Case Study No. 5 - Twentieth Century Acting, University of Salford

Elements addressed by study

Special Features:

Students are required to undertake a practical performance assignment for which they design their own project proposal and negotiate assessment criteria with the module tutor.

Description of Key Aspects:

The module introduces students to approaches developed by radical 20th century theatre practitioners. For their second assignment students work in self-selected groups of approximately 5 on a performance in the style of a practitioner of their choice. Students design their own proposal forms and propose their own assessment criteria, which is negotiated with the module tutor. Whilst groups submit a shared team proposal, each member is also required to submit their own individual proposal form. The group proposal form is geared around shared criteria relating to the module aims and objectives. Individual proposal forms concern the individual student's specific role within the piece and the performance demands appropriate to that role. 

There are 2 aspects to the reflective process. Immediately following the performance presentations the groups participate in an informal group viva which is structured around a discussion concerning the effectiveness of the piece from an audience point of view. The second aspect to the reflective process consists of individual vivas, in which the student is required to evaluate his/her performance and contributions in relation to his/her specific assessment criteria. 

The modules allows for some flexibility in re-negotiating assessment criteria after the performance if a student feels, on reflection, that that he or she achieved outcomes that were not predicted in the planning stage of the process; providing the tutor agrees and/or the student is able to present a convincing argument to support this. As such the proposal form is not submitted in its final form until after the viva. 

Analysis

This approach to assessment relates to the module content in that it is about ways in which radical practitioners challenged received notions of what theatre should be, and in deciding upon the criteria of their assessment, students are encouraged themselves to reflect upon their own notions of what constitutes theatre. It encourages students to consider the relation of form to content (one of the module aims) by facilitating a series of questions about what they are aiming to achieve in theatrical terms and how they intend to go about it 

Negotiations with individual students about their own assessment criteria enables the tutor to identify their strengths and weaknesses and to gain a sense of the strength of their collaborative engagement with the other members of the project group.

Though this form of project planning can be time consuming for the module tutor (as the suggested criteria are often varied in terms of clarity and appropriateness), the tutor feels that the students are more responsive to critical feedback when it is related to criteria they have set themselves. The tutor also feels that the students become more comfortable with offering constructive criticism to others in the post-performance evaluation.

Evaluation:

This approach is successful because it empowers students, enables them to escape the sense that they are always being judged on other people's terms, and encourages them to take responsibility for their own learning. 

Feedback from students indicates that, although some feel lost when trying to establish criteria, the general feeling is that this method of project planning gives them some control over the terms of their participation in the module. Students feel this practice encourages them to set themselves challenging objectives and helps them to focus as a group. 

Because students have the opportunity of re-negotiating their assessment criteria following the performance, this approach can also reward outcomes that have been learnt or achieved other to the initial objectives.