ADC-LTSN Art, Design & Communication Learning & Teaching Support Network Newsletter Five May 2001 Editorial Welcome to edition number 5 of the ADC-LTSN newsletter. Our most recent development is the all new ADC-LTSN website, please check it out if you haven’t already on www.bton.ac.uk/adc-ltsn. We have worked with a great team of web developers at RDT Design (www.rdt.co.uk) to bring you a site which addresses issues in learning and teaching in our subject areas as well as being a useful resource. For example, all the back editions of the newsletter (1 – 4) are available there in a downloadable PDF format. We welcome your comments on useability and content and will incorporate feedback into our constant updating of the site. Please email on adc-ltsn@bton.ac.uk and let us know what you think. Funded projects that are particularly relevant to our subject focus are again a central feature in this edition. We highlight the work of the DNER (Distributed Network Electronic Resource) projects which have recently commenced. The FDTL 3 (Fund for the Development of Teaching and Learning: Phase 3) projects are also profiled; GWAMP – Group work assessment in media practice, who will also be launching their website in June at www.gwamp.com; GLAADH – Globalising Art, Architecture and Design Histor y and Employability and the Media Studies Curriculum. (See page 6 to find out more. Details and links to each of these projects can be found on our website too.) (August 2001) there will be an announcement about those appointments. We hope that this will focus subject interests in a clear context when working with us in learning and teaching. The second phase of the ADC-LTSN Learning and Teaching Project Fund has also just been finalised, of 20 strong applications, five were selected for funding and details of each project are given on page 2. The fourth phase of FDTL begins soon, and in FDTL 4 Art and Design is one of the subject areas for project funding. The subject centre has been involved in eliciting and consulting on themes for project activity in the subject so as to align project bids to the real needs of the subject community. Details will be available soon via the National Co-ordination Team website at www.ncteam.ac.uk and we will be involved in the FDTL annual conference to explore the possibilities for FDTL 4 – for details of the conference see their website. Finally, some recent staff news. Welcome to Sarah Harwin who joined us in March as a 0.5 administrative assistant, Sarah has a background in Graphic Design and has worked in local government. Tina Williams our research officer, has recently been confirmed as a full time member of staff (previously a 0.5) which will give her more time to concentrate on developments in pedagogic research supporting staff and project teams. The subject centre is developing too and I am pleased to announce that there was a lot of interest for our recently advertised posts for Academic Developers in Art and Design and in Media and Communication. In the next edition Linda Drew Subject Centre Manager Reminder: ADC-LTSNForum We would really like your department to be represented at our first annual forum on 17th July (see calendar for details). Remember to let us have the name of the person who will be attending by 31st May. Contents 1 Editorial 2 ADC News Learning & Teaching Project Funds 2 Sector News 3 Calls for Participation ADC–LTSN Contact Information: Centre Administrator Kath Bowden or Sarah Harwin Administrative Assistant LTSN Subject Centre 20 Art, Design & Communication University of Brighton, Faculty of Arts & Architectur e 68 Grand Parade, Brighton BN2 2JY Telephone/Facsimile 01273 643119 Email adc-ltsn@bton.ac.uk Internet www.bton.ac.uk/adc-ltsn In collaboration with Coventry University, the University of Dundee and the University of Ulster Delivery partners: Cumbria College of Art & Design, Falmouth College of Arts, Plymouth University, The Surrey Institute of Art & Design, University College and Swansea Institute of Higher Education 4 Funded Projects DNER Projects for Art, Design and Communication 8 Event Reports Implementing an Online Learning Environment 6 FDTL3 Projects for Art, Design and Communication 8 Book Reviews 7 Forthcoming Conferences 11 Resources 12 Calendar Supporting excellence in HE Learning & Teaching: Fine Arts, 2D and 3D Design, Film and Media Studies, Communication Studies, History of Art, History of Design Staff: Bruce Brown Director Stuart Laing Deputy Director Linda Drew Centre Manager Pauline Ridley Project Leader Staff Development Paul B Clark Publications Editor Tina Williams Research Officer Kath Bowden Centre Administrator Sarah Harwin Administrative Assistant Copyright 2001 Copyright for this published material is held by the LTSN Art, Design and Communication unless stated otherwise. Contributors may use their material elsewhere after publication without permission, but the following note should be included: “First published in the LTSN Art, Design and Communication Newsletter, issue number and date”. Permission is required for use by a third party. Opinions expressed are those of the authors. The LTSN Subject Centre for Art, Design and Communication is one of 24 subject-based centres jointly funded by the Higher Education funding Council for England, Higher Education Funding Council for Wales, The Scottish Higher Education Funding Council, and the Department of Education for Northern Ireland. We are an affiliate of the ILT. The Institute for Learning and Teaching and The Learning and Teaching Support Network can be contacted at: Genesis 3, Innovation Way, York Science Park Heslington, York YO10 5DG Telephone 01904 434222 Facsimile 01904 434241 Email enquiries@ilt.ac.uk Internet www.ilt.ac.uk Edited by Paul B Clark Designed by Daniel Eatock www.foundation33.com ISSN:1471-4035 ADC News Learning & Teaching Project Fund A collaborative approach to ensuring effective and appropriate support for students with mental health difficulties on the Art & Design Programme of Study at University College Worcester Institution: University College Worcester Sector News The ADC-LTSN Learning and Teaching Project Fund is designed to help promote the use of effective learning and teaching activities in Art, Design and Communication, to encourage the development and sharing of innovative approaches and to raise awareness of the importance of evaluating the effectiveness of educational methods. The project is underpinned by a multi-agency collaborative approach to supporting students with mental health difficulties on the Art and Design course at UCW. The project team will collaborate (drawing on expertise from outside agencies as appropriate), to identify, and work towards eliminating barriers to the curriculum, assessment, and/or the development of transferable/employability skills. Staff development and raising students’ awareness about mental health will feature as major components of this small-scale research project. The project team will share good practice and materials with the London Institute’s Disability Team who have agreed to act as their critical friends for the duration of the project. Funding Awarded £3,000 TASI, the Technical Advisory Service for Images TASI provides free help,advice and guidance for those in the Higher Education sector involved in creating or using digital images. We are very pleased to announce our upcoming programme of training workshops. Detailed information and a booking form can be found at: www.tasi.ac.uk/ training/ bookingform.html We have earmarked up to £25,000 per year to support projects; the maximum funding for any one project will normally be £5,000. The Project Fund will: • encourage a culture in which innovative developments in learning, teaching and assessment are valued and acknowledged at national level • promote good practice in the development and evaluation of innovative methods of learning, teaching and assessment • disseminate within the wider community innovative methods or materials originally developed for use within a single institution. The second phase of the ADC project funding initiative was completed on the 20th April when the five project proposals below were informed of their successful bids. The development of pedagogy in relation to learning how to lear n Institution: The London College of Fashion There is burgeoning research into approaches to learning (Marton 81), some of which is located within an art and design context (Davies 1994, Shreeve 2000). The Dearing report with its focus on concepts of graduateness emphasises the importance of learning how to learn as an essential key skill (NCIHE 1997). Thus there is wide acceptance that students should know more about their own learning. This project explores the link between research into learning how to learn and student experience. The project will identify and develop pedagogic practice in relation to the development of learning how to learn for students within the field of art and design. A pack of resources for students and a staff development pack for lecturers will be developed, piloted, trailed and circulated. Funding Awarded £5,000 Developing Web based Interactive Multimedia Resources for Art and Design Institution: Grays School of Art, The Robert Gordon University This proposal is a development of a web based multimedia resource tool for non-programmers, for the purpose of compiling online lecture based teaching resources, specifically for Art and Design. The aim of this bid is to further develop this resource by adding levels of interactivity in order to increase its effectiveness as a method. The output from this project will be a user friendly template that allows non-programmers to build multimedia documents easily and to incorporate greater levels of student feedback. Funding Awarded £5,000 2 Methodologies for learning, teaching, and assessment in art and design Institution: Nottingham Trent University and Manchester Metropolitan University In 1988 the CHEAD/CNAA Working Party on Teaching and Learning Strategies in Art and Design recorded; ‘The close tutor-student working of art and design is a quality to be respected, and it is admired by other disciplines. We do not disregard it, and certainly do not ask the tutor to withdraw from contact. We suggest however, a new purpose for that close working, through a different type of contact’. This project will investigate a range of methodologies used in learning, teaching and assessment in art and design higher education, against a background of increasing numbers of students, and the broadening of student access. Since the CHEAD/CNAA statement, a lot has changed and very little about contact has been documented. Two large Fashion & Textiles departments, at two major HE institutions, will work together in order to audit and record the methods of tutoring and assessment currently in use in both institutions, propose changes in methodologies, and begin to consider transferability across the sector. Funding Awarded £3,000 Effective Assessment in Art & Design Institution: The London Institute, Royal College of Art, Wimbledon School of Art (CLTAD) As a result of the recent Quality Review of Art and Design, The Quality Assurance Agency has reported that one of the significant areas in need o improvement in the sector is assessment. In the new Quality framework published by the QAA, there are clear expectations, for the next round of review, which relate to assessment. In particular, that there is a clear relationship between the intended learning outcomes and the criteria used to assess them, Also, it will be left to programme providers to determine how the different levels of achievement are differentiated. This project is intended to provide support for the sector in achieving these expectations. Funding Awarded £3,000 We are now inviting submissions for phase 1 of our 2001/2002 project funding. The deadline for submissions is 1 November 2001. The workshops have been tailored to the needs of image digitisation projects, as well as to those involved in using digital images in teaching and research contexts. Workshops for Image Capture include: Capture/Digitisation - Beginners Capture/Digitisation - Intermediate Capture/Digitisation - Advanced How to Photograph your original materials for digitisation Workshops for Digitisation Projects include: • Image Processing and Manipulation for Collections Setting up an image database cataloguing & metadata • Managing a Digitisation Project • Collections Management • Quality Assurance • Managing Digital Preservation • Deciding if you should digitise • In-house digitisation vs. outsourcing • You’ve digitised but now what? Workshops for Using Digital Images include: Creating images and incorporating them into Teaching, Research and Learning Materials Finding and Using Images for Teaching and Learning “Funky File Formats” The cost of the workshops are: £75 to £125 for any single practical workshop for participants from UK Higher and Further Education. Participants are welcome from outside HE/FE, but should contact TASI for details of the relevant fees. www.tasi.ac.uk/ VADS - Visual Arts Data Service The Visual Arts Data Service is delighted to announce the launch of ‘The Design Council Archive’ online image collection and the re-launch of the ‘London College of Fashion College Archive’, both accessible from: http://vads.ahds.ac.uk/search.html NEW - Design Council Archive The Design Council Archive digital image collection, produced by The Design Council Archive, Design History Research Centre, University of Brighton, as part of the JISC Image Digitisation Initiative (JIDI), comprises over 3000 images and accompanying catalogue records. The on-line collection samples the Design Council Picture Library’s development from the mid 1940s, providing a photographic survey of postwar British products and interiors, including a wide coverage of design from around the world. The collection includes unique visual records of landmark exhibitions such as ‘Britain Can Make It’ (1946) and the ‘Festival of Britain’(1951)and items as diverse as Coronation souvenirs and Alison and Peter Smithson’s House of the Future. The collection is of importance to historians of design and visual culture and also to economic, business and social historians and a valuable resource for those concerned with the study of material culture and changing patterns of design education. IMPROVED - The London College of Fashion College Archive This collection was also digitised as a result of the JIDI project, and is now being relaunched by VADS in order to bring richer and more complete catalogue records to complement the 900+ images. For the first time, access to larger images is also being made available from this collection. The London College of Fashion College Archive is a collection of historical materials which chronicle the history of the College from its origins as two early needle trade schools up until the 1970’s.This collection contains images of blackand-white and sepia photographs from the Archive depicting a wide range of subjects taught at the schools over the years. These include, fashion, design, clothing technology, dressmaking, tailoring, millinery, furriery, upholstery, embroidery, beauty, hairdressing, wigmaking, physical education, science, drama, and general studies. Also included, are images of photographs which provide an insight into events and activities related to the colleges, for example, the education of women and men, student club activities, school visits, World War II evacuations, a Royal Visit by the Queen Mother, various ceremonial openings, and the architectur e of the colleges and other buildings. These exciting new online resources join VADS’s other collections which include; The Basic Design Collection: Bretton Hall Imperial War Museum Concise Art Collection Halliwell Collection: Bretton Hall Documentary Photography: Jacob Riis Computer Aided Learning Package Millais Gallery, Southampton Institute, Archive: 1996 - 1999 Other Educated Persons: Art & Art Organisations in the East End of London 1972 - 1999 Glasgow School of Art Degree Shows Surrey Institute of Art & Design, University College Student Shows University of Portsmouth, Illustration Department Student Shows VADS URL: http://vads.ahds.ac.uk/search.html Medialib - JISCmail list for Media Librarians in Academia This list is directed at Librarians who have responsibility to researchers, academic staff and students involved in researching, teaching or studying the media. The media forms a growing part of the higher education curriculum issues that are of relevance include archives; search tools; resources; resource developments; national and international policy initiatives. You can visit the Medialib website at: www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medialib.html for instructions on how to join and to review the archives. Calls For Participation Designing Britain 1945–1975. The Visual Experience of post-war Society: A call for teachers in the Art, Design and Communication sector to contribute to the development of the DNER (the Distributed National Electronic Resource) for Learning and Teaching. First Call for Participation - An opportunity to develop a teaching and E-learning resource for the 21st century. We seek proposals for the authoring of Art, Design and Communication E-learning package modules and require expressions of interest from HE academics and practitioners with recognised experience of the sector. Each proposal should identify and describe an E-learning and teaching resource module that will utilise visual resources from the design archives held at the University of Brighton in the Design History Research Centre and complementary collections elsewhere. The emphasis of this project is on content creation, in that the selection of the materials should be determined by specific teaching and learning objectives in Art, Design and Communication. The presentation of modules will be innovative and should enhance existing teaching and learning processes. An expression of interest should be submitted to the Project Team by 11/05/2001. Each proposal will be considered and eight will be selected. The Authors whose proposals are successful will create the content and will be active members of the project. This will entail identification of the subject, specification of material then authorship and production. Each Author selected will be paid £1,500 in addition to the costs of travelling to meetings and workshops held in Brighton. For further details about the archive refer to the Design History Research Centre Archive web site: www.brighton.ac.uk/descoarchive/ For further details about the project refer to the project web page: www.jisc.ac.uk/dner/ programmes/projects/designbrit/ Contact: For an informal discussion about this project please don’t hesitate to contact any of the Project Team • Karen Peart - Project Manager T 01273 643304 E K.Peart@brighton.ac.uk • Dr Catherine Moriarty - Curator, Design History Research Centre T 01273 643219 E C.Moriarty@brighton.ac.uk • Sheridan Wiseman - Administrator T 01273 643304 E S.Wiseman@brighton.ac.uk DEBE - Developments in Economics and Business Education Conference 17 - 18 September 2001 The first Developments in Economics and Business Education conference will review the latest developments in teaching and learning practice, showcase outstanding innovations and provide a forum for the sharing of ideas and experiences. University of Bristol Monday 17th September: Teaching and Learning. Rethinking approaches and exploring effective practice: • Creative assessment • The use of case studies • Effective learning • Embedding key skills • Problem-based learning • Large / Small group teaching Tuesday 18th September - Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and its implementation Introducing the use of new technologies in learning and teaching and exploring the issues of effective integration into existing or new curricula. • Creation of online learning materials • Online assessment • Virtual seminars • Use of Virtual Learning Environments • Games and simulations • Using data • Incorporating key skills Both days will have a variety of workshops, presentations and paper sessions. You are invited to submit one or more proposals related to one or more conference themes as follows: Paper presentations (30 mins talk, 10 mins questions) Paper proposals should describe original work with evaluation of outcomes or proposals for evaluation. Poster presentations Criteria are the same as for paper proposals, but caninclude works in progress. Posters will be displayed throughout the conference, but ther e will also be a dedicated session to give delegates an opportunity to discuss with poster presenters. Workshop/Discussion sessions (60 mins) These sessions provide an opportunity to address the conference themes more interactively, allowing colleagues from different institutions to share their views and experiences. All accepted abstracts will be published on the Web site before the conference and included in the conference handbook. Submission details: Please see the online form available from: www.economics.ltsn.ac.uk/debe/ Address for Proposals/correspondence: Project Bids for Designing Britain Design History Research Centre Faculty of Arts and Architecture University of Brighton 68 Grand Parade Brighton BN2 2JY 3 Funded Projects DNER Projects for Art, Design & Communication Adding value to the UK’s learning, teaching and research resources: the Distributed National Electronic Resource (DNER) The DNER is the networked environment that provides users in further and higher education with a range of digital collections and advisory services to support their use. Its cornerstone is the development of a managed and mediated environment for accessing quality assured information resources on the Internet. These resources include textbooks, journals, monographs, theses, abstracts, manuscripts, maps, music scores, still images, geospatial images and other kinds of data, as well as moving picture and sound collections. 3. Crafts Study Centre. Led by the Surrey Institute of Art and Design, University College. 4. Designing Britain 1945-1975: the experience of Post-War Society. Led by the University of Brighton. 5. Textile Images. Led by the Surrey Institute of Art and Design University College. 6. FILTER: Focusing Images for Learning and teaching - an Enriched Resource. Led by ILRT, Bristol There are also three smaller projects to enhance existing JISC services for image collection based at ILRT, VADS and TASI. Further information about these projects, and the rest of the projects funded to develop and enhance the DNER for learning and teaching can be found at: www.jisc.ac.uk/dner/ Sue Gollifer, Dissemination Officer London Institute s.gollifer@linst.ac.uk The DNER can be thought of as having two components: • The underlying information environment: how to find, access and disseminate quality information resources. • A collection of information resources (referred to as “content”) of particular value to the research and education community. The DNER has the potential to provide real improvements in the presentation of educational resources and associated services. One of the principles behind the DNER is that it is not a centralised service, and does not rely on a single dedicated entry point. In fact it is possible, and even desirable, that end users in the education sector will already be using parts of the DNER without being directly aware of it. The overall aim is an environment integrated with and embedded in the fabric of learning, teaching and research. As a complex and rich environment the DNER will by nature undergo a process of continuous evolution and development. Some would argue that educational resources have always been distributed throughout the libraries, museums and archives of the UK, and thus a nascent DNER has always existed. The DNER programme and other activities led by the DNER programme office are intended to cement the technical infrastructur e of the DNER and also re-articulate the concept of a shared national information resource in an evolving network space. There is therefore an inherent challenge in this development. The stakeholders in the DNER are the UK HE and FE education community, other users of the UK networks such as the National Grid for Learning, the New Library Network, the National Electronic Library for Health and the emerging network of information providers, including libraries, museums, data archives and galleries; the international academic and learning community and data creators and publishers. Recent successful bids in the subject area bids for the JISC Enhancing the DNER for Learning and Teaching, Circular 5/99 Programme Area B: Enhancing JISC Services for Learning and Teaching are: 1. ArtWorld: Resources for learning and teaching in world art. Led by the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts at the University of East Anglia. 2. BuilDNER - Building Image Database. Led by South Bank University 4 Department of East Asian Studies from University of Durham. The Far Eastern Department, Victoria and Albert Museum is a proposed third consortium member from the later stages of the project. For further information contact: Paul Child, Project Manager: ArtWorld Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts University of East Anglia Norwich NR4 7TJ T +44 1603 593246 F +44 1603 259401 E p.child@uea.ac.uk BuilDNER A project to create a digital bank of building images for the DNER The Learning Information Technology Centre (LICT) at South Bank University have been funded through the JISC under the 5/99 programme for a 12 month project to digitise approximately 20,000 pre-indexed 35mm slides of buildings and architectural features, after which the digital images will be mounted in the VADS JISC funded repository for wide dissemination. SBU’s Library has long held a buildings slide collection, now totalling over 40,000 slides collected by the Faculty of the Built Environment. The collection comprises purchased slides, slides developed from photographs in books and an estimated 20,000 original slides over which SBU has full rights The collection is indexed according to the Building Industry Thesaurus and is now a web compliant database working under the softwar e package DBTextWorks. The index is accessible at: www.lisa.sbu.ac.uk/slides/. The slides collection has been routinely exploited over the years by Built Environment teaching staff for the compilation of presentations, seminars, etc and by students undertaking research. Image from ArtWorld archive- Little Dancer aged fouteen years. Edgar Degas (1834-1917) Digitisation is being carried out by iBase, www.ibase.com/ following SBU’s Tendering procedure, in accordance TASI guidance found at: www.tasi.ac.uk/building/jidi.html. ArtWorld ArtWorld is a three-year JISC funded project relating to the provision of digital images and associated resources for the enhancement of learning and teaching in world art studies across a partnership group of museums, art galleries and academic departments. The project is managed by Paul Sandford, Researcher in LITC, overseen by John Akeroyd, Head of LIS at SBU. A project website has been set up at: litc.sbu.ac.uk/buildner In part the project has arisen from a need to address some of the most persistent problems in teaching and learning from world art and archaeology collections: objects are often widely dispersed, out of context and too fragile to interrogate effectively. Recent developments in technology have made it possible to solve some of these problems. Digital recording and the latest broadcast media allow intense scrutiny of otherwise inaccessible objects to a greater number of people, whether learners or teachers. The Sainsbury Centre and its partners wer e ideally placed to carry out this project given their wide experience, innovative teaching methods and strong interest in new technology. This project is a collaboration between University of East Anglia and the University of Durham and includes: the: Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts; Sainsbury Research Unit; School of World Art Studies and Museology from UEA and The Oriental Museum; Department of Archaeology; Department of Anthropology; and the The Crafts Study Centre Collection and Archive: CSCCA The CSCCA digitisation project is a collaboration between the Surrey Institute of Art and Design University College and the Study Centre. The aim is to digitise images of all artefacts in the Centre’s collection of 20th century crafts, together with textual items from part of the archive. This will produce a total resource of 3000 images from the collection and 1000 images of documents relating to modern craft – a subject which has little material to serve it at present - and be delivered finally through the Visual Arts Data Service (VADS). The project will benefit from interoperability with VADS’ other collections and the work VADS is doing to promote the use of its collections for teaching and learning. Ultimately, the project addresses the propagation of teaching and learning through access to the collections and serves the needs and interests of makers, critics, scholars, researchers and enthusiasts of contemporary crafts. For further information on the project, contact Paul Sandford: sandfopa@sbu.ac.uk Marion Wilks, Project Director: E mwilks@surrart.ac.uk Barley Roscoe, Project Manager: E broscoe@surrart.ac.uk Chris Casey, Photographer E ccasey@surrart.ac.uk Michael Eadie, Project Assistant: E meadie@surrart.ac.uk Surrey Institute of Art and Design, University College, Farnham Campus Falkner Road, Farnham, Sur rey, GU9 7DS T/F 01252 719550 The project shares the goal of the VADS project Promoting the use of on-line image collections in learning and teaching in the visual arts (PICTIVA) and it will collaborate closely with VADS on this initiative. Contact Details: Project Manager - Karen Peart Project Administrator -Sheridan Wiseman Design History Research Centre Faculty of Arts and Architecture University of Brighton 68 Grand Parade, Brighton BN2 2JY T 01273 643304 Textile Images This project is devoted to the digitisation of the Textile Collection at The Surrey Institute of Art and Design University College. This collection was initiated in the textile department in the early 1950’s, by Ella McLeod, as a teaching aid to support her philosophy of learning through doing. Image from the CSCCA- Raku Model of Workshopand Kiln at Abiko, 1917 Designing Britain 1945-1975. The Visual Experience of Post-War Society: a project to contribute to the development of the DNER for Learning and Teaching This project, based at the Faculty of Arts and Architecture at the University of Brighton, seeks to enhance access to the resources housed within its expanding Design History Research Centr e (DHRC) Archives and associated sur rogate collections. The DHRC Archives form a unique body of material which chart the history of British design in the twentieth centur y. Since 1993 the University of Brighton has committed considerable expenditure on maintaining and developing the DHRC Archives and making them available to ever widening communities. For instance, a recent incentive project has enabled digital access to three thousand images via the Visual Arts Data Service (VADS). The objective of this project is to enhance course curriculum and learning experiences by creating new electronic teaching and learning visual resources. The source material will derive from archival collections that are recognised as significant to the study of design and visual culture. At the outset teachers will be invited to use the collections as a source to identify material for digital learning and to author learning modules. Templates will then be developed to reconfigure the chosen content, utilising innovative presentation technologies. The end product will consist of a number of modules incorporating visual resources aimed at and delivered to the HE community. The method will be through VADS to the relevant JISC Data Service or Centre in order to fit into the JISC Virtual Image Service (VIS) framework. (See our Call for Participation on page 3) Complementary materials will also be included from other institutions such as the Design Collection at the Arts Institute at Bournemouth. A broad based collection covering a variety of historical and contemporary cloths, illustrating a wide range of qualities and techniques, it has throughout the years benefited from generous bequests and gifts , and now consists of some 2,000 artefacts. Muriel Rose, patron of the crafts from the 1920’s and crafts officer of the British Council in the 1950’s, bequeathed a valuable collection, including block printed textiles produced by the influential craftswomen, Phylis Baron and Dorothy Larcher. Further examples of printed textiles include a collection of English and French engraved roller prints from 17501850 and work by significant contributors to the subject through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries - William Morris, Joyce Chisolm, Enid Marx, Susan Bosence and Sally Greaves-Lord. Examples of woven textiles range from a collection of Coptic textiles from 800-100 AD through to an extensive collection of British woollen cloths, Kashmir shawls, African strip weaving and Scandinavian furnishing fabrics from 1950-1990. The collection includes work by notable designers and handweavers of the twentieth century - Alice Hindson, Paula Trock, Rita Beales and Peter Collingwood. Amelia Aden: E auden@surrart.ac.uk Linda Brassington: E lbrassington@surrart.ac.uk The FILTER Project Focusing Images for Learning and Teaching. The ILRT (Institute for Learning & Research Technology) recently received funding from the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) for the Focusing Images for Learning and Teaching an Enriched Resource project (FILTER). FILTER will build on experience gained from the successful Bristol BioMed Image Archive project (www.brisbio.ac.uk/) by examining further the use of images for learning and teaching in specific subject areas. The FILTER team will work with six Learning Technology Support Network Subject Centres (Engineering; Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences; History, Classics and Archaeology; Information and Computer Sciences; Physical Sciences; Sociology, Anthropology and Politics) to develop examples of image datasets. These datasets will demonstrate practical pedagogical applications for a range of image types in subject-specific areas. They will be accompanied by supporting documentation such as “How-to” guides and case studies, as well as descriptive metadata to facilitate searching and retrieval of resources. The sets will be stored in a database that will be made available on the Web for learning and teaching purposes. The project will start in April 2001 and run for two years. For further information contact: Jill Evans ILRT T 0117 928 7164 E jill.evans@bristol.ac.uk The overarching purpose of the textile collection has always been to provide actual examples, which students are encouraged to handle,and use as a primary source for study. The collection aims to develop students critical judgement and aesthetic awareness and to stimulate discover y and encourage innovation. The digital image quality is therefore of considerable importance, to enable us to capture some of the more subtle qualities of the artefacts. We aim to focus on a section of the collection creating a series of images of each object showing specific elements and details. The images will be supported by text and the database structured to enable the user to follow strands of exploration giving the facility to research personal interests and directions. Image from BuilDNER archive - Windmill shop at Alton Towers The digitisation project will enhance and support this effective teaching resource, widening availability and access both to our students and beyond. Eventually linking with other collections, enabling a rich cross fertilisation of information and high quality images to be accessible to scholars, practitioners and educationalists. We are already working with the Crafts Study centre and we hope to build on this exciting new development. 5 FDTL3 Projects for Art, Design & Communication Projects funded under phase three of the Fund for the Development of Teaching and Learning (FDTL), a HEFCE and DHFETE funded initiative. The following are the three cur rent projects that relate to our subjects areas. There will be more Art and Design projects in the next round of projects, FDTL4. GWAMP - Group Working Assessment in Media Production In the Subject review for Communication and Media, the QAA identified a particular problem in the assessment of collaborative work in media production. The Media School at Bournemouth University has initiated a project to help resolve this problem. The project has been called GWAMP, an unforgettable anagram of ‘Group Working Assessment in Media Production’. The three-year FDTL phase 3 project seeks to identify good practice in assessment in this area, and to support changes, where appropriate, to assessment strategies. The target audience is all academic staff involved in the teaching of media production. Three partner institutions, Liverpool John Moores University, Cheltenham and Gloucester College of Higher Education and Bournemouth University –together with the LTSN Subject Centre in Art, Design and Communication- are working to identify and produce video case studies of group work assessment. The dissemination strategy will involve workshops in institutions across the country to stimulate debate and change. In addition, a website including e-mail discussion groups, bulletin boards and source materials will be established and maintained for the duration of the project and beyond. Finally, a conference will aim to share best practice with other subject areas. The project will be evaluated externally by London Guildhall University. As the recently appointed Project Manager for GWAMP (replacing Jaldeep Katwala) I am building a website which will become a central resource of information and advice. As well as taking some time to soak up information like a sponge, I am also preparing questionnaires for distribution to HE institutions across the country to survey the extent of group working assessment in media production courses throughout the sector. In my role as a lecturer for the Bournemouth Media School I often find myself marking group work and I therefore understand the problems of this form of assessment. Group project work is essential as industry practice depends on people working together and the industry sees group work as an important transferable skill for graduates. Over the next few years as GWAMP progresses we should begin to see a greater awareness of the issues, and the sharing of good practice in group working assessment. Andrew Ireland Project Manager E aireland@bournemouth.ac.uk www.gwamp.com 6 GLAADH: Globalising Art, Architecture and Design History GLAADH is a new project for teachers of art, architecture and design history in Higher Education institutions across the UK. Funded by the Fund for Development of Teaching and Learning supported by HEFCE, the project is managed jointly by art and design historians at the University of Sussex, Open University and Middlesex University. Over the next three years, it seeks to encourage, enable and embed cultural diversity in the Art, Architecture and Design History curriculum. We start from the premise that much of the current range of teaching in the subject was not properly identified in the last round of Subject Review. To help redress the balance, we will identify existing good practise amongst the 45 Universities reviewed. We aim to highlight, promote and support emerging teaching and learning strategies in the subject, appropriate to a multicultural society within a global context. The project will launch relevant staff development initiatives to help teachers across the UK integrate the arts of less traditionally studied regions, including Asia, Africa and the Americas, into the curriculum. It will supply advice and practical resources, including new teaching and learning materials, to those seeking to develop new project specifications which will help broaden the curriculum in art, architecture and design history. Information about the project will be available through a website and newsletter, used to disseminate examples of good practise, and issues and debates related to cultural diversity, as well as providing support in curriculum development. In the first year GLAAD will: • Carry out a survey of existing provision amongst 45 Universities that were monitored in the the last Subject Review • Support the plenary session at the AAH conference to stimulate discussion • Launch its website and newsletter • Hold a conference for interested teachers of art, architecture and design history In the second year GLAADH will: • Develop its website with case studies of teaching and learning materials • Develop a resources guide • Identify a number of sub-projects for more intensive collaboration In the third year GLAADH will: • Hold a series of regional workshops, and a summer school • Develop web-based teaching materials The project management team consists of: University of Sussex: Professor Craig Clunas and Norma Rosso (Project Manager) Open University: Dr Catherine King and Viviana Narotzky (Project Research Officer) Middlesex University: Dr Simon Ofield and Leon Wainwright (Project Research Officer). For further information please contact: Norma Rosso, GLAADH Project Manager, Essex House, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton BN1 9RQ, T 01273-606755 F 01273-678644 E N.Rosso@sussex.ac.uk Employability and the Media Studies Curriculum Attacks on and negative representations of Media Studies courses in the press over the last decade have not stemmed the popularity of, or the range of, undergraduate media related courses on offer. Media academics have been concerned that these criticisms obscure factual evidence about the quality of media courses and the employability of Media Studies graduates. Recent figures show that Cultural, Communications and Media Studies graduates are more likely to find employment than graduates in cognate disciplines (SCCCMS, 1996). In order to assess these perceptions four universities, Sunderland, Central England, De Montfort and Sheffield Hallam, all of whom have an excellent record (endorsed by QAA) in Media, Cultural and Communications Studies, have joined in this FDTL research partnership. A second tier of institutions (yet to be identified) will take part in development and dissemination workshops in years two and three of the project. The three-year project aims to examine: • the ways in which skills which enhance employability can best be developed within the Media Studies Curriculum; • the ways in which such curriculum elements and their related pedagogies can best be integrated within the wider curriculum; • the success of these curriculum elements in terms of the production of both specific learning outcomes and transferable (key) skills; • the degree to which such curriculum elements enhance the employability of graduates who have taken them. Year One of the project consists of conducting a survey across the four partner institutions and is concerned with identifying a matrix of skills (specific and transferable) which are felt to enhance the employability of Media Studies graduates. Preliminary findings indicate three destinations which media studies graduates enter: media jobs, media related jobs and generic graduate jobs. These are based on the perception that media studies degrees develop three kinds of skills in its students: specific (production skills, media knowledge etc.), academic (research etc.) and generic (teamworking and so on). Participants of the survey have identified the work placement/experience option, the production of a showreel/portfolio of work; the combination of theory and practice and self directed study as specific strengths of media studies degrees. It is the combination of the above mentioned aspects, specific to Media Studies programmes, that develop graduates who are confident, outward looking and have the ability to work on their own initiative in media and non media industries. Years two and three of the project will produce and disseminate (through a conference, workshops and web materials) criteria for and models of good practice in the design, content and organisation of curriculum and pedagogic practice within a broad-based undergraduate Media Studies Curriculum For further information please contact the Project Administrator: Vicky Ball, School of Arts, Design and Media, Forster Building, Chester Road, Sunderland, SR1 3SD, T 0191 5152101 or at vicky.ball@sunderland.ac.uk Living in a Material World III (2001) We are now taking bookings for this international, inter-disciplinary conference; the third in this series. This year it will be taking place at the University of Brighton, 25-27 June, in association with the series’ originators, Coventry University. The theme, ‘Navigating the Material World’, has been responded to by contributors from the fields of history; literature; social science; psychogeography; cultural geography; media, cultural and material culture studies: as well as generating perspectives from practitioners in the production of material culture. For further details and booking information, please refer to the web site which is being continuously updated with new abstracts and programme highlights, or e-mail the organisers at liam@brighton.ac.uk with any queries. ‘Navigating the Material World’ carries within it the idea of the many ways in which we traverse, interpret and make comprehensible the territories we inhabit. Engagements with the material world are multiple, diverse, overlapping, imaginary, virtual. Emotional, political, commercial and geographical negotiations are part of increasingly complex lives in which the voyages made do not necessarily cover ground but may cover time, space, or cyber-space. It poses the question: By what means do we plot our route? Lesley Whitworth, Design History Research Centre, University of Brighton www.brighton.ac.uk/liam/ Radiodyssey University Of Sussex July 19th- 21st An international conference of the Radio Studies Network and University of Sussex.This conference will draw on research and ideas from the UK, Europe and beyond, to assess the present state and future prospects of radio, focussing in particular on its place in contemporary European cultures after a decade of deregulation and reconstruction. Papers will cover issues that cur rently engage broadcasters and academics, for whom, from whatever discipline – media studies, cultural studies, economics, history, politics, anthropology, sociology, politics or drama - radio is important. The organisers are keen to group papers around the following sessions: • Radio Audiences • Music Radio • Radio Futures • Public Service Broadcasting in a Commercial Era in Europe • Internet Radio and Radio Ar t • Teaching and Learning in Radio • Radio and Media History • Programmes and Producers • Radio Policymaking 2001: a Radiodyssey will appeal to academics, researchers, broadcasters and journalists – or, indeed, anyone with an interest in radio. Keynote speakers who have been invited include the US media historian Michele Hilmes (whose Forthcoming Conferences keynote address, will be: "British Quality, American Chaos: Historical Dualisms and What They Leave Out"), the official historian of the BBC Jean Seaton, the Canadian musician and theorist Jody Berland, the Controller of BBC Radio One Andy Parfitt, and the renowned radio producer Piers Plowright. There will be sessions on European Radio in a Commercial Era, Radio Audiences, Listening, Teaching and Learning Radio, Radio and Media History, Radio and the Music Industr y, Women and Radio, Programmes and Perceptions of Radio, Radio Archives, Identity and Citizenship, RSLs and Community Radio. Contributors from as far a-field as California, Australia, Poland and Sweden – as well as from the UK - will deliver papers on subjects as diverse as ‘Music, Radio and the Internet’, Postdevolution Radio in the UK, Prison Radio, Muslim Radio, Radio and the Record Industr y, Oral History, Radio Drama, Test Match Special, and Children’s Broadcasting. New research findings on the extent of radio teaching in the UK and on the employability of radio students will be unveiled at the conference, and plans for a new journal devoted to the study of Radio will be announced. Delegates to 2001: a Radiodyssey will also be able to attend an ESRC-sponsored Seminar on ‘The Future of Radio’, which includes presentations on digital radio and radio drama’s new-found relationship with film. There will be round-table discussions, the opportunity to meet and talk informally over drinks and meals, some radio entertainment, and at least one session – ‘The Early Review’ – in which journalists, producers and academics will come together to listen to – and criticize - new and ‘lost’ radio programmes. Delegates will also get the opportunity to explore Brighton during free time on the Friday evening. Residential accommodation is available on the University of Sussex campus for the night of 20 July, where the conference itself will also take place. Early registration is recommended. Details of registration and cost can be found at our website: www.bournemouth.ac.uk/ radiodyssey/programme.html David Hendy, Radio Studies Network: School of Communication & Creative Industries, University of Westminster, Northwick Park, Harrow HA1 3TP. T +44 020 7911 5800 x4755 F +44 020 7911 5943 E hendyd@wmin.ac.uk and davidjhendy@yahoo.co.uk T 020 7911 5800 x4755. 7th European Conference on Creativity and Innovation Organised by The European Association for Creativity and Innovation (EACI) December 9, 2001 - December 12, 2001 and will take place in the Netherlands at the campus of the University of Twente. In the tradition of the EACI the conference will be a meeting place for practitioners from industry, academic researchers and professional consultants. All participants will be encouraged to give a presentation; be it either an academic paper presentation, a small creativity workshop or a presentation of a new innovation tool. For participation in the professional programme no formal screening is foreseen. Everyone who wants to present something is allowed to do so. Only the time schedule of the conference gives limitations. For the academic programme however there will be a screening procedure. Academic researchers are encouraged to send in papers in the fields of creativity and innovation. All papers should be based on empirical research and should meet the normal academic standards. The conference language will be English. Pre-register today through our website www.eaci.net to make sure you will have a spot on the conference. Free Conference Listings The British Education Index and Education-Line provide an education conference listings service at: www.leeds.ac.uk/educol/conflist.htm The service is free, and freely accessible, with current readership at about 50 visits per day, and steadily rising. They are keen to include all major conferences. There is an on-line form to submit which makes the process of advertising very easy. The form is at: www.leeds.ac.uk/educol/confnot.htm The conference itself has been supported by: Radio Studies Network, University of Sussex, the British Academy, the Radio Authority, the Radio Advertising Bureau, and GWR. The seminar on ‘The Future of Radio’ is part of the ‘Radio, Culture and Society’ series funded by the ESRC. General enquiries to: Dr Kate Lacey, Radio Studies Network: School of European Studies, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton BN1 9QN. T +44 1273 606755 x 2088 F +44 1273 623246; E k.lacey@sussex.ac.uk). Sally Grant, Secretary, Academic Services, Bournemouth University, Talbot Campus, Fern Barrow, Poole, Dorset, BH12 5BB T +44 1202 595725 F +44 1202 595475 E sgrant@bournemouth.ac.uk 7 Event Reports Implementing an Online Learning Environment: A Total University Experience at Coventry University, 7th December 2000 This event focused on the introduction of WebCT across the university and the management of change, offering opportunities to explore and debate the implementation of online learning. Andy Syson, Head of Learning Technology, presented the student view of WebCT and explained the nature of the use of the software at Coventry, which is in its second year of operation. Every student is registered on the WebCT system and every module is set up with a course template, incorporating minimal tools, for the module tutor to use and modify as they wish. Tutors do not have to use the WebCT facilities for their course, but are encouraged to do so. Currently 20% of the 2800 online modules are actively used, and there are 76500 student accounts on the system. Coventry have built their own front end to WebCT which asks the student or tutor for their username and then takes them straight to a list of the modules on which they are registered. The system reads off the administration records (which already existed as an integrated system) and so all information relating to the student is valid and any changes are automatically updated. Students and tutors can click on modules from their list to access them via a password. Each module has e-mail, a discussion board, content pages, an assessment area, a student area where marks and progress can be viewed, and a help page. All link to the university homepage, the library catalogue, a study skills page, old exam papers and careers. Frances Deepwell, from the Centre for Higher Education Development (CHED), talked about staff development and supporting change. The role of CHED is to ease the way towards an integrated online learning environment for staf f and students. At Coventry, there was a managed, universitywide implementation of WebCT. The decision was top-down and championed by the vice-chancellor. The process involved a £1 million investment in a ‘Task Force’ acting as agents for change, set up in 1997. Each subject centre had a member of the Task Force acting as a ‘champion for change’ and organising staff development. WebCT was not imposed on staff but it is the only online learning package supported by the university. A WebCT Management Group has been set up to deal with the system, including members of the Computer Centre, as a sub-group of the Teaching and Learning Committee. The commitment to WebCT and online learning has been written into Coventry University’s Teaching and Learning Strategy. 8 The system is being evaluated at different levels. Key findings so far indicate the need for online registration to modules, improvement to the student record system, a continued staff development programme, and for the schools to take ownership of the student induction process. The vast majority of student opinions collected are in praise of the system. Book Reviews British Television: A Reader Edited by Edward Buscombe Reviewed by Jane Barford A presentation from Anne Davidson demonstrated her own innovative use of WebCT for teaching her modules, giving advice and suggestions for tutors, and the afternoon was dedicated to hands-on experience of the communication, content and assessment aspects of the software. Comment: The day was informative and interesting but would have benefited from mor e information and discussion on the reasons behind Coventry’s commitment to online learning, given that a huge amount of money had been spent and only 20% of modules were actively using WebCT. The underlying pedagogy was not considered in any of the presentations, and as use of the electronic facilities is not yet compulsory it would be interesting to know the level and nature of student use. Perhaps, though, Coventry’s initiative should be seen as one still in its infancy and it is possible that the adoption of WebCT will provide the university with future opportunities for new ways of learning and teaching, as well as an integrated and automated administration system. Christina Williams Research Officer ADC-LTSN E c.m.williams@bton.ac.uk Edward Buscombe’s book is a well produced volume organised in two parts, containing fifteen chapters and featuring a range of contributors with established reputations in the field of Media. Part one deals with the histories, structures and economies of the television industry in Britain, and part two looks at programmes and programme content. The book is constructed as a series of vignettes that may be used as stand-alone chapters within a coherent whole. Such a structure facilitates student sampling of a range of viewpoints and academic opinion that can be used to support specific topic areas or reinforce a general knowledge base. A particularly pertinent example is Buscombe’s coverage of the history of British television. Much has been written on the history of British television, from Reith himself (1924) via Briggs (1961, 1965), to Seymour-Ure (1996) but for a generation who have grown up with television it is history that does not immediately relate to their experience. Buscombe’s cogent and reflective Introduction, coupled with Paddy Scannel’s conceptual analysis of Public Service Broadcasting in chapter two provide a useful foundation for generic undergraduate modules in media and culture, and have relevance for optional modules on structure and control of media industries or media and communication. Students are also likely to feel distanced from the political context in which the BBC, and latterly commercial television, were instituted and developed. This book goes some way to addressing this difficulty, particularly in Sylvia Hartley’s highly factual and grounded chapter on Channel Four Television. Coverage includes the contribution of major players and stakeholders in that venture, and has useful statistical information on programme costs and ratings that firmly place television as an industry competing with other media industries. Students studying modules on multimedia publishing or media engineering would benefit from the business aspects of this chapter. As a former media professional, I am well aware of the gulf between media practice and academic theory, or more accurately, between practitioners in either field. Buscombe brings a clear-eyed approach to both theory and practice in his book and steers clear of any sentimentality in his choice of contributory chapters. These range from the highly personal, with Andy Medhurst’s retrospective and affectionate work on Gilber t Harding as an unlikely media role model, to Annette Hill’s contemporary Crime and Crisis: British Reality TV in Action. Her chapter references current concerns about the television industry: declining standards, negative influences on children, and the ever-blurring line between documentary and drama, but emphasises the popularity of the genre with audiences. In doing so she raises political and social issues provides useful discussion points to build on. Similarly Graham Murdock’s treatise on broadcasting finance and public culture explores the contradictions and contrasts between public service broadcasting, “something held in trust and in law for every citizen” (Potter:1993), and commercial television, “first and last a business” (p.118). Murdock contrasts the traditional British perception of audiences as citizens with the American perception of audiences as consumers, and contributes directly to the debate, evoked elsewhere in the book, on whether television content may be studied in isolation from its social and economic imperatives. Such topics, particularly in our current climate of “joined-up” teaching, encourage students to adopt a crossmodule attitude to the application of theories, themes and concepts, and is highly pertinent in terms of their learning outcomes at degree level. Part two of British television: A Reader reinforces this thematic approach in its discussion of programmes, particularly in its coverage of audiences and their relationship with media texts. David Buckingham’s trenchant 1997 work on Creating the Audience, (again firmly grounded in industry needs), and Christine Geraghty’s seminal work on soap opera lead into Postmodernist evaluation of masculinities (Whannel) and work on sitcom and textual framing. From a research viewpoint I was particularly struck by Tom O’Regan’s chapter on The International Circulation of British Television; which examines the factors contributing to the popularity (and marketability) of British television products. One of these is the marketing of “Britishness” as a cultural value. Having recently published work on this myself I am well aware of its social (and political) relevance (Barford: 2000). Given the multi-cultural nature of UCE’s, and other urban universities’ target student populations, this topic area is a vibrant one for work done in popular culture or heritage and tourism modules and a basis for individual research projects. Contrary to some texts on television, Edward Buscombe’s book is capable of engaging students’ imagination at undergraduate level and providing a stimulating introduction for conversion students at postgraduate level. The content is well-chosen and intellectually diverse, and the editor provides a constructive guide to further reading in an excellent bibliography. This is a very timely and relevant textbook. References Barford, Jane A. Looking for a New England: Cultural Constructs in a Devolved Britain (in) Approaching a New Millennium: Lessons from the Past – prospects for the Future. Proceedings of the 7th. conference of the International Society for the Study of European Ideas (ISSEI) 14-18 August 2000, University of Bergen. Published by the HIT centre at the University of Bergen for ISSEI on CD ROM. Briggs, A. (1961) The Birth of Broadcasting: The History of Broadcasting in the United Kingdom, volume 1. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1961. Briggs, A. (1965) The Golden Age of Wireless: The History of Broadcasting in the United Kingdom, volume 2. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1965. Potter, Dennis, Occupying Power, Guardian, 28 Aug. 1993, 21. Reith, J. (1924) Broadcast over Britain. London: Hodder and Stoughton. Seymour-Ure, Colin (1996) The British Press and Broadcasting since 1945. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. British Television: A Reader Edited by Edward Buscombe Published by Oxford University Press 2000 ISBN 0-19-874265-7 362pp Paperback £15.99 Jane Barford, Senior lecturer, School of Information Studies, University of Central England Email: jane.barford@uce.ac.uk Benchmarking for Higher Education Edited by Norman Jackson and Helen Lund Reviewed by David Buss It may seem premature to publish a book on Benchmarking in Higher Education when only half of the 42 groups have completed their Subject Benchmarking Statements, but this collection of articles considers benchmarking across a much wider field than the current QAA exercise. The editors, Norman Jackson and Helen Lund, have brought together papers which they have grouped into three sections to consider how benchmarking can Improve the Quality of Educational Practice and Regulate Standards; Improve the Quality of Administrative and Business Processes and Services to Support HE; and thirdly How Benchmarking works in other HE Systems and Transnational Benchmarking. The concept of benchmarking originates from the practice of surveyor ’s use of a permanent reference point against which levels can be compared and measured. Any thoughts that it is therefore a simply process to apply to Higher Education are quickly dispelled as we are introduced to various forms of benchmarking which can be developmental, regulatory, implicit/explicit, independent/collaborative, internally/externally focused – the latter of which can be competitive, functional or generic. The process can be vertical or horizontal, qualitative or quantitative. We can benchmark against descriptors, specifications, or examples of practice. Benchmarking can and has been used in Higher Education to compare and evaluate curricula frameworks, learning outcomes (subject specific and generic), assessment practices and regulations, departmental performance, degree performance, the learning environment, quality management systems, the student experience, student recruitment, the learning infrastructure, and no doubt – sooner or later – benchmarking itself will be benchmarked. The three principal sections of the book are preceded by two chapters in which the editors introduce the reader to the definitions, methodologies and conceptual vocabularies of benchmarking, followed by an historical contextualising of the subject. While the authors concede that there are many definitions of benchmarking (reflecting different personal interpretations of process and outcomes), there is a consensus that the exercise involves identifying reference or criterion against which something can be measured to facilitate comparison and evaluation for improvement, accountability and/or regulation. Mantze Yorke argues that we have actually been benchmarking in Higher Education for some considerable time without realizing it, for example, through student questionnaires and the external examining system, although the latter is a form of Benchmarking which is unstructured, unsystematic and largely implicit. Given the topicality of the subject for Art and Design, many of you reading this review will, like me, turn first to chapter 7 Benchmarking the Outcomes of Learning in which Norman Jackson and Vaneeta D’Andrea consider the findings of the initial pilot scheme which involved three subjects – Chemist ry, History and Law. Working to the QAA’s brief that the Benchmarking Statements should focus on the general intellectual outcomes of learning in a subject rather than defining curric ular content, these three groups produced radically different outcomes which the authors compare and then analyse the possibilities, difficulties and limitations of the benchmarking process. It was suggested at the time that the Lawyers had p roduced a set of rules, the Chemists had p roduced a set of formulae, and the Historians had written an essay. Joking apart, the pilot scheme illustrated quite emphatically at the outset that int erventions designed to influence academic st and ards are most likely to be successful if applied through the subject community. With only three Benchmark Statements available to the authors, the rest of this chapter is more speculative, anticipating what might result from the total exercise. In part ic ular, they highlight the implications of Subject Benchmarking for teaching, learning and assessment, and the need for the benchmark information to be combined with c urriculum mapping. Benchmarking demands a large-scale movement from the traditional norm referenced compensation assessment model t ow ards a criterion-referenced system, which would in turn, bring about consistent interpret at ion and implementation by assessors, external examiners and academic review ers. Yes please! Mantze Yorke contributes a chapter which raises questions about the value of benchmarking. Following the Dearing Report, benchmarking has acquired a meaning which is driven by the imperative of regulation and conformance with pre-specified standards. Whilst acknowledging that they can be useful for various purposes, the author draws our attention to what he perceives to be the potentially adverse effects of benchmarking. He warns that precise specification of outcomes and standards will be unwieldy and acknowledged more in the breach than in the ob servanc e, and may constrain the freedom of st ud ent ’s to test and challenge the boundaries of their subject. Nor do they provide informat ion about how to improve matters. Most import ant ly, the author claims that benchmarks inevitably miss out a lot of the essence of the truly higher education experience. 9 This book provides a useful and informat ive overview of a process which is a popular tool for self-evaluation and self-improvement in industry and commerc e and which is now being inc reasingly employed within education. To what extent Higher Education will improve as a consequence of Subject Benchmarking will not be evident for some years to come, but the positive and cooperative response made by the Art and Design community to Subject Benchmarking goes a long way towards the developmental benchmarking model favoured by Mantze Yorke and which is characterised by voluntarism, mutual t rust, and a primary commitment to selfd et ermined improvement . I for one would welcome a further publication which compares, analyses and evaluates the full 42 Subject Benchmark Statements once these have all been published later this year. Benchmarking for Higher Education Edited by Norman Jackson and Helen Lund Published by SRHE and Open University Press 2000 ISBN 0335 204538 (pb) £25.00 ISBN 0335 20454 6 (hb) £65.00 David Buss, Chair of the Art and Design Subject Benchmarking Group. E DBUSS@KIAD.AC.UK The Cyberc ult ures Reader, edited by David Bell and Barbara M. Kennedy Reviewed by Eryl Price-Davies Cyb erc ult ures has developed an increasingly high p rofile on a wide range of courses within UK Higher Education over the past five years. Many of these courses focus on a range of practical/ technical issues, such as web-site design, but alongside these there are also a significant number of courses that offer students op p ortunities to engage with a series of broad lybased theoretical debates, loosely group ed around the social uses of computer- b ased communication technologies. It is this latter group of courses for which this edited collection aims. Defining ‘cyberc ult ures’ is far from straightforward. No single widely accepted definition exists, instead there is a bewildering array of competing definitions – all of which claim, to a greater or lesser extent, to map the contours of this wide and disparate area. To outline just three: Douglas Rushkoff describes it in terms of a ‘do-ityourself’ approach to cultural production and consumption. He coins the phrase ‘electronica’ to describe a culture of musicians, ravers, clubbers, digital samplers, and Internet users. His perspective is focused on the localised use of communication technologies, such as sampling, digital rec ording/editing, and multimedia projec t s. Linked to this is a simultaneous suspicious d ist rust of, and fascination with multinational capitalism, and its corporate struc t ures. Thus, for Rushkoff, ‘electronica’ is a celebration of creativity and imagination unfettered by the shackles of corporate control. It is playful, and utopian – it embraces a politics of difference, and the plurality of postmodernism. Mark Dery conflates ‘cyberc ult ures’ with “ c omp ut er-age subcultures”. Under this heading he examines not only the construction and p resentation of Internet identities, but also the p erformance art of groups such as the Survival Research Laboratories, Mark Pauline, Stelarc, and 10 Genesis P. Orridge. This definition port rays c yb erc ult ure as a mixture of Mad-Max styling, post-apocalyptic attitudes, and hi-tech outlaws existing at the margins of an authoritarian dominant culture. Body modifications, such as p iercing, scarification, tattooing, implants and the use of prosthetics are the visible tribal markings of this culture, and the Internet is the ‘non spatially located’ playground . David Silver ignores the broader cultural manifestations of both ‘electronica’ and ‘ c omp ut er-age subcultures’, in favour of a focus on ‘computer mediated communication (CMC). Cyb erc ult ure is a collection of cultures and cultural products that exist on and/or are made possible by the Internet, along with the stories told about these cultures and cultural prod uc t s David Bell and Barbara Kennedy adopt an ap p roach which combines aspects of all the above definitions, though with a discernab le focus on issues surrounding sexuality and the b od y. Four out of the nine sections into which the reader is divided deal with these themes more or less directly (cyberfeminisms; cybersexual; cyberbodies; and post-(cyber) bodies) whilst the remaining five range from ap p roaches to cyberc ult ure, and c yb ersub c ult ures, to discussions of virt ual geography and cyberc olonizat ion. Each of the nine sections is prefaced with an article from either Bell or Kennedy, and both authors contribute an introduction to the whole collection. These introductions consist of a ‘Users Guide’ provided by Bell and a piece, titled “ The ‘virtual machine and new becomings in p re-millennial culture’ from Kennedy. Of the two, Bell offers a more conventional int roduction, highlighting specific themes and debates, and encouraging the reader to adopt a ‘non-linear approach’. Indeed this aspect is heavily stressed. We are told that the read er’s job is: “ …not to begin on page one and read through to the last word of the volume, but to flick and flit, to find and chase your own hot links, to trace each rhizome, each thread, and to make connections that work for you.” Given that this is the way that most readers make use of a Reader in any case, this injunction does seem to be making a virtue out of reality (a ‘virtuous reality’ rather than a virtual one?). But it does more than that – by the use of that w ord “ rhizome” it tips the wink to those in the t heoretical know, that we are embarking on a trip into the domains of Deleuze and Guattari. This is made most explicit in Kennedy’s int rod uc t ory essay. Here we have a quasi-poetic piece of writing which explores a subjective experience which happened to the author – a near-fatal car crash – and the possibilities this offers for thinking about the relat ionship s between humans and machines. The central point is that cyberc ult ure is a “continual exploration of new identities, new subjectivities, their merging with machines, bodies and technologies, within the greater machine of a technological, cultural and aesthetic (in the Guattarian sense) evolution.” Depending on your view of the usefulness, or ot herwise, of Deleuze and Guattari’s work, and its’ relevance for Cyberc ult ures, this essay provid es either a fascinating poetic exploration, or it offers little help in making sense of the range of critical debates. Truth be told, I find myself inclining t ow ards the latter position…but the strengths of this collection (and they are many) lie less in these two opening essays, than in the carefully selected readings that follow. As the definitional problems alluded to above indicate, almost everyone with an interest in this topic will have a different emphasis, and it is all too easy to be critical on the basis of things that have been left out. For my own part, I would have wanted to have included more material on the fictional representations of cyberspace – especially the work of ‘Cyberpunk’ authors such as William Gibson, Bruce Sterling, Greg Bear, and Neal Stephenson, and, in theoretical terms, a fuller engagement with the material aspects of Cybercultures, and the divisions which exist between the ‘information rich’ and the ‘information poor’. Neither of these aspects get detailed coverage here, instead what we do get is a rich assemblage, in Bell’s words “an exercise in ordering and architecture”, of essays which offer a set of often overlapping or even contradictory approaches. Part One – Approaching Cyberc ult ures is especially useful, offering, as it does, five carefully chosen essays, each of which indicates a set of distinctive themes. This is a section which I can imagine finding most useful in discussion with students. Parts Two and Three – on Popular Cyb erc ult ures and Cybersubcultures, cover a range of topics from the (over) familiar discussion of Blade Runner and Total Recall (why is it that these are always the films chosen?), to ‘flame wars’ and on-line discussion groups. Parts Four, Five, Six and Seven, as mentioned earlier, deal with sexuality and the body, whilst the final parts – Eight and Nine – include pieces on ‘Virtual Urban Fut ures’, and ‘Cyberspace and the globalization of culture’ resp ec t ively. There is no doubt that this collection performs a very valuable service in bringing together so many disparate essays, and in offering its’ own distinctive theoretical approach. I’m not entirely convinced that it would stand alone as the only ‘essential purchase’ for a Cyberc ult ures course, at either undergraduate or postgraduate level – but it is certainly a book that I would rec ommend most highly to have in any academic library, and to make use of as a key ‘background text’ on any course which encourages students to examine the multifaceted relationships between humanity and its technologies. The Cyberc ult ures Reader edited by David Bell and Barbara M. Kennedy (Routledge, London, 2000) ISBN 0-415-18379-0 (PB) £17.99 Eryl Price-Davies, London College of Music and Media Thames Valley University, St. Mary’s Road London, W5 5RF T 020 8231 2256 E eryl.p ric e- d avies@t vu.ac .uk Resources indexes reproductions of works of art that appear in indexed periodicals. Accessed through the Web. Institutional subscription and ATHENS username required. http://edina.ac.uk/art-index-retro/index.html This is a selection of the the information, data and electronic reference resources compiled by the Arts and Humanities Data Service and is reproduced here with their permission. AVANCE AVANCE is a database of over 20,000 audiovisual programmes. Entries are selected for their usefulness in higher education and cover films, videos, slides, sound recordings, tapeslide packages, computer courseware and interactive multimedia. Most of the records relate to currently available material and contain full distribution details. Accessed through the Web. Currently freely available. www.bufvc.ac.uk/ Bibliographic, reference & research information Arts and Humanities Citation Index Part of the ISI Web of Science. Bibliographic database that features a wide range of journals, and searching by citation. Records include articles (including any references cited), abstracts, editorials, letters and reviews. One of three citation databases available for individual or simultaneous searching. Accessed through the Web. Institutional subscription and ATHENS username required. http://wos.mimas.ac.uk/ International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (IBSS) Bibliographic database with an international and interdisciplinary focus. Coverage extends beyond the core social sciences and encompasses related disciplines such as histor y, folklore, archaeology, art history, linguistics, gender, media and cultural studies. Dating back to 1951, and updated weekly, records include articles, books, book chapters and reviews in a range of languages, and a growing number of English language abstracts. Accessed through the Web. Free institutional subscription. ATHENS username required. www.lse.ac.uk/ibss/ Periodicals Content Index (Full Text) Contains information from the tables of contents of thousands of English and other European language journals, plus images of the full text of some of these journals. Material ranges from the date the journal was first published until 1990 providing learners, teachers, and researchers with detailed and comprehensive access to the periodical literature in their academic disciplines. Accessed through the Web. Institutional subscription and ATHENS username required. http://pcift.chadwyck.co.uk Art Abstracts HW Wilson’s Art Abstracts comprises the bibliographic contents of over 300 leading art periodicals - journals, museum bulletins and yearbooks. The database gives references to articles, reviews, exhibition listings and many other types of material. Unusually, reproductions of works of art that appear in the periodicals are also fully detailed. Coverage is from 1984 as an index, with added abstracts from 1994 to the present. The database currently has nearly 400,000 records and is updated monthly. Accessed through the Web. Institutional subscription and ATHENS username required. http://edina.ac.uk/art-abstracts/index.html British Universities Newsreel Project (BUNP) A database of British newsreel production between 1910 and 1979 It contains 160,000 records from 21 newsreels and cinemagazines, and is designed to make information on the newsreels available for academic study. Accessed through the Web. Freely available to institutional/individual members of the BUFVC and ac.uk addresses www.bufvc.ac.uk/newsreels/ BUFVC Television Index The BUFVC Television Index is a selective index to more than 12 years of television programmes broadcast on the five UK ter restrial channels. The online index begins on 1 July 1995 and concentrates on documentary programmes, but there are also references to news and current affairs, music and drama Accessed through the Web. Currently freely available. www.bufvc.ac.uk/ COPAC COPAC provides free access to the unified online catalogues of 18 major university research libraries in the UK and Ireland. It offers a single point of access to details of materials held in many different locations and covering the range of arts and humanities subjects. Documents date from c.1100AD onward and c.300 languages are included Records represent a wide range of materials and increasing numbers incorporate links to the fulltext of the document. Accessed via the Web and Telnet. Freely available. http://copac.ac.uk/ Oxford English Dictionary Online Authoritative definitions of over soo,ooo words, supported by over 2 s million quotations tracing usage through the centuries. Accessed through the Web. Institutional subscription required. http://dictionary.oed.com/ Publications online JSTOR A unique digital archive collection of core scholarly journals starting with the first issues (many of which date from the 1800s). Users can browse, search and print articles from the Art Index Retrospective complete back-runs. Subjects covered include HW Wilson’s Art Index Retrospective provides history, literature, anthropology, philosophy, searchable indexing spanning 55 years of ar t African-American studies and Asian studies. journalism from 420 noted publications around Accessed through the Web. Site licence the globe, reflecting coverage provided from 1929 required. www.mimas.ac.uk/jstor/ through 1984 (equivalent to volumes 1-32 of the printed index). Coverage includes EnglishNational Electronic Site Licence Initiative language periodicals, yearbooks, and museum (NESLI) bulletins, as well as periodicals published in The National Electronic Site Licence Initiative French, Italian, German, Spanish, and Dutch. delivers a national electronic journal service to In addition to articles, Art Index Retrospective the UK higher education and research community. The NESLI managing agent is the JlSC’s official negotiator for full text electronic journals. Site licences available for individual ejournais or packages of ejournals. Accessed through the Web. www.nesli.ac.uk/ Subject gateways Humbul Humanities Hub The Humbul Humanities Hub is a service of the Resource Discovery Network. Humbul is developing an online catalogue of Internet resources relevant to teaching and research in the humanities. In collaboration with subject specialists the Hub finds, evaluates and describes resources for the study of English language and literature, other European languages and literature, history, archaeology, classics, religion, and philosophy. The Humanities Hub is also developing a range of other services for the UK humanities community. Accessed through the Web. Freely available. www. humbul.ac.uk/ Creative Arts Data Services The Performing Arts Data Service (PADS) The PADS collects and promotes the use of digital data resources to support research and teaching in the performing arts, namely music, film, broadcast arts theatre, and dance. As well as providing information and support in data documentation, encoding formats and digitisation processes for time-based media, PADS currently provides four significant collections in its digital library: Scottish Film and Television Archive Catalogue; Scottish Music Information Centr e Catalogue; Five Centuries of Music Multimedia Catalogue; King Lear Performance Photographs Collection. Accessed through the Web. Freely available. www.pads.ahds.ac.uk/ The Visual Arts Data Service (VADS) VADS maintains a searchable on-line archive of digital resources for use by the visual arts community for learning, teaching, and research. Collections currently available through VADS include: Imperial War Museum Art Collection; ‘Other Educated Persons’ - Art & Art Organisations in the East End of London 1972 1999, a multimedia web resource; Documentar y Photography: Jacob Riis Computer Aided Learning package; London College of Fashion Archive VADS also promotes good practice in the creation, management and preservation of digital resources through an advisory, training and publications programme. Accessed through the Web. Freely available http://vads.ahds.ac.uk/ Axis Online Database Axis is a national contemporary visual arts service providing information about artists and makers living/working in Britain to a national and international audience via the largest interactive database of contemporary British art on the internet Accessed through the Web. Freely available. www.axisartists.org.uk/ For a copy of the Resource Guide for the Arts and Humainities or further information contact: Liz Lewis, Resource Guide for the Arts and Humanities, Arts and Humanities Data Service, 75-79 York Road (8th. floor), London SE1 7AW E resguide@ahds.ac.uk T 020 7928 7991 F 020 7928 6825 11 Forthcoming Staff Development Events Conferences and Calls for Papers 2001/2002 For further information and booking details for all the events listed here, contact Sarah Harw in, Administrative Assistant: T 01273 643119 E adc-ltsn@bton.ac.uk Additionally, visit our website www.bton.ac.uk/adc-ltsn for regular updates to the 2001 programme or join the ADC- LTSN JISC mail list to receive advance notice of ADC related events. 25- 27 European Learning Styles Information Network 6th International annual conference, University of Glamorgan. www.elsinnet.org.uk/ conference2001; T 01443 482679 29 June-1 July Sc reen Studies Conference University of Glasgow E Screen@art s.gla.ac .uk Other Contact Details CLTAD (Centre for Learning & Teaching in Art & Design): 020 7514 8162 www.c lt ad .ac .uk OCSLD (Oxford Centre for Staff Learning and Development): 01865 484618 www.brookes.ac.uk/ services/ ocsd/ listcourses.html JULY 4- 6 ILTAC2001, University of York E conferenc e@ilt .ac .uk 5 The Bologna Declaration: Implications for UK higher education, Wob urn House, London (£150) Cent re for Higher Education Research and Information T 020 7447 2561 E cheri@open.ac.uk www.op en.ac .uk/ c heri 12-15 Locating the Victorians, Science Museum London www.sciencemuseum.or.uk/ reserachers/ victorians 17 The 1st ADC-LTSN Annual Forum at Imperial College, London. The programme includes workshop sessions on assessment, curriculum development, projec t funding and other themes, such as the implications of Subject Benchmarking. Come and exchange ideas about teaching and learning with subject colleagues, and help plan the ways that ADC-LTSN can support the work of your department over the coming year. The Forum is free (including lunch and all refreshments) but places are limited and will be allocated on a first come first served basis. Please discuss with colleagues to ensure that your department is rep resent ed . 19- 21 Radiodyssey - Radio Studies Network Conference, University of Sussex Dr Kate Lacey T 01273 606755 www.b ournmout h.ac .uk/ rad iod yssey/ ind ex.ht ml (see page 7 for details) JUNE 2 Designers at work: the process and practice of p at t ern design.Study Day at MoDA, Middlesex Universit y, Cat Hill, Barnet, Herts EN4 8HT Enquiries: T 020 8411 5244 E l.hoskins@mdx.ac.uk 5 CLTAD Designing Your Writing: Writing Your Design: Devloping the writing skills of Art & Design students. 7 OCSLD Supporting students with disabilities in higher education 9 3rd Annual Interd isc ip linary Conference at the Dep artment of Arts and Media, othering England Buc kinghamshire Chilterns University College. High Wycombe Campus, Buckinghamshire. Contact Dr. Anita Biressi E Anita.Biressi@bcuc.ac.uk or Dr. Heather Nunn E Heather.Nunn@b c uc .ac .uk www.bcuc.ac.uk/ whatson/ artmedconf/ poster.htm 12 A Concise Guide to Powerful Communication on the Web at the Cadogan Conference Centre, Swansea. Hosted by the Swansea Institute Digital Media Special Interest Group To reserve a place please contact the Digital Media Centre. T 01792 481027 F 01792 205305 E dmc@sihe.ac.uk 12 OCSLD Supporting students with dyslexia Oxford 13 OCSLD Subject assessment review London 14 OCSLD Active learning in small group s Birmingham 21 Workshop on Pedagogic Research in Art, Design and Communication Dundee Contemporary Arts Contact: Gillian M c Laren E gjmclaren@art .fineart .d und ee.ac .uk 22 Meeting the Challenges of Diversity:. A workshop on the Pedagogical Issues surrounding the ‘ Widening Participation’ mission within Art Design and Communication Higher Education Coventry Universit y. Contact Peter Playdon: p .p layd on@c ovent ry.ac .uk 25-27 The University of Brighton in collaboration with Covent ry University conference ‘Living In A Material World (LIAM) III.’ www.brighton.ac.uk/ liam/ AUGUST 6-8 ICALT2001 Madison, WI, USA Conference Theme: Advanced Learning Technologies: Issues, Achievements and Challenges ht t p :/ / lt t f.ieee.org/ ic alt 2001/ SEPTEM BER 9- 11 The 9th Improving Student Learning Symposium: “ Imp roving Student Learning Using Learning Technologies” Edinburgh www.b rookes.ac .uk/ servic es/ oc sd / 1_oc sld / isl2001.ht ml 12 Association for Learning Tec hnology’s (ALT) c onference “Changing Learning Environment s” University of Edinburgh www.ed .ac .uk/ alt c 2001 17-18 DEBE - Developments in Economics and Business Education Conference University of Bristol The first Developments in Economics and Business Education conference Monday 17th - Teaching and Learning Tuesday 18th - Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and its implementation www.economics.ltsn.ac.uk/debe/ OCTOBER 6 Day Conference on Tourism and the Media E r.jackson1@derby.ac.uk NOVEM BER 8 SAND 2001 Swansea Animation Day. For furt her information contact the Digital Media Centre. T 01792 481027 F 01792 205305 E dmc@sihe.ac.uk 15 The seventh SACWG ( Student Assessment and Classification Working Group) National Workshop Novotel Hotel, Wolverhamp t on. Harvey Woolf T 01902 322448 F 01902 322629 E H.Woolf@wlv.ac.uk DECEM BER 9- 12 7th. European Conference on Creativity & Innovat ion University of Twente, Netherlands Pre- registration for the conference (both academics and nonacademics) can be done through: www.eaci.net E eaci@eaci.net F +31-53-4338465 2002 M ARCH 22- 24 Creativity in Question An internat ional, mult id isc ip linary conferenc e Ed inb urgh University Conference Centre, 22-24 M arch 2002 To register interest and find out more about it, please visit the conferenc e website at: http://art s.q muc .ac .uk/ b ac s/ c reat ivit y or email conference co-ord inat ors: jvalentine@qmuc.ac.uk or rbutt@qmuc.ac.uk NB Some events may be limited to internal staff or those from institutions within the local area. ADC events are open to all. Let us know about your workshops, conferences and other events, so that we can help to publicise them; and tell us what else you would like ADC to do to sup p ort your teaching.