Critical & Contextual Studies L5 3D Furniture & Product
CP5011
Level 5 intermediate
Approved to run: 2017/18
Module credits: 30
Total study hours: 300 (210 Guided independent study, 90 learning & taught activities
Assessment components: 3 x coursework each 33.3%
Prior learning requirements:CP4011
Tuesdays, from 10.00am - 01:00pm
Module summary
The module offers a sequence of three intensive programmes or 'mini-blocks' tailored to the interests of specific groups of students. It provides a range of studies that address the character and conditions of cultural production including how they operate in practice. The module helps to prepare the student for their final-year dissertation and their future role as professionals and practitioners. The student encounters different perspectives on their subject area and undertakes different forms of coursework aimed at helping inform their choice of dissertation topic and approach.
The module begins to situate the student within the process of constructing knowledge. This process may be approached from the point of view of the producer or consumer, the critic or the professional, the academic or the practitioner, in that there are a number of players involved. The module recognises that the student is also an active player in the process; what they bring to the construction of knowledge counts; and how effectively they construct it depends on how well they understand and interact with the field. To this end the module encourages the skills of reading and literacy as required - historical, analytical, textual, visual or technical - to help support rigorous and enterprising thought.
The three blocks have equally weighted single assessments.
Module aims
The module aims to prepare students as independent thinkers, capable of selecting an appropriate topic and producing a sustained piece of independent study in the form of a dissertation. It also helps orient them toward their professional responsibilities and opportunities in practice. The module sets out the resources and methods, and rehearses the thinking, historical, analytical, judgmental and discursive skills that are required. It enables students to become knowledgeable about the authorities / objects / methods in their field; to understand the roles / locations / responsibilities of important players; to engage knowledgeably and critically in a variety of oral and written presentations; and to become conversant with current debates across the subject areas. Students are also encouraged to think creatively and to take responsibility for the development of their own learning, whilst examining broader ethical questions resident in their subject field.
Syllabus
1. Design and the Global City: This block will consider the complex contemporary and global urban contexts in which designed objects, images and spaces are conceived of, produced, consumed and used. Case studies in the urban context will be the focus of this block. Methodologies for researching the city will enable students to make connections between their theoretical study of the city and their design practice.
2. Design: Ethics of Practice: This block focuses on the fundamentals of professional practice and the ethical position and role of designers and makers within sector-specific legal constraints. Case studies will enable students to examine, test and explore fundamental professional aspects of their practice as it relates to their selves, their communities of practice , and their wider and global socio-cultural and environmental context.
3. Critical Design: Theory into Professional Practice: This block asks students to make direct connections between their theoretical study and their profession. Students will discuss and explore their developing individual professional design positions: how will they engage in ethical, responsible, critical and affirmative design; how are these issues applied to professional practice within the field by others; what models / modus operandi can they use in structuring research and practice which enables their position (rather than undermining intent)? How do these approaches relate to / reflect / anticipate the new economies in which design, the creative industries and creative practice are framed?
Learning and teaching
The module is organised into three core teaching and learning blocks, each of which includes preparation and reading, completing assessments, receiving formative feedback equivalent to 90 hours of contact time and 180 hours of self directed study. The module supports a freestanding PDP component, equivalent to 30 hours of self directed study, linked to online and personal development and support systems.
The three mini-blocks are organised around a series of lectures, seminars and workshops, supported by online or blended learning. The blocks are designed, through the consolidation and refinement of the skills and modes of understanding developed in Level 4, to explore the depths and complexities within subject knowledge at a range of scales. On the one hand students are encouraged to investigate, present and discuss issues that involve judgment, ethical decisions, social mores and cultural interpretation; on the other they are encouraged to develop the ability to record, present and analyse material accurately, distinguishing, for example, between first-hand experience and secondary literature.
Each teaching and learning block provides a multifaceted programme that feeds writing-based assignments, for example a case study, essay, and an equivalent assignment that contains a written component. The assignments may include or be on visual work, technical or scientific data, professional context, work in practice, or academic or critical theories. The aim is to develop interest, literacy and competence.
The teaching and learning includes formative feedback on the first two assignments.
For the PDP component students develop their dissertation proposal in an online submission. The submission will be approved by a tutor.
Learning Outcomes
On success completion of the module students will be able to:
1. Research and formulate a comparative knowledge of different aspects of their subject area, its specialisms and broader contexts; and to distinguish how their work relates to and arises from previous work in the area;
2. Deploy critical and analytical skills in oral and written discussions; and to develop, structure and communicate an argument or similarly rigorous line of enquiry;
3. Produce cogent oral/visual and written presentations, using appropriate scholarly methods, conventions and protocols;
4. Demonstrate an understanding of the legal, ethical and professional responsibilities appropriate to the practice of their discipline.
Assessment Strategy
The strategy is to provide an iterative and developmental model of assessment.
The three assessment items include different types of written texts: for example an essay or a case study, any of which should rehearse skills required for the dissertation the following year:
1. Essay (2500-3000 words)
2. Case study (1000-1500 words)
The third assessment items should include a written component and be equivalent in ambition, scope and scale to the essay or case study.
The word count for the whole module is between 4500-7500 words. The order of assessment is not developmental.
Overall module assessment criteria:
1. Breadth and depth of knowledge of an aspect of the subject area.
2. Clarity and coherence in presenting an argument or similarly rigorous line of enquiry;
3. Deployment of critical and analytical skills in oral and written discussions.
4. Cogency of oral/visual and written presentations and appropriate use of scholarly methods, convetions and protocols;
5. Understanding of critical context, ethical dimensions, and the broader construction and limits of knowledge.
Bibliography
1. Design and the Global City
Burdett, Ricky and Deyan Sudjic, eds., (2011), Living in the Endless City, London: Phaidon
Burdett, Ricky and Deyan Sudjic, eds., (2007), The Endless City, London: Phaidon
Kerr, Joe and Andrew Gibson, eds., (2003), London from Punk to Blair, London: Reaktion
LeGates, Richard T. and Frederic Stout eds., (2011) 5th ed., The City Reader, London: Routledge
Sandhu, Sukhdev, 2006 Night Haunts, Artangel, http://www.nighthaunts.org.uk/MuseaumofLondon
2. Design: Ethics of Practice
Attfield, Judy, ed., (1999), Utility Reassessed: The Role of Ethics in the Practice of Design, Manchester: Manchester University Press
Chapman, Jonathan and Nick Gant, ads., (2007), Designers, Visionaries and Other Stories: A Collection of Sustainable Design Essays, London: Earthscan
Fry, Tony, (2011), Design as Politics, Oxford: Berg
Fry, Tony, (2009), Design Futuring: Sustainability, Ethics and New Practice, Oxford: Berg
Fuad-Luke, Alastair, (2009), Design Activism: Beautiful Strangeness for a Sustainable World, London: Earthscan
3. Critical Design: Theory in Professional Practice
Julier, Guy and Liz Moor, eds., (2009), Design and Creativity: Policy, Management and Practice, Imprint, Oxford: Berg
Dunne, Anthony, and Fiona Raby, (2001), Design Noir: The Secret Life of Electronic Objects, Basel: Birkhauser Verlag
Dunne, Anthony, (1999), Hertzian Tales: Electronic Products, Aesthetic Experience and Critical Design, London: RCA CRD Research Publications
Pres, Mike and Rachel Cooper, (2003), The Design Experience: The Role of Design and Designers in the Twenty-First Century, Ashgate
Scase, R and H Davis, (2000), Managing Creativity: The Dynamics of Work and Organisation, Milton Keynes: Open University Press