The requirements for this task will be discussed in the first week of class. it is envisaged the students will be able to discuss their research project using some of the concepts gleaned from the course. To my mind, this can be a useful way of getting public feedback on some of your ideas before you commit them to paper. The benefit to those who go early is that they will get a chance to broach these ideas before the creative practice task, although it might be tough when trying to frame within some unfamiliar concepts.

In short – I am only really asking for students to tell us about their projects, and perhaps use a concept or two from the course which might help them think through some of the critical aims of their project.

This assessment will require the students to devise their own research question, and develop an appropriate methodology that will articulate the aims of their own project. While it is hoped that the concepts students engage with in MECO703 might constitute part of their proposed methodology, this will not be mandatory.

Given that the course requires students to critically reflect on creative practice, (literary, music/sound, film, performative, theoretical), it would be expected that students already have an idea as to what type of “creative practice” they will be pursuing. As this assessment comes reasonably early in the proceedings, so I will not expect that students have totally mastered the course content. If anything, I'd more interested in a formal conceptual experimentation, and that students might be able to think of their project through the lens of “resisting representation” and perhaps try to discuss their project within this conceptual framework, because the idea of the course is to get students to think somewhat counter-intuitively, and break down some of the more entrenched cultural approaches of recognition.

I am amenable to students questioning, querying, and/or downright rejecting some of the post-structuralist discourse they will encounter, provided that there is a sufficient rationale behind this, and that they can provide a coherent set of reasons why they have done so. This is often much harder than you might think! You have to know the field in order to sufficiently critique it!

The assessments are really supposed to help your own research project, so this creative practice task is primarily a process of situating your own interests in a critical way. We will discuss some approaches to the task in the first weeks of the course, and I will be happy to discuss ideas and approaches with students as the due date gets closer.

For this second essay, I will propose some questions based on concepts from the course. Again, I will try to keep it open, and make sure the assessment services your own individual research projects.

Detailed instructions for assessment tasks will be uploaded to iLearn