Thinking about Recommendations for my Interim Report

During my swim this morning, I thought quite a lot about what the outcomes of this year's work are, and how they identify actions for next year.

I am very interested in portraiture, particularly in the abstract, and I have reflected on my liking for social learning.  I like the class as a learning medium.  So next year I need to have a run around the London Met module website and see whether there are any art history modules about Portraiture.

I am interested in how value is attributed to women.  While doing the Bibliography for the report, I found one of the women I had paraphrased is actually a Professor!  So maybe I need to read her book properly (more slowly!).  I need to see whether London Met run any pertinent modules in Women's Studies/Feminism/Economics/Demographics.  I like listening to knowledgeable people speak.  I should also attend the Loughborough gender conference.

I am interested in materials and how they convey a  layer of meaning to an outcome.  I do not know how to explore this further.

I have also reflected on the importance of feedback - I have given and received a lot of feedback in my time, but reluctantly admit I often find receiving feedback difficult because I am a bit of an emotional wuss!  So I shared the following ideas with my tutor:

Giving, Receiving and Observing Feedback.

Giver

Criticise the behaviour, not the person  (Not "your work is rubbish"  but "your work appears chaotic because you chose a complicated leaf, and multiplied it, when you aimed to create a simple pattern."
Provide potential solutions   "A simple leaf shape might have been better.  How else could you have simplified?"
Identify the issues, facilitate options for resolution.
Speak 80%, listen 20%.
Use examples from the practical work/verbal contributions "You did ..., which does not support your aim of ..."   "I am not clear how ... leads to your intention to...".
Contribute examples to illustrate your point.  "Try looking at Picasso's work on The Bull to see how to simplify"

Receiver

Listen 80%, speak 20% for clarification/exploration
Switch off the negative voice in your head that goes into denial, argument, etc and stops you listening.
Switch off the positive voice in your head that says "Oh, wow, they like my work ...." and stops you listening.
Keep listening.
Probe for understanding.
Reflect afterwards about how to better achieve your intended outputs.

Observer
Take notes.
Share with receiver afterwards.
Apply observations to your own work.
Observe the rest of the group
Be ready with phrases "I'd like to hear what ... has to say"; 
"hold on, let … finish, I'd like to hear her point"(very useful when quiet speakers get interrupted or shouted down.
"Does (the quiet group member) have anything to contribute"

I have fallen into most of the pits listed above!  I think the thing that make feedback most difficult is when the recipient does not listen (yes, me!) as the giver may stop trying to be helpful!