Week 14 Additional Class

A requirement of the teaching internship is to sit in on two other courses sometime in the semester. With a limited schedule (only available after 5pm) I was somewhat limited to which classes I could join. I was hoping on sitting in on a lecture course but had to settle for yet another produce–create–and–critique classes. Of course with a different teacher the class operates quite differently. I arrived to class on time only to find the entire class waiting outside the door. I asked a student to be sure I was in the right place and they responded confirming I was—and also that the teacher was always late. I thought that was an interesting behavior for a teacher to model—but then again night class teachers are often full-time professionals who teach as a way to give back to the community. The setup of this class was considerably different. The course was publication design and was taught in a computer lab. It had a technical aspect to the class that Advanced Graphic Design I did not, in that the teacher was expected to educate the students on document setup and other publication related file creation. The day I sat in on the class there were 12 students. The teacher sat at the front of the u-shaped computer station setup and was plugged into a projector with his computer. At the beginning of class he asked if anyone had any questions about their last assignment—and someone did. They were wondering if he could “refresh” their memory on how to setup a file with diecuts. Being a helpful professor, he did just that. Being an unplanned professor he didn’t have any docs setup nor any working files. Rather than explain the steps to the students and then moving on, he spent about 15 minutes muddling around in InDesign, using keyboard shortcuts that were not always explained and talking about how the machines setup was totally confusing and slowing him down. Thirty minutes into class critique started. Everyone gathered on one side of the room and each student went one-by-one up to the pin board and posted their progress. The project was a car brochure—ironically enough the same project as in my AGD1 class. I found it additionally amusing that there were two students focusing on Vespa’s in this class—clearly the number one “cool” mode of transportation for students. The critique in this class was considerably different. For whatever reason very few students had anything to say about anyones work. The prof. would lead out each students critique by asking what the others thought. After a couple seconds of silence he would remind the students how important it is to give feedback—and then he would analyze the work for 15-20 minutes. In some ways his critiques were helpful to the students by showing how a critique could go. However it seemed as though the only person benefiting was the student who’s work was under scrutiny. This process didn’t appear to be teaching how to critique but how to be critiqued. The professor seemed more like an art director—asking to see more of this or less of that. When elements came down to a matter of taste, and not a concrete design rule he recommended considering the piece from a prospective client or employer. Asking questions an employer might ask challenges the work—not the creator. Experiencing first hand how miserable critiques can truly be, as instructor as well as watching from the sidelines in two different classes, I’m convinced there must be a better method. Are there tools out there? Are there defined theories to train designers how to conduct effect critiques? Without a doubt there there are effective professors out there. Sharing ideas will improve both the student experience and the quality of work produced.