Advantages
Completed assessment may become part of student's professional portfolios, thus enhancing potential employability. This assessment could be usefully transferred to Drama, Art History, Museum Studies, or any other discipline that has need for using online exhibition platforms and large online databases. Encourages the creative application of disciplinary knowledge for broadcast to a wider audience, making this technique highly useful for interdisciplinary contexts and heterogeneous cohorts (e.g. elective courses)
Challenges
Some students may need guidance selecting an event relevant to their discipline. This is easily provided by dedicating class time to developing a working list of potential events from which students can choose.
Tips for implementation
Encourage students to select and commit to an event/program choice early in semester and work through potential challenges as they arise. Equally, staff should discourage a constant changing of events/topics so as to minimise potential time lost.
How it supports academic integrity
When writing their program notes, students have to address the content in relation to an individually negotiated rationale for the hypothetical event (based on consultations with their course convener). The specificity and process of negotiation act as deterrents to academic misconduct.