NB. For pdf versions of the revised course outline please go to the GLAADH Resources section and then choose Initiatives Course Materials and scroll down the index.

Update

Student take-up

The module has now been adopted as a Mandatory Module for a new degree BA (Hons) Film and Media Production. It is taken by about 50 to 60 students during the first semester of their second year. In addition other students from within the Faculty choose the module as an Option, these students are mainly BA (Hons) Fine Art students and students on the BA (Hons) Histories of Art, Design and Film.

The increased student numbers have meant that three staff members now teach the module - we are Art and Design Historians but also have grounding (in my case an MA) in Film Studies.

The course consists of lectures which cover key themes and provide a theoretical base and methodology for the case studies. We offer 2 case studies and students choose which one they want to focus on in the seminar time and for their presentations and essays.

Changes to the course

In the first year of running the course we began with just one case study on Inuit artefacts which entailed working with the local museum. This option was not available this year as the museum is undergoing a major rebuild, but it may be in future. We formed a significant resource for this case study by ordering books and articles and these now form a resource which students can use.

When the module was taken up as a Mandatory module for Film and Media production students we felt we should acknowledge their interest in film and offered another case study in Iranian Cinema. We have built up a good resource including videos of films and a number of books. We have also allowed film production students to deliver their findings by short film or to use a Powerpoint presentation or any other form of presentation they wish.

Student response

There was some concern among Film Production students about the relevance of this when we first introduced it but this year's students are very engaged and really care about the issues.

Fine Art students seem to really get a great deal from the module and we have had very positive feedback from them.

Impact

Of the first years students two Fine Art are continuing this through for their dissertations - both of which promise to be very good. Film and Media production students do not undertake a dissertation so this option is not available to them.

Another group of students will come on stream next year as our newly validated BA (Hons) Visual Culture and Its Management reaches its second year. There are only 20 students but they will all take the module as a mandatory element of their studies.

Many aspects of the module are reflected in the teaching of the three staff involved. We make reference to the theories and to the issues within other modules. I certainly feel as if I have undergone something of an epiphany - the focus on problem solving and the acknowledgement that I cannot 'master' all visual cultures has been both challenging and liberating - my pedagogic practice has certainly changed.

Perhaps most important of all, our newly validated BA (Hons) Visual Culture and its Management has been largely framed by the experience Darcy and I went through in the planning of Transculturation. The new degree looks at a far wider range of visual cultures and a longer chronology. We base much of the content on issues we addressed in writing the module. The library holdings testify to this new development.

Finally I intend to take this area as the topic for my (future) PhD - so the GLAADH initiative has had an impact at all levels.

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