As always, we ran our Learner Voice survey on the coach back from our YSP trip with first year students. Here is what they said, and our responses!
What do you love about the art
department at Thomas Rotherham College?
Facilities and
Techniques – 50%
Our
facilities and techniques were rated highest in our learner voice for what our
students love about the art department, in particular an overwhelming response
for the darkroom! Other facilities mentioned were our new photography studio
and cameras, as well as techniques we have introduced students to in these
first few weeks such as screen printing and intaglio.
We
are always so pleased to hear that so many students have enjoyed the workshops
we have run so far and love all the equipment we have available to use both in
and out of lessons.
Teachers and
Support – 25%
It’s
great to hear that so many of you love and appreciate the support given by
staff in the department. This is mentioned by students in learner voice every
year and it is always so lovely to know that students are enjoying their time
in the department, feel comfortable with staff, and that their lessons are
productive working environments. We always make sure to put support in place
for those who need it, and continually give feedback to every student to make
sure they all achieve the best grade they possibly can. So thank you as always
for mentioning this, we really appreciate it 😊
Finding the course
interesting/Learning a lot – 14%
This
is not something usually brought up on our learner voice, not for the reason
that students don’t find our courses interesting (or at least we hope not!),
but perhaps because this is usually taken for granted. The enjoyment of
learning new skills and being in the classroom environment will most likely
have been emphasised this year by the lack of that very environment over the
last two years, where the majority of learning will have been done online. We
always hope that students leave us after the two years with much more understanding,
knowledge and skills than when they arrived, but this feels even more important
this year given the experience of the last two years. So for students to feel
like this before we even reach October half term is amazing to hear!
A few
honourable mentions….
·
Trips (12%)
·
Freedom and Independence (12%)
·
Open Door (10%)
·
Photoshoots (3%)
What do you wish for in the art
department at Thomas Rotherham College?
More time for
deadlines – 22%
Unfortunately,
the structure of our courses mean classwork and homework deadlines are really
important. We have a lot of ground to cover and everything you do needs to be presented
in your sketchbook in order to get you marks. The amount of time we have to
produce work is limited, so by extending deadlines would mean cutting out other
aspects of the course, which would mean missing out on a lot of content.
It is
college policy that you complete 4 and a half hours of work outside of lessons
for each of your subjects. This is what we base our homework deadlines on.
Allowing extensions to these deadlines means you will inevitably get more and
more behind and have more to catch up on. So keeping at these deadlines every
week is much better for you in the long run!
Another
printer/More printing credits – 16%
This
would be amazing! We understand there are often queues at the printer, and that
our courses require a lot of printing and therefore printing credits, which is
not ideal. We have campaigned before in the past to increase printer credits
for students who study our subjects, and this is now higher than other college
students. However, this is not always enough, and we know that. We will put
this plea forward again, as we always do, and see what we can do!
Nothing! – 16%
It is
incredible that this is our number 3 ‘wish’. Thank you, this is much
appreciated!
More available/easier
to find materials – 10%
This
is a new one! This was mentioned in Art, so I will take this as the upstairs
classroom. All materials that are available for students to use for free are almost
all located in the material drawers at the back of the room by the sinks. These
include scissors and tape, brushes, paints, pastels and printmaking materials
(and more!). Scrap paper is all stored under the whiteboard at the front of the
class. Any other materials will need to be bought from the shop, such as paper,
brushes (to keep), glue sticks, pens etc. We can only supply so much for free,
as we are on a budget and can’t afford to unfortunately. Anything we do sell is
at cost price and we do not make a profit on this.
If
you are ever in doubt as to wear something is located in the rooms, don’t be
afraid to ask a member of staff or another student.
More trips
(and nicer weather!) – 8%
We
absolutely love trips! Pre-covid we did two trips a year – YSP with first years
and Manchester with second years. We are so happy to be doing trips again, so this
years YSP was a real treat! (even though the rain did cut it a bit short!) We are
hoping to plan some more smaller trips with first year students later on in the
academic year…so watch this space!
More freedom/flexibility
– 3%
This
is coming! Your first project, called ‘Exploring Media’, allows to you literally,
explore media! You try out all the techniques your subject has to offer, as
well as get used to using sketchbooks and the facilities in the department. We
run this quite prescriptively so that everyone starts off on the same foot when
we start your coursework. This will begin after you hand in your Exploring
Media in January, and here you will be able to start exploring your own themes
and concepts!
A few
honourable mentions….
More time learning
Photoshop
As both
Graphics and Photography as so fast paced at the start of the year, it can be
tricky to fit time in solely to spend learning how to use Photoshop, and we generally
rely on students picking this up through various computer tasks. However, it is
interesting to hear that a few of you would prefer more focus on learning
techniques before jumping in at the deep end, so we will bare this in mind for
next year!
More table space
downstairs
Unfortunately
we can only fit so many tables in the classroom downstairs as it is a small
space, so I’m not sure how we’d achieve this! Our advice is that if you are
working on sketchbook work during an open door, book the upstairs room instead as
this has much more room and table space for you to work on.
Opportunities
like work experience/placement
This
is a request we have never had before! We would love to be able to offer placements
on our course, but this is something we have never looked in to. We will see
what we can do!
