What are they?
Kira Salter, Stage 3 Leader for BA Graphic Communication Design at CSM, knew that final year students are missing their social and collaborative conversations around the white tables in the course’s open studio. Acting quickly to replicate this space and maintain a sense of community, Kira designed the white table crits. These are weekly independent crits (without tutors) for small groups of 3-5 students to maintain their communities of practice and discuss their work and any uncertainties they have.
How do they work?
Students arrange their own white table crits on Teams, equipped with clear guidance (with screenshots!) from Kira on setting up, points for discussion and methods for documentation. After the white table crit, each student completes a form (set up on Microsoft Forms) to send an update to their tutor, who monitors and supports their progress.
What difference does it make?
The GCD team recognised the importance of the course community and studio culture and have used the White Table crits to complement the more formal online tutorials and crits that are taking place. The white table crits are an attempt to maintain a sense of connectedness, belonging and the collaborative approach to learning that generally takes place in their studios – where students can just hang out, ask questions and work together in a less pressured atmosphere.
Kira notes that these crits are helping to alleviate stress for students, as they stay connected, work together and support each other through these challenging times.
What can we learn from this?
Kira’s thoughtful intervention in Graphic Communication Design shows us just how effective a simple, student-centred space can be in supporting students’ wellbeing. Using one of our existing platforms (Microsoft Teams), Kira has encouraged students to spend more time together and strengthen their sense of belonging to a community of practice. As we navigate the surprises and challenges of teaching and learning online, interventions like this remind us how important peer learning and support are to our CSM community.
In Practice is a blog series dedicated to innovative learning and teaching practices happening at Central Saint Martins.
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