Next year

Currently reflecting on last year's academic year in terms of how things went assessment wise, and whilst the students on AV Production really enjoyed the module on the whole, I want to try and better use lab time to support the coursework requirements for 2012/13. Therefore, I have decided to have one major piece of coursework (plus a Blackboard based phase test), which is split into three "milestones", with supporting labs occurring around each of these milestones. Last year, I ran various exercises within the lab times covering topics such as dubbing, video capture and editing using footage supplied by me. However, to encourage better engagement during these lab times, the plan is to get students to provide their own footage to work on such that they can use the introductory exercises to help them work on the coursework requirements. For example, if there is a lab exercise covering editing using Apple's Final Cut Pro, students will be asked to have footage shot and ready to work on in the lab, which not only will cover the requirements of the lab, but also the students can use the work produced towards their "milestone", rather than it simply being a "lab exercise".

Last year's Blackboard phase tests for both of my Final Year Modules went down extremely well with students too in that not only do they effectively take away the "human" side of things during the assessment period, but it also provides the students with instant feedback; something which is vital. I especially like the fact that one can keep adding to the "pool" of questions each year and then the test can be set up to say, randomly choose any 25 questions. The multiple choice answers can also be randomised too. These tests will be used again for next year's teaching, with more questions being added to the pool and perhaps, the amount of time allowed being reduced.