This is a two-pronged assessment comprising (A) a Group Performance and (B) a Critical Reflection. In Part A (in which students receive a group mark out of 25) students form groups of four to six and collectively research develop a 10-15 minute presentation related to a topic from the coursework. Topics may be student selected (as in DRAM2030), or based on a particular stimulus piece (e.g. DRAM2090 and ANCH3020 use cultural products - historic plays, architectural monuments - as points of provocation). Students are graded on depth of engagement (including evidence of scholarly research), as well as on their presentation/performance skills; and are encouraged to pursue resourceful performance modalities (away from traditional PowerPoint and seminar-style oral presentations). In previous deliveries students created video submissions, set designs, theatrical performance pieces, dramaturgical mock interviews, news broadcasts, television/gameshows, soap operas, movie pitches, or art exhibitions or critiques. Part B is an individual critical reflection on Part A. Individually marked out of 15, students write 500 words reflecting on relationships between theory and practice brought to bear through the task, as well as (where relevant) commentary on their contributions, group dynamics, issues arising in group work and their resolution. Ideally weighted at 40%, the overall grade for this piece is calculated by combining group performance and individual critical reflection grades for each student.
Details
- CLASS SIZE
- 40-60
- CLASS LEVEL
- Third year
- ASSESSMENT SECURITY
- Medium security
- TIME REQUIREMENTS
- High time
- GRADUATE ATTRIBUTES
- Effective communication skills, Independence and creativity, Critical judgement
- CONDITIONS
- Group, Sequence
- FEATURES
- Authentic
- TAGS
- multimodal, reflective/reflexive, staged, critical reflection
Advantages
Replicates authentic experiences for disciplines where performance work is standard (e.g. drama, creative industries). Encourages critical pedagogical and social justice approaches to assessment as students are marked on engagement with course material rather than solely on the quality of their acting or how they critique other members. Easily transferred to courses where student showcases beyond traditional seminar presentations are desired (especially applicable but by no means limited to creative and performance disciplines).
Challenges
Some students are reluctant to work in groups or will encounter interpersonal issues in group work (these concerns are usually alleviated with the provision of individual marks). Assessing self-reflection can be problematic (but is resolved by crafting specific criteria for this).
Tips for implementation
Staff should encourage students to think laterally about the modalities they use to present this piece (or focus some group exercises to brainstorming various presentation methods).
How it supports academic integrity
Allows students to take ownership over topic of choice or presentation modality, which can be a deterrent to academic misconduct (by encouraging engagement). Performances are scaffolded with a separate reflexive assessment in which the student must comment on their contribution and experiences. Both are difficult tasks to bypass or outsource (especially when corroborated with group members).
Authentic learning characteristics
engagement, authenticity and student ownership
Dr Bernadette Cochrane
bernadette.cochrane@uq.edu.au
Bernadette Cochrane joined UQ in 2014 as a Lecturer in Drama in the School of Communication and Arts. She has taught on historical and contemporary drama, dramaturgical theory and performance-making. Her current teaching responsiblities include particular reference to European theatre of the twentieth-century, and directing and dramaturgy. Bernadette, as part of the UQ Drama team, was received the 2018 Award for Programs that Enhance Learning for the "UQ Drama: Building Pathways to Creative Careers" project. In 2016, again as part of the UQ Drama team, she received a Commendation for Teaching Excellence, Prior to joining UQ, Bernadette was a freelance arts worker with a particular focus on directing and dramaturgy. Bernadette completed her dramaturgical PhD at the University of Queensland in 2013.
Her co-edited anthology New Dramaturgy: International Perspectives on Theory and Practice was published by Methuen in 2014. She is a major contributor to The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Stage Directors and Directing, edited by Maria Delgado and Simon Williams. Bernadette is a member of the Translation, Adaptation, and Dramaturgy Working Group of the International Federation of Theatre Research. She is also a Board Member for the Migrant Dramaturgies Network - the international research network developed in partnership with New Tides Platform (UK) and the Centre for Theatre Research at the University of Lisbon, Portugal - which explores emerging dramaturgies of theatrical responses to migration in light of recent migration and shifts in global politics and economics. Bernadette is currently researching the intersection of live performance, cinema, institutional dramaturgies, and cultural production; and contemporary theatrical representations of Otherness.
Bernadette welcomes applications for higher research degree supervision in: directing, dramaturgy, Early Modern performance practice; theatre and the digital humanities; liveness in contemporary performance, and theatrical cultural production. Find out more