Course Catalogue

Humanities and Social Science

Design, undertake, analyse and evaluate a significant piece of independent creative practice-as-research, in an advanced critical framework.

Outline Syllabus:Learning Strategy The final module asks students to plan and deliver a linked final creative/practical project and written dissertation which demonstrates an advanced level of mastery of their specific craft and the ability to articulate their own and others working practice in their field employing an appropriate critical perspective. Again, students may wish to work collaboratively, in which case the employment and development of the specific skills set of each student which form the basis of assessment must be agreed and made explicit through a learning agreement in advance. Students may opt to fulfil the assessment criteria through a single element of a 20,000 word written submission which clearly articulates and analyses the practice undertaken, or negotiate an assessment of performance or creative practice up to 70% of the final weighting of the module as appropriate. Target word count of the written submission is then reduced by 2,000 words for each 10% of practical assessment weighting. Again, the weighting needs to be agreed as part of the initial plan and except in exceptional circumstances will be non-negotiable once a learning contract is agreed. Indicative content. There is no specific indicative content here as this will be determined by the individual student’s craft, project and critical perspective. However, in broader terms the Module will seek to ensure that the practice has a clearly identified research context – that is, what is the issue being explored or idea tested through the practice, and what supporting critical perspectives can help analyse and evaluate the practice

Module Overview:
This module will enable you to design, undertake, analyse and evaluate a significant piece of independent creative practice-as-research, in an advanced critical framework.

Additional Information:Assessment: 100% 20,000 word written dissertation OR Assessed Practice and written submission in one of the following agreed ratios: P: 30% - W: 70%. 14,000 words P: 40% - W: 60%. 12,000 words P: 50% - W: 50%. 10,000 words P: 60% - W: 40%. 8,000 words P: 70% - W: 30%. 6,000 words Each ratio balance is discussed by the staff delivery team as part of ongoing student review, and approximately six weeks before submission deadline a final balance is agreed and signed off by student and module leader. Throughout staff examine the likely hours of learning activity for both aspects to ensure students are not overloaded. Our experience is that students tend to underestimate the workload associated with practice as research, so we aim to give a careful steer and make adjustments where necessary through ongoing tutorial. Where there is any potential issue we can refer to both the Faculty Registrar and the EE for advice. We will also balance against word count equivalencies in terms of ‘performance’ time. This is not actually real time performance text alone, but must take account of process demands and learning activity hours in the studio or on the rehearsal floor, and this is where collective professional experience is used to safeguard parity of opportunity/experience for all students This summative, thesis project might (but does not have to) directly extend the project conceived in the Research Methodologies and Proposal module and is likely to draw on and extend ideas developed on other modules in Semesters One and Two; the submission here must not, however, duplicate substantially work that has previously been submitted for assessment.