module specification

FA6P01 Major Project marks the summation of the programme of studies in four undergraduate courses. The project comprises a major piece of independent study, produced under supervision and guidance. The purpose of the major project is to demonstrate the application and integration of the skills and knowledge gained throughout the course. 

The module requires the student to frame appropriate questions for their project, followed by a period of research and development, culminating in the submission of a final body of work using ideas, techniques and processes at the forefront of art or photography, determined by the scope and character of the initial aims and objectives of the project.  The module will be supported by a series of project planning workshops. On this basis, the module will require the student to frame the project in contemporary terms and be able to justify in a presentation the methods employed in its execution, including the conceptual and practical aims of the project and its intended audience or reception.

The FA6P01 Major Project module is shared by, serves and sustains the Honours awards in the BA Fine Art, BA Fashion Photography, BA Painting and BA Photography courses and is delivered in a seamless and integral relationship with the work of other core modules in the level. Students are expected to reflect upon and present the complexity of critical and creative relationships between and across the body of work undertaken in Level 6, including in the Critical and Contextual Studies dissertation.

The module aims to allow students to show they have acquired coherent and detailed knowledge at the forefront of fine art or photography, able to deploy critical thinking with accuracy by developing and sharing the context for their project, and able to write a substantial statement about their project in clear terms that a non-specialist audience will understand.

By planning and communicating to peers the framing of appropriate questions, method of enquiry and context for their project in advance, one of this module’s objectives is to enable students to have the solid background and clear information to make decisions about and solve for themselves complex and unpredictable problems encountered in a project they have initiated and executed themselves.

The module also aims to enable students to demonstrate skills in public reflection on and evaluation of their reasons for coming to university, their professional development over their time before university, during their time in Higher Education and what they envisage for their career after they leave university, all via a presentation to a specialist audience - their peers. The module aims to allow students to show how they can manage project time professionally, and so give themselves plenty of time to evaluate, edit and finesse their project as a result.

Completion and pass (120 credits) of previous level.

At the beginning of the module, its aims, key concepts and milestones will be outlined to all students. There will then be sessions on framing appropriate questions for their art or photographic project work by a presentation (LO1).

In other sessions students will set out in an unprompted plan of their own making the timings, stages and targets of their project development, in which account will be made of their life/work/study balance, timed to finish well before deadline, to allow edit and revision (LO4).

Sessions will be dedicated by tutorial and guided independent study to the completion of a presentation regarding their professional development, with a view to the future after graduation (LO3).

Further sessions and guided independent study will be used to encourage dialogue over project development with both a specialist audience of peers and staff and a non-specialist one - the wider public outside the art school. To the latter end, tuition time will be spent enabling the student to write a substantial statement about their project and practice in clear terms that a non-specialist audience will understand (LO2).

Scheduled teaching ensures that independent study is effective and addresses the learning outcomes and assessment tasks. Students are expected to (and to have the opportunity to) continue with their studies outside of scheduled classes. There will be a range of learning strategies deployed and individual learning styles will be accommodated. The module’s learning outcomes, its contents and delivery, have been scrutinised and will be regularly reviewed to ensure an inclusive approach to pedagogic practice.

The module and course use the University’s blended learning platform to support and reinforce learning, to foster peer-to-peer communication and to facilitate tutorial support for students. Reflective learning is promoted through assessment items and interim formative feedback points that ask students to reflect on their progress, seek help where they identify the opportunity for improvement in learning strategies and outcomes, and make recommendations to themselves for future development. Throughout the module, students build a body of work, including reflections on progress and achievement.

The School’s programme of employability events and embedded work-related learning within the curriculum supports students’ personal development planning. Through these initiatives, students are increasingly able, as they progress from year to year, to understand the professional environment of their disciplines, the various opportunities available to them, and how to shape their learning according to their ambitions.

On completing the module, the student should be able to:

1. solve problems in an art or photographic practice by framing appropriate questions, using ideas, techniques and processes at the forefront of fine art or photography;
2. consider the needs of the wider public in a statement to accompany a finished project;
3. explain their position in art or photography, their strengths and interests and how they can continue to develop their professional capacity;
4. complete a major art or photographic project ahead of deadline to allow time for evaluation, finesse and revision.

The module is assessed first by a plan of study outlining the year's work on major project and then by the appropriate questions that will frame the student's project work. Assessment will in the autumn term be by one oral presentation of proposed project work, explaining questions to be framed by major project and illustrated by slides. Towards the end of the year the student gives an assessed 10-minute presentation on their professional development to peers. Finally the student writes a statement about realisation of their major project and practice to be used in display or publication. The student also submits all coursework in digital files on Weblearn by summative assessment deadline.

The assessment strategy includes formative assessments throughout the Level, with tutorial feedback designed to encourage and help students to develop and improve their work. These will inform the student of their progress through the course. An interim review offers a specific opportunity to reflect on the work in relation to the module’s learning outcomes and this together with finished project work and supporting material will inform the assessment panel at the summative assessment at the end of the Level.

Students will evaluate their own learning on the module using the criteria given and write a short critical appraisal (summary statement) of their work. This will provide the basis for discussion at the assessment feedback session after the formal coursework assessment has taken place.

Summative assessment takes place at the end of the module. Written feedback addresses the strengths and weaknesses of individual presentations in relation to the grading criteria.

Work will be assessed against the learning outcomes in relation to the following criteria:

• Appropriate use of research methods and enquiry
• Quality of analysis and interpretation
• Knowledge of and relevance to Photography or Fine Art
• Quality of communication and presentation
• Appropriate use of problem solving, testing and experimentation
• Management of own learning and personal professional development

Core Textbooks:
Buchmann, S., Laferm, I. and Ruhm, C. (eds) (2016) Putting Rehearsals to the Test, Practices of Rehearsal in Fine Arts, Film, Theater, Theory, and Politics, Frankfurt: Sternberg Press
Groys, B. (2016) Particular Cases, Frankfurt: Sternberg Press
Huppauf, B. and Wulfm, C. (eds) (2009), Dynamics and Performativity of Imagination: The Image between the Visible and the Invisible, Abingdon: Routledge

Additional Textbooks:
Behnke, C., Kastelan, C., Knoll, V. and Wuggenig, U. (eds.) (2016), Art in the Periphery of the Center, Frankfurt: Sternberg Press
Dworkin, C. (2010) No Medium, New York: MIT Press
Flusser, V. (2017) Art Forum Essays, Metaflux: Berlin

Journals:
Afterall, London: UAL

Websites:
http://www.e-flux.com/journal/