Katy Macleod

BA in Fine Art, Exeter School of Art & Design, University of Plymouth
Originator: Katy Macleod
Reproduced with permission from Course Design for Resource Based Learning - Art & Design (1994)
Marion Wilks and Graham Gibbs (Eds)

This is a case study on the use of materials to support a research methodology module which underpins two final-year, research-based modules. The materials ensure that students are properly prepared to undertake their research independently, with the minimum of tutor support. They have also provided a useful tool for studio practice staff, now involved in tutoring thesis work for the first time.

Background

The final-year dissertation remains a popular method of giving students the experience of carrying out in-depth and sustained research on a subject of their own choice, drawing upon and synthesising elements from different areas of study and illustrating the relationship between theory and practice. The method has traditionally required a considerable amount of staff time, mostly spent on teaching research methods and providing tutorial support.

Historically the management, support and assessment of dissertations has commonly fallen to specialists in art history and other theoretical disciplines, working within the Fine Art programme. At Plymouth, the school has taken a decision to achieve further integration by encouraging staff who usually teach studio practice to become involved in the support and assessment of dissertations and special projects.

Context

The Thesis and Special Project modules are both double modules in the final year of a modular degree in Fine Art. The 60 students on this course are joined by 20 from the Combined Arts degree. All may choose either to carry out a traditional thesis or to undertake a special project which allows them to focus on their research topic through the practices of art and written enquiry in parallel. Before they make their choice, all students undertake a compulsory Research Methodology module, designed to introduce them to the objectives of both project modules, develop research methods, understand the assessment criteria and plan their proposal. The materials described below are an intrinsic part of this module.

Aims

The resources were developed to guide not only students in the detailed preparation for and writing of theses, but also staff, who had little experience of supporting students in the process.

Implementation

The school obtained £2000 from the university's Innovative Teaching Fund to develop the resources. A team of four tutors used the funding to replace their own teaching time and to bring in a specialist from De Montfort University to give additional discipline-specific advice. The team spent six months producing six study guides, during which time several meetings were held to discuss content and format. The authors of the guides now use them to support their own seminar work.

Resources

The resources take the form of six study guides totalling 30 pages. They lead students and staff through the processes of choosing a research topic, employing research methods, planning the project, carrying it out and understanding how it will be assessed.

Special Project and Thesis Guide. This guide has been written especially for staff to enable them to understand fully the objectives of the Research Methodology module and the expected learning outcomes for students. It explains the function of the student guides and details the content of each of four supporting seminars. Assessment record sheets are also included, which give the assessment weighting and provide space for tutor comment.

Guide 1 for Thesis Work. The first guide for students illustrates ways of approaching the content of a thesis, and takes them through the processes of making their choice of subject, and structuring and planning the outline of their dissertation. Grading criteria attached to each honours degree classification are appended.

At the heart of the pack is a pro-forma for a thesis proposal, requiring students to propose the aims of their research, their methodology, an outline plan and bibliography. A library assignment requires students to carry out a literature search using indexes and abstracts, databases and other guides to information sources.

Guide 2 for Thesis Work. The aims of and methodological approaches to 15 research propositions are presented, each accompanied by an indicative bibliography.

An analysis of an issue

For example, the politics of urban waste, through a comparison of different art practices, e.g. Tony Cragg and Bill Woodrow.

Here your aims would be:

to locate and define the issue of the politics of waste in relation to the art practices of Cragg and Woodrow;
to examine the common intentions of each art practice in relation to this issue and to weigh up the relative value of each practice in this defined context.

Your methodology would give:

a context for the comparison: a definition of the concept and the politics of waste, urban degeneration, and moral uncertainty, and definitions of Cragg's and Woodrow's practices with reference to these;
an examination of the key phases of Cragg's practice, referencing interviews, critical reviews, articles, etc.;
an examination of the key phases of Woodrow's practice;
an evaluation of how these equivalent practices exemplify 'the politics of waste'.

A relevant bibliography might include:

Berry, P. and A Wernick (eds.), Shadow of Spirit: Postmodernism and Religion, Routledge, 1992
Objects of Culture, ICA, 1983
Foster, H. (ed.), Postmodern Culture, Pluto Press, 1985
Gablik, S., The Re-enchantment of Art, Thames and Hudson, 1991
Kuspit, D., The Cult of the Avant-garde Artist, Cambridge U.P., 1993

Excerpt from Guide 2 for Thesis work

Guide 1 to the Special Project. This guide is similar to the first thesis guide but focuses specifically on the integrative nature of a special project and gives advice on planning and preparation.

Guide 2 to the Special Project. Illustrations are provided of how an extensive piece of analytical research can be linked to and submitted with a body of creative work.

Another example opens a debate about the nature of an art form. Creative writing in the form of exploratory bookworks could develop from a creative study of this evolving medium, looking at a range of works by, for example, Fluxus, Ian Hamilton-Finlay, George Brecht, Tom Phillips, Ian Breakwell, Simon Cutts and recent computer exponents.

The analysis of chosen works by several artists would require a detailed inquiry worked through a body of practical work, and your practical work could function as bookworks.

Excerpt from Guide 2 to the Special Project

Guide to the Contextual Practice Route. This is a new route through the course, and a special guide is provided to meet the needs of a group of students who have followed a particular pathway.

Operation

The guides are given to students at the beginning of the eight-week module, and each of three seminars is based around key sections; a final seminar focuses on the choices that students have made and on assessment.

After the first seminar, students use Thesis Guides 1 and 2 to help them to complete the first section of the planning pro-forma describing the aims of their research.

The second seminar focuses on their responses, and models are presented by the tutor to help students to clarify their own sets of aims. Following seminar 2, students are asked to use Guide 2 to help them to fill in the methodology section of their planning pro-forma, carry out the library assignment and present a preliminary bibliography.

The results of their work are discussed and debated at seminar 3. The role of the tutor is to give verbal feedback and provide paradigm examples. In seminar 4, each student has to present the completed pro-forma to the group where it is formally assessed.

Brief tutorials are held with students to discuss any particular problems they have with the planning.

Pattern of teaching and learning for each student
1 x 0.33 hours tutorial	= 0.33 hours
4 x 1.6 hours seminars	= 6 hours
8 x 6 hours independent study	= 48 hours
Total	54.33 hours

Assessment

Students are assessed on the plan for their thesis or special project, the library assignment and the degree of their participation at seminars. The activities are an integral part of the guide and ensure that students are engaging with the support materials. Assessment is carried out by staff during the presentation at the final seminar and by a review of the individual pro-formas. 80% of marks for the module are allocated to the presentation and quality of the completed pro-forma, 10% to the library assignment and 10% to participation at the seminars.

Delivery Costs for 80 students
	Before RBL		With RBL
Teaching	0.5 hr interview	= 40 hrs	4 x 4 seminars 1.5 hrs	= 24 hrs
	0.5 hr tutorial	= 40 hrs	1 x 80 tutorials 0.33 hrs	= 26.4 hrs
	Total teaching	= 80 hrs	Total teaching	= 50.4 hrs
Assessment	Not separately assessed		Pro-forma marking	= 8 hrs
Total delivery costs		= 80 hrs		= 58.4 hrs
Hours per student		= 1 hr		= 0.73 hrs

Evaluation

As 1993/94 is the first year of full operation, the overall effectiveness of the guide is not yet known. However, prototypes were piloted last year and both students and staff considered them to be an effective underpinning to the research process.

Conclusion

The guides have replaced one-to-one contact teaching with a more structure approach to teaching research methodology, offering common systems and strategies to each student, allowing them to discuss their proposals with their peer group, and giving more feedback on a regular basis at key stages in the planning process. This more rigorous approach, now valued through the assessment scheme, provides a more effective platform for students to undertake a significant body of research independently.

The limited tutorial time available in the subsequent modules for supervising the thesis and special projects themselves can now be devoted to offering feedback on reasoning and critical analysis, rather than dealing with methodological and structural problems.


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