TUESDAY 27TH JANUARY 2009
We had PAL this morning. The plan was to talk to them about their Flash projects and answer any questions they had to ask us, as this is the new brief they are starting. But there was a change of plan last minute and we were asked to go over their 'British' posters they did before Christmas and leave Flash for another week. One of the other PAL groups was only left with one PAL leader so we combined 2 groups and did a crit of the British posters and a of students posters from other countries.
Personally I don't feel that this session went that well which is a real shame. I think our PAL group was expecting to do Flash, which is current and relevant to what they are doing now and what most of them are probably worrying about, which is what PAL is for. Instead we had to go over the posters, which were from last term and getting them interested and involved was quite difficult, especially as there were about 30 students in the room.
We also had a very successful first PAL session back after Christmas when we did a group crit of their Amnesty projects. It was just our group. We all sat round a table and did a crit of each persons work, everyone got involved and had the confidence to speak about their work and other peoples. It was really good. The feedback from the first years on this session was really positive and they said they much preferred having sessions like that, otherwise there doesnt seem much point in turning up if the sessions are pointless. We took this feedback on board, but then the next session had to do something that they didn't want to do. We are only having PAL sessions every 2 weeks now, so we need to make the most of the1 hour we have and I feel we didn't give them what they needed this session.
We are sticking to the plan for the next session and going over Flash with them. By then they will/should have lots of questions and things to talk about as they will be 2 weeks into their project.
Showing posts with label PAL. Show all posts
Showing posts with label PAL. Show all posts
PAL
MONDAY 12TH JANUARY 2009
We had the first PAL session of the year this morning. It was decided that the groups would remain as they are for the timebeing and anyone who desparately wants to change groups has to let Kit know.
We organised a crit of the first years Amnesty projects today. Mainly focusing on concept and copy. The session went really well, everyone was involved and contributing which was great! I think they really got some useful feedback and opinions. It was their last session before their hand in so we wanted to make sure they made good use of the session. I think the fact that it was a small group of 14 meant that everyone was comfortable speaking and voicing their thoughts. Personally I think our PAL group has gelled really well and everyone seems to be putting a lot in, which means they get a lot out of it.
After PAL we were given our feedback from last term. The feedback sheets are anonymous. I was really chuffed (I couldn't think of a better word) to see that our feedback was really positive and everyone seemed to be happy with the sessions and us as PAL leaders. I think the fact that we now know they are getting something out of the sessions is good. We also know a few things now that they prefer doing and also what their favourite sessions have been so far and what they find most beneficial. We are going to be going over Flash next session (2 weeks time as they are now fortnightly) - their next brief is screen based and it is the same as ours was last year, Statistics. From the feedback they all found it useful to see our work, so we will bring in our sketchbooks for this projects and our animations.
We had the first PAL session of the year this morning. It was decided that the groups would remain as they are for the timebeing and anyone who desparately wants to change groups has to let Kit know.
We organised a crit of the first years Amnesty projects today. Mainly focusing on concept and copy. The session went really well, everyone was involved and contributing which was great! I think they really got some useful feedback and opinions. It was their last session before their hand in so we wanted to make sure they made good use of the session. I think the fact that it was a small group of 14 meant that everyone was comfortable speaking and voicing their thoughts. Personally I think our PAL group has gelled really well and everyone seems to be putting a lot in, which means they get a lot out of it.
After PAL we were given our feedback from last term. The feedback sheets are anonymous. I was really chuffed (I couldn't think of a better word) to see that our feedback was really positive and everyone seemed to be happy with the sessions and us as PAL leaders. I think the fact that we now know they are getting something out of the sessions is good. We also know a few things now that they prefer doing and also what their favourite sessions have been so far and what they find most beneficial. We are going to be going over Flash next session (2 weeks time as they are now fortnightly) - their next brief is screen based and it is the same as ours was last year, Statistics. From the feedback they all found it useful to see our work, so we will bring in our sketchbooks for this projects and our animations.
PAL session - Time Management
MONDAY 3RD OCTOBER 2008
This mornings PAL session went okay I think - we decided before hand that we would do Time Management with them - they hadn't said there was anything in particular they wanted to cover this week, and Kit suggested Time Management would be the most relevant - at least to get them to make a realistic list of everything they have to do before the hand in which for them is a couple of weeks!
At the start we asked them if they would like to do this, or instead do an 'Inspiration' session - where they all share any inspiration they have found lately with the group - but they wanted to do the time management exercise. I think with their hand in coming up they want to make good use of the hour while they can.
They worked really well and as usual we all entered into discussion about lessons and work. I find this is really good, because even the quieter people end up joining in and after a few minutes people seem confident enough to share any concerns they have.
Next week is the last PAL session before their hand in, so they have asked if we can do a mini-crit! I think this will be really good for them, as they are already getting along really well within the PAL group, so hopefully they will have the confidence to crit each others work.
I found it really hard in my first year to crit peoples work. Its hard because you feel you are being negative, but in actual fact, its constructive criticism, which is important. I think doing a mini crit in their PAL group will be good for them. When we did the RBL brief - that was the first time people really started to get involved and be critical of peoples work - positively and negatively - and that's why all the work that was produced was so strong - it helps you consider you work from different angles.
I think we are going to try and give the crit a bit of an edge to get people motivated - we will decide that in the week I think.
This mornings PAL session went okay I think - we decided before hand that we would do Time Management with them - they hadn't said there was anything in particular they wanted to cover this week, and Kit suggested Time Management would be the most relevant - at least to get them to make a realistic list of everything they have to do before the hand in which for them is a couple of weeks!
At the start we asked them if they would like to do this, or instead do an 'Inspiration' session - where they all share any inspiration they have found lately with the group - but they wanted to do the time management exercise. I think with their hand in coming up they want to make good use of the hour while they can.
They worked really well and as usual we all entered into discussion about lessons and work. I find this is really good, because even the quieter people end up joining in and after a few minutes people seem confident enough to share any concerns they have.
Next week is the last PAL session before their hand in, so they have asked if we can do a mini-crit! I think this will be really good for them, as they are already getting along really well within the PAL group, so hopefully they will have the confidence to crit each others work.
I found it really hard in my first year to crit peoples work. Its hard because you feel you are being negative, but in actual fact, its constructive criticism, which is important. I think doing a mini crit in their PAL group will be good for them. When we did the RBL brief - that was the first time people really started to get involved and be critical of peoples work - positively and negatively - and that's why all the work that was produced was so strong - it helps you consider you work from different angles.
I think we are going to try and give the crit a bit of an edge to get people motivated - we will decide that in the week I think.
PAL Session
MONDAY 27TH OCTOBER 2008
This mornings PAL session went well I think. We spent the hour going through blogs with them. Some people didn't have accounts, some people had accounts but hadn't done anything with them, and some people were all up together and had active blogs.
By the end of the session everyone had a blog and had designed a nice header for their blog - something personal to them as a designer. It worked well because even the people that already had blogs had a few questions about how to add certain things or change fonts etc.
We provided them with a print out of step by step instructions to add a header to the top of their blog.
As far as next weeks session goes, they didn't have anything in particular that they wanted to go through. We told them to email us over the next week if anything does come up. In our meeting with Kit afterwards she advised that they may want to go through some time management methods - as they may not have been told yet, but the deadline for their hand in of Text and Image is on the 18th November - which by the time the next session comes around, will only be 2 weeks away.
We are going to over-plan for next week so we have a few things up our sleeves to do just in case. The week we showed them our work, we got through everything a lot quicker than we had anticipated, so this has made us realise over-planning is the key!!
We have a wicked PAL group though, they are really interested in the course and they have lots of questions which is good as it means we can have discussions as well as do what we have planned - this is a definite plus because all the while they are asking questions it means they are getting what they want out of the sessions! So, its all good! We hope they would tell us if there was something else they wanted to do that would benefit them more!
This mornings PAL session went well I think. We spent the hour going through blogs with them. Some people didn't have accounts, some people had accounts but hadn't done anything with them, and some people were all up together and had active blogs.
By the end of the session everyone had a blog and had designed a nice header for their blog - something personal to them as a designer. It worked well because even the people that already had blogs had a few questions about how to add certain things or change fonts etc.
We provided them with a print out of step by step instructions to add a header to the top of their blog.
As far as next weeks session goes, they didn't have anything in particular that they wanted to go through. We told them to email us over the next week if anything does come up. In our meeting with Kit afterwards she advised that they may want to go through some time management methods - as they may not have been told yet, but the deadline for their hand in of Text and Image is on the 18th November - which by the time the next session comes around, will only be 2 weeks away. We are going to over-plan for next week so we have a few things up our sleeves to do just in case. The week we showed them our work, we got through everything a lot quicker than we had anticipated, so this has made us realise over-planning is the key!!
We have a wicked PAL group though, they are really interested in the course and they have lots of questions which is good as it means we can have discussions as well as do what we have planned - this is a definite plus because all the while they are asking questions it means they are getting what they want out of the sessions! So, its all good! We hope they would tell us if there was something else they wanted to do that would benefit them more!
PAL session 20th October 2008
Monday 20th October 2008 - We had our 2nd PAL session this morning. Last week the group said they wanted to see our sketchbooks from the first year so all three of us brought our work in with us. We had a group discussion about that and also Blogs. We were expecting to spend more time talking about Blogs but everyone seemed to be pretty sure of what they were doing, so we didn't spend much time on that, although by the end of the session they all said they wanted to go over editing the blogs layout and design. So that is what we are going to do next week - go over the HTML and all the little bits and bobs - they all want to make the blogs their own, so I think it will really help them. I know I really struggled to work out how to use the site properly. It just takes someone to show you where all the menus and options are, and then you can crack on. I think we made the mistake of not planning enough to do this week - we underestimated how slowly an hour goes! We are going to plan some extra things to do for next week, so if we end up ahead of time, they won't get bored. They were really chatty again this week which is good. They had lots of questions and they seem to be using the time well.
PAL Session Number 1
MONDAY 13TH OCTOBER 2008 - We had our first PAL session this morning for an hour! We think it went really well, unless they were just being polite! We had doughnuts, cakes and squash. We started by introducing ourselves and explaining about PAL as most of them didn't seem to know what it was. They were all very receptive and listened to us, which is good. We did the pass the parcel icebreaker, which I think got everyone joking and talking. There was a question or a task and a sweet in each layer. It was slightly daunting to start with, but like I said, they all listened and seemed really keen to make the most of the sessions going forward. I think I would have been the same had we started the sessions this early - its when PAL leaders are really needed I think, as its when the first years will be finding their feet and wanting to ask questions. They are doing text and image at the moment, so they have asked to see some of our work - which we are happy to show them, but will make sure they know what grade and feedback we got - we don't want them to think that our work is the right answer. I know how they feel though; I would have found it useful, actually, in a way, reassuring to see the second years work last year. Its so hard to know how well you are doing if you can't grasp what’s expected of you. Obviously they will all try their best, but it is still nice to have some idea where you are. I think by next week they will have lots to ask us, which is good. We spoke to them about our Blogs - none of them really seemed keen on doing them, but we explained how much it would help them with their PPRD to do the work as they go along, rather than leaving it until next year and panicking!
Quick PAL Meeting
THURSDAY 9TH OCTOBER 2008 - This morning we had a quick PAL meeting with Kit to prepare us for Monday mornings session. We (Group 3) will be having the upstairs room, and as it is smaller than the other two rooms, we will be having 15 students. This is a nice number I think. We are well prepared and I think we have a really good ice breaker that should get everyone chatting and laughing ... and ... breaking the ice! We have a pass the parcel prepared. Under each layer is a question/task that the person who opens it has to read out and answer/carry out. They are quite silly so I think everyone will relax and enjoy it - fingers crossed!
PAL Workshop Day 2 / Job Trial
TUESDAY 7TH OCTOBER 2008 - We had the last section of our PAL training this morning. I think the sessions were really good and I definitely feel more confident about taking the sessions. I am leading a PAL group with Luke and George. I think we worked really well together in the practice session; Kit said so too and suggested we work as a team. We planned our first PAL session today so we know what we are going to be doing. We have our first PAL session on Monday morning at 10am. So we need to be here for 9.30am to prepare. The group size will be 16 so that’s not too bad.
I've got my trial with Goldust Design in 45 minutes - I'm quite nervous. I'm sure I will be fine; I just worry that I won't know how to do what she asks me to do. But I must think positively and try my best. I really like the sound of the job description - its all the sorts of things I enjoy doing - the only thing I am slightly concerned about is Clipping Paths as I haven't really used them much, but I am sure she will show me how she likes it to be done and then I can go from there.
I am concerned that what with working 1 day a week at my current job, that I will run out of time. But it would be good to do the 4 hours a week which is the minimum, and then Lewis can job share with me and do the rest, or as much as he wants to. It will be really good experience for me and will challenge me too.
I've got my trial with Goldust Design in 45 minutes - I'm quite nervous. I'm sure I will be fine; I just worry that I won't know how to do what she asks me to do. But I must think positively and try my best. I really like the sound of the job description - its all the sorts of things I enjoy doing - the only thing I am slightly concerned about is Clipping Paths as I haven't really used them much, but I am sure she will show me how she likes it to be done and then I can go from there.
I am concerned that what with working 1 day a week at my current job, that I will run out of time. But it would be good to do the 4 hours a week which is the minimum, and then Lewis can job share with me and do the rest, or as much as he wants to. It will be really good experience for me and will challenge me too.
PAL Workshop Day 1
MONDAY 6TH OCTOBER 2008 - Today was the first day of PAL training. We talked about our fears as PAL leaders - what scared us the most, the issues that concerned us and how we could prepare for these concerns should they arise. It was a really good day and by the end of it I felt like I had a lot more confidence and I definitely feel more relaxed about taking our first session next week. After we had discussed our fears we went through the PAL Leader handbook - this enabled us to identify the key points that we need to remember in order to make our sessions active and useful, most importantly though, beneficial to the students. In the afternoon we did a practice PAL session. To start with I was really worried about doing it - but in the end I just took a deep breath and once I had started it got easier and soon I felt comfortable taking the session. It was a really good day and I learnt a lot. I am slightly concerned that I have a deadline for our first brief which is Thursday. I also have my trial session for the design job in the Enterprise Pavilion tomorrow afternoon, and the last part of PAL in the morning. I feel like in a couple of weeks I will be settled - I have had a lot on at the moment, finding somewhere to live being the most stressful! I have moved for the second time in a couple of weeks, but am in the right place now and can start sorting my stuff out so I feel at home! All in all I am looking forward to getting settled and being able to throw myself into my studies - this year is going to be a good year and I really want to work hard, especially as I don't think I will be taking the third year, this second year is really important for me. I need to build up a strong portfolio to help me find work. I will write again tomorrow with feedback from the last PAL session, and an update on the trial at the EP.
PAL Leader
THURSDAY 2ND OCTOBER 2008 (PM) - I forgot to mention earlier, just before the discussion I found out that I was one of the people chosen to be a PAL leader! This is going to be a great learning experience for me. The training to be a PAL leader is Monday all day and Tuesday in the morning. We will be taught everything we need to know to be a PAL leader and trained on how to plan for the sessions.
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