Despite the heating being on full blast after having to try & walk incognito through the picket line outside LCC’s campus, this has been my favourite session so far. A lot was covered and a lot of questions I had regarding the blogging assignments were answered before I even asked them. We started the session by writing down what we thought the meaning was for a selection of terms. Initially I thought I’d be pretty clued up about what they all meant, but I quickly realised there were several I wasn’t 100% sure about.

We also reviewed the first blogging task and shared our thoughts on how we felt it went, shared any concerns we had and had reassurance from Aisha & Jhinuk that everything was OK – we I could stop panicking! I found reviewing the first task useful because:

1. I realised I wasn’t the only one who struggled with it
2. I realised was on the right track
3. I’m not the only one trying to juggle teaching/studying/home life/work etc…
4. Everything will be OK!

It’s easy to feel isolated when you’re doing something new or something you haven’t done for a considerable amount of time, so it’s good to know that there is support from tutors and peers if we need it.

Annabel and Jhinuk talked about their practices and roles within the UAL Disability Services and created a space where I definitely felt at ease. They provided non-verbal communication tools (pictured at the very top of this blog) as well as ‘fidget toys’ which you REALLY don’t know you need until you have one!

The session has made me think about different ways in which I can offer my students alternative formats to submit work for assessments and still achieve their learning outcomes, as well as ways I can make my tutorials/classes more inclusive. For example, I have a lot of international students who do not have English as their first language, so I have been thinking about ways they can take away information from their interactions with me that will work for them e.g. voice or video recording tutorials/feedback, encouraging them to write notes in their native language etc… Think that it’s very important to build trust with students, especially when it comes to diversity and inclusivity as these areas often touch on very personal aspects of a persons life.

Pronouns

I’ve been aware of people’s use of pronouns for a few years now and although in the beginning it took a bit of getting used to, it’s not something that causes me any kind of confusion personally. I use she/her/hers. I know several people who use other pronouns. I found it quite interesting trying to explain pronouns to my parents – they are in their sixties and although very liberal and young at heart, are both still quite binary in their way of thinking. I think working in the creative industries exposes you to really diverse groups of people and I make a point of teaching my children respect and kindness to everyone, no matter how they choose to identify. It’s something I’ve had to learn for myself, as it wasn’t so common growing up, so this is my small way of making sure that the next generation are open minded and accepting of people and their differences.