OVERALL REFLECTION
OVERALL REFLECTION – HOW CAN TECHNICIANS CROSS-POLLINATE THEIR WORKSHOPS?
Teaching wasn’t my background but I’ve always enjoyed mentoring.
Doing the PGCert has helped me see the tools I need to be a better educator, by identifying what I need to do to be more consistent in delivering workshops, so that I can review them every time and make sure they continue to be relevant and to improve them.
As technicians, we’re not required to give students formal feedback on their work, but my research for the PGCert has taught me how to give them informative feedback and to share it with the academic team.
Some of the reading for the PGCert has been tricky for me because of the academic language used in it. My way round this has been to use the read-aloud facility on a computer and to dictate to it. But this doesn’t always interpret my thought process correctly, so I’ve used the help available from the university, as well as asking my partner to make sure that what I’ve said is what I mean, by proof reading and checking my grammar. My own learning differences and being open with it, allows me to build confidence and engage with other neuro-divergent people.
What I realised as I came to the end of the project, is that I myself am cross-pollinated and that this is really useful when trying to explain what cross-pollination is. There a lot of people like me, who are first generation British born and are fully merged into more than one culture.
This means that I don’t need to choose one over the other, but it does help me to understand why international students might come to England to study and be part of such a diverse culture, which they might not be familiar with in their motherland. To me, social justice is crucial, so when cross-pollination is combined with genuine inclusivity, we are closer to achieving it.
Having colleagues from all levels participate in the process has given me insights from different perspectives and they have been generous with their time. Through the 3 interventions, other technicians as well as academics have talked about how they may use the method of cross-pollination in their teaching practice, whilst the dean is interested to see how this can be used throughout the university.
By attending a workshop, you hope to learn more than you thought you would. If you do, then that is a measure of its success. If you also enjoy it and can in some way share what you’ve learnt, that’s even better.
And that is exactly how I feel coming towards the end of doing my PGCert. I’ve learnt more than I ever anticipated, but even more important is that the processes and methodology of doing it will become part of the outcome. And the outcome is my own teaching practice.
The dean presented part of the sari workshop at an international conference in November 2024.
I’ve been asked by my manager to present the shirt workshop at The Technicians Conference in the summer of 2025.
I’ll be creating a series of new cross-pollination workshops for students where I’ll re-imagine the ‘western view’ of the existing base workshops for shirts, trousers, jackets, T-shirts. I’m starting with shirts where I can adapt the workshop presented to staff as a basis and include their input as part of my review and development.
What I’d also like to do is to create 45-minute micro workshops for any staff who wish to learn about using cross-pollination in their work.
It’s been a fantastic year for me doing this research project and I hope that, as some said in their feedback, that cross-pollination is ‘ A Keeper’.
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