1st - 3rd year crit week

Yesterday was the second pitch and crit meeting with the 1st - 3rd years and the last before January submissions...

- Moderating the group seemed to come easier as everyone was familiar with the format from last time and knew what to expect.
- The presentations from the students varied in length but they were all around 10-15mins of showing powerpoints, blogs and sketchbooks, which allowed time for questions and feedback. As there was one group member missing, it meant a bit more time could be spent on each individual if needed so there was no pressure to hurry along and everyone had a fair amount of time to discuss ideas.
- It was a bit easier to provide critical feedback this time as ideas had moved from the conceptual stage into practical work and it was easier to spot where problems may arise.
- Some of the advice I gave aimed at getting the students to focus on the brief and not get too distracted by creating something too elaborate that would take away from the intended learning outcomes, for example, adding to many characters or backgrounds to a brief that would only be marked on simple animation skills. I also gave advice about the 3rd year group projects and matching art styles to the clients, using my experience from last year as an example. There were a couple of project ideas that I recognised were similar to some of the fourth years' aims and recommended some presentations the students may be interested in going along to.
- I think I gave more useful advice this time round and tried to cover all modules for each student. There seemed to be more group interaction this time too, possibly since everyone has become more familiar with each other and their projects so there was more feedback and advice given from other group members which was good to see. There were one or two members who didn't interact as much, I feel this is possibly because they feel less experienced and like they don't have as much to contribute, but maybe if I actively try to bring them into the discussion next time by asking for their opinions specifically then they may gain a bit more from these sessions.

It's obvious that everyone has been working hard since pitch week and I think everyone will do well based on what I've seen and they all seem on track for submissions.