ldtacademicpractice

Observations, suggestions and questions from Antonia:

Useful tips on how to join ahead of the webinar – we use Blackboard Collaborate which grads may be familiar with from their experiences during covid, or they may not be! Or they may be rusty on the particulars, so any clear and upfront pre-information I can give to help the session go smoothly is helpful for the time of delivery, plus creating a welcoming learning environment for a range of learner types. In the event booking stage, we encourage participants to contact us with any learning support requests, but I feel this is used as a cover-up rather than actively encouraging diverse learners to engage with us and let us know how we may adapt to best support them. My pre-email is the best I can do to reach out to potential attendees to ensure they feel encouraged to participate, know how to best troubleshoot technical difficulties to avoid frustrations, but also begin to create rapport with me and further any sense of belonging that can be born out of the session.

Fifteen recent graduates logged on and seemed engaged throughout the session, Presented the slides in a calm and suitable pace and created a lovely flow within the webinar, Left a good amount of time for people to digest the brief and work on it in their own pace. – I personally felt I lost the attention of some participants near the middle or end but possibly due to the repetitive nature of the task I was continually having them do when encountering job market research, and deriving possible skills from the findings. An hour is a long time to listen to 1 person speak, so I am happy the small group felt somewhat engaged through most of it and learned the basics at least that they can carry on in their own time, or unpack in a one-to-one appointment with me or the team, and apply it to their job searches. I can have a tendency to go too quickly when I am nervous, so even after a technical blip and having not delivered an online session in a while, doing a pre-recorded practice run helped me realise if I was confident with my slides and what changes to make before the event, and be more calm and collected on the day. When leaving time to digest information, it is hard to tell where people are as there is not real-time feedback unless in teh chat which can be delayed or under-utilised. I may try to see if I can bring in a visible clock to showcase how long we will spend on a task, or use the doodle function and chat for people to communicate to me if they need more time to read and reflect, if only I were to give them the prompt and space to do so. This could come in the form of more breaks, or a visual que.

Opening slide welcoming, personal greetings, and technical support at hand reassuring, staying calm and in the flow after losing internet reception for a minute. Moderator explained and covered the short break-out in very professional manner and all participants have been fully understanding. – Though it takes up more resources, having a helper at hand to take the register and answer smaller or technical problems on the side helps me focus on delivering content, and fortunately Caius was at hand to fill in while my internet cut out. I will continue to keep a bubbly and well-assured vibe in my sessions, and introduce the moderator so others can feel comfortable knowing who else is there to support and ask if they need help, especially if one of us drops out due to technical difficulties too! I had attempted to book a space on London College of Fashion campus in case I had internet issues, but I know now that it is not as easy to book as other campuses, I ended up not having it ‘approved’ so will have a different onsite back-up for next time. Internet dips happen and I am happy that my participants are aware and understanding about this when booking and attending an online webinar. This may not always be the case, and so I will include a caveat in my slides going forward along the lines of: if I dip out, do not worry, there are precautions in place such as moderator, slides and pre-recording at hand to fill in the gaps in case I do not return swiftly (for whatever reason).

Doodle board friendly and creative tone / speaking freely yet staying on script and by incorporating your personal voice and light-hearted jokes.- Delivering online poses many pros and cons, and one of the hard parts I find is creating personality and community building, which may happen more naturally in a regular group or class. Seeing as this is not how we offer our continuous, opt-in service, there is no predicting who will book and come on the day and therefore a community does not build naturally in that space. So what I can do is focus on making teaching employability and job hunting a little less boring and dry. Fostering a dynamic of light-heartedness mixed with pragmatism, I plan for participants to feel there is room to grow comfortable with me and build confidence there, and not get so weighed down or feel stuck in their graduate career path. Not having learning about employability to be a chore, I hope participants will come back for more sessions or engage with the other resources on offer, to aid their learning. I could do another doodle page later on in sessions, or in the middle of the session to ensure people are still paying attention, and feel they are included in the content and direction of their learning.

Clearly outlining objectives… The overall structure and amount of content provided felt appropriate given the hour-long session. In order to increase the clarity of the resources further I only wonder whether you could clearly denote the contents page further towards the beginning and share the slides including active links after the session. – I could recap the objectives again near the end of the session and in my recap email, to ensure learners are aware of their journey and can reflect on any gaps or confident areas. Plus to re-iterate the action plan and next steps which may include signposting to other resources, or encouraging to book a one-to-one. Knowing now that a pdf on Blackboard Collaborate does not allow participants to click on the hyperlinks tells me that I ought to continue to do as I did before: still share links in the chat too – even if it clogs up the chat box that could contain questions – and share the slides before and after the session so people can follow along in their own time, and access the links too for additional context and further comprehension on the subject and how to navigate through it. To still fit in a 1 hour session, I will look to simplify some elements, and allow more time for breaks, pauses, interactive parts, and questions as we go through the content.

Interactive elements, participants add their personal journey, Seamless addition of extra platforms, Discussing comments which were left on the Padlet board back to the overall cohort nicely made participants feel seen and increase engagement with the content of the webinar. – the doodle pages, collaborative Padlet, and participant questions slides where people declare their current situation seemed to work well for engagement and a sense of belonging. I will continue to keep using a link and QR code to any additional resources, but I wonder if a Padlet is the best learning space for a short session and whether I ought to stick to having people interact with only the session slides and utilise the doodle function more. This may not be relevant to anyone watching the recording afterwards, so maybe the ‘pre-recorded’ version is more valuable in this instance as it acts more like a timeless version of the content, but lacks the personality and interactive nature I can provide in-session. Word and phrases like ‘feel seen’ are interesting to me, who delivers mostly online, as my experience has mostly been having very shy people come to our online sessions and not want to engage beyond the passive learner. However this workaround could be a good alternative to anonymous and quiet participants to have a voice in this process.

You successfully explained the impact of political decisions on to the job market contextualising the post-degree situations they find themselves in. – Using industry research as a starting point to understanding the current and future job markets I hoped would ground the participants, uncover strategic approaches, and the workshop element of considering the skills surrounding the landscape to better help them to position themselves in it was designed to be pragmatic, but encouraging too. Offering a starting point of identifying skills to showcase, and then ones to develop, brings forward the wellbeing aspect I integrate into my practice, highlighting that as graduates they have achieved a lot already, and there are training programmes and modules to help upskill in a competitive graduate job market.

You clearly explained the difference between acquired skill and qualities/attributes, and how to elevate different skill sets on a CV especially relatable in order to help them enable them to reframe their experience and / or close potential skill gaps. – For those who do not have English as their native language, and even those who do, may struggle to know what is meant by these words (Skill, Attribute, Quality, Ability) and how they differ, and where best to use them when identifying and explaining their capabilities, and what they want to develop. Breaking it down to explain the interchangeability, as well as the differences, was my approach to avoid awkwardness for anyone who who want to ask but does not from a place of embarrassment, and in turn build confidence by covering the basics and clarifying. An attendee later asked “what is hybrid-working?” which prompted me to explain in session, related to my content. This helped me realise I should not assume knowledge for seemingly common-use or emerging words and terminology, and encourage questions for further clarity on my content.

Reflective slides towards the end which sent the participants off to consider short-, middle- and long-term goals and strategies to work towards them. – I had a theory that the graduate support team’s online sessions lack interaction, the participants seem passive in their learning, and therefore possibly their career / general life direction. I wanted to do more to make the sessions more engaging and interactive, within the constraints of online delivery, and have participants commit to develop their understanding of the subject, apply their learning, and take action towards their career planning. Encouraging this step in the session, along with filling out the feedback form, demonstrates to the group that this is an important step to take to summarise and utilise the session and their graduate career support offer generally. While it is impressive to have hundreds of participants in your webinar, it does not always glean the best results for interaction and creating a sense of belonging because it makes it harder to focus on individuals, or encourage each participant to be involved in this session for many, rather than a session for them.

You finished the session on time being respectful and mindful of commitments the attendees might have following the webinar. – Even with mishaps and questions, I should finish on time as that is the professional and respectable thing to do. This has prompted me to better incorporate breaks, more time for questions and digesting information in case I there are more mishaps in the future. Even though I managed this time around with everything considered, it would be less stressful for me to allow more time in my session plan for contingencies and not impact the delivery.

Observation and feedback from Kwame, tutor:

It was good to see that your welcome for the participants included an option of announcing themselves via chat, which supports those that are not up for saying something immediately. The session was well paced and your delivery (great voice) was pitched at a very good level. I would, however, ask if you to think about the occasional voice modulation to create a pause your delivery with a question, which would encourage group deliberation for a short time.

I thought the ‘Current situation’ was a very useful tool for participants to position themselves contextually. You provided knowledge of terms and how technology impacted the jobs market which is something that is often not accounted for when seeking employment. The Padlet interaction was a very good tool for there to be enhanced dialogue or questioning and it helped to create a pause in the delivery, but I think they were just mainly soaking up information. I perceive that more nuanced conversations might happen in the 1-to-1s.

Throughout the duration of the session I saw nothing but very sound professionalism. You provided the participants with depth of information, amazing resources and even forecasting knowledge about how they should focus on market trends, sustainability and ethics, work-life balance and much more. Also specifying the CV process was a really enhanced activity that supported graduates thinking about the range of jobs that match their different skills. Overall a very comprehensive and supportive session.

To recap, actions going forward:

• Keep sending pre-session information to booked attendees
• The welcome slides work well – add the date so people watching the recording know the timestamp of information relayed in the content
• Continue to deliver at a calm, reasonable pace and leave time to digest information and slides
• Modulate my voice to introduce natural pauses to support pace-keeping
• Always have a helper / moderator to help with any mishaps, take the register, and answer chat questions so I can concentrate on delivery
• Bring forward my personality while keeping to the point, doodles and jokes help keep participants engaged and involved
• Do a pre-recording too in case I cannot deliver on the day
• Doodles and interaction help the participants to feel they belong in the content and learning too, rather than taking a passive approach. Add more opportunities to discuss and doodle and feedback in the session, possibly at the middle to ensure attention is still present, and at the end to aid the recap
• Consider the complexity of terminology and common words on the subject – continue to breakdown the basics to build confidence but also do not assume everyone knows other words, so check for comprehension and confidence in the language being used
• Small groups of participants works better for building rapport, consider this model for workshops and working through more complex concepts and content with an individualised outcome
• Ask more questions to the group to pass the thinking hat over to the group and encourage group deliberation
• Continue to use: Introduce yourself in the chat / ‘current situation’ slide help ease into the session, participants to declare their positionality in the graduate job market to aid contextualisation, and in the session, and even helps me steer the conversations and examples to be more relevant to the attendees, growing the sense of belonging
• Refer to ‘technology, market trends, sustainability and ethics, work-life balance’ plus other factors that impact the graduate job market and those navigating it, to help stay aware of struggles, challenges, and any possible support to rectify or ease the process of going from student to professional
• Use a Padlet, or similar, for creating space for further discussion, enhanced dialogue and questioning, plus a break from delivery / reading slides / a chance to rest my voice. Consider saying ‘ feel free to pause here if you are watching the recording’ when entering the tasks
• Bring the learning back to a real-life example – such as improving a CV, portfolio, job search, etc to better contextualise how to enhance the graduate journey and apply the knowledge
• Focus on a recap, outlining learning objectives, confirming comprehension throughout the session not just beginning or end to clarify the recap and learning, and confirm confidence
• Continue to encourage further discussion by emailing or booking a one-to-one for more nuanced and bespoke conversations, and independent learning through accessing related, curated resources
• Allow time for questions, mishaps, breaks, tasks, feedback form, recap, engaging with resources, and action planner, as well as the knowledge content to be imparted

Record of Observation or Review of Teaching Practice   

Session/artefact to be observed/reviewed: Careers and Employability online webinar workshop

Size of student group:  30 maximum

Observer: Antonia Huber 

Observee: Leila Duffy-Tetzlaff 

Part One 
Observee to complete in brief and send to observer prior to the observation or review: 

What is the context of this session/artefact within the curriculum? 

The UAL graduate employability support is extra-curricular, opt-in, and usually for graduates who have finished their course and embarking on the next steps after university, This session fits within a broader employability teaching framework designed to prepare creative students and graduates for real-world opportunities. It specifically addresses the current and future skills needed in the creative industries, supporting participant understanding of industry demands and fostering their readiness to navigate freelance and multi-hyphenate careers, which are common in the creative industries.  

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

Being outside of the curriculum, my attendees can vary and, in the past, have been up to 70 in attendance, with even more requesting the recording to catch up in their own time. This, along with our lack of CRM or graduate databased, means it is harder to know who is in the room, and if I have had touch points with them previously. The session is targeted to first degree graduates within their first year out, who will be surveyed at part of Graduate Outcomes, but open to final years, and anyone 5 years out of UAL. Therefore, the session is open to a mixed group of graduates across disciplines at different stages of their creative education or graduate career. Prior interaction may vary, ranging from detached encounters through other webinars and email support, to repeated engagements through smaller workshops, networking events, or one-to-one sessions. However, that level of individualised support would not be able to be replicated in the webinar space, and to create a sense of belonging for everyone in attendance, I would need to take every participant and interaction in that space at face value and fresh within the context of the prescribed context.  

What are the intended or expected learning outcomes? 

• Develop an understanding of current trends, challenges, and opportunities in the creative job market (UK). 

• Identify and reflect on key skills currently in demand within the creative industries, and generally. 

• Create an action plan to address personal skills gaps and align them with career aspirations. 

• Gain confidence in pursuing portfolio careers or freelance opportunities that could help develop exiting skillsets, or gain new established or emerging ones. 

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

• Track the growing skills lists based on facts, figures, and discussions from the session. 

• A collaborative list of future industry trends and skills discussed during interactive elements. 

• Create a personal reflection or written skills gap analysis. 

• An individualised action plan for developing relevant skills. 

Are there potential difficulties or specific areas of concern? 

• Ensuring engagement and participation, especially in an online setting. 

• Addressing diverse needs and levels of industry experience, knowledge, and awareness within the wide-ranging group that could span from young current undergrad students, to mature PhD graduates coming up to 5 years out of university. 

• Balancing general insights across the UK job market, with targeted advice for specific creative disciplines, plus responding to ones referred to by participants. 

• Clarifying the London / UK-centric information and results may not be relevant to graduates based in other countries with their own set of cultural trends, economies, and different access to support or resources where they operate. 

• Accessibility and inclusion challenges, such as adapting content for neurodiverse students or those with varying levels of digital literacy. 

How will students be informed of the observation/review? 

I am anticipating 30 or more attendees to join the online classroom. The nature of the bookings, and set up of the room, allows for participants to be fairly passive or anonymous, without it impacting the general benefits or flow of interactions throughout. I envision Antonia and Kwame to join as any participant would, and follow along in a detached way like many do, negating the need for a formal declaration that there is a review occurring, and operate in the background without impacting the mood of the online classroom. 

What would you particularly like feedback on? 

• The effectiveness of the session in helping graduates identify and address their skills gaps. 

• How well the interactive elements (e.g., collaborative lists, group discussions) work in fostering engagement, and gleaning answers beneficial for the rest of the group. 

• Clarity and accessibility of the resources provided. 

• Whether the session sufficiently addresses the diverse needs of UAL’s creative student body, and graduate cohorts. 

Part Two Observer 1 to note down observations, suggestions and questions:

I observed you during an hour-long online webinar which took place on Tuesday 4th of March 2025. The UAL-wide webinar has been well-attended; fifteen recent graduates logged on and seemed engaged throughout the session.

As I was joining the session (incognito) as a regular participant, I received a reminder email an hour ahead of the webinar. The email contained useful tips of how to join and stay focused during the session. I entered the online Collaborate Ultra webinar room early. There has been a welcome slide up on the screen stating the starting time and the person leading the session. You and your colleague Casius who has been responsible for technical support have already been in the online room welcoming people within the chat panel. Both, the holding slide and personal greeting, successfully reassured attendees that they are in the right place. Participants started to drop in and immediately used the welcome slide as a doodle board which set a friendly and creative tone for the session.

You started the webinar on time welcoming all participants and clearly explaining the objectives of the session. You addressed the attendees asking them to share directly on the slide which stage of their postgraduate career they are situated in which made the session nicely personal and interactive. You presented the slides in a calm and suitable pace and created a lovely flow within the webinar. I have been impressed how you managed to engage the participants by speaking freely yet staying on script and by incorporating your personal voice and light-hearted jokes. Also well done for staying calm and in the flow after losing internet reception for a minute. Casius explained and covered the short break-out you encountered in very professional manner and all participants have been fully understanding.

I have been impressed how seamlessly you incorporated the different platforms by providing links to a Padlet activity within the chat box as well as via a QR code. You also left a good amount of time for people to digest the brief and work on it in their own pace. Discussing comments which were left on the Padlet board back to the overall cohort nicely made participants feel seen and increase engagement with the content of the webinar.

The overall structure and amount of content provided felt appropriate given the hour-long session. You successfully explained the impact of political decisions on to the job market contextualising the post-degree situations they find themselves in. You clearly explained the difference between acquired skill and qualities/attributes. I found the detailed before-and-after example of how to elevate different skill sets on a CV especially relatable in order to help them enable them to reframe their experience and / or close potential skill gaps. I enjoyed the reflective slides towards the end which sent the participants off to consider short-, middle- and long-term goals and strategies to work towards them. You finished the session on time being respectful and mindful of commitments the attendees might have following the webinar.

In order to increase the clarity of the resources further I only wonder whether you could clearly denote the contents page further towards the beginning and share the slides including active links after the session.

How will feedback be exchanged?

· Make notes in the session

· Briefly talk through notes after the session

· Write up the review in your own notes,

· Set-up a meeting to talk through notes

· Send final written review after the conversation