Elliott Hall's Blog | PgCert 2024

Introduction

My research focussed on the primary collection method, a focus group, collecting a large amount of qualitative information. This information is then further supplemented by a very simple three-question follow-up survey intended to quantify the core aims of the project. The focus group took up a total time of one and a half hours and consisted of 6 participants out of 11 who were invited to participate. These students represented a range of courses and levels, but were primarily MA-level students with a higher range of students from one particular course – this spread covers my typical range of termly students. Although the number of students in attendance was lower than many of the other groups on the pgcert course, it is in line with the small amount of students I work with, that being said I am aware that from the small sample size I am unable to make definite conclusions.

As stated within the participant information form, the “…responses will be analysed thematically alongside phenomenological analysis.” The aim here is to be able to recognise patterns and themes to address systematically, but, equally important to me here is how these themes are experienced and perceived by the students, attempting to focus on their lived experience within the lab setting for a greater understanding and enhancement of my self-awareness. Through this exploration and analysis I aim to uncover ‘Blind Spots’ as referred to in the Johari Window Model (Communication Theory, 2025) (see Figure 1). These blind spots are knowledge that is accessible to me through the collective of the group but is unknown to me without integration. In addition to revealing my blind spots, it is equally important that I can identify ‘Hidden Areas’, these hidden areas are categorised as information that is known by me and is unknown to others (ibid). Within the context of my ARP, this is critical as it allows me to see areas that are lacking in obvious communication – crucial in the production of intended learning/teaching materials. 

Figure 1. Skill Packs (2025) Johari Window Model.

Initial Perspectives

To first tackle the hidden areas, when beginning my focus group I gave out a copy of my proposed learning pathway document to each of my students and gave them 10 minutes to independently or as a collective to review the material given to them. The reasoning here was to see if this flow felt natural and made intrinsic sense – rather than being led by prompting. The use case for this document is always to be supplemented by an explanation, but this initial exploration would allow me to identify areas of restriction, or poor flow, similar to a wind tunnel (see Figure 2). Within wind tunnels, we can visualise how an intended design allows either for a smooth linear flow or areas that spark turbulence, resistance or difficulty. 

Figure 2. Paul Singh Selhi (2014) Linear / Smooth Flow vs. Turbulent Flow.

During the ten minutes, I encouraged students to view the document and to interact with it as if they had just begun their technical journey, followed by prompts to ask, circle or highlight any areas of confusion. To my delight the students made it known that the document made a lot of sense within the flow, but did highlight some other issues that jumped out to them immediately – such as initial questions that felt reparative, for example, questions 4 & 5: “Why is this project important to you?” and “What inspired you to start this project?”, followed by suggestions to condense the potential overlap into one question or to provide more short-form specific individual questions. Regardless, the main flow and construction of the document were clear, or at least I missed any of what Morris (2018) would consider as ‘warning lights’; comments that often act as indicators highlighting areas where effective learning or practice may not be taking place. 

In contrast to the document flow, one of the main general concerns raised that came up time and time in different forms, or ‘warning lights’ (ibid), was comments on the accessibility of the dense amount of text. This was less about the text written as prompts, such as questions and structure but instead for students to respond, as highlighted through responses such as: “I’m really dyslexic and I find writing my ideas really difficult but I can draw my ideas really well… so it’s really nice that there’s one page with drawing. Drawing. I would say that for me is like key.”

The clear response here was the need for alternative responses such as more options for tick boxes along with being able to draw: “I love the tick boxes, but I think the one thing where I look at it and it scares me a bit is that it does involve a lot of writing.”. A clear example of this was in response to questions 1 and 3: “What is your project about?” or “What will your project look like or do when it’s finished?” In hindsight, it’s clear that a question asking what a project will look like is screaming for a drawn response, as said by one student: “Yeah… I wan’t to draw that.” The group suggested taking this a step further and allowing many if not nearly all the questions to be answered in this way, or further to be supplemented with research imagery, sketches and technical diagrams – and I couldn’t agree more. 

I found it very easy to be able to consider each of these questions to be answered within a written response, however in hindsight believe that it would be a lot richer to have a myriad of responses and media – especially when considering the background of the students, as UAL is a creative institution and not an engineering school, something that is easily lost when I compare teaching materials within this area at other sources. With this in mind, I would like the document in future to be much more like an apiary frame, something that acts as a structure to be built into, and not a rigid instructional guide that allows for only one method of success. That being said I am really happy that students identified areas they liked such as the visual flowchart and tick boxes, and so aim to amplify this throughout the document.

Overall the response from the students regarding the general concept of the document was very positive along with the flow of the structure (initial information, consultation, project log). One student even proposed the concept for the second part of the document before we’d completed talking about the first section, this was a great indicator of success for me as it highlighted the need and wanting for a greater support structure and plan as shown here:

“Student: I wonder if, because I would feel maybe like this is like an amazing thing to us to get our ideas like out as well (refering to part 1 of the show document). But then I would wonder if like to save you time, having to like repeat yourself.

Whether, like, having a plan of action afterwards, like, written in a similar way, would be quite good in terms of, like, what you need to do now is you need to sign up for these, this, this, this, read this, this, this guide.

Elliott: A hundred per cent. So, thats it, that’s the aim for the part two. So, when we go through the skills, because that’s going to be a conversation, it’ll be like, we’ll identify the skills there and then.

If that’s the case, the next one is literally, what equipment do you need? What workshops do you need? And you’ll see there [are] tick boxes and orders for them. So the idea is that if we identify the workshops, we can book them there and then, and then it’s done.

Student: We know that that’s organized, we know it’s in our diaries, we know we’re going to hit our deadlines.”

There were some concerns, however, of the length of the document being potentially intimidating, however, the students in the focus group themselves were not phased but did indicate other students may have difficulty, something I foreshadowed myself and would like to tackle with future iterations as written in my post titled: “My Learning Pathway Document | ARP”. Students from one particular course stated this was a great opportunity for them to tackle elements that their course required them to submit anyway – which allowed them to tackle these aspects early but also receive a technical perspective, which they suggested would speed up the process of getting started on their projects: “This is our plan for our portfolio basically.”

When asked “Does the document feel approachable and student-friendly?”, the same issues regarding writing were raised, but did highlight how they liked the use of checkboxes, and other visual ways of conveying information, again an element I agree with and something that aligns with my inclusivity aims – again elements covered in my post titled: “My Learning Pathway Document | ARP”.

Organisation, Tracking and Accountability

One of the core aims of the project was to create more student accountability and to create a supportive structure and environment for students to be able to tackle the project themselves without feeling lost or overwhelmed by the huge amount of options and starting points available to them – which in turn frees up my time to produce better teaching materials. To do this I focused on refining a universal workflow through a range of created and curated tutorials/guides along with an entire curriculum of specialised workshops – With the development of this document acting as a modular and customisable learning pathway, highlighting a route to success through the resources already available, but equally supporting experimentation and exploration. To measure the success of the implementation of these aims and or highlight areas for improvement I asked the following questions:

• Does the document provide tools or structure that would help you stay organised and accountable?

• The project log is designed to help you break tasks into manageable steps and track progress. Would this work for you? Why or why not?

• Do you think the flowchart planning section would make it easier to visualise and plan your project’s functionality or user journey?

In response to the first question, I received a resoundingly positive response, that created a dialogue around how students felt this was a great way into a project, even if that meant they didn’t have something in mind to begin with. For example, one student spoke about how they found themselves starting their project by attending the workshops, which allowed them to discover the technical space and ultimately led to them coming back with an idea for a project: “…I did all the workshops last year before I even started this project, and I felt like the order was that I found out about the DLL, then I did all the workshops I could physically get my hands on, and then that inspired me later to come back to this project.” I believe that this document has the potential to act as a catalyst for idea creation, by providing structure to the resources available – or with informed consent showing future students the projects that have been made, along with the journey that ultimately led them to the outcome, providing a history but also an acknowledgement to the many diverse ways of coming to an outcome, which could potentially instil a greater sense of confidence at early stages of consultations and enquiries.

This was followed up by suggestions to hold a sort of opening day event that would allow students to discover the area as a whole, then to be able to use the document as a first step into coming up with or supporting the idea creation process – this was followed up by a separate discussion on how even just having all the resources available in one document was powerful and useful in of itself. One difficulty they mentioned about their BA is that all the resources are online. With universal agreement that these online resources are hard to find and navigate. This document was seen as a way to circumnavigate those issues, providing a clear and structured alternative. This is a poignant issue that I know both staff and students often face but are limited to using. The students further suggested that to make this even more useful, the implementation of small QR codes could be added for quick navigation.

It was incredibly positive to hear that, as I did worry that I was trying to do too much in one document and that I should focus perhaps on a separate guide or way of presenting things available. I do think that regardless as a technical department the feedback received does indicate that a printed or tactile guide would be useful for new students and as one student pointed out this could then lead them to come back with an idea and feel it was within reach to achieve it. 

One of the more disappointing things I’ve heard from staff since working at LCF is stuff like “Oh that would be too complicated for our students”, I can’t help but feel that if academics and students knew more clearly the resources and support available to them, that ambitious projects might not be killed off so early on, but instead refined to a more approachable manner – which brings to mind questions on how failure is considered, something in a technical space that is supposed to be embraced. Nonetheless, thematically I think this alone highlights how students value a clear and centralised structure that the document provides, along with the potential benefits of acting as an entry point for idea development and that it could even provide a level of confidence, and feasibility. I think if this document can help reduce feelings of being lost or reduce the overwhelm of available resources then that can only have a positive effect, as one student highlighted, even having a copy of what it was you’re trying to do and the steps taken and knowing that a technician has gone through it and confirming that it is achievable, would be a massive relief as students highlighted many moments of self-doubt especially when explaining the project to academics who did not have the subject-specific knowledge, however, it is worth noting that it became clear that depending on the course you were on, the outlook and technical understanding from tutors deviated from one course to the next.

Regarding the use of the log, I was worried that some students would be against everything being so controlled or structured, however, I was surprised to get responses such “No, good. Good. We need it, we need it, we all need it. [The group vocally agreed in support]”. Further, my intended use of the log, and the primary benefit for students to engage with it, was to be able to capture and highlight failure as a positive thing, so it was really rewarding to hear students give direct examples of this: “when I was doing my portfolio (submission), I had no memory of how many times I went back[wards]. And, um, in my initial like draft portfolio, one of the feedbacks I got was ‘add failures’. I’m like, I sure did have a lot of them, but I don’t remember them.”

However, this did highlight multiple paths as spoken about in a previous post, regarding the level of support sought after as some students had worked very independently and with external support/tutors, who of course noted that the project log for example would be very useful for students who have engaged with the entire process but would be less useful for when seeking a quick resolution to an issue they are trying to resolve. I completely agree with this, and have no issues with these types of interactions, as they have no overlap with the issues I face day to day – such as not taking responsibility for their projects. I still think it is positive to have a record of what is covered within these types of interactions and that there is scope for these interactions to be more applicable to both parties.

Supporting Diverse Learning Styles

Drawing on my own lived experiences with ADHD, I recognised the gaps in educational resources, particularly in supporting organisation and accountability. This situated perspective enabled me to create tools that address these challenges in a way that feels intuitive and empowering for students who may share similar struggles. While my own experiences provided a starting point, the iterative development of this document has been shaped by the voices of people like Anne Betterige, author, SpLD mentor and assessor (Betteridge, 2024). Along with the huge amount of resources available and the perspectives of others. Their feedback has been invaluable in refining the balance between structured guidance and flexibility. This document is my attempt to challenge traditional academic structures that I came into contact with that I found was rigid, linear approaches to learning, offering instead a flexible, student-centered framework that acknowledges diverse ways of processing information and achieving success. This resulted in the document, especially the second and third sections, that focus on practical progression and knowledge building through a very structured approach (compared to the first section which is primarily about declaring the scope of the project). Through the use of tick boxes, list building, documentation of important elements to aid in memory, visual aids, smaller broken down deadlines and equally if not most importantly accountability to a technician through the use of negotiated milestones, goals and opportunities for regular reviews; along with being known supportive tools for students with ADHD (Betteridge, 2024; Advance HE, 2025; CAST, 2024; Zelenka, 2017) all of these were highly supported by the students during my focus group: “Well yeah, it is good because this gives us the framework to then do our creative process.” 

This is an element of the project I am very proud of and aligns with the goal I set for myself when I started the job: Creating a technical space that I would have loved to have worked in as a student. As part of my focus group, I shared my own situated knowledge:

“Before we dive into the discussion, I’d like to share a bit about why I created this document. As someone who has personal experience with ADHD, I understand how challenging it can be to manage projects, track progress, and stay accountable. This document is designed not only to provide structure but also to adapt to individual needs, offering a balance of guidance and flexibility. I’d love to hear how you feel this might work for you, especially if you identify as neurodiverse or have specific learning preferences. [clarification provided explicitly clarifying that no one is in any means expected to out themselves] I am also aware that as the number of students accessing wearable tech increases, the time dedicated to individual student support and learning will decrease.” (Appendix A, p.1)

To assess how my students felt about the implementation of these strategies into the document and workflow, I asked the set of questions below. In addition, I also had conversations with students who’d openly shared their thoughts – along with their personal experiences with ADHD.

• Does the document balance independent exploration with direct support (such as workshops or consultations) in a way that works for your learning style?

• Are tools like checklists, flowcharts, or visual resources helpful for breaking down complex tasks? Would you find these useful in your workflow?
  
• How comfortable are you using online guides, video tutorials, or similar resources independently?

• Is there anything that could make these resources more engaging or easier to use?

In response to the first question, students highlighted that the document served as a communication tool, which I suppose it is. The students explained that it allowed them to convey they ideas and objectives whilst allowing a technician to understand and support by suggesting resources such as specific workshops and additional guides.

Student: “It’s a communication tool, isn’t it?”

Elliott: “Yes.”

Student: “…[So] that you know what direct us in terms of like, here’s a guide, like learn this… Come to this workshop”

I think this is a great way of thinking about the document, as it further provides a way of explaining the project to others but also refining the scope of the project if they haven’t already – whilst actively testing if the project is being communicated effectively, a key element within good design practice.

Straight after asking the second question I received a round of “Yes”, but was pleased to hear the following:

“Student: Yes… I don’t know about you guys, but with a lot of these projects, I found it very overwhelming being like, I will never achieve this project. I’m fully aware that this is too big. And then if it was broken down into little tiny tasks, we’re like, hey, wait a second, that’s very achievable.”

In addition to directly answering the question, I noticed something particularly interesting that I hope to address: the lack of confidence in self-reflection. This lack of confidence is a common issue among my students and one I can completely relate to. It may stem from exploring a discipline outside their usual field of study, misinterpreting its complexities, or the pervasive mindset in online communities where beginner-level information on electronics and programming often suggests, “If you don’t do it this way, you’re doing it wrong.” 

Confidence is something that as an educator I feel a bit helpless to, and makes me uncomfortable, as I feel it is my job to instill confidence within them – something I actively try to do. However I feel like I only really get to see a confident perspective on the tail end of the projects, as the students start to see everything coming together, and if this document manages to challenge that notion and potentially instil confidence through structure I would be incredibly happy with that. Overall the responses I received indicate that the use of visual aids and organisational tools are perceived as valuable for breaking down complex tasks into manageable and approachable steps – hopefully enhancing the project planning and even the reduction of overwhelm.

The answers to the third question were simple and swift with the students indicating they were pleased with the online guides available to them on the Digital Learning Lab Sharepoint page, stating that they liked them but had only recently discovered them when I had to take unexpected annual leave, although signposted prior, students admitted that was something that was often forgotten about when direct support was so accessible. To me this further supported the need for these agreed goals to be documented and reflected upon, as when they are used – they are clearly of benefit. Additionally, students preferred ones that were less word-heavy and had lots of visual elements like screenshots and videos. With this in mind, I have recently updated one of my guides to contain a higher visual-to-text ratio (See Figure 3) using elements such as animated GIFS, videos and annotated screenshots. I agree that the page feels much more accessible, but equally, the time taken to create the guide was substantially more. I hope this new document allows me more time to continue producing higher-quality content.

Figure 3. Digital Learning Lab Sharepoint Site, A Visual Upgrade To Guides.

An additional aspect that cannot be understated is the reflection on time management, the document well not specifically targeted at precise time management and instead more advanced planning does however have some elements that attempt to do this such as the agreed targets, workshop planning etc. I didn’t intend to create a schedule as I thought that it may become too invasive as I didn’t want to feel I was pushing too much onto the students however the feedback I got back supported the addition of further time planning, and in hindsight to my own experiences that makes a lot of sense. One student for example pointed out that:

“…if you narrow it down, like the main idea, it’s really useful for people who are neurodivergent, because you can basically, forget within a second and get so immersed into another task and another part of the project and another part of the project that you forget what was the supposed outcome. (Group Agrees)”

One student even proposed the inclusion of a blank templated timetable that could be used to help forward plan their projects: “Yeah, yeah, like a blank one… because all of our projects… [are]… Different.” I think this is a really good idea, which if done carefully would allow a sort of pace to be set, for example, it could be colour-coded to correspond at what point the project should be in such as prototyping, refining, testing, etc. I think this would be a great addition to any students but as pointed out by the group could be particularly supportive to neurodivergent students; this further aligns with the flipped classroom model, where students can engage with learning materials at their own pace and utilise class time for deeper discussion, problem-solving, and collaborative activities. It also emphasises the importance of regular check-ins to provide support and guidance as needed, while maintaining flexibility to accommodate individual student needs and project timelines. As pointed out by a different student, this timetable could be used to plan and visualise planned interim deadlines or for 1-to-1 tutorials to be used to greater effect such as for accountability – a popular and recommended strategy for those with ADHD: “…because if I know that I have a tutorial in a week, then I will work towards it so that I have something to show.” Although situated around neurodivergence in this particular example, the response suggests that scheduled check-ins can serve as motivating factors for students to maintain consistent progress, again aligning with the flipped classroom model, where regular check-ins and deadlines can help students stay on track and maintain momentum in their learning.

Scaffolded Learning & Flipped Classroom Models

As students did not use the document throughout their term (as discussed in depth within a previous post), unfortunately, I feel it becomes very difficult to truly assess the success of the scaffolded learning and flipped classroom model without its implementation and feedback regarding the perceived experience. However, the student’s feedback offers valuable insights into the anticipated strengths and limitations of the document through the lens of its proposed structure and tools along with the alignment of their individual learning preferences and needs. I believe that the range of student feedback and analysis within this document, it clearly shows a desire and attitude for a greater level of structure that can assist in supporting independent learning. Be that through an enhanced level of confidence, or by reducing barriers through a highly considered accessible design and structure, or even just simply an enhanced and documented planning that allows students to make better use of the resources already available to them.

An important aspect of the scaffolded learning structure and flipped classroom approach is to be able to reduce the reliance on myself to free up my time from low-level and repetitive tasks, to be used better in leading group sessions or tackling complex problems (Harvard University, 2024; Larcara, 2014; Stanier, 2015; The Bell Foundation, 2024). I believe that the additional planning that this document provides would also allow me to better harness the overlapping nature of the student projects to appropriately lay out opportunities for peer-to-peer learning, further enhancing knowledge whilst also providing a more supportive and social classroom environment. During questions related to support with creating a flowchart, students pointed out that it would be nice to have full group sessions:

“Elliott: Would you prefer to attempt the flowchart independently with a guide or collaboratively with a technician?

Student: Yeah, as a group. Yeah. For sure. (whole group agrees in response to this student.)

Elliott: as a, like a full group?

Student: I think anyone that’s doing wearable tech this term, come for a flowchart session. We’ll all brainstorm. Also the peer-to-peer thing can be really helpful.

Elliott: That’s a really, really great point.”

I think this is something really important to highlight as, as time has gone on, I’ve always thought to myself there were not enough students around to make this a worthwhile endeavour but I think this shows quite the opposite and that even small groups would be better than purely being independent, as it creates an opportunity for collaboration and knowledge sharing which should all be considered tools within my arsenal. So far this is not something I have promoted but the general structure of the lab and the closeness of the students this year have shown me how positive of an effect this can have – so will make an active point to organise these sessions in the future. Although there may not be a definitive goal as set out by the student – I think that even an advertised day/morning/afternoon dedicated to wearable tech students could get more people actively working in the space which could ultimately lead to more peer-to-peer learning and support – effectively assisting in the aims of reducing technician dependence. This further aligns with the flipped classroom model, which emphasises active learning and collaborative activities (Harvard University, 2024; Larcara, 2014).

Overall, the feedback suggests that the scaffolded and flipped approaches within the proposed document have strong potential to enhance autonomy and teaching efficiency within not just my technical area, but could easily be applied to other areas to support autonomy, accountability and engagement. If you wish to learn more about the design considerations supported by these pedagogical methodologies please read the post “My Learning Pathway Document | ARP” which goes into depth about these implementations.

Focus Group Hindsight

In hindsight, two things I wish I had done were, firstly engage more with resources specifically around focus groups in the sense of how I can get the most out of them and different techniques, some great resources I’ve only come across when writing up and thinking “Why didn’t I read this a month ago!”. Secondly, was give individuals time to respond to the questions independently, for example, giving out a Q&A after hearing the pitch or just reviewing the document, I believe would have revealed more information and insights that I could have used to greater effect for analysis. Although I did collect a lot of individual responses as shown within this document, equally a lot of my feedback would often be answered by an individual and agreed upon by the rest of the group. This of course did rotate to get a range of responses – but even if the answers had been the same written, I think it would have revealed more specific areas that could have been addressed. Equally though as one of my students told me: “Captain Hindsight is the worst superhero of all time” and couldn’t agree more. Nevertheless, the experience has been incredibly valuable and all the prep in the world would not replace the experience of being out of my comfort zone, running a group session where my work is the focus instead of theirs, which still didn’t go the way I’d anticipated it would have regardless. I hope that the lessons I’ve learned will be invaluable in developing my teaching practice further, along with my upcoming MA in addition to the confidence that comes along with doing something out of your comfort zone for the first time.

Supplementary Quantitative Survey

Although the range of data is very small with a total of 6 participants, I believe that the implementations show an overwhelming support for the changes I have made throughout the term and changes that I will continue to make into the next. Although not strictly necessary is positive to see that the follow-up results matched what I was expecting from my qualitative connection method (See Figures 4, 5 & 6).

Figure 4. Survey Response to Question One.

Figure 5. Survey Response to Question Two.

Figure 6. Survey Response to Question Three.

Conclusion

To conclude, the feedback gathered from the student focus group has led to valuable insights into the perceived strengths and limitations of the proposed learning pathway document. The incredibly positive feedback to the structured approach, and especially in the use of visual aids, checklists, and time planning, provides a clear demonstration that there is value in the proposed framework – particularly for complex and long-term projects. While there is a clear need for greater visual accessibility, and the inclusion of the highlighted time management tools it’s clear that the underlying principles of scaffolded learning and the flipped classroom, have the potential to enhance both autonomy and efficiency. I will reflect on all of the feedback I have received as I continue to create and implement the next iteration of the project to create learning environments that better support future students whilst developing technical projects.

Bibliography:

Advance HE (2025) Education For Mental Health Toolkit – Inclusivity ADHD | Advance HE, Advance HE. Available at: https://www.advance-he.ac.uk/teaching-and-learning/curricula-development/education-mental-health-toolkit/social-belonging/inclusivity-adhd (Accessed: 24 January 2025).

Betteridge, A. (2024) ‘Interview Conducted On Zoom, Re: ADHD in Technical Education’.

CAST (2024) The Goal Of UDL: Learner Agency. CAST Inc. Available at: https://www.cast.org/products-services/resources/2017/udl-tips-fostering-expert-learners (Accessed: 24 January 2025).

Communication Theory (2025) The Johari Window Model, Communication Theory. Available at: https://www.communicationtheory.org/the-johari-window-model/ (Accessed: 14 January 2025).

Harvard University (2024) Flipped Classrooms | The Derek Bok Center For Teaching And Learning, Harvard University. Available at: https://bokcenter.harvard.edu/flipped-classrooms (Accessed: 24 January 2025).

Larcara, M. (2014) ‘Benefits of the Flipped Classroom Model’, pp. 132–144. doi: 10.4018/978-1-4666-4987-3.CH007.

Morris, D. (2018) ‘Beyond Satisfaction’, Handbook of Quality Assurance for University Teaching. 1st Edition. Routledge, pp. 304–316. doi: 10.4324/9781315187518-23.

Paul Singh Selhi (2014) Linear / Smooth Flow vs. Turbulent Flow. YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jkiv5r4Wq1g (Accessed: 14 January 2025).

Skill Packs (2025) Johari Window Model. Skill Packs. Available at: https://www.skillpacks.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/johari-window-model.jpg (Accessed: 14 January 2025).

Stanier, C. (2015) ‘Scaffolding in a Higher Education Context’, in. Available at: https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:111127539.

The Bell Foundation (2024) Scaffolding – The Bell Foundation, The Bell Foundation. Available at: https://www.bell-foundation.org.uk/resources/great-ideas/scaffolding/ (Accessed: 24 January 2025).

Zelenka, V. (2017) ‘Universal Interventions for Students With ADHD—and All Students’, Kappa Delta Pi Record, 53(1), pp. 37–40. doi: 10.1080/00228958.2017.1264820.

Appendix A:

Introduction

I would be lying if I didn’t say this was the part of the project (aside from the presentation) I was the most nervous about. It’s funny really how you can spend your entire day-to-day job delivering workshops, teaching materials and direct support, but as soon as you are taken out of your routine, your comfort area and role, the social dynamic changes. I found myself thinking on a day-to-day basis, what if the questions aren’t good enough? What if no one turns up? What if they think my ideas are terrible and out of touch? What if I am the problem? What if they tell me I am a terrible technician – or worse prove it?

Of course, in reality, most of these feelings are related to my insecurities and classic feelings of imposter syndrome, further exacerbated by age and quite frankly ‘rank’/role within the university (Mulholland, Nichol and Gillespie, 2023; Wilkinson, 2020; Yang et al., 2024). Regardless of how real these concerns are, and the likelihood of them being entirely true, the feelings and stress that they can conjure up are certainly real. Regardless, I decided to go full steam ahead with a focus group assembled of current and active students that I had been working with for the past term or so. I decided that for my project, there was no point in simply just measuring the success of the project quantitatively – although I did later decide to collect a small amount of data. Instead, I decided if I wanted the outcome to positively impact my teaching practice and the student experience I had to be ready for a more complex back-and-forth conversation (Winlow et al., 2013; Breen, 2006).

One of the great aspects of my job that I have mentioned many times on this blog is that currently, I get to work with a small amount of hands-on and enthusiastic students, who are all attending the lab out of choice. This is great because you get to spend more time getting to understand the projects and the person behind them. The downside is that feedback can feel a lot more personal due to a built-up working relationship. This is because it feels as if the feedback you receive can be more honest, but equally taken with a pinch of salt, as it’s unlikely students will attempt to directly criticise as there is still an unspoken institutional power dynamic at play that must be considered and acknowledged (Lama et al., 2015). This dynamic is pertinent when the feedback received begins to function in a way that Morris (2018) describes as a ‘warning light’ – acting as indications that can bring attention to ineffective or problematic pedagogical practice – such as hesitation or a reluctance to answer questions, could indicate gaps in engagement. The small group settings are not necessarily about identifying issues but an opportunity for reflection in my teaching practice.

Focus Group Questions and Areas of Interest

So, my aim for the focus group was to, ‘review and reflect upon the changes’ made within my action research cycle. To do that I wanted to spark conversation and feedback on the following key areas:

• Initial Perspectives of the idea and generalised feedback.
  
• How the document could help serve as an aid in organisation, tracking and accountability.
  
• How the proposed learning pathway document/structure is received by and could support diverse learners, supported with an explanation of my own experience in education.
  
• The role that ‘Scaffolded Learning’ and a ‘Flipped Classroom Model’ could add to my teaching practice.
  
• How relevant and practical sections felt to a range of learners from different backgrounds and support expectations.
  
• How, or if, the document supports access to other resources and support available.
  
• How students felt about the proposed focus on independent learning and autonomy.
  
• Along with opening space for any overall general feedback, that may highlight issues or concerns that had been entirely ignored.
  
• Lastly, whilst I had the opportunity, I took some additional time to gain feedback and ask questions regarding the student experience within the lab as a whole, covering a range of basic areas such as workshop coverage too if they felt welcome.

To address all these areas I wrote a series of questions. Ultimately this was only supposed to be a starting point for me to develop on – however as days became weeks and the process of developing the actual learning pathway document took longer than anticipated, ultimately I decided to focus on that. Disappointingly I never came back to the questions/‘interview schedule’ which overall I have regretted, as I found some questions tended to be repetitive and out of sync. A lesson learned. However, overall do not believe it was a major issue as the general conversation began to flow quite early on which led to a more natural flow and integration regardless. If you are interested in the questions sheet I took with me as a prompt for the session, these can be downloaded and reviewed at the bottom of this blog post.

Organising the Focus Group

The organising of the focus group was one of the aspects I thought would have been much more difficult than transpired, due to the very small number of students I had worked with in the term (long enough to have any valuable input), approximately 11, I was hoping for a focus group size between 6 and 8. To increase the chances of students turning up I took a bit of a risk which I believe paid off, but ultimately left me in a bit of a tight spot for writing up my findings. I decided it was best to wait until the majority of students had completed their projects, leaving a time of limbo where the university is still open, but before most students go away for the break. 

Due to the majority of my students being MA students I was concerned that I would be eating into the remaining time needed for them to complete their final major projects (even if scheduled on a day I would not normally be present), something I considered to be unfair and would create potential further bias within the results. To further sweeten the deal, I took onboard discussions from the PgCert classroom about providing some pastries, which I grabbed from M&S on the way in (see Figure 2) – something I am incredibly glad to have done as if anything it just helped break the ice a little bit, by breaking routines and fostering a relaxed atmosphere for students meeting as a group for the first time – and further was simply a thank you for taking time to be apart of the focus group. This was of course supported with a list of allergens.

To organise the group I sent out an email explaining the project (see Appendix A), my role, and attached the information document (found in my ethics blog). I followed this up with a calendar invite asking students if they would accept or decline to confirm the numbers and lastly a reminder email the evening before (see Figure 1). This worked surprisingly well and out of the 11 students invited 7 accepted and ultimately 6 turned up. Although It would have been nice to have a larger group, the students who did turn up were very engaged and vocal about their perspectives and views.

Figure 1. A reminder email was sent the night before.

Figure 2. Provided Pastries to Sweeten the Deal

Creating a comfortable discourse environment

I specifically choose to move from a non-standard teaching/working area for the focus group, to create a distinct barrier between my usual day-to-day role as a technician and my current role as a student and researcher. I also find myself usually standing up whilst presenting, of course, this has some issues regarding power dynamics with a presenter and speaker (Smith, 2017) – so at the last minute changed to a different seating arrangement entirely as I wanted everyone at an equal level in the hopes it would create a perceived level environment where people would feel more confident to speak if they didn’t already (see figure 3). Something I was acutely aware of. This is a decision I am very glad to have made as the environment was much nicer with comments made on how nice the space was by the students – with some even joking that the lab should change to this area. This in itself prompted me to ask more questions later on regarding how comfortable students felt within the lab, which at no surprise led to complaints of an uncomfortable learning environment due to the use of stools in the new Stratford campus.

Figure 3. Focus Group Space and Seating Layout

Figure 4. All participants were given a copy of the document to review [right], alongside my own questions/prompts for the session [left].

Running the Focus Group

As people arrived, I found myself walking around aimlessly as my nerves built up. During this time everyone began to sit down at a comfortable sofa area in the office I was borrowing. Annoyingly this seating arrangement had not even crossed my mind and was much better suited to having this sort of dialogue (Smith, 2017), however, due to the lack of table space I was worried about how the spacing could affect the recordings. A lesson I had learned from a previous course where I had spent hours speaking and relying on technology to take notes – only to discover after the session that the audio was barely audible. Once everyone had arrived and a little time had passed to allow everyone a chance to turn up, I handed out consent forms, information forms and ethics forms so that everyone could further review them before giving consent. I additionally provided answers to any questions and made it clear that no one was required to attend, be affected for leaving if they wanted to and lastly that they could remove consent at any time without repercussions or judgement. I then placed my phone on one side of the table and my laptop on the other side and made it clear to everyone that the audio recording was about to begin. I chose to use two devices to record audio in case one was not enough. In hindsight, this was the correct choice but if I were to do this again in the future I would take the time to source a proper table microphone as an absolute standard. Although I had a larger capture area, there was still a need for a significant amount of manual transcription correction.

In total, the focus group lasted 1.5 hours which was half an hour longer than anticipated and made it clear that people were more than welcome to leave at any point as the session was originally only scheduled for 1 hour. Overall the feedback I received was incredibly useful and targeted along with what appeared to be genuine enthusiasm for its implementation, and the classic “That would have been so useful” comments which were incredibly encouraging and a massive relief to hear. The feedback received was comprehensive and so will be dissected within its own blog post. There were certainly more active speakers than others as is often the case. I didn’t want to pressure anyone into speaking but at the same time wanted to make sure everyone felt heard, so took the time to employ different methods of getting everyone involved for example, with some questions I would position the question to the whole group, whereas others I would ask to go round the table and ask for individual insights. 

Additionally, I didn’t want to miss out on insights from those who were quieter, so I attempted to identify areas of difference that I knew about and enquire about how this may apply to their perspective to make sure everyone felt heard. One specific example of this was the range of attendance I have with my students so I wanted to get feedback from students who had primarily worked independently rather than with me the majority of the time, as shown in the following example (this is not a direct quotation for ethical concerns and is instead a summarised example):

“Elliott: Great. What about you guys? Would you stick to it? I know you’ve worked quite independently for a long time, so I wouldn’t want you to feel you were unable to access support because you didn’t fill in this document.

Student: I think it’s good to organise our thoughts and find details we might have forgotten. But I feel this kind of sheet is more for people who start working with you from the beginning.

We’ve worked independently for a long time. If we find problems, we’d rather talk to you directly. Focusing on specific problems and solve them fast.

Summarized Back and Forth Dialogue

Following Up with Quantitative Data

After reviewing the large amount of information, and showcasing a range of perspectives I realised in conversation with colleagues that it would have been nice just to of had a show of hands to some basic questions to help showcase my findings. However, I do believe there is much more beneficial data received from having a focus group as it highlights the complexities of a project like this. Having a simple yes, no, or other – for core foundational questions would have been beneficial (Kelle, 2006). Although late I decided there was no time like the present and prepared a very quick 3-question, questionnaire and sent it out to all of the participants who had attended the session, but more importantly, from who I received a completed consent form. I decided that if I had any hope of getting any usable data, the questionnaire would have to be quick, simple, anonymous, and overarching enough that it would not require a memory of the detailed conversations. This led me to the following questions:

Q: Do you think the implementation of the presented learning pathway document would have supported you and your project or documentation?
Answer Options: Yes, No – this would not have aided me, No – I only came for occasional support.

Q: Did you prefer the implementation of the new booking system? (if you experienced it prior to the booking system)
Answer Options: Yes, No, Not Applicable (Did not experience it prior)

Q: Lastly, do you think the implementation of group tutorials on common problems/topics would be useful? (i.e a scheduled drop-in for Fusion360, EasyEDA or other topics)
Answer Options: Yes, No

These were sent out via a follow-up email and to my surprise received 5 out of 6 completions in less than a day. Although I have not received all 6 responses (as of writing), it is certainly nice to see the results positively plotted (see Figure 5), it would of course have been nicer to have seen a much higher response rate but have to remind myself that I have a limited pool to begin with. 

Figure 5. Example survey response plotted on a chart.

To Conclude

Overall, it was certainly an interesting experience and certainly not as terrifying as I had found myself expecting. If I were doing the whole thing again, there would certainly be some changes, being a bit more prepared, a practice run, gaining some qualitative feedback on the day – and livening it up a bit. Perhaps some activities to break the ice or an interesting way to cast votes such as digital polling tools, but overall I am pleased with how well it went, and the usefulness of the information gathered. It was a genuinely pleasant experience and also found it acting as a bit of a celebration of all the amazing work that had been done during the term. I have found myself with the surprising goal of running one at the end of every year or term as a way to gain feedback, wrap up the year and celebrate the achievements of the past term. Pastries provided… of course. 

If you have any feedback, questions or ideas on how I can improve these sessions in the future, like usual I’d love to hear from you in the comments below! Thanks for taking the time to read my post.

Downloads:

Bibliography:

Breen, R. L. (2006) ‘A Practical Guide to Focus-Group Research’, Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 30(3), pp. 463–475. doi: 10.1080/03098260600927575.

Kelle, U. (2006) ‘Combining qualitative and quantitative methods in research practice: purposes and advantages’, Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3, pp. 293–311. Available at: https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:143132088.

Lama, T. B., Arias, P., Mendoza, K. A. and Manahan, J. (2015) ‘Student Evaluation of Teaching surveys: do students provide accurate and reliable information?’, in. Available at: https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:107162893.

Morris, D. (2018) ‘Beyond Satisfaction’. doi: 10.4324/9781315187518-23.

Mulholland, K., Nichol, D. and Gillespie, A. (2023) ‘“It feels like you’re going back to the beginning…”: addressing imposter feelings in early career academics through the creation of communities of practice’, Journal of Further and Higher Education, 47(1), pp. 89–104. doi: 10.1080/0309877X.2022.2095896.

Smith, C. (2017) ‘The influence of hierarchy and layout geometry in the design of learning spaces’, in. Available at: https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:55453550.

Wilkinson, C. (2020) ‘Imposter syndrome and the accidental academic: an autoethnographic account’, International Journal for Academic Development, 25(4), pp. 363–374. doi: 10.1080/1360144x.2020.1762087.

Winlow, H., Simm, D., Marvell, A. and Schaaf, R. (2013) ‘Using Focus Group Research to Support Teaching and Learning’, Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 37(2), pp. 292–303. doi: 10.1080/03098265.2012.696595.

Yang, X., Yeo, K. J., Lee, S.-H. and Handayani, L. (2024) ‘A systematic review of impostor syndrome in higher education’, IJERE, 13(6), p. 3884. doi: 10.11591/ijere.v13i6.30726.

Appendix A:

Wearable Tech – Focus Group (Donuts Provided) [In-person]

Fri 29/11/2024 11:00 – 12:00

Digital Learning Lab

Hello all,

You’re receiving this invite based on my previous email of which you can see below. Please if you can mark if you are able to attend or not so I can confirm numbers, hope to see you there!

Previous Email:

Hello there all,

If you’re receiving this email, you are one of a small number of students that at some point or other, you have interacted with myself/Wearable Tech at the Digital Learning Lab.

Just as you are working hard to complete your qualifications, I’m also studying part-time for a PgCert in Academic Practice at UAL—and I could really use your help!

Proposed Date/Time: Friday, 29th November 2024, 11am – 12pm (1hr)

If you would be willing to give up an hour of your time, I would be greatly appreciative. Essentially, I need you, to hear your unfiltered thoughts and experiences about how wearable tech runs as a technical area. I would like to propose changes to make it easier for both student and technician to work and would greatly appreciate hearing your thoughts!

Questions you may be having:

Q: What will this feedback be used for?

A: This feedback will be used to write a report about my proposed idea, negative and positive feedback is equally valued. For more information, please read the attached information document.

Q: Will I be named?

A: No, all feedback will be anonymised, please see the attached information document for more information.

Q: When is it?

A: I am currently proposing Friday the 29th of November at 11am. However, this depends on the number of students who can make it as my aim is to get as many people who can attend as possible due to the low sample size.

Q: Can I withdraw.

A: Yes. That is no problem, you can withdraw consent at any time with no questions asked and you will not be penalised in any way.

Thank you very much for taking the time to read my email if you have any questions, please feel free to reply to this email or contact me directly. If you are willing and able to attend, I would greatly appreciate if you could let me know so that I have an idea for numbers. Alternatively, if you would like to attend but are unable to make the date and time, please do suggest alternatives.

Thank you very much for your time!

Best,

……………………………………………………… 

Elliott Hall 

Specialist Technician (L&T) Wearable Technology 

Digital Learning Lab

Preface

Before going any further, my recommendation would be to scroll down to my download section at the bottom of this post and take some time to read through the two documents I have created. This will give you the opportunity to see it for the first time as a student. Hopefully, it has been created well enough that it should provide enough information and guidance to be clear, but if it doesn’t I’d love to hear your feedback!

Introduction

I would be lying if I hadn’t underestimated the scope of designing a working document, with that being said there is still a long way to go, but the foundation is there and I’ve come to the conclusion that it’ll never be perfect and that I should always be considering how this document and workflow can be improved, streamlined and refined. That being said, I don’t know how I’ve been working without it and look forward to its implementation.

The purpose of this document has already been covered in the following post but as a very brief reminder, the purpose of this document is to provide a level of support for autonomous learning that currently does not exist. The document aims to cover and record the entire student journey from coming up with the initial idea to delivering a final outcome. By making use of Scaffolded Learning, Reverse Classroom Methodologies and Accessible Design Principles (Stanier, 2015; Betteridge, 2024) (As covered in this blog post). The project ultimately aims to support students to support themselves, removing myself from their projects and freeing up my time to support more complex problems, develop resources and empower students to learn a complex area outside of their usual discipline independently – which I hope will support my students long after they have completed their course.

Figure 1. Learning Pathway Document Workflow

The document is set up in a simple three-part structure (see figure 1), and padded with contents sections, introduction, resource signposting and lastly a student pledge (intended to act as part of the onboarding to the technical area, but also passing clear responsibility over to the students). When creating the document I knew fairly quickly that it would have to contain a lot of information if I wanted it to be the only document you would need for planning and maintaining a project. With that in mind, and my own experience as a neurodiverse student working with at times very overwhelming and seemingly complex documents, I took the time early on to look at resources that may help me guide the document flow and structure. One of the key resources I looked at was the ‘Universal Design for Learning Guidelines’ (CAST Inc, 2024). The UDL aims to make curriculums accessible to the broadest range of learners possible with a focus on empowering students to learn (ibid). 

Despite my best intentions I have had to make some compromises such as the physical form, due to time. I have though attempted to make something that will support as many of my students as possible. Ideally an online platform with integrated screen reading, videos, animations and audio would be amazing to make it as accessible and engaging as possible as I have been enlightened by the vast range of online resources that can enhance the classroom by my colleague and fellow PgCerter Zoi Zoupanou. However, I have to recognise that I am working within constraints and tools available to me and so have taken the stance that a PDF document that can be filled in both digitally and physically will cover most bases for now.

Although working within the confines of a PDF document, I am happy to have attempted to align my project with as many of the UDL goals as possible but also made sure to have taken on all of the five top tips (CAST, 2017). 

UDL Top Design Tips	My Learning Resource Implementation
Support Relevant Goal-Setting	Self-declared project brief encourages students to articulate their own goals. The initial consultation section provides a platform for discussing and refining these goals, ensuring they are both challenging and achievable.
Communicate High Expectations for All and Recognise Variability	The structure highlights opportunities for tailored support through workshops, one-to-one sessions, and tutorials, ensuring all students can meet high standards in a way that suits them and their goals. Additionally, the ongoing feedback loop in the document is intended to create a constant cycle of reflection to extend or reduce the scope.
Promote Disciplinary Expertise	Highlighting a whole range of specialised learning resources, and encouraging students to engage with them. Further, the scaffolded approach lays the initial foundation of knowledge and encourages it to be taken further.
Focus on the Process, Not Just the Outcome	The dynamic log emphasises the iterative nature of learning by documenting progress and challenges over time. Additionally, targeted workshops and feedback sessions allow students to focus on incremental growth rather than just the final product.
Guide Self-Reflection	The feedback and consultation sections prompt students to reflect on their learning journey and how they can improve, along with the purpose of the document as a working document.

Although I believe the UDL guidelines and tips offer a great starting point, it is important that I take the UDL guidelines with a pinch of salt as the empirical evidence behind the organisation has been brought into question (Boysen, 2024). Nonetheless, I believe that the areas I have aligned with are common sense, practical and aligned well with my other research in accessible learning.

The Design Philosophy Behind the Document

So as already discussed the intention of the document is to encourage independent learning, but equally important is to support it. Scaffolded learning is a teaching methodology and instructional approach that provides temporary support to students, that is gradually removed as learners become more independent (Stanier, 2015; The Bell Foundation, 2024; Gibbons, 2014) a common practice within teaching languages (Gibbons, 2014). I aim to apply this same approach within my technical area of wearable tech. 

I came across ‘Scaffolded Learning’ when researching for my previous unit where I focused on supporting students who identify as neurodiverse. Neurodiversity is the idea that people experience and interact with the world differently from one another (Baumer and Frueh, 2021; Genius Within, 2024). Specific learning differences such as Dyslexia, AD(H)D (Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder), along with many others have an impact on the way that people learn and function (see figure 2) and so supporting these difficulties can allow students to thrive. I believe this is something that we should be incredibly aware of and proud of at an institution such as UAL, an organisation where students from these backgrounds could be more likely to attend – playing to their strengths. 

Figure 2. Genius Within (2024) Cognitive Abilities

Some of the biggest difficulties associated with ADHD are Memory/Concentration, Organisation skills and Time management (Genius Within, 2024; Psychiatric, 2013), all of which I have attempted to use scaffolded learning to address within my document. Alongside learning from my own experiences with ADHD, in my previous unit, I reached out to a friend, author and qualified ADHD mentor and educator Anne Betteridge who was been supporting neurodiverse students within universities for many years, along with running ADHD support groups at a university campus. In conversation, we discussed how creating a learning environment that gives students ownership of their project whilst being supportive, bite-sized and none overwhelming (Betteridge, 2024) is crucial for a successful and inclusive learning environment.

Although this project is not exclusively geared towards neurodiverse students is important to recognise that research suggests that educational techniques designed for students with ADHD not only support ADHD students but can benefit all learners through the enhanced classroom structure and accommodating teaching modifications (Hart Barnett, 2017; Zelenka, 2017; Reiber and Mclaughlin, 2004). It is also worth noting that within my student focus group, it was made apparent to me that a large percentage of the students who I have been working with for the past term have ADHD, followed by a clear need and want for targeted support. For ethical clarification, this was in no way requested or expected, however, students choose to optionally divulge this information.

The first part of my document “Part 1: Initial Project Brief” is one of the key aspects of implementing an accessible focused scaffolded approach and intends to combine a plethora of important aspects. Firstly it provides a structured format allowing students to articulate their goals for the project in a clear, concise and structured way, something we can keep coming back to as the project progresses. This helps to clarify the student’s goals and encourages ownership by involving students in the goal-setting process, making the goals more meaningful and aligned with the UDL framework. This section also sets practical expectations for both student and technician for the creative direction allowing the project to become contained, something that can often spiral as access to more knowledge, can spark more ideas which can quickly add up and overwhelm – Not that it can’t be revisited, but to help maintain focus on the original idea. The intention for this section is for it to be revisited often, both independently and in conjunction with tutorials so that students can reflect on their progress and reassess their goals if necessary. Importantly this creates a shared understanding between students and technicians that allows for constructive feedback that aligns with the student’s goals and creative vision. Before the implementation of this document, this was something that was never formalised and often lived in passing conversations. 

The second section “Part 2: Technical Planning & Support Framework” further builds upon the foundation laid by the students by highlighting, in discussion, areas for improvement. It acts as a formal consultation process that allows the technician to review and set expectations, learning opportunities and objectives to achieve the task at hand. Some of the more important components are the flowchart, acting as an opportunity to visualise the flow of the project and encouraging systematic thinking, this not only allows the student to see the flow in which components will need to be addressed but aims to reduce the overwhelming feeling that a none visual form can take, acting as a sort of visual tick box of tasks – a great element to support students with ADHD (Betteridge, 2024; ADHD Foundation, 2023).

Furthermore, the second section leverages a wide variety of useful tools such as lists, checklists, time planning and opportunities to address gaps in knowledge skills through assessments – designed to address the variability in learning needs accompanied by individualised support. All of these elements aim to tackle the complexities of unique projects but also are proven beneficial aids to support students in Memory/Concentration, Organisation skills, Time management and other neurodiverse challenges as previously discussed to allow neurodiverse students, or any student for that matter, to thrive. 

It is important to note that I am not trying to remove individual support entirely but instead make the time used more valuable and considered, and just as important slowly withdrawn as the need for the support reduces. When reading about implementing scaffolded learning I did come across challenges in terms of fading support, this is something particularly important to me as I want students to go away thinking and feeling confident that they could attempt to tackle a similar project in the future independently. For this to be implemented more effectively I need to focus on metacognitive and strategic skills rather than task-based skills (Stanier, 2015). To do this I plan to create a whole new range of activities/resources, potentially even workshops, that focus on these types of skills, from project planning, time management, flowchart design and more; A gap that is incredibly clear in hindsight.

Before moving on to the next section on the implementation of a new flipped classroom model, I just wanted to highlight another aspect of the project that I want to make clear within the concept of scaffolded learning and my attempt to move my teaching practice forward. Before this project I found myself running workshops as a requirement of my job, oftentimes designed to target cutting-edge areas that may lead more students to be interested in digital technologies such as AI and robotics. However, in reality, students wanting to learn the area often attended them sporadically, in no particular order and recommendations to attend specific workshops never amounted to attendance. In feedback, I found that if I were to consider the workshops as modules within a curriculum they could instead be used to create unique learning pathways (see Figure 3) (the original post in which I conceptualised this idea, can be found here) by combining the range of skills and knowledge covered in each, with the needed skills to complete the project, and then identifying the areas not overlapped to be covered (like a ven diagram)(see figure 3b). These areas could then be taught through other means such as the listed “Tutorials & Specialised Resources” and “1-to-1 Support Needs” (pages 14 & 15 of the provided document). This itself is part of the scaffolded learning plan with the workshops acting as the core foundational knowledge, 1-to-1 support acting as a glue to bring these elements together and then fading off where possible to independently explore online specialised resources and guides – cementing the importance of independent learning to take the project further (see Figure 3c). These tutorials and guides cover something like a very specific problem or a tutorial for using a specific piece of equipment [I hope these links are accessible to the reader].

Figure 3. Conceptualised ‘Learning Pathway’ for an AI Garment. For Illustrative Purposes Only.

Figure 3b. Identifying Unaddressed Skills & Potential Support Needs.

Figure 3b. New Proposed Scaffolded Support Structure.

This leads me on perfectly to talk about my move and focus towards a flipped classroom model. For those who are unfamiliar, the flipped classroom model: 

“…is a pedagogical approach in which the conventional notion of classroom-based learning is inverted so that students are introduced to the learning material before class with classroom time then being used to deepen understanding through discussion with peers and problem-solving activities facilitated by teachers.”

(Advance HE, 2024, n.p.)

At first, it may appear as a way of reducing teaching time and simply pushing students to find out themselves, which goes against a lot of what I have been speaking about concerning creating an accessible learning environment filled with structure and support. That being said there is another side to this coin, where there is only so much time in the day. Unfortunately, I found students becoming reliant on me to complete their projects, with what I felt was at times a reluctancy to take responsibility for the project and the skills needed to succeed – something I am now very aware of with the implementation of the scaffolded learning with the aforementioned highlighted difficulty in fading support (Stanier, 2015).

The aim here is for the combination of the implemented support structure and clear written guidance it will allow students to work independently on tasks with a clear end goal in mind, with a visual appearance of what is needed to get to the next step of the project. The uptake in personal responsibility in progressing the project is a clear benefit of the flipped classroom model (Harvard University, 2024; Advance HE, 2024). However there are some additional key benefits, primarily its ability to lead to “…more opportunities for higher level learning” (Harvard University, 2024, n.p.) as students move away from passive learning to active learning (Advance HE, 2024) with studies showing “… measurable improvements in student and teacher motivation increased attendance in class and better grades as a result of using the flipped approach (Hamdan et al. 2013).”(cited in Advance HE, 2024, n.p.) In addition, the freeing up of instructors allows more time to “…work more closely with students, getting to know students better and providing better assistance”(Harvard University, 2024, n.p.). Resulting in a more productive learning environment, with students engaging more with critical thinking and better efficiency over time (Larcara, 2014).

One of the core aspects of the produced document is how it creates roles and expectations within the learning environment, for example, the very first stage of the document is to be completed before any sort of long consultation, there will of course be support for any student who requires it. This ensures that once the first stage has been completed, the designated face-to-face time can be used for much deeper problem-solving, planning and teaching rather than laying basic groundwork (Harvard University, 2024; Advance HE, 2024). It is worth noting that, for a successful and beneficial implementation, its use must be highly considered and structured (Mupita, Abdullah and Bünning, 2020).

My biggest worry here is that the initial stage will create a hurdle for students accessing the technical space (Larcara, 2014). Something I do not want to be the case, as it goes against my personal beliefs around access to equipment, spaces and knowledge within an educational setting. To address this, I will always aim to have a point of contact before getting anyone going, for example, I will aim to meet people, introduce myself, show them around the lab, current students if present and the work made by students before asking them to complete the first stage. There will also be open access for equipment, questions and support for students who have not chosen this route, as I do have some range of attendance, however that range is quite polar, with some students showing up every or most days and some turning up once or twice a term and so want to make sure that whatever is implemented works for both groups – fortunately this was supported and highlighted by said range of students during my focus group (this will be covered in a future blog post). 

Layout and Accessibility

The first thing you may notice within the document, or perhaps you didn’t blink at all, is the use of the UAL brand style. I purposely did this to create a sense of authority, this may just be to cover up my insecurities within the classroom, but the aim was to create something that felt like it had some weight to it. This educational brand placebo effect (Esteky and Kalati, 2024) does have some merit and has been shown “…that students value educational content more when they are told it is associated with a strong educational brand. This leads to improvements in students’ performance” (Esteky and Kalati, 2021, n.p.). My reasoning was not to attempt to make it intimidating, but more that if I had received it, I’d feel like a lot of thought and effort had been put into it and so I may be more willing to feel like it is worth my investment of time and effort to complete it; as personally, I do find that one off handouts can at times feel like unnecessary filler. I was inspired when my colleague and fellow Pgcerter Ike Rust sent me one of the self-negotiated briefs that the students complete within his BA course.

That being said my choice of brand style feels very authoritarian, and straight to the book, and as a designer at heart this does drive me somewhat crazy – but have taken the rare approach of focusing on content over layout and design (an easy time sink for me.) however, I know that as time goes on, I’ll have no problem implementing visual changes, and instead wanted to treat this assessment as a way of focusing some of the hardest aspects I struggle to apply attention to – especially within a role that has so many more engaging alternative tasks. [So dear reader, I have used you as my accountability partner in focusing on what matters most.]

To reduce this authoritative, almost government visual (UK Gov, 2024), the future plan is to implement a lot more imagery and find ways of conveying more information with symbols and diagrams. Ultimately removing as many words as possible whilst remaining informative and useful. This was made brutally aware to me when I first showed an early draft to a colleague within my department, where their main concerns were for students who find writing and text intimidating or worse. I could not agree more, especially as someone who struggles with text myself. In the future, there will be a shift in the way questions can be answered or filled such as greater use of checkboxes and spaces for answers to be drawn (a direct response to student feedback). Although not covered in the scope of this blog post, I have received feedback on the repetitiveness of some of the early questions, and think some of the questions could be condensed or structured better to support the students and reduce barriers to entry. Furthermore, as a focus on dyslexia, a common learning difficulty and a common comorbidity with other conditions such as ADHD (Ijeoma C, 2019; Boada, Willcutt and Pennington, 2012), I will also provide an optional version of the document in a more specialised typeface such as OpenDyslexic (OpenDyslexic, 2024), although the current Arial typeface is already recommended by the British Dyslexia Association (British Dyslexia Association, 2024), further additions such as a greater type size, word spacing and student requested soft pastel colour paper could certainly further reduce barriers to entry (ibid).

Going forward, ultimately I’d like to see the final document to be a lot more streamlined and modular than it currently is, housing additional sheets such as meeting notes, drawings, timelines (in different formats), change of plans etc not just reflections for the day. In addition, I think one really important change that could be made is how the questions/information is presented with the answers and information filled in. Currently, I believe the document is a bit unwieldy and personally if it was me using it I’d want to strip away a huge amount of the information once I had dealt with it (similar to the drafting stage of writing a paper, at first you might have, and need, lots of lots and information, but ultimately you strip it down to its core elements). I would like to potentially colour code it, to make it much more tactile/visual for quicker referencing, something I think is very important as the more I look back at the document after a break the more I think I find it intimidating.

To address this I have an idea that once completed all the information and questions could be removed in some way leaving the students with a pile of information that could form its own booklet (for referencing) and a pile of papers that form their entire documented project (for submission) (see figure 4), which in addition (and ultimately the motivation for the students’ engagement), will massively reduce the work needed to document the project which is often left till the end – massively supporting students that struggle to regulate: Memory/Concentration, Organisation skills and Time management (Betteridge, 2024; Koseva, 2023). However, this is something that needs to be properly designed and considered, and as previously mentioned, I have instead focused on the core elements of the document to date.

Figure 4. Conceptualised Document Split for Reducing Visual Overwhelm.

Lastly, the document has been designed to be accessible in both a paper format but also an electronic format to be filled in easily on electronic devices such as laptops or more increasingly Ipad iPad-style devices. So finding a way of incorporating this document into current student workflows was important. Finally for the physical document to be assembled and added to, I chose a simple hole punch with elasticated string. Although this seems like a minor insignificant aspect of the project, I spent a lot of time considering how students would use this document daily and the cost of implementing it. I found this to be an easy, cheap and fast solution to a problem that could easily be overcomplicated with folders and binders. That way the document can be physically taken apart to allow for ‘Log Sheets’, and other modular additions mentioned above.

For the sake of mentioning it, the document aims to be written and conveyed as simply as possible with clear and concise instructions and signposting to all the available resources further highlighting the points around creating a clear and concise structure to support students who struggle or become overwhelmed by these types of task (see figures 5 & 6).

Figure 5. Simple concise instructions and layout.

Figure 6. Signposting to other resources.

Customisable Learning Pathways

The customised learning pathways as mentioned above, were one of my early ideas during the first term of the PgCert and it is nice to see it finally become actioned. That’s one aspect of this project that I am incredibly proud of, is the way it has acted like a vessel to facilitate not just practical actions, but a whole new holistic approach. From the way that students are onboarded, interacted with, time managed and learning resources developed. I am not only looking forward to seeing how my next term’s worth of students react to it but also the relief it should hopefully give me during already stressful times such as end-of-year hand-ins.

Although straightforward, just a list of all my available workshops, with three simple sections (See figures 7 & 8): Should the workshop be attended? In what order should they be attended (as close as possible where scheduling will allow)? Lastly, has it been attended? Although not as beautiful as I would have liked I’m looking forward to seeing how this reflects on workshop uptake, the scheduling of the workshops and lastly if I still find myself reteaching the same material outside of the workshop. Ultimately I believe the successful implementation of this workflow will not be pinned down to one aspect, but instead the synchronised implementation of lots of little systematic improvements and considerations to make learning as straightforward and resistance-free as possible.

Figure 7. Learning Pathways within Workshops

Figure 8. Learning Pathways within Workshops – Completed Example

Thank you for taking the time to read my rather long blog post, I have found it incredibly hard to boil down multiple weeks’ worth of work and a 20-page document into a single blog post – and quite frankly could keep going. However, I think the points I have made, and the thought process I have gone through have hopefully been reflected within this post and therefore be seen and reflected in the many different aspects of the document. If you have any questions, feedback or readings you think would be relevant please feel free to leave me a comment below and I’ll be sure to take a look!

Downloads

Bibliography

ADHD Foundation (2023) Teaching and Managing Students with ADHD. Available at: https://www.adhdfoundation.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Teaching-and-Managing-Students-with-ADHD.pdf (Accessed: 6 January 2025).

Advance HE (2024) Flipped Learning, Advance HE. Available at: https://www.advance-he.ac.uk/knowledge-hub/flipped-learning-0 (Accessed: 6 January 2025).

Baumer, N. and Frueh, J. (2021) What Is Neurodiversity? – Harvard Health, Harvard Health. Available at: https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/what-is-neurodiversity-202111232645 (Accessed: 6 January 2025).

Betteridge, A. (2024) ‘Interview Conducted On Zoom, Re: ADHD in Technical Education’.

Boada, R., Willcutt, E. G. and Pennington, B. F. (2012) ‘Understanding the Comorbidity Between Dyslexia and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder’, 32(3), pp. 264–284. doi: 10.1097/TLD.0B013E31826203AC.

Boysen, G. A. (2024) ‘A critical analysis of the research evidence behind CAST’s universal design for learning guidelines’, Policy Futures in Education, 22(7), pp. 1219–1238. doi: 10.1177/14782103241255428.

British Dylexia Association (2024) Dyslexia Friendly Style Guide,   British Dyslexia Association  . Available at: https://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/advice/employers/creating-a-dyslexia-friendly-workplace/dyslexia-friendly-style-guide#:~:text=Use%20sans%20serif%20fonts%2C%20such,may%20request%20a%20larger%20font. (Accessed: 10 January 2025).

CAST (2017) ‘Top 5 UDL Tips for Fostering Expert Learners’. CAST. Available at: https://www.cast.org/products-services/resources/2017/udl-tips-fostering-expert-learners (Accessed: 5 January 2025).

CAST Inc (2024) The Goal Of UDL: Learner Agency, CAST . Available at: https://udlguidelines.cast.org/more/udl-goal/ (Accessed: 5 January 2025).

Esteky, S. and Kalati, S. H. (2021) The educational placebo effect: branding higher education benefits student learning | abstract. Taylor and Francis. Available at: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08841241.2021.1975186 (Accessed: 6 January 2025).

Esteky, S. and Kalati, S. H. (2024) ‘The educational placebo effect: branding higher education benefits student learning’, Journal of Marketing for Higher Education, 34(1), pp. 246–261. doi: 10.1080/08841241.2021.1975186.

Genius Within (2024b) What Is Neurodiversity?, Genius Within. Available at: https://geniuswithin.org/what-is-neurodiversity/ (Accessed: 6 January 2025).

Gibbons, P. (2014) Scaffolding Language, Scaffolding Learning, Second Edition. Portsmouth: Heinemann Educational Books.

Hart Barnett, J. E. (2017) ‘Helping Students with ADHD in the Age of Digital Distraction’, RAPCC, 36(2), pp. 1–7. doi: 10.14434/pders.v36i2.23913.

Harvard University (2024a) Flipped Classrooms, Harvard University. Available at: https://bokcenter.harvard.edu/flipped-classrooms (Accessed: 6 January 2025).

Harvard University (2024b) Taxonomies Of Learning, Harvard University. Available at: https://bokcenter.harvard.edu/taxonomies-learning (Accessed: 6 January 2025).

Ijeoma C, J.-A. (2019) ‘Dyslexia, Neurodevelopmental Conditions and Comobidity: A Rule Rather than an Exception’, ANN, 4(2). doi: 10.33552/ann.2019.04.000585.

Koseva, N. (2023) Balancing Academics And Extracurricular: How To Improve Time Management With ADHD, The ADHD Centre. Available at: https://www.adhdcentre.co.uk/balancing-academics-and-extracurricular-how-to-improve-time-management-with-adhd/ (Accessed: 10 January 2025).

Larcara, M. (2014) ‘Benefits of the Flipped Classroom Model’, pp. 132–144. doi: 10.4018/978-1-4666-4987-3.CH007.

Mupita, J., Abdullah, A. G. and Bünning, F. (2020) ‘Flipping the Technical and Vocational Classroom for Increased Instructional Outcomes’, INVOTEC, 16(1), pp. 11–31. doi: 10.17509/invotec.v16i1.23510.

OpenDyslexic (2024) OpenDyslexic, OpenDyslexic. Available at: https://opendyslexic.org/ (Accessed: 10 January 2025).

Psychiatric, A. (2013) Desk Reference To The Diagnostic Criteria From Dsm5. Washington: American Psychiatric Publishing, pp. 31–34.

Reiber, C. and Mclaughlin, T. F. (2004) ‘Classroom Interventions: Methods to Improve Academic Performance and Classroom Behavior for Students with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder.’, International journal of special education, 19, pp. 1–13. Available at: https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:146677620.

Stanier, C. (2015) ‘Scaffolding in a Higher Education Context’, in. Available at: https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:111127539.

The Bell Foundation (2024) Scaffolding – The Bell Foundation, The Bell Foundation. Available at: https://www.bell-foundation.org.uk/resources/great-ideas/scaffolding/ (Accessed: 6 January 2025).

UK Gov (2024) Welcome To GOV.UK. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/ (Accessed: 6 January 2025).

Zelenka, V. (2017) ‘Universal Interventions for Students With ADHD—and All Students’, Kappa Delta Pi Record, 53(1), pp. 37–40. doi: 10.1080/00228958.2017.1264820.

Image Index

Figure 2. Genius Within (2024) Cognitive Abilities. Genius Within. Available at: https://geniuswithin.org/what-is-neurodiversity/ (Accessed: 6 January 2025).

Please see attached the following documents: Ethical Action Plan, Participant Information Sheet and lastly the Participant Consent Form.

Change of plans

Within the project I had initially planned to design the new learning pathway documents, implement it and then review its success by analysing the completed documents at the end of the term, in line with what the students had aimed to complete. Followed up by an interview with the students to highlight any areas of difficulty, benefit of confusion. 

Although I do stick by how this initial plan would of given a great overview to how successful the project was and highlighting any resistance, the reality is the action research project began at the start of the students term, and by the time document (the action) could be prepared (or even rushed through) would already have been very late in their projects meaning that current students would be uprooted from what they were already used to, even if not perfect, which ultimately would have unfairly disrupted the students at an already stressful time period – especially when you consider that some of the students had been working within the technical area over multiple terms. Especially for MA students whose final projects align with this unit.

With this in mind, I spoke to my tutor Tim about how this would negatively impact my students and instead I suggested that I could produce the proposed structure/document and present it to my students and the end of the term. This way I could use their current terms experience as a direct comparison for feedback, to see if they thought this structure could/would have supported them and their work; which Tim agreed was a good alternative angle to maintain the project. As previously mentioned in a previous blog post I did however make small changes where possible such as implementing a new booking system to help manage time which was greatly received by the students.

Anonymity Concerns

One of the great aspects of my job is that I get to work with a very small number of students compared to many other technical areas, this over time may increase but for now is on a nice trajectory. This is great for a day to day role as it makes for a great learning environment where students from a whole plethora of courses get to meet and interact on similar projects whilst sharing knowledge and skills from their chosen disciplines. When it comes to writing a paper, however, it’s a different story as it makes my students highly identifiable from a range of different information such as their projects, courses, skill base and of course the low sample data. With this in mind one of the first feedbacks I got from Tim was that with the initial plan to analyse the students completed pathway documents it would be impossible to sanitise the documents to provide proper anonymity. Luckily one of the additional benefits of changing how the action would be reviewed meant that a lot of the personal information would no longer be collected and instead just the focus group would be recorded making it much easier to protect the identity of my students.

In the end I received 6 completed consent forms for the six students who attended my focus group. All of which have been stored securely. The focus group will be covered later in its own post.

Downloads:

Very quickly within this unit, my time became very very stretched and on reflection one of the core issues I needed to tackle, first was my time. If I continued to leave my time unregulated and open to any students all the time (drop-ins). This would not only affect students negatively as they were unable to plan their time, but equally would be of no benefit to me as it meant I was unable to effectively plan my time to its best potential – and so the first aspect to this project was to implement some form of booking system. 

Available at https://outlook.office.com/book/WearableTechElliottHall@artslondon.onmicrosoft.com/ 

This single action has single handedly made such a difference to the way my day is structured. As a staff member I feel that I have control and an understanding of how my day will be structured but also has allowed me to buffer time to be able to take the time to prepare for sessions – meaning the time spent with students is more useful and considered. However, you don’t have to take my word for it, I received clear feedback from the students that it made a whole world of difference for them too.

To book onto an appointment or initial consultation with me it is now easier than ever with a link in my email signature alongside clear signposting on our technical resources page as seen in figures 1 & 2.

Figure 1. Can be seen within my email signature.

Figure 2. Also available directly on the Digital Learning Lab’s drop-in information page.

Since rolling out the booking system, students were advised when I first met them that a great first step is to book an initial consultation. As of the time of writing, currently this is not fully integrated into my proposed learning resource, but in the new year this will act as the first step in the process!

One implication of this has actually been sort of surprising to me, at first I was worried implementing a booking system would halt students coming. Acting as an extra step or barrier (with exisiting students overbooking and clogging my available time) – but instead I have found it to be the opposite, instead appearing to receive more students from a wider range of departments, with students who are familiar with online systems that span the college, but are unfamiliar with the building – with some students stating they never knew the lab existed prior! This in my view is a great positive result, and even better when paired with the fact this is being done in a clear and organised manner. 

You may at this point be seeing the elephant in the room and asking “why was this not in place to begin with?” And the simple answer was, it was. I actually implemented a system like this last year but was asked to remove it as it led to a surge in 1-to-1 bookings and as a grade 4 technician should be focusing on a more universal teaching approach. Something I both agree with and disagree with, but the most important thing that is different this time round is the structure that this will be leading into. Although this term I have not rolled out this new learning pathway and have instead been developing it. Nonetheless, it has still shaped the way I have been interacting with students, even if there are no sheets on the table, which has made all the difference. 

Lastly there are some aspects of the booking system that although small I am proud of, simple aspects such as making sure initial consultations are prioritised. Meaning they are able to be booked a week in advance of regular tutorials, meaning students are only one week away from getting individualised support, ready to start their project. If you’re interested in seeing more aspects of the booking system please feel free to take a look yourself at the link above or by clicking here!

Although this is quite a late stage in the term to be writing my blog posts compared to where I was at this stage in the previous units, I am thankful to be reminded that I have completed the physical aspect of the unit and am now ready to begin typing it all up. I can’t lie, this is certainly a daunting task, especially with the upcoming christmas break and the foreshadowing of a whole new busy year on the horizon – but at the same time must remind myself compared to any previous qualification I have done, I have been completing it at the same time as running a technical area, supporting students to make some amazing work and more importantly have received great feedback along the way; a prop that I can’t take for granted. This blog post is my attempt at beginning to put pen to paper and getting the documentation process rolling!

This term has reminded me of the very reason I chose the route for my action research project, as I have been busier than ever, and have found myself really excited to put everything I have been working on in to practice next term. For those of you who may be unfamiliar with my previous unit, I have set my research question to:

How can a structured workflow incorporating scaffolded and flipped learning models enhance student autonomy and teaching efficiency in technical education?

To answer that question I decided to focus my action research project on creating a whole new learning pathway designed from the ground up to support students, to support themselves. Designed to be the keystone of a wearable technology project it focuses on a clear and concise three step process:

Step 1: The student independantly outlines their goals, current understandings, interests/admirations.

Step 2: A one-to-one consultation with a student and technician. Allowing time for the technician to understand the person and the project, and a time for the student to become familiar with the technician, resources available and the commitment expected from them.

Step 3: An ongoing cycle of trial/error, success and failure, support and independence all the way to a final outcome.

So why does this project / teaching resource need to exist?

My first recommendation would be to read my intervention plan from the second term. The post goes into a lot of depth about the origins of this project but also my own experience of being a neurodiverse student and my journey to learning how best to work with the traits I have; click here if you’d like to read that, however for those without the time, here’s a small recap . 

The project came out of necessity more than anything else. When I first began the role at LCF in 2021 the number of students I saw were very minimal and the area had no exisiting structure was in place. As time went on numbers grew and so did the ambition and complexity of the projects. This meant that the number of individual tutorials grew to cover the knowledge gaps created by the highly individualised nature of the projects. So I set out to create a new way of guiding students, covering frequently asked questions but also being modular enough to tackle and support any student, for any project. Highlighting early on potential issues before they arise and streamlining the teaching process whilst still covering a broad range of diverse topics. Freeing up my time to support students for the times that they need it the most, along with allowing me time to produce new and cutting edge learning materials and research – but more importantly embedding the independent learning skills required to thrive within this area.

After a lot of work, developing, presenting and gaining feedback from my students. I am excited to share with you what I have developed, and will continue to develop into the future! If you have any questions, thoughts or references you’d like to share – I’d very much look forward to hearing from you in the comments!

Positionality Statement

I have chosen to write and focus on accessibility within my paper, specifically I will be focusing on the impact ADHD, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, or ADD has within education and how myself, as an educator, can make an impact on student experience. My own experiences have without a doubt contributed to this influence and my desire to teach. Growing up I personally hated school, I had incredibly poor attendance, and no matter how hard I tried I was never able to achieve the goals I set for myself, which led to very low self esteem. 

Years later – after focusing on what is typically considered to be a non-academic course, graphic design, I found myself at university and again further struggling to achieve academic targets. Within my time studying at Falmouth university I was incredibly fortunate to have been taught by a tutor who informed my class about the accessibility department and professionally and non judgmentally explained experiences of some of his previous students and a close relative without any stigma attached.

This simple act of advising students (something no one had ever done with me up until this point) to read more into SpLD’s (Specific Learning Difficulties) has entirely changed my life – I was recommended to look into ADHD alongside other SpLDs and I found myself reading paper after paper of what felt like case studies of my life – something I often hear from students who talk about an ADHD diagnosis. Shortly after I received an SpLD diagnosis I then further seeked a medical diagnosis. Most importantly this resulted in me receiving one-to-one mentoring from the amazing Anne Betteridge, ADHD Coach and Mental Health Mentor, who without a doubt absolutely changed my life. This intervention and education on how best to focus my energy and formulate strategies resulted in a complete turnaround of my academic grades. The positive impact this had on my life is something I will never take for granted. As a result, I now make it a point to inform all my students about the accessibility services available to them.

As a result this has led me to focus on accessibility at the core of my teaching as I have experienced the truly transformative experience that education can have on life. Further to  my teaching practice at UAL I privately tutor with a specialisation of ADHD within the arts – however, do not hold any specific qualifications in this area – albeit this is something I would like to pursue.