Yesterday was crit day, in which myself and another fourth year student took a group of around 8 other students (from the years below) and offered advice and critique on their work.
Incase you're wondering where is my pitch session - I was unable to attend it due to being at Animex 2012 - the session was never resceduled.
First of all, we had a different group of students than in the first semester, so a vast majority of the work was new to me. Due to some problems beforehand, where students would interupt and talk out of turn, we informed the group that we would adhere to the strict timing of a 5 minutes presentation and 5 minute question session, and that students would wait their turn beforefore they could ask questions. Me and my other supervising 4th year would then offer feedback and open the group to discussion of their work. This enabled us to keep our group and presentations structured, and that each student would have equal oppertunity to present. Luckily, this rule was adhered to, as the students were serious and respectful of their own and their peer's presentation.
We also decided that we would allow the first year students to present first, and go chronologically from that, to save on unnesscary repitition (i.e. this is x module with y hand-ins), and would give each student more time to talk about their own progress and work, rather than the course.
With the student's feedback, I endeavoured to keep the critique useful - by pointing out their weaknesses, but offering them advice in what is the best way to approach them and improve their work. A lot of the students had worked hard on their project, though it was obvious when a few were behind. We made our best effort to make this clear to them without discouraging them. Once again, because I did not do first and second year at Abertay University, it was harder to know what was expected of the students, and what they were graded on - it would have helped to have looked at their briefs beforehand to get an idea of what might be expected and when.
Overall, the prensetations went quite well, were on time and we were able to offer feedback that was relevent and encouraging. Issues noted were possibly being a little too easy or lax on students who were falling behind, and care must be taken to make them aware of this without discouraging them. Group discussion beyond our feedback was lacking too, and the pitch session might have benefited more if we encouraged feedback from other students - though the 5 minutes question time was often utilised to its fullest. As there are no more crit and pitch sessions, it is worth reflecting on the whole experience, from the three sessions I monitored.
Firstly, I think I have developed group management skills, and am able to speak with authority amoung my peers. My awareness of time management and the importance of it has also improved greatly from the first pitch session in week four. Feedback given is a lot more relevent and though I often drifted towards technical solutions, my fourth year project has helped me understand all elements of a project and address them appropriately.
One final good thing to note is that I offered direct help to the students by inviting them along to my Maya Clinic, where I can help them further. This has proved useful not only for them (as I teach them), but for me as it allows me to develop my comminication and teaching skills - also very important in the field of technical art.
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