module specification

The purpose of this module is to permit intellectual and practical development at Level 6, of the skills, tools and methods of a professional-standard music technologist in order to help in the realization of the Final project in its parallel Atelier/Studio module. Working independently, under supervisory guidance, students are encouraged to experiment, thus making them to think critically about different aspects of music technology and its relationship with their specific path in the field.

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 gath-ered during the course at levels 4 and 5. This knowledge will be used to inform choices and decisions, quality and mode of presentation.

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 eventually realize major studio projects in their field of specialism within Music Technology, as an appropriate summation of their degree studies.
• Facilitate Level 6 achievement, thus equipping future-graduates for professional work in their chosen field within Music Technology 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 to 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 understand-ing of critical, commercial, technical and creative processes and knowledge in parallel to the major Atelier/Studio Final Project in their route of specialism within Music Technology.

The syllabus will depend on the student’s specific specialism within the field of Music Technology and may include:

• Film Music
• Sound Design, including Foley, sound effects (FX) and speech synchronization
• Audio Post-production
• Audio programming
• Emerging technologies
• Musical Instrument maintenance and repair; restoration and conservation

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 may 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 students in a direction of their choice, within the frame or their specialism in the field of Music Technology. 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 Atelier/Studio modules at each level 4, 5, and 6 are part of an integrated approach to learning and can be seen as a pair. At level 6, this common module pairs with the specific Final Project of each of the courses in Music Technology at the Faculty in order to consolidate the knowledge and skills related to each specialism, such as sound design, audio electronics and live/studio sound production and instrument making.

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

1. The skills and understanding needed to plan, research & develop, and realize work of a graduate standard in the correspondent parallel major Final Project module within the field of Music Technology, 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 achieve work that is critically, technically and creatively challenging.

The strategy is to increase the power and effectiveness of assessment by simplifying and reducing the
number 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.

Regular formative assessment will be used to provide diagnostic feedback and to support students to learn, change and improve.

The assessment load complies with the Faculty’s assessment tariff.
Assessment will be based on 100% coursework, which includes both the practical outcome and a
report/workbook of ca. 5000 words (the latter including proposal, plan of works, project brief, description and analysis of project development in the form of a reflexive chronicle).

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

• Appropriate use of research methods
• Quality of analysis and interpretation
• Subject knowledge and relevance
• Quality of communication and presentation
• Appropriate use of problem solving, testing and experimentation
• Management of own learning and personal professional development.

The projects undertaken being varied in nature, no one bibliography can be assembled for this module; su-pervising tutors will recommend books, journals and other sources as appropriate.