Title: Specialist Project
Ref:
Level: 6
Credit Points: 30
Weighting: 2.0
Study Time: 300 hours
Description:
The specialist project allows you to further develop your conception of digital media production. The intention is for you create adventurous forward looking body of work that shows the industry or audience your vision of a future for some aspect of digital media.
You are encouraged to take concept driven approach to learning rather than resource led practice and to build from themes explored in the Investigative Study unit.
Through research this project will be critically and theoretically informed and culturally engaged. You will evidence a depth of critical, contextual and theoretical understanding both through the work itself and through a learning journal/weblog.
Your work is negotiated through and defined by a Learning Agreement.
Learning Agreement Template
Learning Agreement Guide
Outline Syllabus:
(An indicative guide to the content covered by this unit.)
The programme of study will vary according to the academic needs and interests of individual students, and will be defined in a Learning Agreement.
Method of Delivery:
Practical studies, productions, independent learning and research, tutorials, viewings and critiques.
Aims
A1 To confirm and develop your systematic understanding of key aspects of digital media, previously acquired in Level 5.
A2 To encourage the acquisition of detailed knowledge, some of which is at or informed by the forefront of developments within the subject including aspects of current research, or equivalent scholarship.
A3 To develop your critical awareness and understanding of historical, contemporary and personal practice within the broad context of the field.
Learning Outcomes:
On completion of this unit you will be able to demonstrate:
LO1 that you have transferred your systematic understanding of key aspects of digital media, previously acquired in Level 5.
LO2 the acquisition of detailed knowledge, some of which is at or informed by the forefront of developments within the subject including aspects of current research, or equivalent scholarship.
LO3 Through written work demonstrate that you developed your critical awareness and understanding of historical, contemporary and personal practice within the broad context of the field.
Assessment Requirements:
A prototype design as defined in your Learning Agreement.
Finished Design 75% (Tutor Assessed)
A written report for one of the projects (Maximum 1500 words) supporting the conceptual, contextual and production issues involved in the completion of practical work. 25% (Tutor Assessed)
Assessment Criteria (specific criteria related to the learning outcomes and linked to the statement of generic assessment criteria matrix):
Evidence of knowledge of key contextual and theoretical issues – Knowledge concerned with contemporary practice acquired from Level 5 and applied and developed to a higher level (LO1)
Evidence of critical concepts represented in the breadth and depth of subject knowledge – The contexts of production (LO2, LO3)
Evidence of realisation through the application of technical knowledge and skills – Documentation of the project, its planning and execution (LO1)
Evidence of understanding through critical evaluation and reflection – Relevance of research and relationship of theory to practice (LO3)
Reference Material:
This will vary according to the needs of individual students. You will define Reference Material through negotiation with your tutor(s) and list it in your Learning Agreement.
Assignment Brief
In this unit, you will produce a piece of work that will help consolidate, refine and extend the previous knowledge you have acquired to this point. It is an opportunity to create a finished project to professional standards, in an area that suits your skills and interests.
Preferably, but not essentially, this project will form part of a structured exploration of your chosen area that will complement your Investigative Study and form a research basis for your Final Major Project.
The final deliverable should aim to be innovative yet intuitive and easily understandable, and to develop on themes in the area under investigation.
The project submission will be of a standard that, if appropriate, it can be exhibited or submitted to national or international competitions.
All project submissions will comprise of a fully working prototype; i.e. a usable piece of work that an uninitiated user can explore and interact with in full, a weblog that documents your process of development, and a 1,500 essay that analyses the strengths, weaknesses and achievements of the project.
You will need to use a concept driven approach to the project development, rather than technology driven – focus on the idea, and solving the problems that the idea brings up, rather than finding a new or augmented use for an existing system or product.
The exact framework of your project will be detailed in a Learning Agreement that will be negotiated with the teaching team.
A key part of the project deliverables is a 1500 word essay that describes in detail the creative processes you have undergone to arrive at the final piece. Use it to justify your design strategy and explain your research procedures and methods, sources and references. It should also include an evaluation of your project, and how it resolved the issues that arose during its development.
Scheme of Work
This is an approximate guide to the content of a session, be aware this is subject to change in response to external influences and your own pace of development.
TBC