#module evaluation

Thoughts on University Module Evaluation

[Frequent readers will know I have a long-standing interest in scholarly communications, metrics and research assessment. The post below fits within my academic research practice, this time focusing on teaching evaluation (“module evaluation” in UK parlance). For an older post on metrics and research asssessment, for example, see this post from June 30 2014. The suggestions shared in this post…

Prior to presenting, we reviewed the rough cut that Arjun had made and saw what we could tweak. Some of the audio levels of the music were too high and we could not hear ourselves speaking. We also thought to add a title card before the Advert in the 60s to make it more clear it was an infomercial. We added more adverts to the 90s to highlight the mass consumerism ethos of the time and made the skit look more like a reality TV show by adding titles to the interview scenes. 

Rough Cut:

Final Cut:

Friday was presentation day and we got to display our film and see the ideas that other groups had created. It was interesting to see how everyone had interpreted the brief differently showing the vastness of creativity within people. As a group, we decided to use Prezi (mobile devices) as it was successful in presenting our initial ideas to the class before. We decided not to make the Prezi too long as we felt the film itself was clear in explaining how it was a palimpsest so our presentation mainly consisted of the process of how we came to choose the theme for each skit. Our film was well received by our class which was a nice surprise, as we were worried our humour would not translate well. The good feedback stated that we were creative and different from the other groups and how the piece reflected our relationship as a team. One person stated our chemistry seeped through our presentation. The only critical comment we received was whether the companies we featured like McDonalds and Domino’s will exist in the future, but we assumed they would.

The entire module has made me get back in touch with my creative side which I have enjoyed as it has allowed me to not be constrained within my comfort zone. As I have expressed in many of my blogs, my team from day one have been able to bounce off each other and create something, whether it is in a short time limit of the seminar or over a period of time. Having a variety of mindsets and creative skill sets allowed us to make the best possible piece we could. Taking this module has sparked my interest in doing an elective next year as well as I can integrate with people from other disciplines.

When I started my final project (NMP), I took a while to find my feet because none of the ideas I initially had, seemed good enough. It was also January, a time when I was thinking of taking a year off because of my emotional instability and health problems. Anyway, I decided to stay on and finish the year, considering I did so well last year. One of my first ideas for my NMP was to do a big project on handmade typography. I felt like much of my work was very minimal at the time, and it didn’t have much colour, so I wanted to show diversity in my portfolio. I looked at a lot of work by Sagmeister & Walsh, and Morag Myerscough for inspiration. I also started drawing type every day as a small side project.

When I pitched the main concept to my tutors, they said something was missing. I needed a more substantial idea to bring it all together so I went back to the drawing board, and kept on doing some more research. The more research I did, the more I discovered that I wanted to work on something meaningful. A project that could benefit society. Then reading through the news, I saw how the conservative government wanted to cut the arts and humanities budget in education, so I got an idea to make a project about the positive benefits of being creative, even if you don’t work as a creative professional. I wanted to create a campaign to encourage people to find time to do creative things at least once a week. I found lots of statistics and information about positive outcomes of art therapy, or doing things like dance, theatre, music, drawing, etc. For example, drawing and painting helps you to look at problems in different ways. I thought I was going in the right direction, but I was still struggling to really nail down how I was going to do it.

A few weeks later my tutors, posted a creative opportunity on our Facebook group called Collabology. “Collabology is a two-week creative workshop led by UAL Professor Fred Deakin (University of the Arts London). As one of a hand-picked selection of creative practitioners from across the UK, this workshop gives you a unique opportunity to collaborate with talented people from other disciplines to imagine and create an incredible project that you’ll be showcasing to an audience of students, academics, industry and investors. The workshop will turbo-charge your creative process and set you up to become one of the industry’s trailblazers.”

I immediately signed up for it, because even though it was during our Easter break, I thought it would be completely worth it. I always wanted the opportunity to collaborate with people from other creative courses because I think you can get some interesting results. Plus, someone else might have useful skills in areas you don’t have such as product design, or fashion design so you can complement each other. I also thought the workshop would help me develop my NMP further.

The first week of Collabology was all about learning how to collaborate well: this was a lot harder than it sounds. The whole point of the first week was to incubate new project ideas, and as a group choose which projects we actually wanted to make. We did many exercises to understand what makes each of us tick. For example, one of the exercises was: To write down three things that make us feel alive in life. We had to give three different answers and then choose the one that was the most meaningful for us. We then would be asked “why?” five times by the rest of our group. The whole point of this exercise was to dig deeper and find the root of what makes you think a certain way. It was a bit nerve wrecking at the start, but it did help me in understanding who I am, and what I stand for in life.

The second question was “If you can fix/solve anything in the world (had to be a social change issue) what would it be? My three answers were gender inequality, helping the homeless / the most unfortunate in society, and pollution / global warming. Again, we would be asked why time and time again.

We did all of these exercises using online applications like Fuze (it is like Skype but better for video conferencing) and Slack (a great application to chat, share documents, etc) because Fred couldn’t be in London, Falmouth, and Manchester at the same time. Each university, had their own private Fuze group and support staff which were very helpful during those two weeks. They were very supportive and were always there when we were stuck or were stressing out.

We then had to each come up with a project based on our interests and pitch it to the rest of the Manchester group. Once we pitched the project, everyone voted for their favourite ones (most favourite to least favourite 1-3). When the three projects were chosen, we then each could choose what project we wanted to join. I joined the “Radical Empathy” project that I originally pitched, which was an organisation/charity that creates campaigns to educate young people about diversity and tolerance in issues such as class, gender, sexual preference, and race. There were other good projects like “Be a Bee” (saving the bees), and “Idea 22” which was about changing the way kids learn at school.

The second week was all about making those projects/ ideas that we voted for happen. Various digital fabrication tools and other resources were available to us in case we needed them (3D printing, cameras, printing). Another added extra was that we had access to a small budget for costs. We had four days to come up with a logo, a mock up website, any other extras and a  launch (Kickstarter style) video to pitch to investors. At the point we started meeting up in person and working on the project 9am up to midnight or longer every day.

Fred Deakin also brought leading creative industry experts such as Andy Huntington from Berg, Joel Gethin-Lewis from Helicar & Lewis, Daniel Charney from Fixperts and Nat Hunter (RSA) to support us. The first week was mainly talks about their work, but the second week, we had professional crits every day about our project with them over Fuze. At the end of the second week we presented our project together at a launch event in The MMU Shed to students, academics, industry and investors through Fuze. Presenting a project through online communication (video) definitely made it a lot more challenging, but rewarding at the same time. The whole point of using online methods without physically being there was that Fred wanted for us to get used to the future of modern collaboration. He said to us that it is very common for creative agencies these days to meet international clients or other designers over Skype, or Fuze, so it is a very useful skill to have.

I learned so much in the Collabology workshop about working collaboratively with people from other disciplines in two weeks, than I have ever done at university before. It was amazing to see our group idea evolve so quickly, from the #WhatIsNormal campaign where victims could seek support and describe how they feel to a more positive and light hearted approach (#ThinkBeforeYouSpeak campaign). The critical feedback from creative directors and the support we received from Fred and his staff every day was vital for our success. What I enjoyed the most was that the staff never spoke down to you when they gave you constructive feedback. They really knew how to motivate you but also give you the autonomy to make your own decisions.

I was in a group of three (another graphic design student from Salford, and a first year from MMU Fine Art), and meeting up was definitely a challenge, especially when one of our groups members wasn’t that reliable. The main thing I took from this workshop was the surprising amount of work you can actually do in a week if you really work hard and put your mind to it. If you have a good concept and you have a good group of people with a variety of skills, then you can definitely produce quick mockups.

Our first idea for our project was to create a website and an app where you could seek support if you had been racially abused, or discriminated against, and also anonymously post how you feel on the website similar to the Whisper concept. We also thought of projecting those live posts on billboards in local bus stops, so the public could see and empathise with how other people in their community felt about certain issues (like an art installation).

After our first crit from some of the creative directors at Mother London, we were told it was a good start, but that such a heavy topic needed a light hearted and positive approach, otherwise our target audience (18-30 year olds) would not engage with it. Based on the feedback we received, we asked other members of Collabology to draw celebrities and famous people based on stereotypes, and then to draw them based on descriptions about their merits (not physical attributes) instead. We then used the outcomes of the exercise as a case study of how you perceive others around you. 

That led us on to make a video were people read out mean things that someone had said to them in their life, similar to the famous “Read Mean Tweets” YouTube videos from Jimmy Kimmel. At this point, I had a lightbulb moment, and I remembered the Buzzfeed videos I’m constantly watching. Buzzfeed are very good at making viral videos aimed at the young generation about a diverse range of topics (awkward to fun) so I thought we could apply their same interview style approach to our videos, we could make them go viral. So we interviewed our friends about important and uncomfortable issues nobody ever wants to talk about and recorded it on camera. 

Questions like “What is a lesbian haircut?”, “What do you know about gender, and how do you feel when you meet someone from a different gender (not just woman, and man)?”. To extend the “Think Before You Speak” campaign, we made posters with slogans such as “What’s a lesbian haircut?” and “Why can’t a man wear pink?”. We also designed an app, and a website where you could learn more about these controversial topics through light hearted videos and a set of questions that would hopefully challenge the way you thought about an issue such as gender.

Our social media campaign was for people to send us their own short videos through Instagram and Twitter, explaining how they would like to be addressed or treated. We would then also share these videos through our website and app.

If I had more time to develop my NMP, I would work much more quickly, I would also make t-shirts with our slogans, create a radical empathy toolkit (like a welcome pack) which young people could have access to if they wanted to promote behaviour change in their community and create a real organisation called “Radical Empathy”. I would host meetings with young people to educate them about these controversial issues in schools and maybe even start an annual behaviour/social change festival about this.

MODULE EVALUATION

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How well have you realised /achieved your original aims as described in your Statement of Intent?

While this module advanced from its inception through to its present conclusion I believe that whilst my intention evolved, the original idea which set the project in motion has changed little. For this reason my statement of intent has gone through just two revisions. Also I feel that the confidence I initially had with my original concept mitigated the need to continually evolve the project's intended outcome.

I remain satisfied towards the outcome of both the technical execution of my practice and the essential concept in relation to my second written statement of intent. I believe that this has been achieved through an understanding of the discourse present around the works and artists I researched and the growing assurance in the use of my chosen equipment and material. 

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Which research has had the most impact on the development of your work and why?

Of the many artists and works I researched for this module I feel that there are two that struck a particular resonance with my own intentions for my practice for this module. The first of these was the work of the photographer, Larry Sultan, whose body, Pictures from Home, although examining his parents whilst still alive, had a poetic but unfeigned quality that I felt I could appropriate for myself. The photographer's use of composition was also of interest in regards to my technical and aesthetic approach to the module's intended outcome.

The second photographer, Phillip Toledano, whose project, Days with my Father concerns the latter's battle with Alzheimer's after the sudden passing of his wife explores the relationship a son can have with his father when they are the sole remaining members of the family. I feel that this body of work emphasised for me not only the loss that is suffered but also it also examines that which is gained. Toledano's work also brought it home to me the universality of loss and the human capacity for empathy.

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What skills have you gained during this module?

Rather than any new skills learnt I believe that this module has been more, a series of refinements of my existing practice. Since the completion of my previous module, P10 – Negotiated Contemporary Practice I feel that my understanding of my particular aesthetic sensibilities, my use of colour negative film with the Mamiya 7 medium format camera and my understanding of how to ground my work within current social discourse has improved as I have become more confident.

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How well did you manage your time?

I feel that on this point that I could have made improvements towards the management of my time. Consequently I would have preferred more time to consider an edit for the images that were to be included in the book but I chose to concentrate my efforts on the completion of the module, P9 – The Public Domain which ran concurrently to this project and required a substantial amount of research and material. Saying this I feel satisfied that I have completed this project to the highest standard I was able to and completed all aspects within the relevant timescale.

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What could have improved the outcome of this module?

I believe there to be a number of minor technical issues that could have been addressed at the time more effectively. My main criticism would have to be that I need to keep an eye on the depth of field within my compositions. As the Mamiya I used does not allow the operator to preview depth of field, I was required to calculate this myself. Consequently I made a number of mistakes within images that I was otherwise happy with. As I have mentioned above, a better management of my time would have allowed for a more considered edit within the pages of my book but this is a minor issue as I remain adequately happy with the final presentation of my work for P11 – Defined Personal Practice.

Understanding the Brief and Justifying the Concept Selected

For this brief I grouped up with David Zinyama. The main aim of the brief was to help eliminate the chore element of shopping through a series of innovations in-store that would help elevate the experience of shopping, particularly directed towards securing the loyalty of a new generation of shoppers. This meant that the target market represented those people currently in their teens or early twenties who anticipate similar budget restrictions and busy lifestyles, but want a different shopping experience from the existing Morrison’s customer base.

We chose this brief because of its current relevance; many young professionals are very busy and are increasingly accustomed to getting immediate access to information and resources. Similarly many of this group appreciate good food and want to eat well, but the prolonged process of meal planning is currently disjointed. Finding recipes online, then subsequently having to locate specific ingredients and buy them is paired with a lack of willingness to invest time in the cooking process. Going to the supermarket for many is then a very demanding and overwhelming chore. We wanted to address this by creating an integrated system that allows people to search for recipes suitable to their taste and skill level, learn how to cook in-store, and easily locate all the essentials to execute quality meals more quickly than ever before.

An article I found online said that “directions prove to be of high assistance as shoppers with specific needs would spend less time searching and more time buying the products they need.” This goes perfectly with the Morrison’s ethos of having a quality shopping experience. By removing the tedium of shopping with simple innovations we can free the customer to get a much more rewarding experience from being in the supermarket as these former concerns are increasingly mitigated by new technologies.

The brief was clear that we shouldn’t alienate existing customers, but that the new target demographic consists of a tech savvy group who tend to use apps, machines and services that make their everyday life much easier. It encourages the use of new technology to achieve this. The Smart Trolley would not be a compulsory element of the shopping experience, but would empower those younger individuals to utilise the features it offers. Moreover, the Cook Different (in-store cooking campaign) integrates with this facility, but is also a discrete entity on its own, providing a level of human contact to existing customers who are already capable supermarket shoppers and cooks who want to branch out in the kitchen.

I am personally very passionate about this brief because I love cooking and eating good food, and one of the main reasons I normally go to the supermarket (over shopping online) is to get inspired to try new things. However as described above, I also find it tedious to have to find recipes from a variety of resources and then make the effort to find the ingredients by writing down or printing the recipe and taking it into a shop. If a facility existed to browse pre-assigned recipes at a variety of skill levels which could be easily located and bought this would be a timesaving feature that would also work for those existing shoppers (busy mums on a budget) to plan a week of meals within their price range quickly and efficiently.

Outcomes and Reflection

Overall I feel that with the research done and the current developments and concepts of future in-store technology, the concept we selected to implement fits the brief well. It was a challenge to try and keep the designs exciting, because of the specification that we had to attempt to maintain the Morrison’s brand colours, but I feel that this was executed as well as possible.

Unfortunately time management was a big problem during this brief, and we had some challenging feedback late in the process. While we felt we were sticking to the brief well, it is true to say that our initial designs and concept work focused too heavily on the minutiae of the application. Instead we should have worked more on the positives of the overall concept, rather than trying to reinvent the complexities of the supermarket shopping app, by detailing the elements that made our concept different. While we have achieved this in our final submission, it means a lot of our earlier work and time was not put to the best use. If I were to start this process again I would have liked to secure more feedback early in the process and avoid creating a large number of ‘final drafts’ before approval on our direction was assured.

Summary

The way that technology is increasingly used to integrate the human elements of shopping with a more convenient supermarket experience is something already being explored by many big supermarket brands. We wanted to find a way of implementing smart technology to dramatically change the shopping experience for consumers, without being so significant to the store that it would hinder interactions with less computer savvy customers.

By relying on the Morrison’s concept of experts in store (that is Bakers, Butchers, Fishmongers, etc) and tying this in with an overall ‘Cook’ role that can bring together this bewildering number of options, we have maintained the Morrison’s attitude without dissuading their existing customer base. By linking new technology (the Smart Trolley) with an attractive interface for searching recipes according to budget, taste and skill level I feel we have successfully developed a concept that makes shopping easier, but also adds a lot to the experience for new and old customers alike.

MODULE EVALUATION

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How well have you realised /achieved your original aims as described in your Statement of Intent?

This module has advanced over time as has my statement of intent towards this end point. It has gone through four revisions over the course of the module and as a result I will restrict my assessment to the last variant that was discussed within the later tutorials.

I am satisfied with the overall outcome of both the execution of my practice and its underpinning concept. I feel that this has been achieved through an understanding of the works and artists I have researched and an adequate grasp of the discourses within cultural studies. Through out the module the concept changed from an examination of causality and counter-factual thinking towards a more prosaic exploration of my own personal memories of a familiar place and my reconciling them with the present. 

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Which research has had the most impact on the development of your work and why?

Of the research I conducted I felt that the work of the Iranian photographer Sadaf Chezari had the most relevance both aesthetically and conceptually to my own intended response to the module brief. We both had the objective of reconciling a past through the exploration of a present place we thought we knew and also wanted to use motifs within our images to further the narrative of the whole body of work. The other research I conducted that I found helpful was into the contemporary photobooks that are an ever popular mode of presentation. This research was of a more technical and design orientated nature and was intended to inform my own presentation of my response to the module brief.

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What skills have you gained during this module?

I recognise that I have gained or at the very least improved a number of skills during the length of this module. Of most value is my increasing comfort with the use of colour film and the equipment and techniques that are required to achieve a successful end result. Another skill that is perhaps harder to pin down is that I feel my understanding of composition and my judgement of the elements that are needed (and not needed) within a photograph has improved from the last completed module

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How well did you manage your time?

I felt that I have managed my time very well and if something went wrong or I felt it wasn't appropriate to the work I knew that I had plenty of time to address it. When I was informed that I may need more images to complete my body of work I did not hesitate to organise my time accordingly and put all of the elements necessary for the project into practice. This included managing multiple trips to Tenby and organising this project around other commitments.

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What could have improved the outcome of this module?

I believe that on a technical note I could have changed a number of minor issues that relate to the presentation and design of my book, Little Town of the Fishes. The first is the use of page numbers that don't add anything to the overall graphic arrangement and I feel distract the viewers eye somewhat. Secondly I feel that the exposure of the image on page 17 is slightly too dark. The third minor self-criticism is that the main body text is a point to small. On the point of what could have been improved with the overall concept and ideas behind my project I cannot think of any and remain happy at the outcome I have achieved.

MODULE EVALUATION

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How well have you realised /achieved your original aims as described in your Statement of Intent?

  My statement of intent has gone through two revisions for this module as I believe I had a sufficiently sound concept from an early point. It did need a subtle amendment as the project progressed into the technical stages. 

On the whole I am happy that my statement of intent follows on from my research and on into the actual body of work, however I am deeply disappointed with the aesthetic and technical quality of the images I have produced. This point I will elaborate upon in the last section of the module evaluation. 

Not to be too hard on myself I feel that my intentions for what the images connote to the audience are present and hopefully they will impart this to the viewer.

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Which research has had the most impact on the development of your work and why?

The research that I feel informed my practice the most I would have to admit is from the works of photographers such as Uta Barth and Pete Eckert who equate the physical process of vision to the more intangible notions of emotions and memory. Throughout my time researching this module I was constantly struck by the quality and concepts behind the works of a great number of both visually impaired and blind photographers from around the world and how little the visual arts require the eyes of the artist.

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What skills have you gained during this module?

The most valuable skill I feel that has come from this module and its outcome is a greater ability to reflect upon what the technical deficiencies were and how they may be addressed in any future project. On a non-technical note I believe I have learnt to be more confident in my approach towards communicating of my ideas to the subjects and pressing for what I envisage.

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How well did you manage your time?

This is perhaps the part of the module that I am most content with in regards to my performance. I believe that As with all of my previous modules my time management skills are good and even with a number of setbacks to do with late deliveries, rescheduled appointments and also a considerable amount of additional projects and modules to complete I was able to accomplish this module with time to reflect upon it.

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What could have improved the outcome of this module?

There are a number of points I have identified that would have improved both the outcome of the module and my satisfaction with it. The first as I've outlined above is of a technical nature and has to do with the actual quality of the images themselves.

I feel that the work has not measured up to how I initially envisaged the aesthetic quality of the work and in particular my intended use of the view camera's ability to shift its plains of focus. In short the focus was not where I intended it to be and in some images it was not there at all. I feel that my choice to use film came from a false assumption of it being superior to the digital process in its purest sense and will although not refrain from using it again in a future project, think very hard about its appropriateness and the likely outcome.

This leads on to another point of contention for me and this is my choice to only shoot with film and not have a digital camera as a backup for the whole project. I did take a small amount of digital images for publicity purposes but these would not be nearly enough to produce a whole project from. Lastly I would liked to have had more time and opportunities to interact with my subjects for the portraits but due to the facts of student life (for both me and my sitters) this was not feasible within the timescale for this module.

MODULE EVALUATION

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How well have you realised /achieved your original aims as described in your Statement of Intent?

This module has advanced over time as has my statement of intent towards this end point. It has gone through three revisions over the course of the module and for this reason I will be assessing the last variant that was agreed by my tutors and myself in the later tutorials. I am satisfied with how my body of work turned out and believe that it follows on from my research adequately. Originally I intended to explore ideas of taste and consumerism within western culture and ask why some objects are chosen over others. Later it progressed to the point that it was an exploration of the aesthetics of a purely decorative set of objects and how photography could be used to present them for judgement by the audience. My intention as an artist was not to force this judgement upon the viewer and to that end I decided to use the tried and tested format of the photographic archive. This traditional format is linear and anti-hierachical in nature and facilitates the action of choice in the audience. To chose whether they find it attactive or not and if so do they aspire to own it. This last point reflects back to my original intention to examine questions of taste in the consumerist sense.

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Which research has had the most impact on the development of your work and why?

Of the research I conducted I found that ideas pertaining to the conceptual use of photography were the most useful. Particularly those of artists such as Susan Hiller, Joachim Schmid and Keith Arnott. Their use of photography as an mode of conceptual expression and as an exploration of signs and language values was of great interest and helped to inform my own practice.

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What skills have you gained during this module?

I feel the skill I’ve gained that is of most value is the ability to set up two shoots at two different times and aquire very similar results throughout the whole of my images. This I have not managed to do before with any previous projects. The other skill that I would cite is an increased confidence with the use of the studio, lighting and the medium format equipment.

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How well did you manage your time?

I felt that I have managed my time very well and if something went wrong or I felt it wasn’t appropriate to the work I knew that I had plenty of time to address it. When I was informed that I may need more to complete my body of work I did not hesitate to organise my time accordingly and put all of the elements necessary for the project into practice.

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What could have improved the outcome of this module?

I believe that on a technical note I could have addressed the area at the bottom of the individual images that were maybe too white and the issue that they subsequently bled into the surrounding borders. Also I felt I could have included more appropriate research into conceptual photography and aesthetics, but this point was reliant on finding ideas of consumerism and aesthetics within the conceptual movement. A movement that traditionally challenges ideas of language and authenticity.