UDCWENFY - BA (Hons) Creative Writing and English Literature (including foundation year)

About the course, its strategy towards teaching and learning and towards blended learning/e-learning

The foundation year of the four-year Creative Writing and English Literature degree helps prepare students with non-traditional qualifications, lower UCAS points and mature students wanting to return to education, for level 4 study at undergraduate level. It teaches students the creative development and research skills they will need for undergraduate study, and provides a wide-ranging, project-based appreciation of subjects in the Arts, Architecture and Design.

The foundation year offers an outward looking, multi-faceted creative arts-, architecture- and design-based education that on successful completion provides the first stage of an undergraduate qualification. As a foundation year it provides a discrete qualification and evidence of creative practice through production of a portfolio of projects. The foundation year introduces students to basic ideas, approaches, and techniques in a wide range of creative practices as well as their pathway choice. The course also aims to develop students’ independent learning, supporting them to become confident creative practitioners and critical thinkers able to understand and create meaning across a wide variety of creative forms.

In their three pathway subject modules, Introduction to Creative Genre and Criticism, Writing London: A World City and Writing, Observation and Place, students develop their creative written practice and critical understanding of literary history and literary criticism across several literary genres, present their own and respond to others’ creative literary work in workshop, undertake close critical and analytical reading of literary texts across different literary genres, and develop their technical, observational, critical and expressive skills in the field of imaginative writing. Students develop a portfolio of writing and develop a practice of responding critically and constructively to the work of their peers.

In their remaining creative arts-based modules, Critical Creative Practice and Critical and Contextual Studies, students undertake complementary subject studies with some studio/project work. Critical Creative Practice introduces and develops knowledge, application and experience of practical and intellectual methods shared across creative practices or associated with specific creative practices, such as recording and presenting concepts, processes, and outcomes; self-evaluation, critical thinking, group work and peer review; colour, composition; curating and publishing; digital and on-line platforms. Students explore and explain the positioning of their work in relation to others through participation in exhibitions, competitions, and public events.

Critical and Contextual Studies familiarises students with the critical skill of ‘reading’ a range of visual, spatial, and material phenomena alongside the conventional reading of texts; and introduces them to a range of relations of these to creative practices. It is an introduction to communicating ideas through a range of writing and presentation studies and techniques using text-based material from a wide range of conventional history and theory sources.

Over the course of the year, students are introduced to basic methods of retrieving, analysing, interpreting, articulating and structuring information and knowledge for different purposes and audiences. Research is introduced as key skill within the specific context of history and theory in relation to creative practices and alongside examples of professional, ethical, and institutional concepts and contexts. The mode of delivery is seminar and lecture presentations, alongside study trips, image/object analysis and tasks/workshops to aid acquisition of library skills, information gathering, personal/ digital/ online presentation/submission.

The course is situated within the making ethos of the School of Art Architecture and Design and offers outstanding connections between critical thinking, creative practice, and transferable skills. Creative Writing and English Literature students explore their creativity through engagement with ideas at the forefront of literary theoretical studies, develop their critical expression and articulacy, and emerge as writers, thinkers and collaborators who understand the critical, historical, and commercial dimensions of creative writing and the creative arts more widely. The course is also focussed on London as a literary capital, with structured opportunities for cultural enrichment through visits to and projects libraries, galleries, archives, and other centres of culture.

Teaching methods include lectures, workshops, seminars, tutorials, external visits, group critiques, and opportunities for studio practice. Teaching and learning adopt a student-centred approach that identifies individual learning styles and accommodates them.

Lectures provide and encourage a critically informed view of a topic, contextualising the subject and illustrating applied approaches. Lectures provide students with a managed introduction to a theme, enabling them to continue with suggested or directed self-study (self-directed study).

Workshops provide students with the opportunity to submit their creative work for group and tutor criticism, both named and anonymously, to engage with immediate feedback, to develop practice through seen and unseen writing exercises, to read or perform their or others’ work, to analyse set texts, and to roleplay aspects of professional life: editorial and commissioning meetings, and pitches for work. The objective is to apply knowledge and acquire technical competence, to think critically and creatively, to master technique and develop the capacity to work independently and within teams.

Seminars enable students to debate and explore subjects, questions and assignments with peers and tutors, encouraging an open and collaborative approach to shared learning.

Tutorials support individual learning, allowing for individual approaches to study, and catering for individual interests. Tutorials can be diagnostic or can support specific assignment or project-related questions and support differing student paths to achievement of learning outcomes.

Study trips offer opportunities for vital direct experience with a wide range of creative practices and environments to communicate with and learn from experts and specialists at institutions and organisations.

Live briefings and feedback are an important introduction to aspect of work-related learning; allowing students to some experience of professional ways of working; professional expectations of standards and current professional practice. The students are introduced to ethical aspects of creative practice with reference to statements of ethics from across AAD e.g. subject areas, research groups and project office, etc.

Group critiques allow students to benefit from feedback on their own and others’ work and to contribute to that feedback as a valuable part of the peer-to-peer learning that is a core expectation and reason for University study.

Blended learning uses the University’s virtual learning environment to support and reinforce reflective learning, to monitor progress through assignments, to foster peer-to-peer communication and collaborative research activity and to facilitate tutorial support for students and flexible approaches to learning.

Students are encouraged and supported to participate in cultural and professional engagement throughout the year at the School of Art, Architecture and Design including organised open lectures, exhibitions, competitions and wider public events.

The tutors at Level 3 include professional writers, designers, artists, architects, photographers, filmmakers, etc and Level 3 calls on teachers, practitioners, and professionals from across AAD to initiate, support or review across the projects. The School of Art, Architecture and Design is bustling with creativity, energy, and expertise across a wide range of subject-areas such as: creative writing, fine art, furniture, architecture, textiles, model-making, interiors, ceramics, filmmaking, digital design and animation that students are encouraged to take advantage of individually and pro-actively.

Research Skills and Digital Literacy are embedded in the curriculum from the beginning of the degree, and developed through carefully planned assessment structures, practical instruction, workshop, research tasks, and heuristic learning and are supported through the use of the VLE and in curriculum delivery and in tutor expectations of digital capabilities as appropriate to task set and the level of study. Students make use of digital platforms alongside traditional approaches to research, develop and communicate their projects.

Course Aims

CA1 - provide a preparatory and/or diagnostic foundation year to progress to the Creative Writing and English Literature BA, a subject area alternative or a direction that utilises creative practice.

CA2 - foster self-reliance and commitment to personal development through identifying and developing skills and interests by supporting the growth of the individual with a strong pastoral approach to project practice and course academic tuition.

CA3 - introduce and develop a range of experimental, practical, conceptual, and intellectual skills for having and realising ideas from a wide range of subject areas specific to the creative arts or to design disciplines.

CA4 - develop curiosity, independent enquiry and capacity to reason, critique and reflect upon creative practices through an integrated approach to methods of enquiry, research and analysis in studio practice and critical and contextual studies modules.

CA5 - combine intellectual processes, personal creative vision, material, media, and technical skills in the realisation of creative projects that reflect independent and disciplined thinking, skill in execution and visual and verbal communication, in print and online and in exhibition spaces.

CA6 - produce students who can work independently, manage their own time and tasks and those of others where appropriate; reflect objectively on their own learning style and performance to plan effectively for the future by insisting that students prioritise their time through regular planning for work/life balance in study, leisure, and employment.

On completion of the course students will be able to:

Knowledge and Understanding (KU)
1. identify concepts, methods, principles, and theories of creativity across creative genres; both historical and contemporary. (CA4, CA5)
2. describe, explore, and test a range of skills associated with creative and critical practice and genre including ethical requirements (CA4, CA5, CA6)
3. recognise and evaluate different subject area and genre practices to demonstrate a direction for individual creative practice (CA1, CA2, CA4)

Cognitive Intellectual Abilities (CI)
4. demonstrate skills of both convergent and divergent forms of thinking, observation, investigation, research, and analysis to select, organise and structure the content and processes of a series of creative or critical projects that develop towards resolved outcomes. (CA3, CA4, CA5)
5. identify cultural/social, ethical, environmental, and economic issues to apply to, experiment with and test ideas, in relation to making creative or critical decisions (CA1, CA4, CA5)

6. consider the needs and views of viewer, audience, community, culture or wider public in relation to developing creative and written projects (CA4, CA6)

Transferable Skills (TR)
7. communicate creative ideas, principles, critical arguments, or concepts effectively by oral and written means with clarity and confidence (CA2, CA5)
8. exercise self-directed management skills for learning, including time management, preparation, team negotiation and collaboration (CA1, CA2, CA6)

Subject Specific Practical Skills (SS)
9. identify and organise resources and apply techniques to creative or critical projects, identify ethical considerations, and select and develop material specific to a subject area discipline (CA1, CA5)

10. develop skills to effectively communicate, present, publish or exhibit individual project work or a portfolio of projects that demonstrates understanding of different means, various contexts, and a variety of roles; (CA1, CA5)

English 2023, Creative Writing 2024

Summative assessment for all the modules occurs at the end of the course and details the achievement in student performance in relation to the learning outcomes for each module. Formative feedback is provided for all the modules on a regular basis and is focused on encouragement and improvement. It appears in a number of different formats, from informal suggestions or responses to specific items of work in progress, to formally recorded feedback at class presentations or critiques. Written feedback and diagnostic grades are provided at several decisive stages of the course delivery. This formative feedback specifically addresses areas for improvement towards the final submission at summative assessment.

The assessment strategy for Art and Design (including foundation year) has been designed holistically, to ensure manageable timing, workloads, and clarity of expectations for students and to avoid duplication of assessment of learning outcomes.

The assessment regimes for the modules are designed together with the programme, prior to the start of each year to consider student, external adviser and colleague feedback from previous instances. The requirements of project briefs and assignments, and their components, the assessment criteria, grading scheme and descriptors are published and explained to students at the start of the year and reiterated at points through the year; these are designed to be used as consistently as possible to avoid unnecessary complication.

Assessment is directly related to the achievement of learning outcomes. Qualification frameworks and subject benchmark statements are consulted to ensure clear language that is appropriate to the level of study. Students are informed of the procedures for first, second and parity marking. Scrutiny of the assessment process and marks from colleagues external to Level 3 to ensure that students understand and have confidence in the probity of the process and security of the final marks.

In every case, there is required formative feedback at set points in the course, either following assignment hand-in or at the Interim Reviews. Written feedback and diagnostic indicative grades are provided at the end of each stage; this feedback specifically addresses areas for improvement prior to summative assessment at the end of the year.

Formative feedback and summative assessment is recorded, and shared where appropriate, so that it can be used by both students and staff to track further progress and engage support where it is required. Formative feedback appears in several different formats during the year from informal suggestions or responses to specific items of work-in-progress, to formally recorded feedback at class presentations or equivalent.

Formative feedback follows good pedagogic practice in that it is constructed as ‘feed-forward’, with a focus on specific actions and strategies as to how to improve, not only on what requires improvement. It is managed so that students performing well are challenged and encouraged to strive for excellence, and those performing less well experience clear, targeted, and structured guidance, including notice of where they are doing well or are showing potential.

The course adheres to the University’s requirements for summative assessment and written feedback turnaround times and to the University's Academic Regulations for first marking and second mark sampling. Additionally, the course engages in Subject and School parity exercises to ensure that assessment standards are consistent. This is especially important in relation to subject area projects and studio groupings where students on the same modules will be undertaking differing projects.

All Art and Design (including foundation year) assessment and feedback practices are typically informed by reflection, consideration of professional practice, as well as subject-specific and educational scholarship. Staff and students typically engage in constructive dialogue to promote a shared understanding of the basis on which academic judgements are made. All Art and Design (including foundation year) students are provided with regular opportunities to develop an understanding of best academic practice and the necessary skills to demonstrate it.

The volume, timing and nature of assessment enables students to demonstrate the extent to which they have achieved the intended learning outcomes. Formative feedback is clearly designed to support students’ development for summative assessment. Feedback on assessment is timely, constructive, and developmental. All processes for marking assessments and for moderating marks are clearly articulated and consistently operated by all those involved in the assessment process.

There is no placement, sandwich year or year abroad opportunity at this level.

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 exposed to, and begin to understand, the professional environment of a wide range of disciplines; the various opportunities available to them, and how to shape their learning according to their ambitions.

PART-TIME MODE OF STUDY
Part-time mode of study is defined as 60 credits per year. Consequently, in part-time mode, the duration of study for a 120-credit award will be 2 years. The pattern of study at Level 3 follows these groupings and may be taken in either order:

Grouping 1 – SJ3003 (30) & CP3010 (30)
Grouping 2 – SJ3053 (15), SJ3502 & AA3006 (30)

At Level 3 the following faculty-wide regulations shall apply.

ACADEMIC PROGRESSION: As a condition of progressing from level 3 to 4 students are required to have gained 120 credits per level, that is, by achieving pass marks (40%) in all five modules in the preceding level of study.

Progression to Level 4 is subject to a completion and pass (40%) of all core modules:

SJ3003 Introduction to Creative Genre and Criticism
SJ3052 Writing, Observation and Place
SJ3053 Writing London: A World City
AA3006 Creative Critical Practice
CP3010 Critical and Contextual Studies: Foundation

A Preparatory Diploma (exit award) will be offered to students who choose to leave the course after the completion of Level 3, without taking up their place on Level 4, having completed all five core modules and passed 120 credits.

A Preparatory Certificate (exit award) may be awarded to students completing a combination of modules and achieving 60 credits.

The School’s studio system of curriculum delivery embeds reflective learning and personal development planning throughout the course.

Most summative assessment is at the end of year-long modules, with several formative feedback points formally instituted over the course of the year. At these interim formative feedback points students reflect on their progress-to-date with their peers and course staff; seek help where they identify the opportunity for improvement in learning strategies and outcomes and make recommendations to themselves for future development. The feedback and student reflection are recorded and informs an action plan for the next period of study.

This system is highly individualised, but also benefits from peer engagement in studio critiques. Level 3 students participate in the School’s programme of employability events and embedded work-related learning within the UG curriculum and this supports students’ personal development planning. Through these initiatives, students are increasingly able, as they progress through the year, to understand the professional environment of the subject-areas ahead disciplines, the various opportunities available to them, and how to shape their learning according to their ambitions.

Therefore, throughout the modules and the course, in this way, students build bodies of work, including reflections on progress, achievement and planning for their future achievement of targets.

The course embeds reflective learning and personal development in its strategy to be diagnostic/preparatory; it does this in several different ways:

The main outcome of the course is contained in the student’s portfolio of projects containing edited and organised versions of all the work the student has undertaken during the course. It is used both for the purposes of self-reflection and evaluation, formal assessment and, in various versions, to apply for jobs or courses. Building the portfolio is a continuous enterprise. Every project, practical or intellectual exercise can be represented in the portfolio but also must contribute to the document as a whole and in its parts. Students learn to reflect on their work both as a specific item and in the context of their own developing profile in their portfolio.

The main teaching vehicle on the course is the creative or critical project where students distinguish and develop their skills, interests, and abilities. Several projects are set during the year, each of which addresses different criteria, and the student gains increasing responsibility for their definition, direction, and development as the year progresses. Students learn to evaluate their project work against that of their peers through frequent interim presentations, pin-ups or ‘critiques’ as well as tutorials. The Techniques module specifically enables students to hone their range of practical skills as well as begin to understand how the techniques and technologies of making and representing are also tools for thinking and understanding.

A tutorial system is organised to monitor student progress and provides advice and assistance throughout the year. It is an important means of guiding students to meet the aims and objectives of the course. Tutorial reviews and critiques provide for independent examination of the impact of lectures, the development of personal work and ideas on the project outcomes. Through discussing work of a complementary, extended or diverse nature, project work can be developed in an independent way.

Successful completion of this course allows progression to the Creative Writing and English Literature BA in AAD specifically. It also offers improved career opportunities in the creative and cultural industries specifically and to other employers who require experience of creative practice.

Students also benefit from support and guidance from the Careers and Employability services and the University’s business incubator unit, ‘Accelerator’

Graduates of our English Literature and Creative Writing courses have gone on to successful careers in publishing, editing and related industries as well as to publish their own creative work. This course is also excellent preparation for further study or research.

In addition to the University's standard entry requirements, you should have:

• at least one A level (or a minimum of 32 UCAS points from an equivalent Level 3 qualification, eg BTEC Subsidiary/National/BTEC Extended Diploma)
• English Language GCSE at grade C (grade 4) or above (or equivalent)

If you are a mature student with significant work experience, you are invited to apply for this course on the basis of the knowledge and skills you have developed through your work.

As part of your application to study Creative Writing and English Literature we would also like you to submit two pieces of writing of 500 words each.

The first should be a creative piece and you may write this in the form of a short piece of fictional prose, a longer poem or sequence of shorter poems, a fragment of dialogue for performance on stage with one of more characters and some indication of setting, theme and scene or a piece of creative non-fiction such as nature writing, travel writing or memoir. You can write in any style, form or register and you have complete freedom in terms of theme.

The second piece of writing should be a critical appraisal of your interest in studying Creative Writing and English Literature. This should combine reflection on your experience of reading and writing literature so far and speak clearly to the themes of justice, equity and participation. London Met is committed to making your education a transformative force for social justice and social mobility. You should try to answer the following question: "How can reading, writing and publishing literature contribute to a better world?''

To study a degree at London Met, you must be able to demonstrate proficiency in the English language. If you require a Tier 4 student visa you may need to provide the results of a Secure English Language Test (SELT) such as Academic IELTS. For more information about English qualifications please see our English language requirements.