I have had a contradictory first term of year 3. On one hand, I have benefitted from working from home – I save 2 hours a day commute, I haven’t really made any connections with other students on the course so I don’t feel I have missed out on much in the way of connecting with my peers. The work I have been focussing on doesn’t require access to workshops – I have far more equipment and materials here than there are there. Ingrid especially has made Teams tutorials and seminars fun and interesting and I don’t feel the teaching from any of the tutors has been negatively impacted by being online. It has been well organised and everyone has been included and participating, I love the ability to raise a virtual hand to ask questions as I often don’t feel comfortable interrupting. I think my motivation is just as high at home as it would have been had this been a ‘normal’ year.
On the other hand, I have missed the creative input of seeing what everyone else is doing – not necessarily just in Maker but across the whole of CSAD. It’s hard to see what the rest of the group are doing via video – much easier when wandering around the studio spaces. I would also probably have made more of an effort to arrange an induction on the knitting machines and spent more time working with clay had I felt comfortable being on campus – I know the safety measures are in place, but with Dad being so vulnerable it was a risk I was not prepared to take. I do intend to persevere with ceramics in my own time after uni – I enjoyed playing with clay far too much to let it go, so the group seminars were a joy and I learned so much that I will take forward.
I feel that there have been a lot of opportunities that I haven’t been able to take full advantage of due to my current situation and time restraints – work, parents, medication issues, which is frustrating. I would have loved to attend more of the online events that we were notified of, but time hasn’t allowed. I do think all the tutors have done a wonderful job of bringing these opportunities to our attention.
Overall I feel confident that I know what I am going to do, how I am going to do it and can’t wait to get stuck in once my dissertation is finished!
clairemaloney 