, students on this module will leave with the following developed skill sets transferable to a professional portfolio in the creative industries:

• Critical thinking

• Literature analysis

• Creative thinking

• Narrative/storytelling

• Defined songwriting idiolect

• Collaboration

• Public speaking

• Songwriting and co-writing

• Editing and re-writing

Learning outcomes:

LO1: Compare and contrast the narrative approaches of two different sets of song lyrics by two different artists.

LO2: Critically analyse the narrative and prosodic tools used in contrastingly written lyrics.

LO3: Support your analysis with relevant theories and research.

An 8-10 week workshop for experienced photographers wanting to developed their photographic projects. With the aim to exhibit or publish. 

The course is aimed at students who wish to…

Similar to this module, student would identify 2 or 3 photographic projects that want to progress with, or have started but never finished. They want to deepen understanding of contemporary photography, workflow of shooting project work, identifying subjects and advancing their photographic process. So they can see they progress each week in making work, sharing it with the group and myself for feedback. Identfiying the next steps they need to take to make progress. Resulting in a project they are invested in, and can progress with independently at the end of the course. Ideally with new contacts made from the cohort.

We value and encourage our students to be…

Committed, enthusiastic, open-minded, able to think critically. Open to give and receive critical feedback on their photographic work. Photographically creative, keen to interrogate their process and change their ways as needed. Ready to engage with the work of other photographic work in books, articles and exhibitions. Students would already be advanced or experts using their camera, but lacking in an ability to go through the necessary stages to identify and commit to a project. Willing to join us on hands on sessions shooting together regularly, reviewing printed work as a group in positive sessions.

And we will support this by…

Leaving any pretentious or condescending attitudes at the door. A safe space to share work, discuss work and support each other.

This course aims to create an environment which is…

Enthusiastic, passionate about photography and excited to link work of students to others in the field.

And will achieve this by…

Feedback sessions facilitated by me, where work is shared for feedback from the entire group. And barriers to progress are overcome together. Either through inspiration, troubleshooting or the keen eye of the group to sequence work and identify strengths in work being made.

As a result, the teaching, learning and assessment approaches will be organised along the lines of…

Weekly lessons are 2-3 hours long and are based in a classroom environment for discussion, and workshops together with cameras and making work. Locations to be identified, or tailored to needs of the class. Class sizes would be small, with 5-8 students. My lessons would be scaffolded around whole-class discussions similar how this course started. Introduce yourself, and arrive prepared to discuss your photography project options. Through discussion, analysis, and peer feedback each students gets a more solid idea early on in the course. Followed by practical sessions making work together, and the expectations that students make work ready to bring in each week. The assessment approach could be a 10 image sequence at the end. Either in portfolio form, or pinned to the wall in sequence for feedback and grading.

The course will address the context of…

Contemporary photographic practice, current and previous photo exhibitions, photo books and photographic process

And inform students on a range of…

Approaches to identifying a project subject, a variety of photographers process in making work including my own, recognising strong work, making a cohesive and strong sequence

What students might expect on completion in terms of outputs, employment or professional pathways:

Clearly identify the variety of ways photographer produce work for exhibition and book publishing. Resulting in a project they are ready to take further upon completion, or a pre-existing project that have been able to take further.

Learning outcomes:

LO1: Identify a photographic project that you could create a distinct sequence of images for

LO2: Critically analyse your own photographic process, and implement a change in workflow

LO3: Support your photographic project with relevant research and situate it within contemporary photography

For example, you might consider...

• What do my course aims seem to require in terms of an assessment strategy?

• How do Learning, Certification & Quality Assurance manifest in my assessment aims? How important are each? What kind of balance & tension might be required between them?

• Which of the key principles seem most important to achieve in the assessments, esp. the summative? (e.g. Validity, Reliability, Authenticity, Practicability, Positive Washback, Fun, Equity, Clarity, etc.)

• Are there any considerations for the overall assessment 'diet' across initial, formative & summative activities? (e.g. workload, progression & variety of modes, topics, depth etc.)

• What key choices, challenges & questions am I encountering when trying to develop ideal assessments? How might I address these productively? What feedback or learning could I benefit from?

Very sorry as I'm a bit short on time this week but I wanted to post something up, so I've revised my LOs based on the feedback I received last week, with more of a focus on 'enduring' learning, rather than the assessment outcomes. Here's my next pass at it and I still reckon there's room for improvement re. clarity:

LO1: Demonstrate advanced critical analysis of contemporary approaches to lyric writing. 

LO2: Produce independent arguments and ideas, which demonstrate an advanced proficiency in critical thinking, research, and writing skills.

LO3: Integrate key techniques for prosodic lyric writing into an individual creative portfolio

Regarding assessment design, I'm leaning towards negotiated assessment to a certain degree, with a creative component and a critical analytical component. I haven't fully fleshed it out though as I feel I need more reading and research first. I also want to ponder more on the idea of the industry talent pipelines meeting the creative/academic endeavours at BIMM, as I think this might lead me somewhere interesting. I want to minimise 'washback' as much as possible, as I feel we come across this a fair bit at level 6!

LO1: Create a distinct sequence of images for a specific photographic project 

LO2: Critically analyse your own evolving photographic process, and apply it to your workflow throughout the course (analyse the journey, formative to summative) 

LO3: Support your photographic project with relevant research and situate it within contemporary photography 

Students should implement a change in workflow as an evolving process, this can be covered in the module summary. 

ASSESSMENTS 

DIGANOSTIC ASSESSMENT 
Students could submit a written proposal and why they’re suitable for the course. Outlining the creative drive, influences and what they hope to get out of the course.  

Submitted with a portfolio of 10-20 images across two photographic projects. These could be complete, or a work in progress, with one identified as one to make progress with. Or pitch an initial new project idea could create a distinct sequence of images for. 

FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT 
Students research a project idea, then pitch it to myself and the class for feedback. Students present a selection of printed work that has been shot during the workshop for a specific project, for feedback from myself and peer feedback from the class to help them move forward.

SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT 
Students present a final sequence of up to 10 images, pinned in sequence to the wall. They give a 5-8 minute presentation on their project, influences and choices that form an artist statement. Fielding questions from myself and the group.  

• Reading is available on the application of ADDIE and its effects on the L&T sharepoint.

  • See also two contrasting papers, one critique of the 'scientific' design approaches (like Bobbit, ADDIE etc.) and one offer of a 'naturalistic' approach. Both are interesting for those who want alternatives or see issues with the assumptions of the models we've covered already.

• Record/post an audioblog summarising and reflecting on your progress this week:   

  • What have you found in your Analysis?

  • How can you mitigate your Risks/Issues/Dependencies for the project?

  • How has any reading you've done helped shape your understanding and approach to course design? (This could be any takeaways for the steps you're taking, or helping you to articulate your personal design approach)

  • Post up on Padlet!

Experienced photographers often plateau, lacking focus on their work or unsure how to take the next step. They might be shooting a lot, but work isn’t consolidated into a project. They desire to exhibit work, but aren’t aware of the importance of sequenced work, an artist statement and situating their project within contemporary photography.  

Photos linger on hard drives, projects remain half finished. Or they have an long term ongoing project with no destination, or a handful of project completed but poorly represented.  

This is certainly the problem I faced before my Masters course, especially without a BA in Photography. With dedication and the right workflow, combined with analysis and reflection on what drives them to make work and the process of making work, it can be incredibly inspiring to know such things can be resolved in 2 weeks and not 2 years.  

Who is your audience/ learners? 

Experienced fine art photographers who are reluctant to commit the money and time into a Masters course, studied a BA a long time ago and want to reengage with their art, and potentially undergraduate students with a solid portfolio and experience.  

What are their learning styles? 

Practical – Learning by going. Going out together with cameras and making work together with clear outcomes, discussion and feedback together.  

Visual – We will review each others work together to offer feedback and what to focus on in their project. As well as reviewing contemporary photography and practice to ensure good techniques are shared and applied, and each student can have a keen knowledge of the photographic work that inspires and influences them. 

What are the goals and objectives? 

Clarity – Students will explore a range of approaches to making work, as well as my own, so they know the variety of succesful routes to making work.  

Reconnect with Photography - With the core being an engagement with photographic work and exhibitions  

Apply Techniques to their Own Practice – Renewed discipline in taking photos regularly and consistently. Both in workshops and in their own time. With review, analysis and feedback being an essential factor 

Create a new sequence of Printed Images – Students will ultimately create a sequence on up to 10 images that form part of a cohesive photographic project. That are deliberately sequenced (subject, texture, shape, colour, location etc) and pinned to a wall for presentation 

What are the needs of the learner? 

Structured and focused guidance and support led by my experience and feedback during practical workshops and in the classroom reviewing work.  With a balance between autonomous, self-directed learning as they explore work of other photographers than resonate with them, and are consistently shooting outside of workshops with INTENTION. 

- My students want to be challenged as they know how to take a photo, but they also want the progress and learning to be achievable. Not hidden in esoteric language or overly abstract concepts. 

- My students would want the workshops to be focused and clear on their design, similar to the Magnum Masterclasses, so they can join with realistic expectations and learning outcomes. 

What’s the existing knowledge? 

Practical – They know how to use a camera 

Theory – They understand the importance of composition, and how photos can work together in a series to tell a story or address and issue 

Photographers – They will be able to refer to some existing influences. Two or three would be a great starting point.

What’s the learning environment? 

Outside – Visiting pre planned locations and shooting together. Discussing my approach, subject choice, composition + framing, pairing images, exposure and ‘seeing’.  

Classroom – With space to lay printed work (this can be cheap prints from a photocopier) over tables for review, and a wall to pin work up to discuss. A screen to present work by other photographers, and watch artist interviews.  

What are the constraints? 

Finding a suitable classroom location to run this. Especially one with good natural light, and one that isn’t overly warm and uncomfortable to be in 

A suitable schedule to suit people working full time or have families 

Relying on good weather to shoot on location together 

Are there any barriers to learning? 

Differentiation – Allowing of a variety of experience within the class, so some feel alienated through lack of knowledge and experience.  Although this would be mitigated through reviewing applications.

Confidence – Feedback sessions where nobody wants to give feedback. Students get defensive about their work, or others get rude. 

Learning styles – Creative minds are often neurodivergent. So allowing for visual learning and audio learning as well as text. Avoiding long periods of delivery, instead focusing on discussion and variety.  

Ice Breakers – Letting everyone get to know each other a little bit before we start 

Class Rules – I've had classes tainted by the rudeness and arrogance of others. As well as restricted by nobody wiling to ask questions or offer feedback. Expectations will be made clear from the start, and I will establish a safe space atmosphere as I do at BIMM so people can talk freely 

What is mode of delivery? 
 
Workshop-based delivery for ideally classes of between 8-10 students, so we’re out in the field taking photos together. These would be at least 2 hours, but 4 hours with a break in between would be good as this has worked on photo walk I’ve been on before.  

Classroom delivery to outline my approach to making work, and offer options based on how other photographers make work. These will lead to whole group discussions (Identify 5 ways Mark Power makes work consistently when travelling), analysis in small groups (reviewing photobooks), working in pairs (review work and feedback to class). Length of these classes still to be worked out, but 2 hours would be suitable.  

There will be a big focus on peer feedback on work, sharing what they’ve shot over a 1-2 week period and justify their choices. This will start much looser, and focus on encouraging and constructive feedback.  

Post up either your work-in-progress itself AND/OR an audioblog reflecting on how this is going.

Remember, as per our final exercise, we’re looking to be a specific and direct about making a clear claim around how your work is influenced/aligned with external/QA frameworks, by drawing out short excerpts as citations to support your thinking, and being as concise as possible when doing so.  

Some key things to remember: 

• All of these documents sit at a high level (in terms of being intended for degree courses overall, or entire levels of study). As such, don’t overdo the mapping, try to be judicial and really go for the sharpest, clearest claims you can make. Yes, there will be tacit links to lots of things, but be careful about trying to claim super wide alignment/coverage if you’re only designing a single module! 

• We talked a lot about perceived gaps/enhancement opportunities in existing provision that your courses aim to address – these are the strongest areas to start seeking alignment with QA frameworks, as this will not only help your ideas to be more robustly justified, but as we discussed can be incredibly helpful in overcoming possible resistance to new and progressive ways of doing things that our colleagues might need to be bought in on.  

  
  

Consider looking at the free research resources on https://www.advance-he.ac.uk/ and it’s also worth checking out the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre https://pec.ac.uk/ too, as there’s some useful stuff on those sites that can deepen your work in connecting to expectations of the educators and students in your relevant areas.  

Drop Rich Harvey a line for tutorials if there’s anything you want to talk through as you use these documents.  

Identify 1-4 most important threshold concepts/practices that are the key to successfully 'getting' your course topic.

You can continue doing some thinking by yourselves, but also consider the following ways to expand your analysis:

1. Review the slides and session recording (passcode: +#D!0EOt)

2. Talk to colleagues/experts in your subjects - e.g. ask them what they see as most fundamental & troublesome thresholds to mastery of the topic, how they personally understand & apply these in their own work, and how they teach these,

3. And/or talk to students/alumni who have gone or are going through these thresholds - e.g. ask them about the experience, what's helping/hindering, what their sense of these concepts and their purpose is

4. Check out the published work of others in your area - lots of articles are free-access on GoogleScholar (even search terms like "threshold concepts photography" will get you far).  Check the index of this MAMMOTH resource from UCL.

1. What your course threshold concepts/practices are (a statement / summary)

2. What their relevance and importance for learners is (a rationale and relation to the topic)

3. How your course might support students through them (ideas for design, structure, teaching methods, assessment, support etc. - there's lots of options here, from integrating them gently into your course all the way up to having thresholds as the core pillar of your explicit end-point design!) - some nice examples available on Miami Uni and suggestions on slides and in this article.

What's your understanding and experience in relation to the ideas presented?

1 - Seeing. The difference between looking and seeing in photography. Discussed during the zoom session, where looking appears to be a completed action but seeing is the start. Going beyond aesthetics.

2 - Intentionality. That going out shooting with intention is key. Exploring a subject through image making, and images will relate to each other in sequence. Shoot, review, compare and pair images.

3 - Refinement. Allow the process to happen over time, with the goal of creating a strong sequence of images out of the many you shoot that will communicate with other in sequence. Through subject, composition, location, colour, texture, perspective and light

Talking to Colleagues

I spoke to my friend and fellow photographer James. He identified the exposure triangle as a threshold concept for students starting out in photography. Both simple and complicated by nuance. Takes a long time teach, and he does this through repetition. Student go out and only shoot changing one setting, then compare results before trying another setting. Break it down into bitesize bits, keep going back to it.

He also gives them a quiz on it, work out what they have and haven't absorbed.

Padlet link: https://ravensbourne.padlet.org/vrossi16/bimm-webinar-udl-practice-ideas-sztk95hyzlgwtuxc

• Boothe et al (2018) Applying the Principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) in the College Classroom

• Glass et al (2013) Universal Design for Learning and the Arts

• Also look at the CAST website, including their bibliography

Build upon your earlier work in identifying your intended student demographic, either applying the ideas from UDL (see slides & reading for this week) and/or your own research:

1. What are the significant barriers, challenges or contingencies a learner could face when trying to engage with your course? What are the impact of these?

2. What potential students might experience these? Who has least access, opportunity or resource for success? Who is most 'on the fringes'? Who most diverge from your 'typical' imagined student?

3. What in the course design & structure are producing these issues?

4. How could these issues be overcome? How might the structure & design 'embed' inclusivity? How might teaching delivery help accommodate learner needs?

5. What else do you need to find out in order to make your strategy as well-informed and likely to succeed as possible? Who could you ask? What literature could you seek out? How would you test out this strategy with real students when the course starts? What would tell you it is successful?

It is indicative to the kinds of areas useful to explore together, and not an exhaustive or constrictive agenda!

The overall purpose of the A1 is for you to present your course intentions & design, highlighting the thinking & work you've done so far. This will often tend towards the analytical work establishing the context & broad design, rather than the nitty-gritty planning documentation which is likely to be more developed by the A2 submission.

The relevance and importance to the students is to give them the tools to develop and communicate their ideas, identities and context of their music to their audiences more effectively, and to add some depth and substance to their image as a music practitioner.

The way these ideas would be conveyed would be with an initial introduction of the theory, but then many of the lessons would be examining different cultural references and repeating that this is the basis of semiology/semiotics; the ideas and associations that are being signified by the clothing etc. The assessment would include an essay (or narrated presentation) where students explain the signifiers in their 'look' and what is being signified.

This means the main barrier I can think of is for students who are interested in the subject and the idea of the module, but who haven’t already developed any ideas or practical skills about their image. This could be students who are shy, or less connected to their peers, or who don’t engage with the local scene, or who have been brought up in a less creative or more conservative environment.

This could be overcome by making sure that some basic and more subtle styles and cultural references are researched and discussed in lessons, not just flamboyant and extreme ones. It could also be overcome by encouraging collaboration, skill-swapping, peer feedback and encouraging students to team up for trips to charity shops. Delivery should include lots of discussion and sharing of prior creative and cultural knowledge, and students making styling suggestions to each other.

Another barrier could be to students who are not academic or who have diverse conditions such as dyslexia which could make the essay part of the assignment more challenging. This could be overcome with very clear guidance on essay structure and also by allowing a narrated presentation for those who prefer not to do a written assessment.

I could research some sources on how to structure a narrated presentation. I could test out the collaborative aspect by setting team tasks early in the module to encourage students to form supportive relationships. I would know if it was successful by seeing if the ‘non-typical’ students show signs of developing ideas; one of the methods I would use would be ongoing padlet mood boards, so this would begin to provide evidence of engagement and development early on.

The main risk is probably losing focus and interest, I tend to get impatient about having to learn terminology and structure for things that I have been doing intuitively for a long time.

Issues

I haven't engaged with any academic reading yet on the educational theories we've covered, I've been distracted by my gig and workload at BIMM.

Dependencies

Mainly that I'm relying on the tech people to get me a student email and official access to the resources/upload points etc.

1. Prosody - as in, ‘the appropriate relationship between elements’ (Pattison, 2021): Every decision in the creative process has a narrative impact, and many of the ‘bread crumbs’ that songwriters leave the listener are in fact designed for the listener to choose to follow, resulting in them becoming a participant in the narrative, rather than simply an observer. Ergo, everything you do in a song matters.

2. Tools, not rules: Songwriting as a form of narrative is not bound by rules. Rather, it is the development of patterns, tension/release and building expectations through the use of tools, all of which can be applied in as many ways as one finds them effective. Simply, the goal remains the same: create with intention and the listener will receive it.

3. See with your ears: the more songwriters and creatives are able to identify and critically analyse the ‘tools’ used in other’s work, the greater their capacity to experiment with their own creativity and increase the impact of their work.

Things I know that I can support:

1. Course Goal: For it to provide SUPPORTING STRUCTURE whilst also allowing breadth for CHOICE in approach to the learner’s work
   

Support from the frameworks: 

• Skills of communication and interaction: The ability to absorb the imaginative concepts of others, and to refine ideas to inform one's craft. 

• Recreative skills: Innovation: the ability to explore the creative links between scholarly research, analytical reflection, and processes of performing so as to challenge existing conventions. 

2. Course Goal: For students to leave the module on a continued path of BECOMING that they take into their creative and professional work.

   
   

Support from the frameworks: 

• Musicianship skills: Exploration: the ability to confront, explore and assimilate unfamiliar musical sounds, concepts, repertoires and practices. 

• Intellectual skills shared with other disciplines: Understanding: the ability to assimilate different theoretical and aesthetic systems of thought and to relate theory to practice. 

• Cultural awareness: the ability to discuss music's position, function and value in human lives, in relation to educational, professional, institutional or community perspectives, including an awareness of contemporary issues in the cultural and creative sectors (for example, policy, funding, organisations). 

• iii Critical understanding: the ability to assimilate information and insights from scholarly discourse (including from other arts or sciences), and relate them to the practice and experience of music. 

3. Learner needs: L6 students need a balance between autonomous, self-directed learning, and structured and focussed guidance and support.

Support from the frameworks: 

• SEEC Level 6 credit level descriptor: 

Acts autonomously and works within relevant self-selected guidelines using specialist techniques. Takes responsibility for determining and achieving personal and/or group outcomes and for the critical evaluation of own and others’ capabilities and development. Selects relevant specialist strategies and principles to analyse, evaluate, organise and communicate the significance of information and data in complex contexts. 

Speak to other students on my MA on what made practical workshops work well for them, and peer feedback sessions flourish through handling by the teacher. Also review reading on these approaches, and how they're handled in well established photographer masterclasses. I reviewed feedback on Alec Soth's masterclasses as student experiences were so positive. Testing it out on real students is hard, but a varied approach could work. Really, if my students are all silent something has gone wrong. And if we're out shooting with no sense of community and support, it's gone wrong. Talkative, progressive chats are a positive sign in my own crit groups chats, similarly with the photowalks I go on with friends.

Passcode: vj&5ALL?

• Articulate the general approach to how and why students will learn and will be supported in that learning.

  • This is often done in a traditionally academic way, i.e. explaining the approach in writing with reference to pedagogic theory. It's not the only way! You can conceptualise and communicate your course's approach visually, diagrammatically, orally, through metaphor or story, or any other way you think effective at bringing people in to the choices & reasonings behind how teaching & learning will happen.

• Support your strategy/model with reference to any educational theory which informs or underpins it.

  • E.g. Constructivism, Communities of Practice, Problem-based learning, anything really!

  • Some very sound and high-level theories of learning are found in Knud Illeris' great edited book. It's got chapters from a load of influential, still-living theorists like John Heron, Robert Kegan, Lave & Wenger, and more. Give it a skim to see what approaches most resonate with your course & teaching method/values.

  • You might also like my video 'What is Learning?' which unpacks Illeris' own theory.

Consider the following (adapted from ABC):

• Identify the core / enduring learning content & activity for the course.

• Develop a logical & explicit sequence of these, paying attention to the types of learning (e.g. acquisition, practice etc.) occurring and when/how (e.g. during or between taught sessions).

• Consider the macro / over-arching narrative of the learning (e.g. course-level spiralling, phases/arcs of topics, or any conceptual 'hanger' for how to frame how learning elements relates to each other)

  • Those considering spiralling might want to read this and this. It's also similar to the more recent term offered in cognitive psychology called 'interleaving' (see here).

  • But you also might have a well-justified need for some other approach, e.g. blocked / sequential teaching, project-based / team-based / problem-based learning, inquiry / exploratory learning, master / competency learning, or flipped learning. If you want starting points for any of these, just ask!

• Also consider the micro / granular composition & flow of individual phases/arcs and sessions (e.g. the combination and sequence of learning types in a given week, the specific teaching/learning activities for these, etc.)

  • If the approach in each lesson appears quite similar and consistent, then developing a pedagogic model / overall learning strategy would be a useful thing to convey this!

• Identify the most significant learning activities which provide best opportunity for assessment (initial, formative & summative). Either progress the design of these or simply note their scheduling.

• Look across the scheme so far and evaluate it from a learner's perspective:

  • How clear and compelling is the narrative & flow of the learning?

  • How appropriate is the progression of topics, in terms of extending & developing students? 

  • How appropriate, balanced & varied are the learning types in each session and throughout?

  • How is the alignment between learning activity, assessments, and course learning outcomes?

  • What pre-requisites might there be for students to understand & engage with the learning routines (e.g. learning cycles, independent study methods, positive peer interactions, feedback & assessment literacy)? How can you model these and make them begin positively?

• Feel free to continue your work on the Whiteboard from class - you should be able to export the whole thing as an image and crop it to just your work! Email me if this isn't possible and I can help.

Attached is the marking rubric we use, which includes the brief itself and how BIMM's assessment fields relate to components of the A2.

Scheme of work B: https://bimm.instructure.com/courses/16080/files/4021276?module_item_id=849188

Lesson plan A: https://bimm.instructure.com/courses/16080/modules/items/870105

Lesson plan B: https://bimm.instructure.com/courses/16080/modules/items/870106

1. How is it organised? (structure, sections, signposting, flow etc.)

2. How & where does it: a) present the course design (LO1), b) justify these decisions (LO2), and c) evaluate the design (LO3)?

3. Look at the narrative document -> What ground does it cover? How deep is each section? How (well) are ideas justified and argued? How might you approach this differently in your own work?

4. Look at the technical document -> What ground does it cover? Are all the core course elements included? How well communicated are they? (concise, clear etc.) How might you approach this differently in your own work?

5. Look at the SOW -> What ground does it cover? How is it presented? How comprehensive and articulate are the ideas here? Does it communicate the overall shape as well as some micro-detail? How might you approach this differently in your own work?

6. Look at the appendices -> What elements have been included? Why? Are they written, audio, visual etc.? Why? How well are these supporting the overall assignment? Are they detailing thinking which needed expanding? Are they deepening ideas to the benefit of the work? How might you approach this differently in your own work?