Grace Horne Researcher / Knifemaker
Jeff Durber Expert Knifemaker / Lecturer in Metalwork & Jewellery
Julia Keyte Lecturer in Metalwork & Jewellery
Nicola Wood Researcher / Multimedia Designer
Chris Rust Principal Investigator
Preliminary meeting: The team looked at some of the learner's knives and decided that, with the group having very different aspirations and experience, it was neither possible nor desirable desirable to judge one against another. To enable each to be evaluated on their own merit, a brief questionnaire was sent around the group to gather information about the background of each learner, how they felt about the knife they had made, and what they thought of their learning process.
Main evaluation meeting: A pack was assembled for each learner with their knife, images of the development work they had submitted to the learning resource wiki, their feedback from the questionnaire and images of any previous knives they had made. In addition Grace Horne and Jeff Durber brought examples of their own knives and we had a range of commercially-available folding knives; some traditional Sheffield knives, Laguoile knives from France, and Spyderco knives from USA. This material was considered by the team to evaluate what each learner was capable of and what each had achieved.
The two knifemakers drew comparisons with their own learning experiences; in particular Grace had brought along the first folding knives she had ever made. These had been made without any instruction at all and she had been unable to make the mechanism work, the factor that had brought her to Sheffield to work with the traditional craft practitioners in the first place. Jeff had learned through trial and error, spending many hours taking knives apart, making minor adjustments and putting them back together. In addition the two lecturers in Metalwork & Jewellery drew comparisons to what they would expect of a group of undergraduate students at an early stage of their learning.
As a result of this process the team felt confident in asserting the level of achievement for each learner, a summary of which is provided in the next section.
