IDEC 2022 Virtual Annual Conference
Reconnect + Recalibrate March 1-4 ▪
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Scholarship Category: Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Content Area: Pedagogy
Betty R. Torrell
The CritBurger
A Method of Peer-to-Peer Assessment in a Design Drawing Course In the book, “The Crit,” the authors Rosie Parnell & Rachel Sara, refer to the crit as “too often a thing to survive rather than an event to learn from,” and continue that, “it can be developed as a celebratory and empowering experience.” Although speaking largely of the crit as an important element of the traditional architectural education, their take on the crit and its purpose is valid for interior design education as well.
What Turns Experience Into Learning? The Critburger turns the crit into a form of reflection. In research from Boud, Keogh, and Walker (1985)... “It is important to draw upon learners’ prior experience and to provide opportunities for them to be actively engaged in what they are learning…That experience alone is not the key to learning”…”reflection is a vital element in any form of learning and can take the form of number of activities,” including “to share other peoples’ ideas on an experience.”
What’s a CritBurger?
• The present form of the Critburger as an online breakout session was developed in Spring 2020 as a response to the need to create virtual peer-to-peer studentdriven discussion and engagement in a studio-based courses when classes moved online in response to COVID protocols. The CritBurger was added to a range of multimodal activities including visual, auditory, reading and writing and kinesthetic (VARK) activities and replaced the traditional pin-up sessions.
• As a type of reflection, small groups of students, usually four to five, present their current design drawing exercises to each other in breakout groups online to discuss and assess each other’s work. • In the online breakout groups students present their work to their peers for discussion using the targeted prompts. Then each student selects one other student’s work in the group and uses the Critburger template to document their own comments on that student’s work and submits their comments online using the Critburger Template for grading.
Why a Critburger? The Critburger provides a structure to support the students in class discussions. • In the pre-COVID on-campus class the students’ design drawings were pined up on the wall for peer-to-peer discussions. • Immediately before the class discussion each student would review the adjacent pined-up drawing, either to the right or left on the wall and note their responses to the targeted prompts on a 3”X5” note card. • Each student would then develop their pin-up comments from their notecard to start the class discussion on the drawing they had reviewed and thereby sparking comments from others. • After student discussion I would then fill in with additional comments. • When classes moved to an online synchronous modality due to the Washington State Coronavirus Response (COVID-19) protocols, the inclass pin-ups moved to breakout sessions in Canvas with breakout groups of 4-5 students reviewing each others work with the same targeted prompts and turning in their discussion comments in the form of a digital template.
Why Hamburger Prompts? “It’s called a hamburger method, and here’s how it works: • When offering a critique, you begin with a constructive compliment on something the person does well. (Otherwise known as the fluffy bun part). • You then get to the meat of the matter, which of course is the constructive criticism part. • Finally, you end with another constructive compliment (i.e., the other half of the fluffy bun). • Basically, you’re sandwiching the constructive criticism between two constructive compliments. • In my experience, it’s been an extremely effective technique, largely due to it’s disarming effective. • It helps people let down their guard and receive the criticism without being as defensive.” (Just, n.d.) The structure provided by the Critburger based on the Hamburger model consisted of:
The special sauce consisted of recognizing one thing that may not have been specifically required in the assignment but enhanced or improved the work in some way.
What Was the Class Outcome? • The Critburger was developed for a Design Drawing class exploring the fundamentals of drawing techniques that visually communicate abstract and representational design ideas. • The course focuses on rapid visualization of ideas using chromatic and achromatic illustration media, and Introduces a combination of traditional tools, techniques, and illustration principles for visualizing the built environment. • The Critburger exercise was developed largely as a general response to one of the course outcomes:
“Develop students’ ability to constructively and objectively critique design drawings as an iterative method of continuous quality improvement.”
What are the Specific Exercise Goals?
Sequence of Assignments:
When Was the Critburger Used? Design Drawing Assigned
Due One Week Later
Individual Student Work
Critburger Assigned for the Design Drawing Due One Week Later
Group Breakout Session
Critburger Assignment Due
What Makes a Critburger Exercise?
Design Drawing Student Examples Critburger Break-Out Session 3 – Assignment Reviewed: Studio Exercise 3 “Finding a Drawing Mentor”
Critburger Break-Out Session 4 – Assignment Reviewed: Studio Exercise 4 “Mind Mapping Information”
Critburger Break-Out Session 5 – Assignment Reviewed: Studio Exercise 5 ”Bubble Diagramming a Space”
Student Reflection Comments Students completed Reflections as a Wrap-Up Exercise at the end of each Quarter. Along with other questions such as workload, etc., students were asked to reflect on the quarter including feedback to value the types of multimodal exercises in the class (Studio Exercises, Journal Exercises, Guest Speakers, Videos, Readings and/or CritBurgers) from two different perspectives. Student preferences varied considerably, often picked more than one activity, and students often commented that the range of multimodal exercises included in the class was important to their learning.
The student comment below indicate why the students felt the CritBurgers specifically were a valued activity toward learning the Course Objectives. 1. Which Course Objectives did you successfully accomplish, and which class activity supported your development (Studio Exercises, Journal Exercises, Guest Speakers, Videos, Readings and/or CritBurgers)?
However, the CritBurger showed up more often as the class activity that they enjoyed the most. 3. Which class activity did you enjoy the most and why?
Student Reflection Comments 3. Which class activity did you enjoy the most and why?
The CritBurger also showed up in other comments.. 4. What advice would you have for other students taking this class?
4
What Are the Take-Aways? What were the Unexpected Outcomes? In research from Boud, Keogh, and Walker (1985) ...
“…reflection, as we understand it is an active process of exploration and discovery which often leads to very unexpected outcomes.” • Although the online form of the Critburger was developed with the same goals of the original in-class Critburger, the students’ comments in their reflections from the online classes indicate that these goals may not be the most important outcome of the exercise in a virtual classroom.
• Instead, the students came to value the exercise increasingly as a way to connect and engage with their fellow students when in an online classroom setting, especially in a fundamental studio-based class where students have not yet formed a community.
What are the Lessons Moving Forward? According to new research…
(Fathallah, 2021),
• “Although teamwork is essential in design, interior design education can be competitive and individualistic. • The role of design educators is to structure projects seeking to promote inclusive group dynamics and democratic participation among team members. • Navigating the challenges of group work should not rest solely on the shoulders of students.
• Repeated group work in educational settings does not suffice, on its own, for fostering constructive team dynamics or for preparing students to successfully manage conflict, which, if it remains positive, can yield more creative design outcomes.”
Moving Forward with CIDA Although not an interdisciplinary team, The Critburger can begin to start the process of students learning to work effectively in teams in a Fundamentals Studio. (Council for Interior Design Accreditation (CIDA) Professional Standards, n.d.) Standard 5. Collaboration -- Interior designers collaborate and participate in interdisciplinary teams. Intent: This standard ensures graduates are able to work in teams and recognize the value of integrated design practices. Graduates are prepared to maximize their effectiveness in leadership roles or as contributing team members.
Specifically addressing: “c. technology-based collaboration methods specific to the problemsolving process for the built environment disciplines.” CIDA Professional Standards 2022, Standard 5. Collaboration. Student Learning Expectations)
But as Rim Fathallah reminds us, team exercises also need to address inclusive group dynamics and democratic participation among team members as outlined in: “d. the dynamics of team collaboration and the distribution and structure of team responsibilities. (CIDA Professional Standards 2022, Standard 5. Collaboration, Student Learning Expectations)
Moving Forward with PBL (Problem Based Learning)
• Team Formation and • Team Collaboration
Through:
Including:
As Miranda Kato instructs in the Bellevue College RISE Institute Workshop, “PBL in an Asynchronous Online Environment,” the incorporation the following factors support the formation of successful online team assignments: (Kato, 2021) • Team Ground Rules, • Team Asset Inventory and • Peer/Self Evaluations
Conclusion Breakout sessions using targeted prompts in a reflection, as an integral component of a range of multimodal activities, can fulfill the specific goals of the course and the specific goals of the exercise, but moreover can also begin to provide online classroom experiences in student engagement, team formation and collaboration.
References Boud, D., Keogh, R., & Walker, D. (1985). Reflection: Turning Experience into Learning (1st ed.). London, United Kingdom: Routledge. Dunn, E. W. A. M. C. S. (2020, September 15). How to turn the high school “hamburger” essay into a university-level. Retrieved September 19, 2021, from https://uwaterloo.ca/writing-and-communication-centre/blog/post/how-turn-high-school-hamburger-essay-university-level-paper Fathallah, R. (2021). Pedagogies for Democratic Participation in Design Studios: Towards More Inclusive Group Work among Interior Design Students. International Journal of Art & Design Education, 40(4), 736–747. https://doi.org/10.1111/jade.12385 Hadjiyanni, T. (2013). Rethinking Culture in Interior Design Pedagogy: The Potential Beyond CIDA Standard 2g. Journal of Interior Design, 38(3), v–xii. https://doi.org/10.1111/joid.12013 Jo, T. (2013, October 7). Hamburger Model of Writing [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kwvUW8Uimo Just, N. (n.d.). The Hamburger method of constructive criticism. Retrieved February 18, 2022, from http://n8tip.com/wp-content/uploads/QT11.mp3 Kato, M. (n.d.). PBL in an Asynchronous Online Environment. Retrieved October 20, 2021, from https://bc.instructure.com/courses/2015534 Tacoma Community College Nursing Program. (2021, August). Tacoma Community College Library: Nursing program: Research skills: The hamburger technique of writing. Retrieved September 19, 2021, from https://tacomacc.libguides.com/c.php?g=373176&p=2523552 The Council for Interior Design Accreditation (CIDA). (n.d.). Professional Standards. Retrieved February 18, 2022, from https://www.accredit-id.org/professional-standards
The End