Grace Librarian Learning

Session to be observed: Asynchronous February 2025 – Moodle tutorials to support Year 2 Unit 7 (3000 word essay). Research Skills, Introduction to Harvard Referencing.
Size of student group: Approx 400 students (with access to the resources).

Observer: Bernie Yates
Observee: Grace O’Driscoll

Part One
Information sent to Bernie prior to the observation was the same as the notes sent to Jade and John, see Jade’s post.

Bernie reviewed the library introduction refresher session – see previous post for links to the recording and slide pack.

Part Two
Bernie’s observations, suggestions and questions:

Grace O’Driscoll’s recorded library presentation is an extremely valuable and clearly delivered resource for Camberwell students. The information is well-structured, practical, and accessible, particularly for students who may feel overwhelmed or unfamiliar with using the library effectively. Grace’s tone is warm and approachable, which helps to engage students in what might otherwise feel like a dry or administrative topic.

The presentation clearly outlines key services, such as opening hours, cross-college access, and the ability to request books from other UAL libraries for delivery to Camberwell. These are essential points that students may not be aware of, and presenting them clearly supports wider and more confident use of library services. The explanation of the self-service options is another highlight – it’s helpful, empowering, and encourages independence.

A particularly useful part of the session is the emphasis on the breadth and quality of Camberwell’s library collection. Grace’s encouragement to explore beyond just essay-related materials, and to engage with the library for visual and practice-based research, is an important message for Fine Art students. Her suggestion of using a device to help navigate the library and manage the large volume of resources is also a great tip – very relevant and supportive for students new to academic libraries.

In terms of engagement and detail, the session feels well-paced and appropriately detailed. The information is specific without being overwhelming. While the content is clear and direct, there may be opportunities to break the video into shorter sections in future iterations to make it easier for students to return to key points.

Overall, this is a highly effective presentation. It offers both a welcoming introduction and genuinely practical support for students at Camberwell and across UAL. It successfully demystifies the library and positions it as an essential, exciting, and approachable space.

Session to be observed: Asynchronous February 2025 – Moodle tutorials to support Year 2 Unit 7 (3000 word essay). Research Skills, Introduction to Harvard Referencing.
Size of student group: Approx 400 students (with access to the resources).

Observer: John O’Reilly
Observee: Grace O’Driscoll

Part One
Information sent to John prior to the observation was the same as the notes sent to Jade, see previous post.

John reviewed two of the recordings that I had also sent to Jade for review – see previous post for links to the recordings and slide packs used in the sessions reviewed.

Part Two
John’s observations, suggestions and questions:

#pacing

The voiceover in the introduction is really clear. And the information is broken down into discrete digestible chunks. Nice connection to (and contrast) between library search and Google search. Good use of the term ‘tips and tricks’, it is inviting and warms students up to the idea that this is going to be useful.

#opening up ‘library’

Good situating of the concept of the library as not just a physical space – I tacitly take this idea of library as a physical space for granted (even though I use it online all the time!) and by opening up the idea, space and practice of library, it makes the idea of library less forbidding for those students who are anxious about it, with all that library may imply for them and that they may associate with it, especially as so many are largely interested in practice [one lecturer on our MA cited a third year student who came to him recently and asked about how you borrow books from library – they had never been].

#demystifying

The introduction is really strong demystifying basic library routines. The rationale for using the library and books and journals and other artifacts of research was really excellent with the stress on the idea and power of ‘credibility’. Later on, you do note that the resource is something that is students have paid for and has been developed over time – perhaps mentioning early on that it is curated and selected by your staff and lecturers and previous artists and makers and academics over time.

#credibility and skill

The ongoing emphasis on credible material was excellent and especially the advice around reading for research. Again it demystifies the idea of academic reading. The sections on search terms and the difference between searching on Google and searching in the library was great in how it drew attention to default everyday ways of search versus search (like effective AI prompts) is a skill. Listening to this presentation was so useful for me, it reminded me how much tacit knowledge is embedded in our search. I wonder if you could draw attention to how they will over time develop this skill and practice of ‘thinking-with-search-terms’

#minimalism and interface

The amount of text on each slide work and you build it out succinctly without too much narrative – your voice embodies the minimalism and precision that effective library search often requires. There’s a really good use of accompanying images it was good that you dropped in a little task in the search exercise. Excellent that you showed the library interface on the phone rather than on the desktop, and great storytelling example of your own search, and around the different kinds of media that may be used and usable in a piece of research.

#tacit knowledges and rabbitholes

The exploration of the image search was really well played out and especially your observation that, “all of that is considered academic library research.” It is really helpful for you to highlight some of the skillsets the students already bring to the table in terms of search you have focused these skills a little more while also validating these skills as being academic when applied in a thoughtful and focused way. I also wondered here whether there might be some thinking around the virtues and vices of ‘rabbit holes’ that we often remind ourselves in when doing academic research – the value of allowing for serendipity while being mindful of managing your time and knowing when to cut your (re)search losses when you realise you began this search half an hour ago.

#higher levels

The emphasis on the academic level and higher level, and the analogy that you made here between research and practice and writing, reaching the right levels worked really well. It is great you made the analogy for students about the expectations they have of their practice and the expectations they might have of their research. Love the idea that by being in the UAL library search you were already getting access to the right level and emphasizing the idea of outsider voices that are part of research. I feel like a bit of an outlier on this but it is worth knowing the discipline or practice of the author we are citing – in art school we read so widely, it is worth noticing if the writer is an artist or anthropologist, and what that brings to the table. It might also be worth noting and also worth keeping an eye on where the author is from, and as you say positionality, just to be aware that it might then be worth looking for writers or practitioners who bring different voices to the table. 

#sampling with integrity

On of the most exciting parts of this was your presentation of different ways of academic reading, such as ‘treasure hunting’ and the idea of looking at the intro and conclusion to get a sense of their take on things, “to understand the intention of the author.” You emphasise the academic integrity of this practice of ‘sampling.’

#citation as creative act

All the rationale you give for using and citing texts is really persuasive and valuable (I wish I could have articulated these so well when teaching undergrads). The way into the issue of citation was great “the important things to remember is to make a really good try of it.” Such great teaching and advice on how they can approach the “fiddliness of citation.” (O’Reilly, 2025). Seriously I think students sometimes see their inability to do this niche arrangement of names, letters and dates as a sign that they are not academic – you gave the best advice on this, and you could even emphasise this practice of ‘trying’ even more. Your ongoing emphasis that citation is not just about evidentiary support but also about giving you ‘different perspectives’ is so valuable – citation as a creative act.  The ethical dimension you introduced was excellent – you really made a persuasive case for reading and citation, such effective teaching. As a whole the two pieces didn’t feel like 20 minutes, really engaging.

Reflection

This feedback from John was invaluable, I have experience in professional training environments but am relatively new to librarianship and the education sector and so I am always balancing what I bring from peer to peer training environments vs. what works in a more classroom like setting. The students we teach are all adults and so I am continually looking for persuasive ways to engage them in a way that acknowledges their self-determination, and while also aware that as a service our sessions feel more optional than academic and practice lectures. I think our advice needs to be positioned as effective and efficient, selling the benefits.

John’s suggestion to emphasise library resources as having been curated and selected by both library staff and academic lecturers over time (and ongoing) is really useful. We talk about the authoritative, credible level of the resources and this is a way to evidence that – modelling one of the skills we’re teaching. Another very useful tip was to mention how students will continue developing their research skills over time, with the practice of translating their ideas into search terms becoming more habitual the more they use it. I have been introducing and explaining the layering and build-up of research skills over the progression of units and so this fits very well with that positioning.

This was the first slide pack I had included an image of the library search page on a phone screen rather than relying fully on screenshots of the desktop site. In addition to John’s comment students were very positive about showing more phone based search advice in writing cafes I attended. It seems to be a much needed visual explanation and so I will include more phone layouts in my slides going forward. These are pretty rough screenshot and photo mockups but it’s great to hear they are useful!

John mentioned the pros and cons of ‘rabbit holes’ as something to touch on in the context of academic research – leaving space for serendipity while being mindful of time management. The issue of students not being able to find relevant material has been more common, but I have also had students who have found it really difficult to stop the research stage and start writing. So this is something I will definitely try to mention in sessions – not only in terms of rabbit-holes but also in terms of expectations at BA stage that research is not exhaustive; that more-than-adequate is a good benchmark to aim for, and knowing when to move-on is key. I do try to give tangible indications of ‘a good number’ of books and articles for an essay / dissertation bibliography as a guide, but again had probably not emphasised the ‘why’ and what to watch out for in terms of knowing when to stop.

John’s suggestion of noting the discipline or practice of the author and whether they are an artist, social scientist, journalist or anthropologist for example, and maybe where they are from, or any clearly stated positionality, will be really useful for dissertation level project preparation where ‘breath of research’ is one of the key elements of marking. It’s certainly something I will come back to in terms of advising students on the balancing of their research sources.

Overall both the micro-teaching and the observation of teaching experiences and feedback have been both really validating and instructive. The biggest learning for me has been the impact and noticeability of what seemed to me like really small things. Some of these are things I might have tried on-and-off and so what these experiences have given me is a platform to be more considered and planned, knowing a bit more about what sort of elements work and should be consistent for best practice.

Session to be observed: Asynchronous February 2025 – Moodle tutorials to support Year 2 Unit 7 (3000 word essay). Library refresher, Research Skills, Introduction to Harvard Referencing.
Size of student group: Approx 400 students (with access to the resources).

Observer: Jade Gellard
Observee: Grace O’Driscoll

Part One
Information sent to Jade prior to the observation:

What is the context of this session within the curriculum?

I have been working towards making library sessions more embedded with units on Camberwell Fine Art courses. As the cohorts are so large there have not been library sessions in-course for some years which leaves the students under-supported in how to conduct basic academic research, how to reference, and how to use the library efficiently – which drives a very high (unsustainable) number of 1:1 support requests. I have now recorded these asynchronous sessions for unit Moodle pages to combine with very short introductory time slots in the cohort weekly meetings.

How long have you been working with this group and in what capacity?

I have not seen these groups since their Year 1 week 1 Welcome Week induction, some groups of which will have been online only. I will produce a similar but slightly more advanced set of video resources for unit 8 in Year 2 and again for unit 9.2 in year 3  – and will see them at their weekly meetings hopefully again one time for each of these units to introduce, explain and take questions around the video resources.

What are the intended or expected learning outcomes?

• Students are confident to use the library either in person or online or both and know how to ask for help if needed.
• Students are empowered to undertake basic image and text research using keywords / search terms and can develop a list of target terms to research.
• Students understand the limitations and pathways entailed in using the UAL library search pages.
• Students are equipped with some good start points for their research including recommended bibliographies, Cite Them Right Online, confidence on when and how to approach their Academic Support Librarian for help.

What are the anticipated outputs (anything students will make/do)?

Students will use the library resources to support their Unit 7 essay research and referencing.

Are there potential difficulties or specific areas of concern?

The main concern is that students won’t watch the videos in full or will dismiss the need for library based research and rely on Google, which negatively affects attainment potential.

How will students be informed of the observation/review?

As these are asynchronous resources there are no students present in real time.

What would you particularly like feedback on?

The level of engagement – these skills can seem quite ‘dry’ compared to a lot of UAL teaching but get consistently very positive feedback in terms of usefulness in 1:1 sessions. Fine Art at Camberwell have disengaged from the library over some years and so this is now quite a new concept for the students to re-engage with as important to their attainment and efficiency.

The level of detail – I will have the opportunity to edit the video tutorials and I will also be creating a new set for unit 8 and so it would be great to hear where it seems repetitive or over / under detailed.

How will feedback be exchanged? By email.

Part Two
Jade’s observations, suggestions and questions:

Across all videos:

It was very useful to have the contents, captions and discussions at the side of the Panopto video to help click through and find what part of the video is needed. I think that students who are looking to answer a particular question will be able to find what they need easily.
There was a clear outlined contents page, and you explained what to expect from the videos. This helps to engage the student and ensure that they are watching the right video for their query.
Your demonstration was clear and concise, but it could have been slowed down. It was quick, and I couldn’t see the examples of books as the screen blurred. Demonstrating in ‘live’ time helped to concrete the learning outcomes. It was engaging and familiarised the learning outcome of the video.

Yr 2 library refresher video

The captions helped me to follow along when the pace was too fast. The slide deck was very informative. The ratio of text and picture was visually appealing. The most important information was written, and you were then further explaining this verbally where necessary.

I couldn’t click the links on the screen– but that could be because it was a recorded session? I would like to suggest QR codes alongside to help students link up outside of the session, or the links in the comments, if that is possible.

It was nice to hear you ask students to pause the video and ‘google’ ‘ UAL library search’ to get them to embed the learning outcomes and make them feel comfortable with that the catalogue looks like. Your explanation of the Dewey system was very clear and easy to follow. Using ‘call number like a post code’ was a simple and effective way to visualise how to use the Dewey system appropriately.

Closing the PowerPoint with ‘top five things to remember about UAL libraries’ was a nice finish. It was warm and friendly, which tied up the library refresher well.

Yr 2 research skills

At the start, you made it clear what the learning outcome is from the video, and what to expect from the unit 7 Moodle page. There were engaging images and text on the screen while you were sharing further information. There were brightly coloured examples, and they help retain attention. There was a demonstration and recap page at the start of the demonstration to help embed the learning.

Including and mentioning assistive technology to comfortably get through reading, was inclusive and mindful of the diverse needs of students.   There was quite a lot of information across all three videos. Whilst I appreciate that there is a contents page and students can access the part they need, would cutting up the video into its sections at 5-10 minutes long help to keep the students attention?

Referencing for unit 7

This slide deck isn’t as colourful or engaging as yr2 library refresher video / yr 2 research skills, until the image referencing at the end. Is there a way to make the beginning of the slide deck more vibrant?

Some of the text on the quotes was quite small, and hard to read. Maybe there could be a digital handout to supplement this video? I watched the video on my phone, so it was very hard to read.

Explaining how to Harvard reference now and clarifying that it will be needed in further units helps to establish that this is important information, and the student should pay attention. You addressed common queries throughout the video, anticipating and eliminating any confusion. It was clear you are well practiced and knowledgeable and know where students may have further questions.

Part Three
Reflection on the observer’s comments and how I will act on the feedback exchanged:

Jade commented that ‘demonstrating in ‘live’ time helped to concrete the learning outcomes [but] it could have been slowed down It was quick, and I couldn’t see the examples of books as the screen blurred, and that the ‘pace was too fast’. This is definitely something I can address in future sessions, I have also been reading about the value of the ‘debrief’ and I think on some of the very essential elements I should recap over some points before moving on.

Another comment ‘I couldn’t click the links on the screen…QR codes alongside to help students link up outside of the session, or the links in the comments, if that is possible’. This is a really helpful suggestion – I have newly been uploading my sessions to Panopto and these are some of the first that I have explored more of the functionality. I will investigate – I know I can’t make the links on the main screen live but hopefully I can make them live in the captions. I can also add QR codes, hopefully as clips in these videos and also in future ones. In response to this I also added QR codes linking to key resources in my in-person sessions which has been really well received with lots of students using them in sessions.

Jade questioned whether ‘cutting up the video into its sections at 5-10 minutes long help to keep the students attention?’. Shorter videos have been requested by the courses and unit leads – cutting this into three sections has been in response to a really long research tutorial I had posted for Unit 9.2 in Autumn term. This feedback is really helpful as I had assumed this was already granular enough, For unit 8 this year and unit 9.2 upcoming next year I am going to try and make a set of shorter more focused videos with one key skill in each.

Another insight that the referencing ‘slide deck isn’t as colourful or engaging’ was insightful – I tried addressing this in some recent in person sessions by looking at more visual referencing first, including Social Media examples. This was really helpful and kept student’s attention more that starting with books and journals which are more commonly used but less interactive.

Jade observed that ‘some of the text on the quotes was quite small, and hard to read. Maybe there could be a digital handout to supplement this video? I watched the video on my phone, so it was very hard to read’. This is something I definitely need to address. My slides in general follow accessibility guidelines but there are a couple I have re-purposed from shared sessions that don’t. It will definitely be worth the small amount of additional workload to re-work these slides to make sure they are fully legible.

Links to the tutorials and slide packs:

Library Refresher re-introduction, recorded tutorial and slides pack (for links to resources)

Research Skills introduction, recorded tutorial and slides pack

Harvard Referencing introduction, recorded tutorial and slides pack

Session to be observed: 27^th February 2025 – Technical workshop. Basque part 2, BA Fashion Contour year 1 group B., 9.30am – 12.30pm.

Observer: Grace O’Driscoll
Observee: Jade Gellard

Part One
Jade completed prior to the observation:

What is the context of this session within the curriculum?

I am delivering the second part of a three – part workshop, where I demonstrate how to make a Basque, and students complete their own sample for hand in to be assessed.

How long have you been working with this group and in what capacity?

This is a 1^st year class – September 2024. 5 months.
In the capacity of delivering the groups technical workshops.

What are the intended or expected learning outcomes?

The intended learning outcomes:

• Students learn new construction techniques.
• Students can take this and apply it to their own samples if suitable.
• Deepening the understanding of patterns, notches, and the language used for garment construction.
• Practicing using the specialist sewing machines required for contour to improve their overall garment finish.

What are the anticipated outputs (anything students will make/do)?

The students follow along and complete their own Basque sample as part of their hand in requirements for block 2. The sample will not be completed until the following week, as there is a lot of sewing to be completed.

Are there potential difficulties or specific areas of concern?

There is sometimes a ‘bottle neck’ of students requiring specialist machines at the same time. This can cause queues, or machinery breaking from speed and change of hands, resulting in long wait times. This can mean that students are not able to keep up with the demonstrations. My students have varying degrees of skill and use on a sewing machine. This can make it hard to balance the flow of the room, so that students aren’t waiting for the next steps, or are unable to keep up with the speed of the demonstration.

How will students be informed of the observation/review?

Students will be notified via their weekly email. The week before, I send an email to remind students of what to expect in the next session, and what materials/ equipment to bring along. I will check that everyone is comfortable, explain that the observation is part of my own hand in, and that there is no need to behave in a different way.

What would you particularly like feedback on?

The general atmosphere of the room. I want my sewing workshops to be encouraging, warm, and inviting. I want the students to be actively listening, engaged, and comfortable. But is this actually the case?

Is my language clear and concise?
Are all students treated equally, with no unconscious bias?
Is the flow and speed of the workshop suitably paced?

How will feedback be exchanged? Over email.

Part Two
Grace’s observations, suggestions and questions:

The general atmosphere of the room.  

The atmosphere of the room was very warm and friendly while still being professional and productive. This was especially apparent as students arrived and were all greeted individually then issued brief encouragements on getting organised with any equipment and materials needed, and to check their sewing machines. 

A noticeable factor was several very clear reminders of Health and Safety that Jade took time to include, both at the beginning of the session and again when the students started to work on their pieces. These were detailed and clear so their importance was well communicated. Jade then demonstrated this importance in real time when the fire alarm went off, communicating to students that this was not an expected test and so to evacuate immediately and calmly, and stating “I am switching the power to the machines off now”. I found this very impactful as in the library we often find students will wait a few minutes to see if the alarms stop and are quite reluctant to evacuate – Jade’s immediate approach was instructive and I felt a very useful lifeskill for students to see demonstrated. 

Inclusive practice was shown through genuine concern for a student who arrived and reported attending despite feeling unwell, with encouragement to leave if not feeling well enough to persist and Jade giving clarity about ways to catch up on the content. 

Active listening and engagement

The setup of the room was excellent, with a camera trained on the sewing machine as Jade worked through the exercise. Students were observed to be watching the screen carefully, with one student recording the tutorial and others taking detailed notes. Most had their materials and progress to date in front of them and could be seen glancing at the relevant pieces to ensure they understood the steps and instructions. 

Jade was very careful with the camera placement and took time to zoom or re-position at regular intervals, ensuing that the images on screen were optimised to show as much detail and action as possible. This showed real concern for inclusion of all students who may be more visual learners and for those who may miss out on fine details otherwise. 

Clear and concise language

Jade’s language and pace were very clear and succinct, she repeated some phrases at intervals which really helped their importance to sink in; for example explaining about the right / soft side of the materials, the placement of notches and the seam allowances, so that there was no chance to miss vital basics amongst the specific task instructions. Jade also checked and referred to her written list of task instructions which added clarity and reassurance that every step was covered. As an observer this was also a good reminder to myself to think in a step-by-step approach, so I think this would also be conveyed to students. I didn’t see any students with a copy of the step-by-step list Jade had and I wondered if it would be helpful to hand out a printed copy of a version of this for those that might benefit from a tick-list (it’s possible students had a digital or printed copy that I didn’t see). 

One other thing I think the room would benefit from in addition to the camera and screen setup is a mic. Jade projected her voice really well across the room well despite being sat at a machine doing close-work, however she was at times in a position of needing to verbally explain while also looking down towards her sewing. A mic could be turned on to make it easier to project at a clearer volume in this situation. 

All students treated equally

All students who arrived before the session start were greeted and welcomed to the room. Something I noticed particularly was that students arriving later were not commented on, and their arrival was not mentioned. I found this very inclusive practice – we don’t know the reasons students might run late and they might already be feeling stressed or anxious and may not be ready to interact. This is something I will try to remember in future, I’ve tended to try to smile and say hello which gets repetitive.

At the point where students were starting to work independently on their pieces Jade spoke to a student who may have missed the previous session as they were getting started on, rather than progressing their item. Jade offered them an alternate route of steps so that they could align with the session on the day, and then complete the previous steps independently to get the best out of the taught content without rushing their work and risking errors. Again, I found this to be an inclusive and compassionate approach. 

Following the demonstration part of the tutorial Jade walked the room several times stopping to check on each student’s progress and confidence as they worked on their task, helping students who needed support and answering questions. This 1:1 checking approach ensured that everyone got equal access to help and time without having to call Jade over or approach her, which some students might be less comfortable to do. 

Another noticeably inclusive element was Jade’s recognitions of more challenging or particularly tricky elements of the task. I find this especially important in elements of teaching or training where expertise is involved or assumed. Some students can write themselves off as ‘not good at’ certain skills, whereas they are actually just less experienced or less practiced. Jade used the phrase “even though I have been sewing a million year this is still something I have to double check / do slowly and carefully”. I found this a really inclusive and encouraging turn of phrase.

Flow and speed of the workshop pace

The workshop flowed very well, it was very clear that it was a ‘next steps’ workshop and the pace was very productive.  A noticeable element was the clear communication of time allowances. This flowed through from before the start when verbal reminders of ‘5 minutes and ‘two minutes’ to start were given. For the student’s hands-on element a 45 minute allowance was clearly communicated at the start, then when 15 minutes had passed this was notified and Jade confirmed ‘you have 30 minutes, lots of time left’ which again was really encouraging, helping students to avoid rushing and making errors.  Also, near the end of the first set of instructions before the independent working time Jade checked with the group whether they had taken on enough information and wanted to make a start on the hands-on element or whether she could add a little more before starting – the group wanted to make a start before any more content and Jade listened to this and adjusted her lesson plan which was very responsive and student-centered. Perhaps one reminder to students to ask for any help needed as Jade walked the room would have reassured anyone who is shy, but if the class already know their technician well this is probably not needed.