I took this course to enrich my practice, generate some ambition to connect more with teaching students with neurodiversity in the higher education creative arts setting. I haven’t really acknowledged working in this setting so far, which is remiss as the course is entitled: Pg Cert in Academic Practice in Art, Design and Communication. Without trying to sound like a CV, over the past 20 years I’ve been a study skills tutor at: UCL, Birkbeck, Goldsmiths, Leeds University, London Southbank University, Institute of Education, London School of Economics, SOAS, University of West London, Roehampton University, Brighton University, Guildhall and many others I can’t remember right now.
When I arrived at UAL, I mistakenly thought I knew everything about providing good quality study skills to students with specific learning differences in higher education. It transpired that the ambiguities and complexities of learning in the creative arts were challenging for me. I longed to deliver an old-fashioned essay tutorial.
So in enrolled on the Pg Cert, thinking I’d get more up to date on my new teaching context, get my head around some new stuff. Based on my study support experience here at UAL and my participation in the Pg Cert, I don’t think I’ve seen a university be more up front on delivering/embedding their principles in their curriculum.
However, when I joined in 2019, I felt isolated at Holborn. Partly, it’s the nature of the role, one to one confidential tutorials. It didn’t feel much different than freelance, except it paid much less, and with little institutional identity.
The Pg Cert has connected me to UAL and I’ve met people I would never have met. Today’s sharing of our different AR journeys brought me a sense of connection. I felt disconnected with my personal troubles and for an hour today I escaped in listening to my peers’ descriptions of their AR progress.
It seems the course drags me out of the past and present, pushing me into the future.
See Zimbardo’s and Boyd’s (1998) model below. I’m the guy running forward ‘future-orientated; I’m actually all those guys.
References
Zimbardo, P. G., & Boyd, J. N. (1999). Putting time in perspective: A valid, reliable individual-differences metric. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77(6), 1271–1288. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.77.6.1271 (accessed 9.11.2023)