I was lucky enough to observe Laura-Beth Cowley do a crit with some of her second year MA Character Animation students.
Below is the information Laura-Beth supplied to me prior to the lesson observation:
What is the context of this session/artefact within the curriculum?
Each student will be pitching their idea for the final project for unit 3 for the MA in character animation. It will consist of 4 slide presentations given by the students followed by feedback, consideration and suggestion offered by the tutor and other student members of the group.
How long have you been working with this group and in what capacity?
Since September 2024 as the stage leader for the second year. They will have been introduced to me in their first year through contextual studies lectures also.
What are the intended or expected learning outcomes?
From student perspective: To gain further insight from tutor and peers into their film. From tutors position: to take notes and suggestions on students progress and current plan for final project.
What are the anticipated outputs (anything students will make/do)?
They should take notes and digest the feedback and consider applying the changes or suggestions to their production moving forward. As well as ask questions about any other aspect of the project or modular they have.
Are there potential difficulties or specific areas of concern?
Some students may be stressed or anxious about presenting. These students are offered to be seen last so they can speak one on one with the tutor if preferred.
How will students be informed of the observation/review?
The entire year has been emailed by our line-manager about observations taking place. The observer and context of the review will be introduced to the students at the start of the session.
What would you particularly like feedback on?
How the tutor interacts with the students. How they offer feedback, any notes on how this could be improved upon. Particularly in encouraging others in class to engage with their colleagues’ work and offer ideas, feedback or suggestions.
How will feedback be exchanged?
Through this form, email and possibly debriefing conversation.
This was my feedback for Laura-Beth on the lesson:
I observed Laura-Beth on 30/01/2025 for about two hours conducting feedback sessions with second year MA Character Animation students who were presenting the planning and work they had been doing towards their final major projects. It was a small cohort of students, including one group of three who presented together and another student who presented solo.
The group went first, and Laura-Beth allowed them to make the decision on what order they wanted to show her the work they had done, this option was also given to the second student showing that Laura-Beth was encouraging them to take onus over their own presentation and to let them do the guiding, rather than dictating downwards what they should do.
Throughout the feedback she was giving, Laura-Beth proved that she knew the projects and had been paying attention to students’ past work, able to reference previous projects and contextualise their current proposal within their known skillset and portfolio. She had a rolodex of references and work of other animators that she was able to bring up on her laptop and phone to show the students, who all paid attention and noted down or took photos of the shorts she showed them. Whilst giving feedback and talking about examples Laura-Beth was not afraid to stand up, to make noise, to use gestures and in general physicality to explain what she was talking about, which would have been helpful especially given that some of the things (eg, characters dancing or funny noises) would have been hard to describe just verbally. It inserted a bit of humour and humanity into the sessions.
Laura-Beth additionally made sure that she fully understood the student’s projects – especially with the first group of students she made sure to rewatch their animatic and have them explain the plot, and their decisions about the characters actions. The second student had less of a concrete animatic in place, was yet to do the research that would launch the plot but had instead been able to complete some animated process tests. In this case Laura-Beth was able to advise her to start researching, provided some people to get in touch with to interview and talk about what was realistically possible for the film to convey in the time the student had – encouraging her to put her own voice into the project too.
If I had one thing to feed back on it would just be some of the references – many examples were shown to the first group which was great as they were able to take photos of these with their phones, but a couple of artists work was just made reference to verbally (eg M.C. Escher, and children’s book author Oliver Jeffers) and I wasn’t certain if the students knew their work or understood the references as they weren’t met with the same enthusiastic reception of some of the previously spoken about examples. Perhaps in the same way as the animations were shown on screen these references could have been bought up on screen to make sure the students understood. Additionally, while the second student sat through the first groups’ presentation and listened attentively, I noticed that while she presented most of the first group sat back and were on their phones. I know it can be hard to ask students to behave in a certain way and perhaps this is more a reflection on them but it would have been nice to see them engage a little bit more.
Overall I think Laura-Beth showed a clear passion for animation and for helping the students to plan their projects to be the best they could be. Her wealth of experience and knowledge proved incredibly useful in being able to advise them not only on their own projects but also the existing surrounding contexts within the field of animation. I think everything she discussed with the students during their presentation was useful advice, giving them the necessary stepping stones to move forwards with their projects and supporting their ideas to give them the confidence needed to believe in themselves as they embark on their FMP.