This post is another
installment in my series of observations about teaching techniques that I have
experimented with in my design studio.
This week is final review
week in the studio. Watching students frantically work to pull their final presentations
together has gotten me thinking about something I tried earlier this semester,
the reverse critique.
As the idiom goes, turnabout
is fair play.
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| Pearson presentation pin-up |
This semester I had been
working on a competition entry for the Chicago Biennial Lakefront Kiosk design
competition. I decided to take one studio
class and turn the tables – I would present my design project to the students
and they would critique my creative work.
The concept of the reverse
critique is a not a new idea. I have
heard about this technique being implemented in design studio courses at other
institutions, but it was not something that I have experimented with myself,
until now. Here are a few observations
from this activity.
NERVES AND EMPATHY
I spent some time mentally
rehearsing my presentation before the class, and I was actually a bit nervous
in anticipation. This surprised me
because, well, I am the professor. I get
up in front of this same group of students each day and talk about things. What was different this time? The big difference was that I was presenting
my own creative work. It is like baring
a little bit of your soul as a designer, to get up in front of an audience, and
reveal your creative process.
This reminds me of the
importance of empathy for the task ahead of my students this week. If I was even slightly nervous standing up
and discussing my own work, how must they feel, as sophomores in architecture
school, being asked to get up in front of professional architects who are
poised and ready to criticize.
For the students, this is a
necessary and important part of an architectural education, learning to
articulate and defend their creative work.
This is a skill that they must have as a future professional, and they
will continue to improve in their ability to conceptualize and discuss their
work as they progress through architecture school. That doesn’t necessarily mean that it ever
gets easy to present creative work, and as the instructor, it is sometimes too
easy for me to forget the nerves and pressure of a final review
presentation. The reverse crit was a
good reminder, and gives me much needed perspective as an instructor.
MODELING
The primary reason I tried
this activity in the class was to model (or demonstrate) the type of performance
that I want my students to engage in. I
wanted them to see how I approached the presentation, how I organized content
and articulated ideas, and MOST
IMPORTANTLY how I received critical feedback. I try to find moments in my studio class
where I can model professional behavior.
This was a good teaching opportunity to demonstrate how to participate
in the ‘design dialog’ of a final presentation.
I addition to the manner in
which I presented the work, the work itself becomes an example of sorts. I took some time at the end of the critique
to discuss how I approached the presentation, in particular the graphic
decisions I made as a designer that specifically attempt to amplify the concept
and tell the story of the design. We
talk a lot about story telling and articulating concepts in the studio, and the
reverse critique was an opportunity to demonstrate these ideas firsthand
through actual work.
SELF CRITICISM
I received good feedback
about my work from the students. They
made some very valid and critical comments about the project. They were probably too nice to me actually,
but I am still the person giving them grades, and it is difficult to completely
reverse the existing power dynamic.
At this point in their
education, my students are generally better at giving critical feedback to
others than they are at being reflective and self critical about their own
work. This is to be expected, and yet
through this reverse critique I hope that they begin to see that the ability to
critically analyze someone else’s work is also an essential component of their
own design process – a skill they will begin to master as they continue to
mature as designers.
