Studio Mentoring Report Provides Insights

Studio Mentoring
First Year – Alias rendering Second years – VRED rendering Studio mentoring & critiquing
Studio Mentoring
Report
By Luke Johnson
Luke Johnson 13 March 2015 UB: 12007353
Automotive Design Technology – Stage 3 Page 1

Studio Mentoring
Introduction
The mentoring element of the degree course is an important step to developing leadership skills and
to reinforce the importance of imparting knowledge learned to others which will in turn help those
students develop during their time at university and onwards into industry.
There was a blending of teaching methods, tutoring and mentoring within this module and to
separate them requires looking at the definitions. To teach is defined as “to help to learn; tell or
show (how)”, to tutor is defined as “to act as a tutor to (someone); instruct” and to mentor is
defined as “to act as a mentor to (someone); train” (Collins)
When looking at the lesson plans (see appendix) it is clear that the teaching and tutoring elements
were used in the first tasks of the two sessions and mentoring techniques were mainly used is the
second tasks along with the studio sessions.

Studio Mentoring
Lesson 1 – Alias rendering techniques – First year students
Abstract
The lesson was created to develop the first year students’ rendering skills within Alias Automotive
design suite. It was learned that with good planning and pre-empting possible questions, that
lessons can run smoothly but a lot is down to the willingness of the students to learn.
Introduction
As the students had been learning Alias modelling techniques for 11 weeks they had already got to
grips with the layout and basic commands the program has to offer. It was agreed that the tutor
should teach them how to take the models they created to a much more realistic image through
applying material, textures and environments.
Record of experience
Date: Thursday 11th
December 2014
Module Name: Introduction to Solid Modelling
Module Code: EM0161L
Module Tutor: Dr Philip Caton-Rose
Duration: 45 minutes
Outline of the design exercises
It was intended that by the end of the lesson students would be proficient in executing a direct
render in the Alias Automotive design program. The lesson was set out in two tasks. The idea of this
was to engage the students as a group and then allow them to be creative as individuals. Task A was
a 20 minute presentation where the students would sit and watch a live tutorial on the large screen
in the classroom. The tutorial had the following steps:
• Difference between render and diagnostic shade
• The importance of using layers
• Locating the buttons and menus
• Direct render
• Render
• QuickTime VR render
• Backgrounds
• Selecting materials
• How to assign materials
• Customising materials & textures
• Direct render when materials are assigned
• Saving direct renders

Studio Mentoring
As the tutorial took place it was important to keep reaffirming the importance of the steps and
checking that the students were listening.
Task B was where the students then had a go at rendering models that they had created in previous
classes. This was to give the mentor one on one interaction with the students and to see how much
they understood from the previous tutorial session. The idea was that by the end of this 20 minutes
all students would have been spoken to and assisted several times. (See appendix A1)
Discussion
As it was a small group being taught consisting of 4 first year students it was noticeable that one
student was 10 minutes late which delayed the lesson getting underway. If the mentor had started
the session on time the student would have missed the most crucial parts of the tutorial.
As the session got underway the mentor asked a question to immediately engage the students in the
lesson. The question was “do you know what a render is?”
The students did not quite know as the word ‘render’ is one that they had heard in another module
which contained a lesson in marker rendering images. After a couple of the students shook their
heads a brief description was read out. Getting the student involved in the lesson is a known active
learning practice when they are prepared to just sit there as a lesson is taught.
“…students in an active learning environment demonstrate better improvement in conceptual
understanding than traditional lecture hall classes.” (e-Learning Infographics, 2015)
(Falcon, 2015)
The lesson was specifically created so the students would be fully engaged watching and listening for
the crucial parts of the tutorial session which was to last 25 minutes. As shown in the figure above
70% of information that the retained from the tutorial session would go on to help them in their
individual tasks for the last 20 minutes where they would be tasked to create their own direct
renders mainly unaided. The parts that the students could not remember or missed in the tutorial
session could then be reaffirmed in a one to one meeting at their own computer.
The session was supposed to be a Peer-Assisted Learning [PAL] session but as the first year students
had very little contact with the mentor before this lesson it seemed to be more like a traditional

Studio Mentoring
teacher-student setup. As the lesson progressed it seemed that the structure developed into a PAL
session, especially with the one to one help as the first year students could ask questions and have
discussions about how the rendering could help them in other modules outside of this session.
A couple of the students seemed a little embarrassed to use a model that they had already created
in previous lessons. This may have been that they had not completed models they deemed good
enough or that they did not want to show their work to a more experienced student who was the
mentor for the session. The way this issue was resolved was by letting them create something basic
in real time and then letting them render this model. This took more time to get through the task
with these individuals but the outcome was that they had created something they were really
pleased with. This reinforces the need to have the students self-motivated within session.
“Motivation is a key factor in successful learning. A less able student who is highly motivated can
achieve greater success than the more intelligent student who is not well motivate” (Reece and
Walker, 2003, p. 78)
It was clear that there was a split between extrinsic and intrinsic motivation when I came to the
students behaviour. Extrinsic motivation occurs when we are motivated to perform a behaviour or
engage in an activity in order to earn a reward or avoid a punishment and intrinsic motivation occurs
when an individual engages in behaviour or an activity because it is personally rewarding;
essentially, performing an activity for its own sake rather than the desire for some external reward.
(Cherry). The tutorial sessions and tasks were not to be graded or offer a reward if the sessions were
completed well which meant that the lessons suited the intrinsic motivated students rather than the
extrinsic.
The students were very astute and quickly picked up the commands and process of the basic direct
render. This meant that they could develop their skills further by looking into modifying the
materials and adding such elements as emissive parts (glowing objects) which would change the
lighting of the products. An example of what the students achieved can be seen here:

Studio Mentoring
During the one on one meetings between the mentor and the students if was noted that when
students were given positive feedback on the work they were undertaking, it increased their self-
esteem which encourages independence which is an important step on Maslow’s hierarchy of basic
needs as applied in the classroom.
(Maslow's Hierarchy Chart)

Studio Mentoring
“The concepts Maslow put forward are guides to the things that are important to us, after the basic
needs are met it is important to understand the importance of the higher needs for us to ultimately
become more self-fulfilled and reach a transcendent state of being.” (visualbloke)
The university has already given the students comfort, shelter, and feeling of acceptance and now it
is the tutors, lecturers and mentors responsibility to provide them with ways to build on their self-
esteem resulting in self-actualisation. (Reece and Walker, 2003, p. 79 fig 2.9).
How this session helped the students with the design process
The idea of rendering is that you can create a fairly realistic representation of a product that you
have designed digitally. Textures and colours can be modified in real-time to create a desirable
product a lot faster than changing it on a physical model. This is not to take anything away from the
benefits of having hands on experience with physical models as much can be learned by touching
and using the prototypes. The renders are there as an guide to which aesthetics may work better
than others. Digital rendering is therefore like having another weapon in your product design
arsenal.
How this session helped the mentor with the design process
Time planning is extremely important for lesson delivery and this skill is needed when it comes to
the design process. Another benefit of the session was that it developed the mentor’s skills at
motivating others to take an interest in what is going on in the session. This skill is transferable and
can benefit the designer during the design process by gaining peoples interest when discussing the
projects a the more interest they have, the better their feedback and input will be, which in turn
helps the designer create a better product.

Studio Mentoring
Lesson 2 – VRED rendering techniques – Second year students
Abstract
The lesson was created to develop the second year students rendering skills further from the direct
rendering techniques that were taught in their first year within Alias Automotive design suite by
using the external rendering suite VRED. It was learned that even with good planning and pre-
empting possible questions, lessons depend greatly on the attitudes of the students and their
willingness to learn.
Introduction
The objective of this second lesson was to teach the stage two design students to get from a surface
model created in alias (or an exported model from other software) to a photorealistic representation
of the product. The lesson was to be set as two tasks which was similar to the first lesson. One task
was a tutorial and the second would be for the students to create their own modified digital render.
Record of Experience
Date: Tuesday 3rd
March 2015
Module Name: Technology for Styling and Concept Design
Module Code: ENG2082
Module Tutor: Dr Philip Caton-Rose
Duration: 60 minutes
Outline of the Design exercises
Task A was intended to walk through a step by step tutorial for the techniques of rendering in
Autodesk VRed Design 2015. The steps were as follows;
• Opening the program
• Talk through the window layout and toolbars (Locating the buttons and menus)
• Load the Genesis model (See fig A below)
• Reaffirm the importance of using layers when using Alias!

Studio Mentoring
• How to create new material
• Edit materials (Colour, textures, bump etc)
• Backgrounds,
• Rendering, saving rendered images
Task B was to let the students try out the software for themselves. There may have been an issue
with the computers due to the fact that the workstations may not have been able to handle the
software due to a lack of processing power. Either the students would be able to use the university
computers or they would have to use the tutor’s laptop in small groups. (See appendix A2)
Discussion
The start of this session was hampered by the lack of processing power in the computers in Chesham
building. The program was slow to open but this gave the students including the late ones to get
settled before the lesson began.
Further reading into teaching methods led to Edgar Dales’ “Cone of Learning” which breaks down
the types of lessons most students encounter and their effectiveness on what is retained in their
memory two weeks after the lesson:
It is clear that the most effective way to impart knowledge is to have the students learn in an active
way rather than passively. This reaffirms the research mentioned earlier in this report. Having the
students learn by doing the task for themselves was the purpose of the second section of the lesson.
The computers were working well enough so all the students could work on their individual
workstations. This meant that Tasks A and B could be run in tandem. This was a change to the

Studio Mentoring
original lesson plan but with the active learning methods in mind, it was decided that this method
would possibly get better results with the stage two students.
Overall the attitude of the students was fair. However there were a couple of students who paid
little attention to the tutorial session and this showed within the one on one help sessions where
they required more assistance than should have been required if their full attention was on the step
by step tutorial. This may have been that they are motivated extrinsically and as there was not a
graded piece of work or that a reward would be achieved they did not work at the same pace as the
intrinsically motivated students.
When running an active learning session it is important to note that all the students have the same
layout of toolbars on their screens so that they are all working from the same start point and end up
at the same goal. An issue arose where one student had selected certain buttons and the software
changed its layout. This caused a 5 minute delay for the problem to be rectified which took vital time
away from helping other students. This could have led to some of the students to have a drop in
attention and it would be hard to regain motivation, especially for those who are extrinsically
motivated.
It is very difficult to get unwilling students to actively engage in the class or with other students in a
productive manor. One student lay back on their chair and looked vacant and annoyed that they and
to learn something new. This same student then engaged other students on matters unrelated to
the session or the module as a whole. This distracted some students who were working well up until
that point and the tutorial session became quite disrupted and basic steps had to be repeatedly
shown. This again shows extrinsic motivation and if the task was to be run again there would be a
greater emphasis on the rewards gained by completing the tasks correctly during the session.
How this session helped the students with the design process
The tutorial session would be great for the students to take forward and use in other aspects of the
course. Rendering in VRED or other specialist rendering software has a greater focus on
photorealism which is important in understanding colours, tones, textures along with how the
materials look under changing light conditions. Rendering in VRED should not however take away
from the importance of prototyping as this give the designer a physical feel for the product. Learning
to photorealistic render also means that when it comes to selling the ideas and concepts to the
client that you can show the product as it would be manufactured without the cost of having it built
to specification.
How this session helped the mentor with the design process
This mentoring session helped the mentor learn how to remain calm and level headed under
pressure. As parts of the tutorial session were not going to plan the mentor had to find ways around

Studio Mentoring
problems not just with the facilities but with the attentional span of the students. This is where the
“jazz” in teaching is important;
“To say that teaching and teacher education are improvised performances is to suggest that they
involve skills such as flexibility, intuition, spontaneity, and creativity (Miner et al.,
1996; Weick, 1998). Just as improvisation in jazz requires familiarity with certain social norms and
musical customs (Berliner, 1994), effective teaching needs the prior absorption of considerable
knowledge, skills and conventions. As Crossan and Sorrenti (1997, p.165) make clear, ‘good
improvisation relies on the traditional technical skills gained through practice’.
The point here is that teachers, like jazz musicians, react to circumstances on the spur of the
moment, ‘When I start off, I don't know what the punch line is going to be’ (Buster Williams cited in
Berliner 1994, p. 218)”. (Hyland)
There were any moments in the session where improvisation was required; dealing with
unresponsive students, software problems and losing track of the tutorial sessions. This session was
an important step for the mentor to develop not only his teaching skills but his leadership abilities
which will be advantageous within future design projects.

Studio Mentoring
Critiquing & other mentoring – Studio sessions, design in context, critiquing client meetings
It is in the studio sessions where it becomes apparent which students are self-motivated and can
work well alone or as part of a team. The same second year student that showed very little interest
in the VRED tutorial could again be seen laughing and chatting with his cohorts yet there were never
any signs of work being undertaken. It was this same student who when asked to deliver their
presentation by the tutor in the Design in Context module, they declined as they had not produced
one. It is a clear lack of motivation and lack of respect for other students. This presentation was not
a graded piece of work and therefore there is a possibility that some students did not put as much
effort into this part of the course for that reason. This appears to be a lack of intrinsic motivation
with this student.
When critiquing students’ work in a client meeting setting it is crucial that the comments made by
mentors and teaching staff are constructive and not demoralising. Any statements made to the
students need to be well thought out and balanced. Things to avoid are humiliation, shouting,
overreacting, blanket punishment, over punishment and sarcasm (Reece and Walker, 2003, p. 292).
Being sarcastic towards the students can be deemed counterproductive and humiliating them is
hurtful, especially in front of other students and staff and this can lead to demotivation. A good way
to approach the critique is by using positive reinforcement, giving the student opportunity to answer
your criticisms and use humour to build any bridges that may be broken during an honest criticism of
their work.
Something that was noted as present during the client meeting and feedback session by the mentor
was that even when the students do not perform as well as they are capable of, thanking them for
their input is valuable to their self-esteem. Even though this does not put their minds at ease it may
give them acknowledgment of the efforts they put in.
It was clear from the pitches made by the students that some of them had put in a lot of effort into
certain parts of the design process and some of them had done the bare minimum. There was a
miscommunication from some students when it came to the brief for the client meeting and they
used the opportunity to pitch a short business plan. Even though the feedback had to be negative
regarding the marking criteria, these students were told that their ideas for a business were actually
quite good. This left the students with a sense of optimism moving forward with the design process
whereas if the tutors gave only negative feedback these students may have become demotivated.
Some students started the client meetings in an extremely negative way by frowning at their own
work and almost dismissing the design sketches before the tutors had a chance to look at them. This
affects the way the tutors, who are marking and giving feedback, approach the meeting. This may
have been down to students not being confident in a certain aspect of their design process such as a
lack of drawing skills or bad preparation for the meeting itself or it might be about a lack of
confidence when standing in front of people to present themselves and their work.

Studio Mentoring
Conclusions
In conclusion, teaching is not just about standing in front of class and talking. It should be very
inclusive and if you get it right you can motivate the students and make them develop skills that will
aid them in becoming better designers.
Planning is one of the most important aspects when it comes to teaching a lesson. Without a plan it
is difficult to predict the pace of the lesson and possible questions and queries that the students may
have. It is also important to plan what the learning outcomes should be. Without setting learning
outcomes (see appendices A1 & A2) it is quite possible to become lost within an unstructured lesson
and focus on something quite trivial.
Seeing how a student works as an individual and then as part of a group is very interesting. It was
clear that group dynamics can hinder students who when working alone can produce great work but
as soon as they are sitting with peers they get easily distracted and side-tracked by other issues.
As the first years are a small group with only four students it could be said it is easier for them to be
heard when discussing group projects whereas with the larger second year group there are several
friendship groups and discussions which take place within them meaning they do not get the whole
year group to discuss as a whole.
An important step in understanding if students have absorbed a lesson, taken on ideas and
understood feedback they are given is by giving feedback. This could be verbal, where the mentor or
tutor asks the students to say what they have learned or the students could be set a piece of
assessed work to be assessed based on the lessons objectives or seeing if the students use the
techniques learned in the tutorial in other parts of the design process. A questionnaire or survey is
another option for feedback but this can be time consuming if it is a lesson by lesson survey. The
selection assessment for the two tutorial sessions was visual, by walking around the room during the
second task of both lessons it was clear what the students had learned, and when there was a gap in
knowledge it was quickly re-established by one to one guidance.
“The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The
great teacher inspires.” (William Arthur Ward)

Studio Mentoring
Bibliography
Cherry, Kendra. 'Extrinsic Vs. Intrinsic Motivation: What's The Difference?'. About.com Education.
N.p., 2015. Web. 22 Apr. 2015.
Collins English Dictionary 2015. Web. 22 Apr. 2015.
Dale, Edgar. The Cone Of Learning. 1969. Web. 13 Mar. 2015.
Falcon,. Section Of Active Learning Inforgraphic. 2015. Web. 13 Mar. 2015.
Hyland, Terry. 'Theory, Practice And Performance In Teaching: Professionalism, Intuition And Jazz'.
(2002): n. pag. Web. 22 Apr. 2015.
Maslow's Hierarchy Chart. 2015. Web. 22 Apr. 2015.
Plotnik, Rod, and Haig Kouyoumjian. Introduction To Psychology. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Cengage
Learning, 2011. Print.
Reece, Ian, Stephen Walker, and Caroline Walker-Gleaves. Teaching, Training And Learning.
Sunderland: Business Education, 2003. Print.
visualbloke,. 'Maslow's Hierarchy Of Needs'. N.p., 2012. Web. 22 Apr. 2015.
Ward W.A. (Date unknown) Quotation by William Arthur Ward, Available at:
http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/teaching, Accessed: 21 April 2015

Studio Mentoring
Appendix
A1 Session 1 - Introduction to Solid Modelling - Lesson plan
A2 Session 2 - Technology for Styling and Concept Design – Lesson plan
A3 Notes made in critique session (with names removed)

STUDIO MENTORING ENG 3121L 20 Credits Stage 3
Software Rendering - Stage One Design Students
Render (computer graphics):
“Refers to the process of adding realism to a computer graphics by adding three-dimensional qualities such as
shadows and variations in color and shade.”
Proposal:
I propose to take a 45 minute class to show the students how to digital render 3D cad files and they
will go on to produce their own.
a) The first technique will be the internal rendering formats you find in Autodesk Alias
Automotive. The students and I will load the spray bottle file and we will work through the
following step by step together;
• Difference between render and diagnostic shade
• The importance of using layers
• Locating the buttons and menus
• Direct render
• Render
• QuickTime VR render
• Backgrounds
• Customising materials & textures
• Direct render when materials are assigned
• Saving direct renders
(Duration 25 minutes)
b) I will then set the students a task which will be;
“During the first semester you have created quite a few alias files yourselves. Pick your favourite
model and customise it and produce a render. Be as imaginative as you want”
During this task I will be able to see the individual students working and assist when required. This
will give me a good understanding of the student’s abilities.
Luke Johnson - 12007353 – Rendering Software – Week 13

Learning outcomes:
Task a) will teach the students the method for generating internal renders in Alias.
Task b) will teach the students how to put the tutorial session into practice on their own models.
I believe that the students will leave having the ability to create various types of renders within the
University software (Alias Automotive).
This lesson should give the students the abilities to produce creative digital renders that they will
then include in their other modules such as their Studio projects.
If they leave the lesson understanding the importance of good digital renderings for their
presentations and client meetings then I have achieved my main goal.
I will know if my tutorials were successful by form of a visual check on the students output.
Luke Johnson - 12007353 – Rendering Software – Week 13

Software Rendering - Stage Two Design Students
Render (computer graphics):
“Refers to the process of adding realism to a computer graphics by adding three-dimensional qualities such as
shadows and variations in color and shade.”
Proposal:
I propose to take a one hour class to show the second year students how to digital render 3D cad
files and they will go on to produce their own.
a) The technique will be the external (standalone) rendering formats you find in Autodesk
VRED Design 2015. The students will watch a presentation / tutorial by myself where I will;
• Open the program
• Talk through the window layout and toolbars (Locating the buttons and menus)
• Load the Genesis model (See fig A below)
• Reaffirm the importance of using layers when using Alias!
• How to create new material
• Edit materials (Colour, textures, bump etc)
• Backgrounds,
• Rendering, saving rendered images
b) I will then let the students try out the software for themselves.
If the class can be taught in a computer room with VRed ready PCs then they can all take
part in this section but if we are in their usual computer room in Chesham then groups of
two or three can come up and give it a go.
Luke Johnson - 12007353 – Rendering Software – Semester 2, Week 7

Learning outcomes:
Task a) will teach the students the method for generating external, high quality renders in Autodesk
VRED Design 2015.
Task b) will teach the students how to put what they watched in section A into practice.
I believe that the students will leave having the ability to create stunningly realistic renders within
the software (VRED).
This lesson should give the students the abilities to produce creative digital renders that they will
then include in their other modules such as their Studio projects.
If they leave the lesson understanding the importance of good digital renderings for their
presentations and client meetings then I have achieved my main goal.
I will know if my tutorial was successful by seeing the output of the students during the session.
Luke Johnson - 12007353 – Rendering Software – Semester 2, Week 7

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