MY
NAME
IS:
Kaila Cavanagh
I am a lecturer in the Department of Fashion and Textiles at the Durban University of Technology.
I teach Pattern Technology, fashion specific software (Kaledo) and supervise BTech (undergraduate) and Masters students.
I am currently pursuing my PhD in Teacher Development Studies through the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal.
How to navigate this site:
This e-portfolio is divided into three main headings with subsections - About Me (CV ; Publications and Presentations), Teaching and Learning (Who am I as a teacher; Teaching experience; Knowing, acting and doing; Who are my students; Being and becoming) and Evidence (Video examples; Reference Letters; Testimonials; Example 1 - Sleeve Project). These subsections can be access through the menu bar at the top of the site or through the links on this page.
For ease of access, I have provided a brief summary of the four main areas of reflection below and linked the relevant areas of the site in each section.
REFLECTION ON STUDENTS
I am able to get to know who my students are on a personal level because of the small classes and long hours I spend with them in class. This helps me to understand their needs and struggles and gives me the opportunity to work with them to overcome these struggles. The personal interactions with students also helps me to see how each cohort of students comes with unique needs and I attempt to structure my teaching differently for each of these cohorts each year. You will find more information how I structure my teaching and my teaching philosophy in the links. I am also available to my students for consultations outside of class time and in these one-on-one sessions I am able to support students academically, but am also able to refer them to external services like student health or counselling.
Over the years, we as a department have realised that we cannot assume our students have access to the same resources. For example, a colleague conducts an informal survey at the beginning of the year to see how many students have or have access to smart phones and laptops, and she shares these findings with us. The findings of these always indicate that many students do not have smartphones, let alone tablets or personal computers. As such, we do not take this as a given.
The students I teach come from diverse backgrounds, with many from rural and/or underprivileged backgrounds. I try and take this into account in my teaching by scaffolding support into projects that require some digital literacy (for example, see the Sleeves Project, where students are shown how to make and edit videos at a basic level) and creating parity of access by providing the basic equipment needed (where students are given access to the same lab facilities and provided with the materials). This is also exemplified in the Sleeves Project, where students offered the use of Departmental cameras to record and computers for editing installed with free software. For more detail on my students, please refer to the who are my students page. As a member of the Who Are Our Students Siyaphumelela project team, I am actively involved in researching who the DUT student is and working towards institutional level support interventions. For more detail on this project, please refer to the Siyaphumelela section as well as our latest presentation.
As a department, we provide support for our National Diploma students through tutorial sessions. As the departmental tutor coordinator, I am responsible for identifying tutors from our BTech students, organising training for these tutors as well as liaising with tutors and lecturers to arrange sessions. In my own subject, I will discuss with my class which areas they need tutorials for and arrange appropriate materials and brief tutors on what to go over with students. As tutor coordinator I also oversee the First Year Student Experience (FYSE) tutor programme, where a tutor-mentor runs a weekly extended orientation in the form of 12 seminars, covering a range of topics aimed at helping students cope (such as time management, study skills and academic referencing). I am in regular contact with both academic and FYSE tutors, getting feedback from them on what students have said and where the students are needing more support.
REFLECTION ON CONTEXT
My teaching takes place in the context of a University of Technology (UoT) in South Africa. The context of Higher Education is complex, as is the context of teaching in a UoT. I discuss the implications of this under the subsection Who are my students. The impact of this context is that I teach students who are coming from vastly different educational backgrounds, bringing with them vastly different needs and struggles. Operating from a deficit discourse does not help my students to succeed, instead I attempt to structure my teaching and assessment design to support students, regardless of educational background and context. As discussed above, institutionally, departmentally and personally, students are supported through their journey.
At a meso level, the majority of my students come from KwaZulu-Natal and are first language isi-Zulu speakers. Some of them struggle with the language of instruction being in English. Although students do develop fluency throughout their course and this lessens with time, I attempt to help students who struggle through a predominantly visual teaching style. Most of my instruction makes use of pictures, diagrams and live demonstration. When explaining to students one-on-one, I make an effort to show rather than tell, using examples, drawings, photographs or scaled miniature reproductions. I encourage students to teach and help each other, and students who have understood will help explain concepts in their mother tongue for others. I do find, however, language is much less of an issue in my practical subjects where the discipline jargon is new to all students and has no equivalent terms in isi-Zulu.
At I micro context, I teach mainly first year students and the subject content is very new to them. Furthermore, the majority of my students are under 23 years of age (statistics from my annual subject and lecturer evaluations indicate this consistently). As such, they learn differently to how I learnt as a student. In order to make sure students have the best chance at understanding the subject, I put a great deal of effort into making content available in different formats. I use technology to mediate my teaching, which is managed through the institutionally supported learning management system (Blackboard). I put all of my slideshows and briefs online through this virtual classroom, as well as links to external YouTube videos, interesting and helpful blog posts or websites. I also make videos for my students (for more detail on this, please refer to Video examples and Knowing, acting and doing) so that they can refer back, re-watch, pause or fast forward as needed.
Within projects, I try incorporate themes and issues that speak to the wider global context. For example, many of our department's integrated projects (involving multiple subjects) are themed around current fashion trends or events (such as the MET Gala's Mannus ex Machine theme or the Pantone colour of the year), global and local issues (such as androgeny or reflections on Democracy), or task students with developing a perspective (for example asking them to produce designs showing their take on what contemporary African fashion is). Within assignments, I also try embed qualities like developing digital citizenry (knowing how to create, edit and upload videos; how to conduct themselves on an online discussion forum), critical thinking and life long learning.
REFLECTION ON KNOWLEDGE
I attempt to focus on what students need to be able to do once they graduate, not just what they should know. Fashion is a vocation and students need to become fashion designers on graduation, learning not just the discipline content but also the ways of thinking, acting and being a fashion designer. To this end, I try ensure my students are given many opportunities to hone their practical skills in authentic ways (please refer to Being and Becoming), this ensures I maintain disciplinary depth.
In the section, Knowing, Acting and Doing, I reflect on what teaching fashion entails, how knowledge in the discipline is used and constructed and how students should be engaging with this knowledge.
REFLECTION ON GROWTH
I believe that as teachers we have a duty to be continuously adapting and evolving. Our students are changing with every year and have new needs and ways of learning. If we continue to teach the way we always have, we are ensuring that we will lose more and more students along the way. Furthermore, not all students learn in the same way, and as a teacher I need to be flexible in trying to cater to many styles of learning in as many ways as possible. This belief has led to me continuously research my teaching practice, aiming to improve every year.
Initially, I did this informally, through trial and error with different teaching styles and assessment design. As time passed, I began to become more intentional about the way I researched my practice. I conducted surveys and focus groups with students to really hear how they were experiencing my teaching and asking them where I could improve. This is shown in my presentations and publications (refer specifically to the papers "A Little Black Number: Undressing Transformation from student to pattern maker" and "Fashion students choose how to learn by constructing videos of pattern making" and presentations "An integrated modular approach in the fashion course to maximize students’ understanding of the design process: A proposal for first year pedagogy" and "Using facilitated reflective peer review to enhance authentic learning in first year students").
At the beginning of 2018, I registered for my PhD in Teacher Development Studies with UKZN. I felt that I had reached a point where informal research was not deep enough to help me fully develop my teaching practice. I had never been taught how to teach before, and I felt that I needed to structure my research in order to gain a more scholarly understanding of teaching and learning. Although I am still developing the proposal for my PhD, my topic focuses on the pedagogies of fashion design. I believe that doing this will help me become a better teacher, and ultimately help my students for years to come.
I use the annual Lecturer and Subject quality assurance surveys (LEQs and SEQs) to start a conversation with my students. Each year, when the results of the surveys come back, I make a point of discussing the feedback with them, asking them for suggestions and what they would like to see improved. I have found this very helpful and see it as an opportunity for growth. Students are the best resource we have in understanding how to help them succeed and their feedback is very important. I recall one year, the SEQ indicated that students were finding it hard to know what was important in their submitted work, and as a result they were losing marks for forgetting the details. Essentially, they found it hard to know how I was going to assess them and what was important. In discussion with the class, one student suggested I start with a small exercise and then get students to peer mark under my guidance so that they could see first hand what I looked at when assessing. Then students would complete the main assignment with a better idea of where to focus. I have since implemented this every year and find students' first projects are at a higher standard because I am able to show them what I look for before they lose marks. Every year students provide great ideas on how I can improve my teaching and better help them learn.
During my teaching, I developed a passion for blended learning and technology mediated teaching. I first experimented with using video and a learning management system in 2013, and have continued to learn more with each passing year. I incorporate technology not only in my teaching (see Video examples), but also in my assessment design (see Example 1 - Sleeves project). I have grown in my e-learning capabilities and I am currently involved in a number of projects and teams across the institution. For more detail of my e-learning journey, please see here. I believe that technology has allowed me to become a better teacher and has given me meaningful tools to help my students succeed.