Derek Lawlor PGCert 2025

BA Textile Design Assessment & Feedback Session

“Current assessment practice increasingly includes activities that could be termed assessment as learning. The very act of undertaking assessment and feedback activities is an essential part of the learning process.

All three aspects of assessment still need to happen but we are thinking differently about the relationship between them” (Jisc Principles of good assessment and feedback, 2015)

As part of our course review, an assessment & feedback session was arranged to collectively develop assessment and Feedback principles as a team. We were asked to consider current practice, language, approaches and efficiency to build a framework for this. 

Collectively, we discussed how we feel about assessment, what strategies we have developed, what we find most challenging, the positives, how much and how long it takes to give feedback and how we can make this more efficient as a course. 

As part of this we worked in pairs to discuss one example of assessment feedback that we found most challenging to write and one that was more straightforward as well as considering and reflecting on an occasion where a student has challenged us on our feedback.  

Shared observations: 

• Making sense of work from students who have had low or no attendance during a project
• Questions from students querying the importance of a project 
• Students questioning formative and summative assessment even when it is part of a bigger unit  
• Students concentrating on the grade and not the feedback

Personal reflection:  

From discussions we’ve had as a team and examples given of good practice, it’s made me personally think more about how I approach the application of feedback. I acknowledge areas I would like to focus more on. These include: 

*Acknowledging student work and effort in a specific way to identity that this is the correct feedback 

*Suggest specific ways to improve work with reference to learning outcomes 

*Encourage reflection on the work with a balance of positive and negative feedback. 

From looking at the session and examples given, overall I feel confident that I’m aware of the principles we have in place. But as a course leader, I recognise this needs to be expanded to a wide range of colleagues in particular hourly paid lecturers and our wider team. 

Jisc Principles of good assessment and feedback https://www.jisc.ac.uk/guides/principles-of-good-assessment-and-feedback 

BA Textile Design – ReWeave and Re:roll Station Lab 2.0 Project

For this project students will be exploring their own approaches to sustainability as responsible designers. Students will be introduced to different approaches to sustainable practise as well as increasing their brand awareness and experience of designing for a client.

Students will be exploring methods of making experimental yarns from waste which they may weave with and creating woven textile swatches for fashion clothing and/or accessories.

Students will be using commercial waste materials as your own and dead-stock yarns

which are available in the Weave workshop.

First Research Tutorial of Project 

• Students are in a group tutorial (6 students) around a large table in BA Textile Design shared space 

• I explain that the Group tutorial is conversational allowing all to discuss and offer feedback on research, references and further ideas

• I ask students if they understand the brief, timetables and any questions regarding the project 

• Each student has 10minutes to discuss the research they have explored so far around the title ‘Journeys’

• As students talk about their project I ask them to think about certain words which derives from their research which I then ask students to expand upon – is there any further information from brainstorming that can provide ideas going forward in research, material exploration and making

• During tutorials I allow students to share new ideas/discussion that may have arisen hearing from other students during the tutorial

• End of tutorial – Reflection of areas that we have discussed, diversity of ideas that we have seen and encouragement going forward in the project

• I suggest students have Peer Led Tutorials together to further discuss their project without a tutor

• Ending the tutorial we discuss the submission requirements and I ask if there are any questions regarding the brief or project in general 

24/25 Theories, Policies and Practices

Introduction 

At the start of the session I introduced myself, my position at Central Saint Martins and my practice. The purpose of this session is for my peers to look back at a body of work compiled over 15 years.

Aims of the session 

As an object-based learning session, it looked at human engagement with objects. It focused on establishing the given context of a body of textiles in a neutral, unrelated environment i.e. a classroom. This session was a reflection on a past body of work to generate new ideas through analysis and documentation.    

As part of the session, I explained that my chosen objects were from a collection of textiles from my own practice. I wanted my peers to recognise them as objects and not think about their function.

To start with, everyone was given an envelope containing a sketchbook, drawing materials and a series of questions which they would respond to as part of the exercise. Everyone was given textile pieces from my archive; they were asked to either drape on the body (if they felt comfortable) or use the space (furniture and surroundings).

I wanted the session to be lively and interactive which was why I asked them to move to different areas of the room. Each had 5-6 minutes to analyse what they were looking at in pairs. As I walked around the room, I interacted with my peers triggering responses to aid with the questions and observations of the fabrics. 

Further into the session, I asked them to reflect and use the drawing materials and viewfinders provided to translate their answers into hand-rendered responses.

At the end of the session I presented a series of images of the textiles in their context. The purpose of this was for peers to see them in their given environment. This revealed their end function as well as their provenance (the year, the collection, the composition) for additional context. 

Personal reflection

Something that I learned was the power of offering more productive silence so the peers could get to grips with and analyse what I was asking them.

Peers could have had more time to discuss the answers as well as having more reflections on their findings. By the end there might have been a slight disconnect between the analysis of the objects and the activities given. 

Going forward, I feel the visual understanding and materiality of the textiles would have been enough for the class to explore, or would have worked as a design exercise to create something from what they were looking at instead of attempting both. I question if there was enough time for all the class to achieve my objective of understanding and what you can achieve from looking at materials in different contexts. 

In my own teaching, I realise I can allow more time and space to spark conversations and reflections on objects.

Hello Everyone!

My name is Derek Lawlor and I am Joint Course Leader of BA Textile Design at Central Saint Martins.

I have worked at UAL since 2010 as an Associate Lecturer across BA Textile Design and the Outreach Programme at UAL before taking on the position as Joint Course Leader in 2019.

Outside of University I have my own practice as a Textile Artist working across Fashion, Interiors, Editorial and Film.

I’m hoping studying on the PgCert will deepen my knowledge of theoretical pedagogic frameworks, underpinning the development of further inclusive learning and teaching approaches across the curriculum.