Unit X 2014 Level 6 Information
Introduction Unit X at third year level is a negotiated Learning Agreement to produce a student authored final project leading to a showcase of finished work. Your subject area offers a breadth of career options through its range and mixture of disciplines and varied approaches. You have become aware of the diversity of the subject from the early stages of the course. You have learnt to use contextual research to inform project work and define your own area of interest. Unit X at L5 helped to clarify your individual direction and the following units have helped consolidate this. Unit X at L6 is not a place where you are defining context and audience for the first time. This is where you have the opportunity to realise your ambitions (appropriate to your intended audience).
The work you produce during Unit X builds upon the ambitions from your earlier body of work or further investigates new ideas that have emerged from your earlier work. In this respect Unit X is a continuation of what has already been started. You will complete your degree with a professional body of work that could fit a range of design/art models and should reflect the ambition you have for your future working environment.
FAQ’s Can I still work with someone from another course? Yes, when you negotiate your final unit’s work with your course tutor this can include working collaboratively with a student/students from another course. If I work with someone from another course how will I be assessed? Everyone is assessed by the same learning outcomes during Unit X. If you work with someone from another course you will still be marked by staff from your home programme.
You will need to provide clear evidence of your personal input to the collaboration as well as how you worked together, and in doing this what you did to meet the learning outcomes. Can I do work that’s specialist to my course? Yes absolutely, and if you do collaborate you will be expected to be working within the specialist skill set you have already developed. Do I need to choose a college like last year? No, you will negotiate your project within your course with your tutor.
FAQ’s What will happen to the degree show? Degree show will be going ahead as usual. How is this different from work in PE – can I submit the same work or refer to the external engagement learning outcomes in both units? How PE fits in with Unit X will vary from course to course, both of which will expect you to demonstrate professional knowledge. Ask your home tutor about specific concerns about the content of PE. Remember though that the same work cannot be assessed twice.
Will I have to be marked by my home degree tutors or can someone else mark my work? At assessment you will be marked by your course tutors. If you have been working with an external partner or on placement there will be feedback given to your tutors from them to help aid in marking. Exactly how this would work will be determined through your Learning Agreement between your home tutor, you and the external on a case-by-case basis.
FAQ’s What if I work with other students and they don’t turn up or their work pulls my mark down? Throughout Unit X there will be points where you can feedback to your home tutor how your work is going. This an opportunity for you to let them know if there is problem within your team and resolve this before it gets to the stage where you could become concerned about your grade. It is the work that you contribute to the project and how you have collaborated you are assessed on. Not the work of other students involved.
Can I collaborate with students in other faculties or other Universities? Yes. You can collaborate with students from across MMU or beyond however we will consider this as the same model as an external partner or placement and will expect them to contribute feedback to the staff assessing. The balance of the work undertaken will also need to be made very explicit and transparent for assessment purposes. When do we have to decide what we are doing for Unit X? This will decided course by course, but you will have opportunities built into your timetable and through PDP sessions to discuss the work you are planning to undertake during Unit X.
Learning outcomes What are the learning outcomes? Learning Outcome One; Demonstrate professional, artistic and/ or academic knowledge relevant to their individual practice. Learning Outcome Two; Reflect on and critique the context for their chosen practice with insight and authority. Learning Outcome Three; Produce a body of work to a professional level within their chosen context.
Learning Outcome Four; Demonstrate an enterprising and/or a collaborative approach to personal professional practice. Learning Outcome Five; Demonstrate a resourceful and creative approach in the showcasing of ideas and finished artworks to an external audience.