Evaluating the process and product of a student-staff partnership for curriculum redesign in film studies

ABSTRACT

This paper describes a student-staff partnership to design learning activities and assessments for an undergraduate Film Studies course. Four students and three staff designed the new assessments and learning activities to develop students’ knowledge and skills to produce a video essay. The new assessments were co-developed in semester one so that students in semester two could experiment, innovate and think critically using the logics and form of film itself. We evaluated both the product (the new assessments and activities) and the process (the partnership). The evaluation of the project was positive, with students enrolled in the unit engaged in the technical and intellectual challenges of this new form of assessment. Student partners brought complementary knowledges and perspectives to the project, while extending their skills and awareness of behind-the-scenes curriculum development processes at the university. The paper provides insights into the benefits and challenges of student-staff partnerships for curriculum redesign.

KEYWORDS:

• Students as partners
• curriculum design
• film studies
• multimodal assessment
• video essay

Acknowledgments

We thank Elena Sarno for her work as a project assistant during the first half of the project and Sue Atkinson for her contribution as a team member and educational designer. We also thank Bruce Isaacs for his enthusiastic support for this project and for contributing a robust evaluation of the pilot at the end of the unit teaching semester. We are grateful to the funding made available via an Educational Innovation grant from The University of Sydney’s Deputy Vice Chancellor Education Portfolio.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the The University of Sydney’s Deputy Vice Chancellor Education Portfolio [NA].

Notes on contributors

Amani Bell

Amani Bell (PhD) is an honorary Senior Lecturer at the Sydney School of Education and Social Work, and Vice Chancellors’ Fellow for the Innovative Research Universities. Her research takes a participatory approach to exploring the challenges and opportunities of higher education.

Susan Potter

Susan Potter (PhD) is Lecturer in Film Studies in the Department of Art History, The University of Sydney.

Lisa-Anne Morris

Lisa-Anne Morris is an Australian screen industry practitioner and a current Sydney University BA student, majoring in anthropology, film studies/art history.

Mirjana Strbac

Mirjana Strbac is currently undertaking a Media Internship at Bosch Communication Systems. She is studying a Bachelor of Arts (Media and Communications), majoring in English and Marketing.

Anniek Grundy

Anniek Grundy is currently interning with the Sydney Film Festival, working with the development and marketing teams. She is studying a Bachelor of Arts (Media and Communications), majoring in Film Studies and Marketing.

Mohammad Zaki Yawary

Mohammad Zaki Yawary is currently studying a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in English and Film Studies at The University of Sydney.