Programme Specifications

Photography / Creative Writing


1 : Awarding Institution / Body
Aberystwyth University

2a : Teaching Institution / University
Aberystwyth University

2b : Work-based learning (where appropriate)


Information provided by School of Art:

N/A


Information provided by Department of English and Creative Writing:



3a : Programme accredited by
Aberystwyth University

3b : Programme approved by
Aberystwyth University

4 : Final Award
Bachelor of Arts

5 : Programme title
Photography / Creative Writing

6 : UCAS code
WW68

7 : QAA Subject Benchmark


Information provided by School of Art:

Art and Design

History of Art, Architecture and Design


Information provided by Department of English and Creative Writing:

NAWE Creative Writing Subject Benchmark statement (2008) and underging review against QAA Creative Writing (2016)



8 : Date of publication


Information provided by School of Art:

September 2023


Information provided by Department of English and Creative Writing:

September 2023



9 : Educational aims of the programme


Information provided by School of Art:

The new joint honours BA Photography offers a study of the practice and language of photography combined with a cognate subject. It considers photography both as art form and as document. The scheme provides for imaginative, creative endeavour in a wide range of photographic practices, offers contextual and historical study, and fosters independent research as well as the analysis and interpretation of photographic images.

Students will engage in a critical and creative dialogue with the work of their peers and gain an understanding of historic and contemporary visual cultures. They will study the artistic, intellectual, social and professional contexts that shape creative practice in photography (within the contexts of the visual arts more generally) and learn how to best communicate this knowledge in a range of written, oral, visual and practical forms.

Vocation-oriented modules prepare students for careers involving photographic practices – whether commercial, gallery or editorially focussed.


Information provided by Department of English and Creative Writing:

gain a knowledge of the history, culture and theories of literature by studying a range of primary texts of different genres from different historical periods.

develop a systematic understanding of knowledge, and a critical awareness of current literary problems and/or new insights, which are at the forefront of critical and theoretical debates.

explore the relationships between texts, and between texts and their contexts

develop the ability to write an originally conceived and sustained piece of research

become self-reflective readers of literary and theoretical texts

develop their own critical voice

become independent learners who can use a broad range of reference tools, assimilate and appraise substantial amounts of information, and address, define, and solve problems

develop an ability to arrive at independent conclusions and make judgements

develop an ability to express themselves clearly in speech and in writing

develop their own interests and manage their own learning through their choice of options

develop a broad repertoire of writing techniques

develop a responsiveness to the writerly demands made by subject matter, audience, genre, and style

develop the ability to work in a sustained and cumulative way on a writing project over an extended period of time

develop the ability to compose, revise, edit, sub-edit and finalise a piece of writing as part of a regular work routine

develop good habits of sustained, self-critical, and active engagement with chosen subject matter, including creative, imaginative, and transactional writing tasks

develop the ability to produce originally conceived and effective written work

gain a knowledge of the history, culture and theories of writing by studying a range of primary texts of different genres from different historical periods

develop a systematic understanding of knowledge, and a critical awareness of current problems and/or new insights, which are at the forefront of critical and theoretical debates about writing

explore the relationships between texts, and between texts and their contexts

investigate how different theories contribute to the practices of writing

become reflective readers of literary and theoretical texts

become independent practitioners and learners able to address, define and solve problems

develop an ability to arrive at independent conclusions and make judgements

develop an ability to express themselves clearly in speech and in writing

develop their own critical and creative voices

develop their own interests and manage their own learning



10 : Intended learning outcomes


Information provided by School of Art:

The BA Photography half of the joint honours scheme aims to:

1. encourage creativity;

2. support a variety of individual creative, contemporary practices;

3. explore the interdisciplinarity of contemporary artistic practices;

4. encourage a range of visual research methodologies;

5. ensure students are alert to the photo-historical and contemporary practices/contexts within which they work;

6. provide a supportive studio environment;

7. involve students in the dialectical nature of artistic production;

8. draw on staff research interests and expertise, ensuring that teaching is relevant and up to date;

9. introduce the fundamentals of research, analysis and argumentation.


Information provided by Department of English and Creative Writing:

The programme provides opportunities for students to develop and demonstrate knowledge and understanding, skills, qualities and other attributes in the following areas:

10.1 : Knowledge and understanding


Information provided by School of Art:

A1 Knowledge of a clear and defined relationship between personal practice and contemporary cultural production.

A2 Detailed appreciation of contemporary and historic photographic practices.

A3 Recognition of the transdisciplinarity of contemporary photographic practices and the ability to go beyond common medium boundaries.

A4 Awareness of the international context of contemporary visual production.

A5 Focussed use of materials/medium/strategies in relation to individual practice.

A6 Apply critical visual analyses to key examples of historical and contemporary photographic practices.

A7 Employ critical thinking with regard to the presentation and installation of individual practice.

A8 Critical, self-reflective awareness of the appropriate use of methods/materials/strategies within personal photographic practice.

Learning and Teaching: Seminars, workshops, practicals, demonstrations, lectures, tutorials and group crits, field trips and creative and written projects.

Assessment Strategies and Methods: Portfolio presentations, essays, presentations, exhibitions, photographic projects, notebooks, and critical portfolio evaluations.


Information provided by Department of English and Creative Writing:

The successful student will have gained a knowledge and understanding of:

A1 their own writing practice, in terms of a reflective self-awareness of some of their own strengths and characteristics as a writer.

A2 the variety of options available to writers in presenting subject matter, and some of the effects of choosing one option rather than another

A3 some of the theories (for instance, of genre, register, rhetoric, and audience) which influence writing practice.

A4 key relevant aspects of the relations between texts, and between texts and their contexts

A5 a range of different literary genres from different historical periods

A6 a range of theories and debates about literature across different historical period

A7 the relations between texts, and between texts and their contexts

A8 the major theoretical issues associated with literature from different period.



10.2 : Skills and other attributes


Information provided by School of Art:

10.2.1 Intellectual Skills

By the end of their programme, all students are expected to be able to demonstrate:

B1 Significant responsibility to provide a critical basis for meaningful and enduring praxis.

B2 Resourcefulness and creativity in working processes from conception to execution.

B3 A developed personal practice viewed in relation to their national culture and with an understanding of international culture.

B4 A sophisticated understanding of creative photographic practices from an aesthetic, institutional, and social standpoint.

B5 A critical engagement with creative photographic practices from a range of art historical perspectives.

Learning and Teaching: Seminars, practical workshops, lectures, masterclasses with visiting photographers, tutorials and group tutorials.

Assessment Strategies and Methods: Essays, presentations, exhibitions, practical projects, notebooks, critical evaluations.

10.2.2 Professional practical skills / Discipline Specific Skills

By the end of their programme, all students are expected to be able to demonstrate:

C1 An ability to critically evaluate working processes from idea through to execution.

C2 A capacity to present and contextualise work to an informed audience.

C3 The facility to identify and develop appropriate methods for presenting personal practice.

C4 An appropriate and coherent dossier of research.

C5 Significant engagement in photographic portfolio production and art historical critical analysis.

Learning and Teaching: Seminars, practical workshops, lectures, masterclasses with visiting photographers, tutorials and group tutorials.

Assessment Strategies and Methods: Essays, presentations, practical projects, sketchbooks, critical evaluations.


Information provided by Department of English and Creative Writing:

Intellectual Skills:

The successful student will develop an ability to:

B1 Analyse and interpret a variety of texts

B2 exercise independent thought and judgement, and demonstrate self-direction in tackling and solving problems

B3 engage critically and self-reflectively with complex material, major concepts, and assess the significance of key literary thinkers

B4 interrogate and apply a variety of theoretical perspectives

B5 present sustained persuasive and coherent arguments

B6 communicate the results of their studies clearly and articulately

B7 plan and organise work and present work to deadlines

Teaching, learning and assessment methods used to enable outcomes to be achieved and demonstrated:

Seminars and workshops are used to develop these skills, which are assessed by independently devised and researched coursework assignments and a dissertation.

Practical skills

The successful student will develop:

C1 research skills, including the ability to analyse issues and theories, to assimilate, select and organise relevant material, and to use a variety of research tools in paper and on-line formats

C2 writing skills, including competence in structuring and presenting arguments, word-processing skills, and the ability to used recognised presentational skills, including bibliographical and notational conventions

C3 an ability to work in groups

C4 time and task management, initiative, and personal responsibility

C5 independent learning ability required for continuing professional development

Teaching, learning and assessment methods used to enable outcomes to be achieved and demonstrated:

core skills-based modules

student presentations

preparation for written assignments

essay writing

seminars with small-group components

independent study

extended research skill

Assessment

coursework assignments

essays on topics to be devised by the student

orally presented research papers

dissertation of writing project



10.3 : Transferable/Key skills


Information provided by School of Art:

By the end of their programme, all students are expected to be able to demonstrate:

D1 An ability to organise and manage workload according to deadlines, both individually and as part of a team.

D2 Highly developed problem-solving skills related to both concept and practice.

D3 An ability to structure and communicate ideas effectively using a variety of means.

D4 Ability to quantify materials and costings for professional projects.

D5 Power to utilise the most appropriate technologies that effectively communicate working methods and ideas at an advanced level.

Learning and Teaching: Seminars, lectures, tutorials, workshops, practical projects, field trips

Assessment Strategies and Methods: Essays, presentations, practical projects, notebooks, critical evaluations.


Information provided by Department of English and Creative Writing:

The successful student will develop an ability to:

D1 analyse issues and theories

D2 research, assimilate, select and organise relevant material using a variety of research tools in paper an on-line formats

D3 sustain academic writing across an extended assignment

D4 structure and present cogent and substantiated arguments that are complex and nuanced

D5 work as part of a group or team

D6 manage their time effectively

D7 produce word-processed documents to a high standard

Teaching, learning and assessment methods used to enable outcomes to be achieved and demonstrated:

student presentations

group work

seminars in 'workshop' format

independent study

essay writing

extended research

Assessment:

coursework assignment

essays on topics to be devised by the student

orally presented research paper

dissertation/writing project

Teaching, learning and assessment methods used to enable outcomes to be achieved and demonstrated:

tutor-and-student-led workshops and seminars

encouragement of methods of working on longer pieces which incorporate on-going processes of composition, reflection, revision, and feedback

encouragement of habits of 'articulated practice', for instance, in the form of reflective working diaries and the acquisition of relevant theoretical ideas and terms

Assessment:

module assignments

writing portfolio

oral presentations



11 : Program Structures and requirements, levels, modules, credits and awards



BA Photography / Creative Writing [WW68]

Academic Year: 2024/2025Joint Honours scheme - available from 2020/2021

Duration (studying Full-Time): 3 years

Part 1 Rules

Year 1 Core (40 Credits)

Compulsory module(s).

Semester 1
WR11020

Beginning Creative Writing Part 1

Semester 2
WR11120

Beginning Creative Writing Part 2

Year 1 Core (60 Credits)

Compulsory module(s).

Semester 1
AH11820

Photography Begins

AR11520

Photographic Practice I: Presence/Place

Semester 2
AR11620

Photographic Practice II: Identity/Face

Year 1 Options

Choose one of the following

Semester 1
EN11220

American Literature 1819-1925

EN11300

Critical Practice

IC17700

Academic Writing: Planning, Process and Product

WL10120

Re-imagining Nineteenth-Century Literature

WL11420

Literature And The Sea

Semester 2
CL10120

Greek and Roman Epic and Drama

EN10220

Ancestral Voices

EN10520

Contemporary Writing

EN11320

Critical Practice

IC13420

Language Awareness for TESOL

IC17720

Academic Writing: Planning, Process and Product

WL10420

Introduction to Poetry

WL11920

Peering into Possibility: Speculative Fiction and the Now

Part 2 Rules

Year 2 Core (20 Credits)

Compulsory module(s).

Semester 1
WR20220

Beginning the Novel

Semester 2

Year 2 Core (40 Credits)

Compulsory module(s).

Semester 1
AR24320

Photographic Practice III: Constructed Images

Semester 2
AR24420

Photographic Practice IV: Documentary Storytelling

Year 2 Options

Must take 20 credits

Semester 2
AH24020

Documentary Photography

Year 2 Options

Choose at least 20 credits and a maximum of 40 credits from the following:

Semester 1
IC27720

Effective Academic and Professional Communication 1

WL20720

A Century in Crisis: 1790s to 1890s

WR21120

Telling True Stories: ways of Writing Creative Non-Fiction

WR22120

Adventures with Poetry

Semester 2
IC27720

Effective Academic and Professional Communication 1

WL20320

Short stories: Grit and Candour

WR20620

Writing Selves

WR21720

Shaping Plots

Year 2 Options

You may choose up to 20 credits from the following:

Semester 1
CL20320

Classical Drama and Myth

EN20120

Literary Theory: Debates and Dialogues

EN20920

Literary Modernisms

EN23120

In the Olde Dayes: Medieval Texts and Their World

EN28720

Writing Women for the Public Stage, 1670-1780

IC23420

TESOL Approaches, Methods and Teaching Techniques

Semester 2
EN21020

Literary Geographies

EN21120

Contemporary Writing and Climate Crisis

EN21220

Literature and Climate in the Nineteenth Century

EN22120

Place and Self

EN22920

Literature since the '60s

Final Year Core (60 Credits)

Compulsory module(s).

Semester 1
AR32130

Photography 5 - Photo Directed Practice

Semester 2
AR30130

Exhibition 1: Graduation Show

Final Year Options

You may choose up to 20 credits from the following:

Semester 1
EN30120

Reading Theory / Reading Text

EN30520

Romantic Eroticism

EN31320

The Mark of the Beast: Animals in Literature from the 1780s to the 1920s

Semester 2
EN30320

Victorian Childhoods

EN30420

Writing in the Margins: Twentieth-Century Welsh Poetry in English

EN30820

Haunting Texts

Final Year Options

You must choose at least 40 credits and a maximum of 60 credits from the following:

Semester 1
IC37820

Effective Academic and Professional Communication 2

WL30620

Remix: Chaucer In The Then and Now

WR30000

The Writing Project

WR31920

Writing Horror

WR32120

Writing and Place

WR32620

Writing Music

WR32720

Big Ideas: Writing Popular Science

WR32820

Humour and Conflict in Contemporary Writing

Semester 2
EN33620

Ali Smith and 21st Century fiction(s)

IC33420

TESOL Materials Development and Application of Technologies

IC37820

Effective Academic and Professional Communication 2

WL35320

Literatures of Surveillance

WR30040

The Writing Project

WR31220

Poetry for today

WR31820

Crisis Writing

WR32420

Writing Crime Fiction


12 : Support for students and their learning
Every student is allocated a Personal Tutor. Personal Tutors have an important role within the overall framework for supporting students and their personal development at the University. The role is crucial in helping students to identify where they might find support, how and where to seek advice and how to approach support to maximise their student experience. Further support for students and their learning is provided by Information Services and Student Support and Careers Services.

13 : Entry Requirements
Details of entry requirements for the scheme can be found at http://courses.aber.ac.uk

14 : Methods for evaluating and improving the quality and standards of teaching and learning
All taught study schemes are subject to annual monitoring and periodic review, which provide the University with assurance that schemes are meeting their aims, and also identify areas of good practice and disseminate this information in order to enhance the provision.

15 : Regulation of Assessment
Academic Regulations are published as Appendix 2 of the Academic Quality Handbook: https://www.aber.ac.uk/en/aqro/handbook/app-2/.

15.1 : External Examiners
External Examiners fulfill an essential part of the University’s Quality Assurance. Annual reports by External Examiners are considered by Faculties and Academic Board at university level.

16 : Indicators of quality and standards
The Department Quality Audit questionnaire serves as a checklist about the current requirements of the University’s Academic Quality Handbook. The periodic Department Reviews provide an opportunity to evaluate the effectiveness of quality assurance processes and for the University to assure itself that management of quality and standards which are the responsibility of the University as a whole are being delivered successfully.