Professional Toolkit

Marcus Coates, Self Portrait as Time, 2016 & Julia Varela, X.5.

Unit code: FFDA5003

Location: Farnham

Year: 2

Duration: 28 weeks

Credit value 30 of 120 for the year

Total learning hours: 300

Unit leader: Jeremiah Ambrose

(Jeremiah.Ambrose@uca.ac.uk)

Technical Support: TBC

Professional support: Nick Turner (nturner@ucreative.ac.uk)

Liz Scopes (ethomson2@ucreative.ac.uk)

Submission date: 24/03/22

Feedback due by: 21/04/22

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Handbook contents

Unit content ______________________________________________________ 3

Unit aims ________________________________________________________ 5

Learning outcomes_________________________________________________ 5

Component brief___________________________________________________ 6

Submission requirements____________________________________________ 7

Assessment requirements ___________________________________________ 8

Assessment criteria _______________________________________________ 10

Assessment language and marks ____________________________________ 11

Covid-19 contingencies ____________________________________________ 13

Reading lists and reference material __________________________________ 14

Indicative teaching and learning methods ______________________________ 14

Timetable _______________________________________________________ 15

Key contacts and student services____________________________________ 18

Academic glossary ________________________________________________ 20

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Unit content
Professional Toolkit is a technical skills development unit and is delivered throughout
the second year. It is designed to support the ongoing development of projects
during the year running alongside the unit Innovation and Interference. In Year 1 you
have developed a broad base of technical skills. This unit allows you to build on
those existing skills to in order to develop specialist knowledge of areas of moving
image and digital imaging production and is informed by industry related professional
practice. Your choice of specialist areas should consider the skills you wish to build
for the future.

Areas you can choose from include:

• Digital video editing

• Motion graphics and visual effects

• Sound design

• Advanced photography

• Studio Production Workflow

Your specialisms will be delivered through a series of specialist workshops and

completion of short practical projects that extend and further develop your
understanding, knowledge and application of technical and creative skills in visual
language and audio production. The delivery and acquisition of skills must be
underpinned with self-directed study using online and other tutorial resources. All
research and development will be documented on your online research journal.

Through seminars the unit will also include mandatory study of professional skills
such as writing a CV and artist’s statement, social and business networking,
exhibition planning and career planning. Students will also be encouraged to assist
with FDA graduation projects as part of their professional practice and to prepare for
their own progression to Level 6.

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There are 2 assessable outcomes to this unit:

• A portfolio of tasks set in the workshops

• Reflection and evaluation of technical knowledge and understanding of

professional practice and production skills applied in your reflective and
creative online research journal

4
Unit aims
The aims of this unit are:

A1 To document your research, creative experimentation and technical skills for

all workshops and tasks in your online research journal.

A2 To understand the roles and responsibilities in creative production workflows.

A3 To develop your skills in specialist areas of digital imaging practice.

A4 To communicate effectively in group work, workshops, in presentations, and

your online research journal about your specialist projects and roles.

A5 To reflect on your progress, evaluating your skills so as to plan future

development in response to production needs or technological change.

Learning outcomes
On satisfactory completion of this unit you will be able to:

LO1 Document research, technical skills and creative development on your

online research journal.

LO2 Demonstrate and evaluate contextual understanding of professional practice

for creative production.

LO3 Produce a portfolio of outcomes demonstrating advanced skills in your

chosen specialisms (based on the workshops undertaken).

LO4 Rationalise creative and technical decisions in relation to role and

production workflow.

LO5 Reflect on and evaluate skills so as to plan ongoing self-development to

update skills in response to production needs or technological change.

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Component brief
Task 1: A portfolio of tasks set in the workshops

Task 2: Reflection and evaluation of technical knowledge and understanding of

professional practice and production skills applied in your online creative online
research journal

6
Submission requirements
For this unit you will submit:

Component Assessment task Submission location Submission date

1. a. Portfolio Online via OneDrive 24/03/22

See below for additional detail on assessment tasks:

a. Portfolio:

Assessors will look to your Portfolio for evidence of:

Evidence of research, creative experimentation and

LO1
technical skills on your online research journal.

Understanding of professional practice for creative and

LO2
industry standard production.

Understanding and application of technical and

LO3
creative skills in chosen specialisms.

Communication of specialist areas of knowledge

LO4
appropriate to role and production workflow.

Independent self-development of skills supported by

reflection and evaluation.
LO5

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Assessment requirements
Assessment components

Assessment Weighting % Assessment task Assessment

component type

1. 100 Task 1: A portfolio of tasks Portfolio

set in the workshops

Task 2: Reflection and

evaluation of technical
knowledge and
understanding of professional
practice and production skills
applied in your online
creative online research
journal

Categories for assessment

Assessment type % of Category Total %

assessment for unit

Written exam Written

Written assignment, including essay Coursework

Report Coursework

Dissertation Coursework 100

Portfolio* 100 Coursework

Project output (other than dissertation) Coursework

Oral assessment and presentation Practical

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 Practical skills assessment (including Practical
production of an artefact)

Set exercise (including critiques) Practical

* ‘Portfolio’ refers to a ‘collection’ of material rather than a professional portfolio

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Assessment criteria
Assessors will look for evidence of the following:

Evidence of research, creative experimentation and technical skills on your LO1

online research journal.

Understanding of professional practice for creative and industry standard LO2

production.

Understanding and application of technical and creative skills in chosen LO3

specialisms.

Communication of specialist areas of knowledge appropriate to role and LO4

production workflow.

Independent self-development of skills supported by reflection and LO5

evaluation.

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Assessment language and marks

Assessors will use the following The following marks are available to
adjectives to describe the level of ability assessors and reflect the adjectives in
demonstrated in a submission: the left column:

100
Outstanding, exceptional 95
90

85
Outstanding, systematic
80

75
Significant, accomplished, rigorous
72

68
Confident, strong, thorough 65
62

58
Sound 55
52

48
Competent, adequate 45
42

38
Limited, rudimentary, basic 35
30

20
Limited, ineffective 10
0

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For example, using this unit’s assessment criteria, feedback from assessors could
look like this:

Assessment criterion: Feedback: Criterion Overall

mark: mark:

Evidence of research, This submission

creative experimentation and demonstrates a strong ability
65
technical skills on your online to…
research journal.

Understanding of professional This submission

practice for creative and demonstrates a strong ability 62
industry standard production. to…

Understanding and This submission 62

application of technical and demonstrates a sound ability
55
creative skills in chosen to…
specialisms.

Communication of specialist This submission

areas of knowledge demonstrates a strong ability
68
appropriate to role and to…
production workflow.

Independent self- This submission

development of skills demonstrates a sound ability
58
supported by reflection and to…
evaluation.

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Covid-19 contingencies
In the event of restrictions forbidding the physical submission of work, the following
contingencies are in place:

All work will be submitted online via OneDrive.

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Reading lists and reference material
Follow the myReadingList link on this unit’s myUCA page for full details of essential
and recommended reading, along with links to online resources and e-books.

Indicative teaching and learning

methods

Number of hours of scheduled activity 140

Number of hours of independent activity 160

This will comprise:

Independent study, technical workshops, seminars, tutorials, formative and
summative feed back.

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Timetable
Sessions beyond Monday 10th January will be detailed in an updated version of this
handbook to be issued ahead of this date.

Date Time Location Session

30/09/21 10:00- R19 Induction

13:00

06/10/21 10:00- R19 Sound Art

13:00

07/10/21 10:00- R19 Professional Practice

13:00

07/10/21 14:00-16 R19 Experimental 360 Film

:00

13/10/21 10:00- JL11B Sound Art (Self-Directed)

16:00

14/10/21 10:00- R19 Professional Practice

13:00

14/10/21 14:00- R19 Sennheiser Radio Mics & F8 Refresher

16:00

15/10/21 11:00- Online Intro to Squarespace

12:00

20/10/21 10:00- JL11C Audition

13:00

21/10/21 10:00- W02 Professional Practice (FE)

13:00

21/10/21 14:00- R19 Experimental 360 Film

16:00

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22/10/21 10:00- R05A Intro to GH4 & Shotools Slider
13:00

27/10/21 10:00- JL11C Audition (Self-Directed)

14:00

28/10/21 10:00- R19 Professional Practice

13:00

28/10/21 14:00- R19 Experimental 360 Film

16:00

10/11/21 10:00- R19 Critical Listening

13:00

10/11/21 14:00- Online Professional Practice Talk (Curation)

15:00

11/11/21 10:00- R19 Professional Practice

13:00

11/11/21 14:00- R19 Experimental 360 Film

16:00

12/11/21 14:00- Online Self-Promotion

15:00

17/11/21 10:00- JL11B Audio for Maps & Networks

16:00

18/11/21 10:00- R19 Professional Practice

13:00

19/11/21 10:00- R05A FS7 Camera Workshop

13:00

25/11/21 10:00- R19 Professional Practice

13:00

26/11/21 11:00- Online Squarespace Troubleshooting

12:00

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01/12/21 10:00- JL11B Audio for Maps & Networks
16:00

02/12/21 10:00- R19 Professional Practice

13:00

03/12/21 10:00- RO5A Ursa Mini Camera Workshop

13:00

08/12/21 10:00- JL11C Mixing

13:00

09/12/21 10:00- R19 Professional Practice

13:00

16/12/21 10:00- R19 Professional Practice

13:00

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Key contacts and student services
Your Year Leader remains your main point of contact. However, if you have specific
needs or concerns, please connect directly with one of the teams below:

General enquiries, deadline extensions (‘mitigating circumstances’), marks:

Sue Burton and Sharon Titchard are our Course Administrators, based in
Campus Registry. Course Administrators can help with paperwork relating to
student status, and are responsible for the release of marks. To apply for a
deadline extension you’ll need to complete the ‘mitigating circumstances’ form
available here and submit it to our Course Administrators at the address below.
Lecturers are not able to give unofficial extensions.
Email Sue Burton and Sharon Titchard at fineart&photography@uca.ac.uk.

Research support:
Nick Turner is our course’s Liaison Librarian. Nick is available to support you with
research strategies, finding resources, and Harvard referencing. Felicity Croydon
is our Archivist and can introduce you to UCA’s collections.
Email Nick Turner at NTurner@uca.ac.uk or use the tutorial booking system here:
https://ucreative.libguides.com/tutorials and email Felicity Croydon at
felicity.croydon@uca.ac.uk.

Writing and planning support:

Liz Scopes and Ellen Brown are our Learning Development Tutors, available for
small group or one-to-one tutorials to help you with any aspect of your academic
work, including: understanding briefs and unit documents, time-management,
organisational skills, presentations, planning, research journals, reading strategies,
note-taking, essay planning, academic writing, help with vocabulary, etc.
Email Liz Scopes at escopes@uca.ac.uk or Ellen Brown at ebrown4@uca.ac.uk.

Disabilities and dyslexia support:

Karole Amooty is our Learning Support Manager with whom you can discuss
your disability and special learning needs. Karole can coordinate diagnostic
screenings and learning support.
Email Karole Amooty at kamooty2@uca.ac.uk.

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Computer support and resetting passwords:
The Information Technology support team are based on the first floor of the
library and provide support for the University’s computing facilities, and assistance
with software, printing, photocopying, and trouble logging-on.
Please visit the first-floor desk to reset passwords, or call 01252 892 710.

Career, CV and work placement support:

Steve Gordon and Kasia Majewska are our Careers Advisers. They offer one-to-
one tutorials on topics such as discussing options and plans for future careers or
study, writing CVs, covering letters and job applications, organising work
placements, preparing for interviews, networking, and career management.
Email Steve Gordon at sgordon5@uca.ac.uk, Kasia Majewska at
kasia.majewska@uca.ac.uk, or visit the careers site at https://uca.jobteaser.com.

Problems and feelings causing you concern:

Counsellors are available on all campuses for you to talk in a safe and
confidential setting about problems and feelings that are causing you concern such
as: homesickness, anxiety, depression, family/relationship difficulties,
bereavement, eating difficulties, drugs/alcohol problems.
Visit https://www.uca.ac.uk/student-services/counselling/ or contact the Gateway
desk on the ground floor of the library, or at gatewayfarnham@uca.ac.uk, or on
01252 892 709 for details.

Financial concerns:
Specialist Advisors can offer information, advice, and guidance. They are
members of the National Association of Student Money Advisers (NASMA) and
can discuss financial problems with you in confidence. To book an appointment,
please contact the Gateway desk on the ground floor of the library, or at
gatewayfarnham@uca.ac.uk, or on 01252 892 709.

General support:
The UCA Students’ Union (UCASU) represents all students at UCA. They are
available for advice and support on a range of subjects. If you’re not sure where to
go with a problem, the SU may be able to help identify the right person or team.
Find email addresses and contact details at https://ucasu.com/contact/.

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Academic glossary

Analysis A process of examining, dissecting, or ‘probing’ something. It can

involve asking questions (why?, what caused/influenced?, what
are the consequences of?) and seeking possible explanations.

Assessment Interim assessment with feedback so that you can improve work
(formative) before hand-in. Formative feedback also occurs during tutorials.

Assessment Final graded assessment, with feedback and marks that

(summative) contribute toward your final award.

Context What surrounds a thing; a ‘setting’. This could be physical (a

location), conceptual (ideas), professional (peers), etc.

Crit A discussion on the potential or success of work. A critique can

(or review) also refer to a text discussing a piece of work or idea.

Framework Essential supporting structure (i.e. the theories or values that

guide your work).

Plagiarism The act of claiming the thoughts, strategies, claims, or work of

another maker/author as one's own. This is taken very seriously
and breeches university policies. Self-plagiarism (claiming your
own old work as new work) is also forbidden.

Research The work you do to inform your work. Secondary research

involves digesting material produced by others (e.g. locating and
reading books or articles, note-making). Primary research
involves producing your own material (experimenting, testing,
observing, responding, etc.). Contextual research materials
addressing themes or subjects that have your attention are just
as important as visual research materials.

Self-directed Time for developing or making work independently, or under

study guidance from an academic.

Tutorial A session where student and academic discuss work in detail.

Tutorials may be in small groups or one-to-one sessions.

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