module specification

The purpose of this module is to permit intellectual and practical development, to a graduate level, of the skills, tools and methods of a professional-standard animator, filmmaker or music technologist in order to undertake and realise a major studio project in the parallel module MD6002 Major Studio Project. Working independently, under supervisory guidance, students will be encouraged to experiment, and question taken-for-granted ways of seeing and making and to think critically about the audience.

At the end of this module and in parallel with the conception, planning, production and realisation of the Major Studio Project, the student will have completed a workbook/portfolio that contains a project proposal and plan of works and critical narrative account of the working practices they have engaged with. In this, as befitting honours level, students are also expected to document their research practice in a self-reflexive manner.  The workbook/portfolio is intended to be a window on the process of making work and will also document the student’s practice.

Central to the module is a deep understanding of the student’s creative and critical practice in relation to future employment, self-employment and other cultural contexts. Knowledge of these contexts will be
gathered during the course at levels 4 and 5. This knowledge will be used to inform choices and decisions, quality and mode of presentation.

This module is taught along side and cumulatively, in permeable relationship with MD6002 Major Studio
Project.

Pass & Completion of Prior Level

The module aims are to:
• Permit Level 6 students opportunity and capacity, under supervisory guidance, to consolidate the critical and practical knowledge and understanding needed to adequately conceive, plan and even-tually realize a major studio project, as an appropriate summation of their degree studies.
• Facilitate Level 6 achievement, thus equipping future-graduates for professional work in their
chosen field and with the attributes of independence needed to effectively analyse and
communicate the relevance of their work in context.
• Enable students with the accumulated skills and knowledge to conceive, research and develop, and produce project work of an appropriate professional format and quality.
• Further extend students’ ability present project proposals and reflexive commentary to an advanced, graduate-level of understanding, demonstrating knowledge of relevant academic and
professional contexts.
• Develop students’ abilities to a graduate-level, permitting to mature integration and understanding of critical, commercial, technical and creative processes and knowledge, and to realise these in a summative Major Studio Project.

The syllabus will depend on the student’s field of study and specific project, in consultation with the project supervisor.

Students work independently with guidance from the module teaching team. The coursework assignment is designed to enhance learning by offering a process model with clear and specified phases.
Phases might include, project proposal, project brief and plan of works, pre-production, experimentation and testing, development, solution and evaluation, written-up in the form of a self-reflexive chronicle.
The project brief will be written to stretch the student in a direction of his or her choice. The student will also use their research into their vocational field to inform the nature of the project and the form it takes.
The module is delivered though a series of seminars, subject supervision and individual tutorials.  At each stage of the project the student is expected to establish agreed aims and objectives, to manage their own time, be aware of the resource and other costs necessary to complete the project and be aware of ethical issues that may arise. These reviews will be used to monitor the scope and ambition of the project.
Progress will be reviewed in a mid-project presentation. The Project brief will (i) specify practical work necessary to complete the aims of the project, (ii) identify approaches and materials used, (iii) contain a rationale and critique of the production, including analysis of problems encountered and solutions implemented. 
Students have regular progress meetings with their tutors where they are offered guidance and feedback on the development of their work.
The two project modules at each level are part of an integrated approach to learning and can be seen as a pair. In this module the main assessment item is the major project. In the other module (Major Studio Pro-ject), taken at the same time, the main assessment item is the workbook/portfolio. Thus, the two modules support and inform each other: product and process.

On completion of this module, students should be able to demonstrate:

1. The skills and understanding needed to plan, research & develop, and realise work of a graduate standard in the parallel Major Studio Project module, thus producing work of a professional quality, relevant to their vocation.
2. The ability and insight to be able to describe their work to a high standard. For example, so that they could apply for funding or continue to postgraduate research.
3. The skills, knowledge and insight to make work that is critically, technically and creatively  challenging.

On completion of this module, and the course, the student should be able to look back at their work with pride and should be able to successfully compete with other graduates from similar courses.

The strategy is to increase the power and effectiveness of assessment by simplifying and reducing the num-ber of assessment items. Then, each assessment item is broken into stages so that regular formative and developmental feedback can be given.
Another advantage of a portfolio approach to assessment is that tracking is clear and simple and so we can ensure that all learning outcomes are assessed.
The portfolio will consist of a maximum of four prescribed pieces of work each with specified assessment criteria relating to the module's learning outcomes (section 12), these may be written work (essays, reports), practical exercises, or presentations, as determined by the requirements of the studio / subject discipline in which the module is being taught.
Regular formative assessment will be used to provide diagnostic feedback and to support students to learn, change and improve.
The assessment in different modules will be coordinated and integrated, so that learning outcomes for each module are assessed separately and, also, learning from one module is transferred to other modules.
The assessment load complies with the Faculty’s assessment tariff.
Assessment will be based on 100% coursework.

As determined by scope and character of the project.