Academic Partnerships Template

Plymouth University

Academic Partnerships

Cornwall College

Camborne

Programme Quality

Handbook for

FdA Contemporary Creative Practice

2014 – 15

Contents

1. Welcome and Introduction to FdA Contemporary Creative Practice. 3

2. Programme Specification 4

3. Module Records 20

Academic Partnerships Teaching, Learning and Assessment Handbook 2014-15 Page 2 of 30

Academic Partnerships Template

1.  Welcome and Introduction to the FdA in Contemporary Creative Practice.

Welcome to the Foundation Degree in Contemporary Creative Practice

The FdA in Contemporary Creative Practice is an exciting and vibrant new course, built upon years of existing good practice to be found in the HE Arts and Media Department at Cornwall College. The course aims to be a unique blend of traditional, contemporary and innovative approaches to learning. At its core the FdA Contemporary Creative Practice is a vision of undergraduate education that offers you a sustained and consistent emphasis on your identity as a learner and a practitioner through the seamless integration of personal development with student learning. The course works with the blurring of the boundaries between the ‘traditional’ fields of practice that has become a key feature of the creative industries in the 21st century (www.creativegraduates.com) . Today’s artists and designers aren’t pigeon-holed by material or approach. They are highly flexible individuals, shifting between different patterns of work. Our course responds to the professional reality of contemporary art & design, preparing students to respond creatively within a range of professional situations.

The course is committed to equipping each student with exactly the right practical studio based skills for them to be able to complete work effectively in their chosen art & design specialism. This may, for instance, involve training in specific design centred software or practical print and 3D studio based skills.

The course is theme led and issue based rather than a discipline specific module based curriculum, in order to encourage conceptual and interdisciplinary thinking and practice. This way of working will also embed values of citizenship and enable you to recognise your potential as an agent for change. This curriculum model calls for an open approach to student learning by emphasising student engagement through the move from a learning to a discovery paradigm through the obliteration of traditional course boundaries – the course thus becomes a platform from which to launch a search for understanding rather than defining the limits of discovery.

The course has been designed with the full support from the faculty of Arts at the Plymouth University and with advice from local, regional and national employers and practitioners in the broad fields of art and design. The subsequent development of the course has been guided by two key drivers

·  Changing ways of working: flexible working, portfolio careers and the increased use of freelancers

·  Industry sector skills gaps: presentation, networking skills, negotiating skills needed for client and contract management and developing business networks and partnerships, selling skills/marketing and PR which are a particular challenge for micro businesses and practitioners.

These key drivers have been answered in their broadest sense by the interdisciplinary content of the curriculum and the form of learning that focuses on the professional identity of the individual student. The use of Communities of Practice and the Sustainable Practice and Creative Enterprise (SPaCE) initiative will ensure that students are engaging with peers and external agencies throughout the course and importantly this will take place at points which are appropriate for you and your practice. The teaching and learning schedule and assessment plan enables students to be proactive in their learning and stresses presentation and negotiation skills.

This programme has been designed to equip you with the skills and knowledge base required to work in your chosen specialism or other graduate opportunities. It is also a platform from which you can undertake additional vocational and academic qualifications.

This Programme Quality handbook contains important information including:

·  The approved programme specification

·  Module records

Note: the information in this handbook should be read in conjunction with the current edition of the College Student handbook available at (college to add link) which contains student support based information on issues such as finance and studying at HE along with the University’s Student Handbook - https://www1.plymouth.ac.uk/studenthandbook and your Teaching, Learning and Assessment Handbook available on your programme virtual learning environment.

2.  Programme Specification

On the following pages you will find the specification for your programme; this provides a detailed overview of the programme as a whole. It explains what you will learn and how you will be assessed throughout the two stages of your Foundation Degree. The Programme Learning Outcomes Map specifies the knowledge and skills you will develop at each stage of your Foundation Degree.

PROGRAMME SPECIFICATION

Awarding Institution: Plymouth University

Teaching Institution: Cornwall College

Accrediting Body: N/A

Final Award: FdA Creative Practice

Intermediate Awards: Certificate of Higher Education (CertHE)

Programme Title: FdA Creative Practice

UCAS Code: W290

JACS Code W290

Benchmarks Informed by Foundation Degree Qualification Benchmark in Art and Design and also relevant QAA subject benchmark(s)

Date of Approval: April 2011

Admissions Criteria:

Qualification(s) Required for Entry to the FdA / Comments
Candidates must have at Level 2:
At Level 2
Key Skills requirement/Higher Level Diploma / Level 2 Communication
and/or
GCSEs required at Grade C and above / Normally 4, to include an Art subject, and English

Plus at least one of the following Level 3 qualifications:

A Levels required: / Minimum of 1 Art
AS at Grade A, or 1 Art
A2 at Grade B (120 UCAS Points)
Advanced Level Diploma / Art and Design
BTEC National Certificate/Diploma / Pass
in Art and Design
HNC/D / Pass in any relevant art-based subject
VDA: AGNVQ, AVCE, AVS / Advanced in Art & Design
Access to HE or Year 0 provision / In Art, Pass
International Baccalaureate / 24 points required
Irish/Scottish Highers/Advanced Highers / 1 Pass in an Art or Design based subject. 120 Tariff points.
Work Experience / Mature students without formal qualifications will be considered by portfolio of relevant artwork
Other non-standard awards or experiences / Experience in the Arts, accompanied by portfolio of recent artwork
APEL/APCL possibilities / This must be applied for before the start of the programme. Please refer to Plymouth University Academic regulations
www.plymouth.ac.uk
Interview/portfolio requirements / All students are expected to attend an interview where possible. Interviewees should bring a portfolio of their work – trial pieces and evidence of idea generation are more important at this stage than finished pieces. E-portfolios are acceptable for students unable to attend personally, it will also be necessary for the student to provide additional written material, sent online, to back up their E-portfolio application.
Independent Safeguarding Agency (ISA) / Criminal Record Bureau (CRB) clearance required / Not initially. However it may be required for some work-based learning placements.
Aims of the Programme:
The programme is intended to:
1.  Foster critical enquiry, reasoning and ethical judgement
2.  Develop appropriate and practical creative skill sets
3.  Consolidate written and oral communication skills
4.  Encourage creative, conceptual thinking and idea generation
5.  Promote collaborative problem solving
6.  Develop integrative learning.
Programme Intended Learning Outcomes:
By the end of this programme the student will be able to:
1.  Be an effective, practical and appropriately skilled member of the creative industries
2.  Understand the validity of evidence and seek to understand the perspective of stakeholders
3.  Effectively communicate using written and oral presentation
4.  Exercise responsible scholarship by understanding oneself as an agent of action
5.  Determine how to locate relevant information; sort, analyse and utilise that information
6.  Work in teams and appreciate the importance of peer contribution
7.  Look beyond the obvious boundaries of a problem by thinking creatively and expansive

Brief Description of the Programme

The FdA in Contemporary Creative Practice is an exciting and vibrant new course, built upon the years of existing good practice to be found in the HE Arts and Media Department at Cornwall College. The course aims to be a unique blend of traditional, contemporary and innovative approaches to learning. The FdA offers students sustained and consistent emphasis on their identity as learners and practitioners through the seamless integration of personal development with student learning. The curriculum is enquiry driven to provide a student centred active education and its design deliberately encourages an enquiring attitude.

The course works with the blurring of the boundaries between the ‘traditional’ fields of practice that has become a key feature of the creative industries in the 21st century (www.creativegraduates.com)[1]. The course is theme led and issue based rather than a discipline specific module based curriculum, in order to encourage conceptual and interdisciplinary thinking and practice. All students will also be thoroughly tutored in the necessary practical skills to be able to operate effectively in their chosen creative specialism. This way of working embeds values of citizenship and enables students to recognise their potential as an agent for change.

This curriculum model calls for an open approach to student learning by emphasising student engagement through the move from a learning to a discovery paradigm through the obliteration of traditional course boundaries – the course thus becomes a platform from which to launch a search for understanding rather than defining the limits of discovery. Students will be able to author their educational experience and become life-long learners. King and Magolda (2004) advocate self-authorship as a central goal of higher education. They explain how possessing an internal foundation “yields the capacity to actively listen to multiple perspectives, critically interpret those perspectives in the light of relevant evidence and the internal foundation, and make judgements accordingly” (King and Magolda 2004, p. xxii)[2]. The development of the course has fore-grounded the goal of self-authorship.

Teaching methods and assessments

A: Development of Knowledge and Understanding / Learning and Teaching Strategy/Method
By the end of the programme the student will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:
(The bullets below offer examples of the type of text. Add detail that is relevant to the programme)
·  the major theories of the discipline(s) and an awareness of a variety of ideas, contexts and frameworks
·  the wider social and environmental implications of area(s) of study and is able to debate issues in relation to more general ethical perspectives
·  The reciprocal relationship between creative output and the wider socio/cultural matrix
·  The responsibilities of the practitioner
·  A preparedness to experiment / (Examples are shown. Compile specific lists for the programme)
Primary
·  Lectures and tutorials
·  Directed independent study
·  Learning from work experience
·  Skills workshops

Secondary

·  Case studies
·  Problem-solving exercises
NB: Benchmark References
4.2 4.3 4.4.1 4.4.4 4.4.5
/ Assessment
Key knowledge and understanding is assessed via a combination of essays, presentations, and seminar performances.

B: Cognitive and Intellectual Skills

/

Learning and Teaching Strategy/Method

By the end of the programme the student will be able to:
(for example)
·  critique rival theories and frameworks
·  analyse and synthesise
·  Intelligently apply appropriate principles in assessing policy or practice
·  demonstrate problem solving and research skills
·  take appropriate risks and be able to evaluate the outcomes of experimentation
·  develop an appreciation between medium and message /

Primary

·  Skills workshops
·  Tutorial/seminar discussions
·  Feedback via coursework assessment process (essays etc)

Secondary

For example:
·  Policy and practice analysis in crits and tutorials

NB: Benchmark References

3.5 3.11 4.2 4.3 /

Assessment

·  Essays/projects/dissertations
·  Coursework/groupwork on practical application questions
·  Portfolio
·  Final pieces

C: Key Transferable Skills

/

Learning and Teaching Strategy/Method

By the end of the programme the student will be able to:
(for example)
·  interact effectively within a team / learning group,
·  manage learning using resources for the discipline
·  communicate effectively in a manner appropriate to the discipline (in standard English oral, written, using ICT)
·  take responsibility for own learning with minimum direction
manage information with the ability to select appropriate data from a range of sources and develop appropriate research strategies /

Primary

·  Library and other research exercises
·  Group work awareness and practice
·  Computer-based learning and assessment
Secondary
·  Class and seminar interactions and feedback

NB: Benchmark References

3.8 4.4.1 4.4.4

/

Assessment

·  Coursework of all types
·  Assessed discussions
·  Group work assessments

D: Employment Related Skills

By the end of the programme the student will be able to:
·  Recognise strengths and areas for improvement
·  Present ideas confidently to a variety of audiences
·  Work to deadlines
·  Locate opportunities for practice
·  Work effectively in groups
·  Demonstrate the application of knowledge to varying contexts /

E: Practical Skills

By the end of the programme the student will be able to:
·  Demonstrate a high level of discipline specific skills
·  Present ideas appropriate to the context and audience
·  Work effectively in groups /

Learning and Teaching Strategy/Method

·  Projects
·  Designated tasks
·  Lectures and tutorials
·  Learning from work

NB: Benchmark References

5.4.2 4.4.3 4.4.4 3.8 /

Assessment

·  Project work
·  Competence in a range of communication techniques

Distinctive Features of the Foundation Degree

·  Engagement with employers through the Sustainable Practice and Creative Enterprise (SPaCE) initiative
·  Interdisciplinary working mirrors developments within the creative industries
·  The flexibility within the curriculum enables students to develop a highly individualised professional identity
·  Students are encouraged to recognise themselves as agents for action
·  Communities of Practice develop networking skills

Academic Partnerships Teaching, Learning and Assessment Handbook 2014-15 Page 4 of 30