Units

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Sample subject outline - Semester 2 2013

Note: Subject outlines often change before the semester begins. Below is a sample outline.

Rationale

This unit will introduce students to the theory and practice of semi-structured interviewing techniques, oral history conventions and applications, and the art of storytelling across various platforms. An understanding of how to conduct interviews as a qualitative research method is an integral skill for all Creative Industries researchers and practitioners. The development of interviews into stories which can be shared across multiple platforms is important for students in their roles as informed and contributing members of the Creative Industries. This unit will provide students with the opportunity to develop generic researching skills and then apply them to their discipline in a focused and significant way.

Aims

The aim of this unit is to provide students with the opportunity to refine their interviewing and researching skills within the context of their own discipline of practice. In this process students will come to understand effective storytelling practices across a range of methods and develop the ability to collaborate with other practitioners and to hone their own skills within the context of convergent media practice. This unit aims to encourage students to consider how their practice fits into the ever changing Creative Industries landscape and how they can continue to remain relevant in this landscape.

Objectives

On completion of this unit you should be able to:
1. Conduct and transcribe semi-structured interviews, and to use interviews and interviewing techniques as part of a range of qualitative research methods.
2. Develop original stories to be transmitted and shared across multiple platforms.
3. Identify the conventions and possibilities inherent in the various media platforms presented in this unit.

Content

This unit addresses content such as:
Interviewing theory and techniques; oral history; digital storytelling and its applications; the theory of transmedia storytelling and a case studies of transmedia projects (both local and international); multi media games and storytelling; copyright and transmedia storytelling.

Approaches to Teaching and Learning

This unit will involve attendance at lectures conducted by experts from within QUT, and national and international experts within the field of transmedia storytelling and oral history interviewing. In conjunction with the lectures the students will be required to attend workshops in which they will collaborate with fellow students to develop their interviewing techniques.

Assessment

LATE ASSIGNMENTS
An assignment submitted after the due date without an approved extension will not be marked. If you are unable to complete your assignment on time, you should submit on time whatever work you have done.

Faculty Assessment Information
To access complete Creative Industries Faculty Assessment Information please refer to the Blackboard site for this unit.

Grading Scale
You will be awarded a final grade on a 1 to 7 scale.FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT
Formative items include scheduled meetings with your supervisor, which may be at least one a month or more intensively, or over a defined period of time in the case of project-based work.

Assessment name: Interview
Description: Students will conduct a semi-structured interview in class with a fellow student based around a topic which will be discussed in the workshops prior to the interviews.
Relates to objectives: 1, 2
Weight: 25%
Internal or external: Internal
Group or individual: Individual
Due date: Mid Semester

Assessment name: Research Essay
Description: A 2000-2500 word research essay which incorporates the material presented in this unit and demonstrates student's knowledge of the application of this material to their own creative practice or discipline.
Relates to objectives: 3
Weight: 25%
Internal or external: Internal
Group or individual: Individual
Due date: Mid Semester

Assessment name: Project Plan
Description: Students will present a project plan adapting an original story (based on the interview from Assessment 2) to be developed across three different media platforms. They will also provide an example of the story from one platform.
Relates to objectives: 1, 2, 3.
Weight: 50%
Internal or external: Internal
Group or individual: Individual
Due date: End of Semester

Academic Honesty

QUT is committed to maintaining high academic standards to protect the value of its qualifications. To assist you in assuring the academic integrity of your assessment you are encouraged to make use of the support materials and services available to help you consider and check your assessment items. Important information about the university's approach to academic integrity of assessment is on your unit Blackboard site.

A breach of academic integrity is regarded as Student Misconduct and can lead to the imposition of penalties.

Resource materials

Required Text(s): N/A

Recommended References:

Jenkins, H. 2003. 'Transmedia Storytelling' in Technology Review.

Meadows, D. 2003. 'Digital Storytelling - Research Based Practice in New Media' in Visual Communiation. Vol 2. (2). Pp.189-193.

Bagnoli, A. 2009. 'Beyond the standard interview: The use of graphic elicitation and arts-based methods". Qualitative Research. 9(5): 547-570.

Perks, R., & Thomson, A. (Eds.). (2006). The Oral History Reader (2nd ed.). London: Routledge.

Robertson, B. (2000). Oral History Handbook. Adelaide: Oral History Association of Australia.

Risk assessment statement

There are no out of the ordinary risks associated with this unit. No responsibility will be taken for absence incurred in other QUT course units as a result of this program.

Disclaimer - Offer of some units is subject to viability, and information in these Unit Outlines is subject to change prior to commencement of semester.

Last modified: 02-Apr-2013