Edinburgh Napier University

  My overarching aim is to design a process by which students can make informed choices when presenting a substantial practical and creative project. Each year students are given a topic and have to produce a series of images, as the lecturer I also take part in this process and, importantly, submit myself to the same critical analysis and feedback that the students go through. This innovative format allows the students to not just see the assignment as a classroom module but as a professional project.
Initially this format deals with the essential challenge of keeping students’ attention by evidencing the enthusiasm of the lecturer and, showing by example, participation. Importantly it also professionalizes and democratizes the process, allowing the lecturer to be held up to the same critical rigor that the students are. It seems logical to utilize the creative career experience of the lecturer to teach students in this way.
This also works to improve the rapport and mutual respect between lecturer and student. I am looking to make students aware (potential professionals) that the critical and self-reflective skills they are learning are intrinsic to their future creative practice out with the classroom.