Learner Voice – What has changed since 2014?
Every
year in January the Art and Design department we ask our students to give us
feedback on their experiences. To see
the original post featuring all the feedback please see here:
Current
students will have their chance to feedback their views this year when they
hand in their coursework on 29th and 30th January this
year. Before that happens, here is a
review of what progress we have made of the ‘wishes’ that arose last year:
(The
original post appears in red and the update appears in black)
Tell us what you wish for in Fine Art and Graphic
Communication at Thomas Rotherham College:
We had an 80% response rate across AS and A2 Fine Art and a 77%
response rate in Graphics. Both
endorsements identified some common ‘wishes’ but there were also some more
subject specific requests. Here is the
breakdown of the common wishes:
Cleaner Rooms:
25% of Art and 34% of Graphics students wished for cleaner rooms and
the staff in the Art Department agree! ’For
people to clean up after themselves a lot more’, ‘no plaster!’ ‘For people to
clean the printing areas after they finish’.
Our Response: The cleaning staff
are employed to sweep the floor and empty the bins and no more, it is our
responsibility as users of the studios to keep mess and disruption to a minimum
.This poses a unique problem for us as generally in lesson, students clear away
and tidy up after themselves. However
when students are working independently outside their lessons, they are much
less considerate. We could solve this
problem by closing the studios outside lessons, however 29% of students said they loved our ‘open door’ policy. Mess is
also caused by materials such as plaster and printing, again we could limit the
materials we can use but again 23% of
learners identified the range of
materials available as a strength of the department.
R113
and R112 have now been knocked through into one room, creating an open studio
for use by all students. We have
introduced ‘YELLOW’ inking areas where inking plates and blocks for printmaking
should take place and have identified ‘CLEAN TABLES’ where students can work on
journals and sketchbooks without using ‘wet’ materials.
We
have also now got a larger dedicated ‘PLASTER AREA’ which is separated from the
main classroom.
Downstairs
we have shelves and an increased amount of drying racks for work. We also have new paper towel and soap
dispensers.
Due to
the increase in student’s numbers and the sheer volume of activity in the rooms
(the open door policy seems as popular as ever this year!) this invariably
brings an increase in mess. The tidiness
and cleanliness of the rooms depend a lot on the individual responsibility of
everyone using the rooms as we do not have a ‘cleaner’. All students need to make sure they clean up
after themselves when they are working both in and out of lesson. If we work together, we can keep it tidy!
Materials cost and availability:
15% of Art students wished for cheaper materials and more free
facilities – ‘The cost of buying all of
the equipment is quite high, more notice about this at the start of term or on
open evenings’ and ‘More paper at
the start of each term’.
Our response: We only sell materials
at the price it costs us to buy and as we order from an educational supplier
this is much cheaper than you would pay in the shops. We charge for basics such as paper, brushes
and glue sticks as in the past when we haven’t these things in particular have
been wasted on a big enough scale to affect our budget for the year. We supply printing materials and basic
acrylic paints, however we need to charge for things such as plaster, intaglio
plates and lino. These are expensive to
buy for whole classes and as we have a very small departmental budget,
unfortunately we would not be able to offer these materials and techniques if
we didn’t charge for them. We think it
is important, and also students think it is important, to have access to a wide
range of materials and techniques.
However we will discuss how we can make the costs less prohibitive and
more clear at the start of the course.
This
year we have introduced a ‘Levy’ system where students can pay any amount they
like up front e.g. £10 and this can be topped up whenever they like. They can then use this to buy materials as
and when they need them. This system
seems to be working extremely well for those students who use it and we highly
recommend all students participate.
Although it does not reduce the cost of the materials (as we already
sell them at cost price!) it does make managing the cost of them much easier
for both students and the Art Department.
As
always, students from low income families may be entitled to a bursary which is
accessed through student services and allocated as a fixed amount paid into
their own Levy to spend as they need.
‘Guillotine that works (only 1
upstairs)’, ‘A paper trimmer/guillotine – I googled it £98.61 @ amazon J’
Our response: I have costed
replacements from our supplier and for an A2 trimmer it is £106.80, the
cheapest A3 trimmer is £44.98. We will
discuss the feasibility of buying new guillotines at the next staff meeting but
for now the existing ones will be checked and labelled so it is easier to keep
track of which one is working and where it belongs.
We
have 1 large guillotine in each room and we have ordered 4 new A3 size
guillotines, 2 for upstairs and 2 for downstairs. We have also sourced some A3 ‘mini
guillotines’ suitable for cutting photos and paper which we are now selling in
the technician office for £5.00.
Teaching:
2 learners wished for ‘clearer
instruction’ and ‘for help with
annotation. We don’t know what to write
specifically for it to be right’.
Our response: We try to be as
clear as possible with our feedback and record any instructions on the NCR
forms. However, if anyone is ever unclear about tasks set always ask. We agree further help with annotation would
be beneficial, expecially when time in the exam unit is short and you are still
expected to show a fully ‘developed’ journey (AO1). We are discussing ways in which we can do
this without impacting too much on the practical time allocated in lessons. I will update you when we have resolved this.
We
have had much more of a focus on annotation this year within lessons and had
several specific subject workshops dedicated to this.
We
have also streamlined the NCR feedback system further. Now we check previous targets on the old
sheet, carry over any incomplete targets and add new ones to a new sheet during
most 121s. This ensures all students
only have 1 NCR to work from at once and previous advice/targets are always
kept in mind when discussing how to develop work further.
‘To listen to Music in Lessons’
Our response: Unfortunately it is
a college wide policy that you cannot listen to music, either on headphones or
aloud in lessons. To ensure consistency
we have to abide by college rules.
This
unfortunately, remains the same!
Fine Art Specific:
Computers in R113:
Better ‘computer access’
and ‘the upstairs computers fixing and
made more efficient’ ‘The computers
in the back room of R113 to be fixed!’ was wished for by 20% of students
wish was a surprise to us as we didn’t know they were used so much.
Our response: I have emailed
computer services to come and have a look at the computers to see what can be
done. I will keep you up to date of the
progress.
There
are now 3 working computers upstairs in the small room off R113, they have been
reimaged and now work much faster. The
scanner unfortunately is not functional, however this is logged as a job to be
resolved.
‘More Plaster available more regularly’
and ‘more 3D sculpture work, clay’
Our response: We have to collect
the large bags of plaster from our supplier so this relies upon someone being
available to go and fetch it. We do try
to keep as much in stock as possible however sometimes unavoidably we run out. We have started to stock materials like clay
and generally rely on ‘found’ materials for 3D e.g. wood, cardboard, anything
which has been donated as these are free! If you require anything more
specialised this can be ordered specifically for you from the catalogues at
cost price.
We are
in the same position as last year with this, 3D materials and plaster are
available, we just need to order them in in plenty of time as they are
expensive to keep in stock.
‘More Scissors’, ‘Scissors basket’ there
[aren’t] enough scissors and there could be a place for them in classrooms’
Our response: Each classroom has a
tray for basic materials which should contain 5 x pairs of scissors, rulers and
any spare brushes, pencils etc that are found.
They are kept next to the paint trays in each room. However these rely on students who borrow the
materials to return them. The technician
checks these regularly, however they will be checked and fully restocked this
week.
Again,
we have a ‘basic materials’ tray in each classroom, however this relies upon
people returning them when they have been used.
‘New Coat pegs’
Our response: 3 learners asked for
the coat hooks in R113 to be fixed, I have emailed site staff and keep you updated.
We
installed new coat hooks in R113 immediately in February last year. After the building work they were moved to a
different wall. Unfortunately these were
not put up well enough and fell off the wall! Site staff are currently looking
at a more suitable way to attached these.
‘It’s always freezing in the classrooms’
Our response: Unfortunately due to
the design of the rooms (specifically upstairs) the amount of windows means the
rooms will always be cold in winter and warm in summer. We have a portable heater which can be moved
from room to room and have moved the plan chests away from the radiators. We are also making enquiries with site staff.
This
issue has been raised with the building managers and (we are not sure how
but…..) it is much warmer upstairs! It
is however still cold in the downstairs rooms.
This issue is being looked into.
Graphic Communication Specific:
‘A Printer in the graphics room’, ‘Printer!’
Our response: We used to have a
printer in the graphics room, however the cost and logistics of this was
unworkable. The teacher would spend most
of lesson time sorting out print outs and collecting money, wasting valuable
teaching time. Also the quality of print
outs was far inferior to that available at reprographics. We do have a special deal (£5 photocopying
card with 70 credits) with reprographics who have far more facilities than we
could ever offer in the department e.g. printing up to A1, laminating,
different papers, A3 scanning etc so we feel it would be better to continue
with our current way of working.
‘A laser cutter’
Our response: We would love a
laser cutter! Unfortunately the cheapest I could find was £1399.00 which is
over a third of our yearly budget for the whole of the Art and Design
department. Definitely one for the wish
list, but for now unfortunately it’s a no.
The
response to the above two points remains the same due to cost and logistics.
‘Faster Computers’
Our response: Due to budget
constraints unfortunately we have what we have. However I will check all
computers and make sure they are running at a reasonable speed as well as
general checks like the USB ports working etc. I will update you on the
progress of this.
We had
a full set of new computer base units installed throughout the department in
the summer 2014.
‘Some trips to different galleries would
be good’
Our response: We agree, getting to
see ‘live’ work in the flesh is invaluable, we have organised the London trip
for March and are looking into the possibility of day trips in the future, I
will keep you updated!
We introduced a new AS trip this year to the
Yorkshire Sculpture Park in October and are looking at different galleries to
visit for the up coming London Trip.
As always we thank students for their in put
as we value their opinions and thoughts about how our department is run. This year, our new photography AS run and we
have made many changes to the physical department and to the structure of the
courses. We are excited to hear what
this year’s students think!
