FINEARTS 305 : Critical Practices
Creative Arts and Industries
2021 Semester One (1213) (15 POINTS)
Course Prescription
Course Overview
Building on Critical Studies 104 and 204, this course will allow you to review and add to the range of theoretical ideas and examples of artworks and practices familiar from previous study and your wider experience. Through the discussion of a broad range of contemporary art production and ideas relevant to it, it will offer tools to develop your understanding of theory’s relationship to practice. You will be invited to reflect on the relation between reading and your own work. You will be assisted in identifying the theoretical interests that are part of your practice, and in honing your skills to work confidently and critically with them privately, in your own working process, and more publicly, in studio discussion and writing as an artist.
The course will help prepare you for independent reading in Studio 4 or the written component of the BFA(Hons) year. At a point in the BFA where your study involves learning to work effectively with greater self-direction, the aim is to contribute to this independence, equipping you for continuing personal development as an active and reflective researcher and thinker, able to inform and position your artwork through a critical approach to working with words.
Course Requirements
Capabilities Developed in this Course
| Capability 1: | Disciplinary Knowledge and Practice |
| Capability 2: | Critical Thinking |
| Capability 3: | Solution Seeking |
| Capability 4: | Communication and Engagement |
Learning Outcomes
- Identify the individual theoretical research interests that help define their developing sense of their own practice (Capability 1.1 and 2.2)
- Critically evaluate the potentials in the relationship of theoretical material to the student’s own practice (Capability 2.1 and 3.2)
- Demonstrate interpretive skills in relation to the way meaning effects are created by things made or done within a creative practice (Capability 1.3 and 2.3)
- Be able to source, select, evaluate and use effectively information and theoretical material pertinent to creative practice to an advanced level (Capability 4.2 and 4.3)
Assessments
| Assessment Type | Percentage | Classification |
|---|---|---|
| Assignments | 30% | Individual Coursework |
| Portfolio | 70% | Individual Coursework |
| 2 types | 100% |
| Assessment Type | Learning Outcome Addressed | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |||||||
| Assignments | ||||||||||
| Portfolio | ||||||||||
Teaching & Learning Methods
The course uses a traditional lecture and tutorial delivery model, supported by Canvas. Lectures include discussion and the opportunity to ask questions, but your tutorial is crucial as a venue for active learning. You will bring your questions, contribute to answering other people's, and in so doing, test and grow your ability to express your understandings. This will move you from the relatively private space of listening, reading, note-taking, and reflecting that you are in lectures and self-directed work towards a shared space of communication, important preparation for the written assignments. Besides working on the lecture material and the course readings week by week, each assignment will be directly supported by tutorial exercises.
Workload Expectations
This course is a standard 15 point course and students are expected to spend 10 hours per week involved in each 15 point course that they are enrolled in.
For this course, you can expect 2 hours of lectures, a 1 hour tutorial, 3 hours of reading and thinking about the content and 4 hours of work on assignments and/or test preparation.
Student Feedback
At the end of every semester students will be invited to give feedback on the course and teaching through a tool called SET or Qualtrics. The lecturers and course co-ordinators will consider all feedback and respond with summaries and actions.
Your feedback helps teachers to improve the course and its delivery for future students.
Class Representatives in each class can take feedback to the department and faculty staff-student consultative committees.
Digital Resources
Course materials are made available in a learning and collaboration tool called Canvas which also includes reading lists and lecture recordings (where available).
Please remember that the recording of any class on a personal device requires the permission of the instructor.
Academic Integrity
The University of Auckland will not tolerate cheating, or assisting others to cheat, and views cheating in coursework as a serious academic offence. The work that a student submits for grading must be the student's own work, reflecting their learning. Where work from other sources is used, it must be properly acknowledged and referenced. This requirement also applies to sources on the internet. A student's assessed work may be reviewed against online source material using computerised detection mechanisms.
Inclusive Learning
All students are asked to discuss any impairment related requirements privately, face to face and/or in written form with the course coordinator, lecturer or tutor.
Student Disability Services also provides support for students with a wide range of impairments, both visible and invisible, to succeed and excel at the University. For more information and contact details, please visit the Student Disability Services’ website http://disability.auckland.ac.nz
Special Circumstances
If your ability to complete assessed coursework is affected by illness or other personal circumstances outside of your control, contact a member of teaching staff as soon as possible before the assessment is due.
If your personal circumstances significantly affect your performance, or preparation, for an exam or eligible written test, refer to the University’s aegrotat or compassionate consideration page https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/academic-information/exams-and-final-results/during-exams/aegrotat-and-compassionate-consideration.html.
This should be done as soon as possible and no later than seven days after the affected test or exam date.
In the event of unexpected disruption
We undertake to maintain the continuity and standard of teaching and learning in all your courses throughout the year. If there are unexpected disruptions, the University has contingency plans to ensure that access to your course continues and your assessment is fair, and not compromised. Some adjustments may need to be made in emergencies. In the event of a disruption, the University and your course coordinators will make every effort to provide you with up to date information via Canvas and the University website.
Student Charter and Responsibilities
The Student Charter assumes and acknowledges that students are active participants in the learning process and that they have responsibilities to the institution and the international community of scholars. The University expects that students will act at all times in a way that demonstrates respect for the rights of other students and staff so that the learning environment is both safe and productive. For further information visit Student Charter https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/forms-policies-and-guidelines/student-policies-and-guidelines/student-charter.html.
Disclaimer
Elements of this outline may be subject to change. The latest information about the course will be available for enrolled students in Canvas.
In this course you may be asked to submit your coursework assessments digitally. The University reserves the right to conduct scheduled tests and examinations for this course online or through the use of computers or other electronic devices. Where tests or examinations are conducted online remote invigilation arrangements may be used. The final decision on the completion mode for a test or examination, and remote invigilation arrangements where applicable, will be advised to students at least 10 days prior to the scheduled date of the assessment, or in the case of an examination when the examination timetable is published.