It's that time of year again!
As we move swiftly along into ESA and MCP territory, we would like to have a look at the students learner voice and see what our students love, and what they wish for in the art department. Learner voice allows us to see exactly how we as a department can fully help our students and make sure their time here is well spent, enjoyable and fully productive!
Here are the results...
Tell us what you love about Fine Art,
Graphics and Photography in Thomas Rotherham College:
We had a 95% response rate across all endorsements and levels, with 100% from Graphics and Photography and 85% from Fine Art.
Here is a breakdown of what all
our endorsements collectively 'love' about the art department:
The staff, support and an open door policy
Once again the highest response of what you love, from Art, Graphics and Photography, is the support available in the department. 30% of Art students and 28% of Photography told us the staff and the support were their favourite thing about their course. The freedom to explore their own ideas while still gaining constructive feedback from the teachers is clearly a highly valued area that we as a department provide. Art students told us they love 'help from teachers', the 'flexibility with making ideas real pieces of work' and that our 'staff are fab!'. Graphics students said they loved the 'regular feedback', 'very good and constructive criticism', and that the staff are 'always happy to give advice when we are having a problem'. 'The help received daily' was commented on by Photography students, and also that staff are 'easy to talk to' and that the 'teaching approach is always insightful and descriptive'.
Not only are the staff in the department appreciated, but our fabulous Reprographics team are also highly praised for the work they do for the students, with 10% of students across all endorsements expressing their love for the service and the staff.
Thomas Rotherham College's teaching style of art and design is certainly very important to the students and the inclusion of regular feedback and the support given from all angles is very much appreciated. Likewise, our staff also very grateful for the hard work and passion given from the students.
The space and facilities available
28% of Photography students and 18% of Art and Graphics students commented on the space available in the department. This year introduced a new working space downstairs by removing a wall and having an open plan room shared by computers and practical space. This has given us much more space to work in, which has been noted by the students in Graphics and Photography who work primarily downstairs, saying the 'new room layout' and 'the classroom space' were something they loved. We saw this same positive response last year when we similarly removed the wall separating the classrooms upstairs, and we’re so glad we’ve got the same feedback on the new space downstairs. Open plan rooms really contribute to a beneficial working area, not just is there more space, but it reinforces the open door policy and allows students of different endorsements and classes to connect and discuss ideas together.
In this space we have also brought in a much
requested printer, so students can print off A4 work instead of having to go to
reprographics for little bits and pieces, saving both students and
reprographics time. This was praised along with a new set of computers
installed downstairs, with one student telling us they ‘love the computer space downstairs’.
This year also introduced a dark room, which is a huge
benefit to Thomas Rotherham as not many colleges have this facility and it's
something that is highly valued by universities when students come to write
about their skills in art and design, particularly Photography students.
The dark room was also mentioned in praise towards the facilities in the
department.
'Access to different techniques
(lino/intaglio)' and 'good range of materials to use' were praised by 18% of Art, 14% of
Graphics and 17% of Photography students, as well as the 'freedom to be able to create new
exciting ideas using unique materials'.
Tell us what you wish for in Fine
Art, Graphics and Photography in Thomas Rotherham College:
We had a 95% response rate across all endorsements and levels, with 100% from Graphics and Photography and 85% from Fine Art.
Here is a breakdown of what all
our endorsements ‘wish for’ in the department:
Printmaking facilities
Although the facilitates were highly praised in the 'love' category, 36% of Art students and 32% of Graphics students asked for a 'NEW PRINTING PRESS!', a '2nd printing press' or a 'larger printing press'.
Our response:
We are looking to buy a new printing press
before ESA timed exams at the end of the year. We will discuss the best size
that would be most efficient for the room and for our yearly budget.
Guillotines
50% of Photography students, 14% of Graphics students and 6% of Art students mentioned a guillotine as a concern and as something they wished for. Whether it be 'more big guillotines' or just 'a new guillotine', this is clearly a very prominent issue, particularly for Photography students.
Our response:
This is something requested by students every year, I guess you can never have too many guillotines! Last year we responded to this by investing in some A3 guillotines. This was certainly not a smart investment as they broke within a few weeks and we were back where we started with just two guillotines for the entire department. Due to the growing number of students, and the ongoing demand for one, we will price up A1 guillotines and find one best suited for the department.
Soap
The third most requested item by students, with 33% in Art, 28% in Graphics and 11% in Photography, was soap at the sinks. 'Some soap to wash hands', 'soap to wash paint off at the sinks', 'soap at sinks' and 'SOAP!!' were very popular responses.
Our response:
Given that this is also something requested every year and that our ongoing plans for a soap dispenser in each room have never happened, we will begin buying standard hard soap bars or liquid soap for the rooms just to sit on the side of the sinks. This may not be as efficient as a dispenser but the absolute need and desire for soap is something we need to do something about as soon as possible.
15%
of our fine art students asked for more paint brushes readily available in the
classrooms as well as ‘palettes because
paint dries too quick on paper’. And 7% of students said they would like ‘more tables for the class because
sometimes we don’t have space’.
Our response:
Paint brushes in
classrooms
The biggest problem with this is that leaving out paint
brushes in the classroom would sadly result in a lot being stolen. And we can’t
afford to keep restocking the classroom with resources if we know they will
just keep getting taken home. However, we are considering getting a paint brush
tray for the office where students can come in and borrow paint brushes for a
lesson providing they bring them straight back after use. But in the meantime
remember brushes are always available to buy from the office.
Paint palettes
Similarly to the paint brushes, if we bought palettes for
the classrooms they would unfortunately disappear quite quickly. We do sell
palettes for students if they wish to buy them, and again, will consider having
a tray specifically for loaning out painting materials for a lesson, but we
will stop this if we don’t receive back the brushes and palettes we give out.
More tables
After opening up the rooms both upstairs and downstairs,
we’ve been able to create more areas to work in and much more space. However,
if we brought more tables into the room upstairs, it would become quite
crammed, and as we need space for printmaking and storage of students work, it
would be difficult to find room for more tables. We will try
and utilise the space we have more by keeping the room organised and tidy, but
this goes for students as well, keeping rooms tidy will create more room to
work in. We are planning a reshuffle in terms of storing students work, and
this should also contribute to more space, however fitting more tables in the
rooms would be very difficult at the moment.
Graphics specific:
More one to one’s and more feedback were requested by 9%
of Graphics students, with one student telling us they would like ‘more one to one’s, felt like I didn’t have
as many this year and feel like it would help’. 4% mentioned they would
find it beneficial if there were ‘more
techniques taught’ in the lessons.
Our response:
More one to ones
This is a point which is seems to be debated amongst
students as 22% said the support was regularly given and always with supportive
and constructive feedback. We timetable one to ones to make sure every student
gets seen at least once a week, and unfortunately due to the amount of students
in lessons we can only give designated times of 15 minutes per student, to make
sure we see everyone at least once. If students are ever struggling, just know
you can always see a free member of staff outside your lesson, and email your
teacher if you feel you are really struggling. You can also ask your teacher if
they can see you for your one to one first thing in your lesson if you feel you
need help urgently.
More techniques
taught
We always aim to bring as many techniques to lessons as
possible so that students can leave college with a wide range of skills and
experience. At the moment we teach techniques such as intaglio, lino,
collographs, screenprinting etc, and now the addition of the darkroom. These
are really the most we can teach with the facilities we have available, but we
would like to know if there are any specific techniques our students would like
to learn, and then see if we can make it possible!
Photography specific:
17% of Photography students told us they would like a ‘designated photography area downstairs’
and more photography equipment. 17% also asked for a larger range of paper
available for the printer, i.e. glossy paper.
Our response:
Designated
photography area and more equipment
We think a designated photography area would be a great
idea! We are now looking at the space we have available and working out where
this could be, if there isn’t the space then there isn’t the space, which would
be unfortunate, but we will try our best to make this happen! As for equipment,
we are extremely tied down by our budget, photography equipment is very
expensive. However, if we do create a
photography area, we would like to populate this with more equipment such as
lights or a bigger backdrop, but for the meantime we have the studio in
Woodhurst with backdrops and more lighting than we have in the department.
Range of paper to
print with
We have very recently been able to now allow students to
print on glossy paper using the printer downstairs. We will discuss with
reprographics if there are any other types of paper we would be able to add to
this.
And there we have it! We're thrilled so many of you are enjoying your courses, and we look forward to hopefully making it even better for you. Your feedback is so important to us, and we really appreciate it. Till next year!
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