Case Study No. 3 - Popular Theatre, University of Ulster

  Elements addressed by study

Special Features:

This is an elective module which has no pre-requisites. Students are not graded for their acting ability or group work but are required to take a weekly practical workshop for which they undertake preparation which may involve devised and scripted elements, working in pairs and small groups. The range of material covers storytelling, comedia dell’arte, farce and documentary theatre practices.  The aim is to develop students knowledge of these forms rather than expertise in them.

Description of Key Aspects:

1. The group as a whole undertakes an induction session in the first class, outlining the demands of the module. Part of this is to outline the place of practical experience in the evidential basis for the two written assignments which form the assessment of the module. In small groups students are then asked to formulate instructions to each other which would wreck the practical work – a form of negative brainstorming. Behaviours which prevent this are then compiled by them and these are collated as a group contract which all members of the class undertake to uphold.

2. Each practical task allows students to demonstrate their work. They receive informal feedback and comments from other students and the tutor. They are also invited to make comments together about the work that they have undertaken. Each workshop class finishes with a group summary of key ideas and moments encountered.

Analysis

The group contract sets out both minimum acceptable standards of behaviour and the aspirations of the group.

In observing each others practical work, comparison with the principles and practices with which students have engaged in the lecture/seminar parts of the module or seen provides a set of criteria for peer- and self-assessment. These draw out critical moments which students may then refer to within their written assignments.

Evaluation

Revisiting the contract for the purposes of reinforcement is necessary since otherwise it is merely an exercise. It is also important to encourage students to monitor each other’s behaviour against the contract, otherwise it becomes the tutor as policeman.

Not grading the product or process directly allows students to experiment with the forms with which they engage within a safe environment.

Students may take time to understand the principles underpinning the practices they encounter. They may also have not yet acquired the technical capacities for some elements of the practice, so while they are aware of what is required they cannot necessarily demonstrate this. This may be dispiriting for some students.

Removing assessment of practice from the module may also mean that preparation of material suffers when students have demands from other modules, so the scale of the work has to be manageable. It does however place the emphasis on students learning from what they do, rather than on the doing as an end in itself. (This may be a benefit or a drawback).