Durham University
Programme and Module Handbook

Undergraduate Programme and Module Handbook 2011-2012 (archived)

Module EDUS2521: ARTS 2

Department: Education [Queen's Campus, Stockton]

EDUS2521: ARTS 2

Type Tied Level 2 Credits 20 Availability Available in 2011/12 Module Cap None. Location Queen's Campus Stockton
Tied to X101

Prerequisites

  • None.

Corequisites

  • None.

Excluded Combination of Modules

  • None.

Aims

  • To develop the students' understanding and appreciation of music and visual arts.
  • The course is designed to help students to develop their knowledge and understanding of the place of music and art and the artist in society.
  • Ideology and the arts.
  • Artistic conventions and the social and cultural contexts in which they are developed and experienced.
  • The development of a national identity through the arts.

Content

  • In this module, students will be able to study critical and historical concepts relating to music and the visual arts in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as they relate to society.
  • Students will be encouraged to explore theories and practices in music and visual art through the study of first hand sources and texts.
  • Students will have the opportunity to increase their understanding of the histories and practices of music and art as they explore critically a selection of topics drawn from the following :- development of nationalism in England and Spain, the social and artistic environment in which nationalist music flourished, the contribution of repressed peoples to musical identity, artistic responses to the social experience of the modern city, the concept of primitivism in the visual arts, the avant garde and the bourgeoisie, the role of art in the context of socio-political and economic revolution.

Learning Outcomes

Subject-specific Knowledge:
  • knowledge and understanding of the evolution of music and the relationship between music and societies past and present
  • the ways in which meaning is generated in music, the place of folksong and dance in the creation of cultural identity
  • ways in which visual artists respond to, and are influenced by socio-political forces, differing artistic responses to the development of the urban environment in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century in Europe
  • the impact of the First World War on the development of the arts in the 1920s, the relationship between art and political ideology in the inter-war period.
Subject-specific Skills:
  • contrasting different authoritative views on the arts
  • interpreting works of art, music and dance
  • examining works of art
  • understand the place of the arts in primary education.
Key Skills:
  • communicate ideas, principles and theories effectively in written form
  • manage time and work to deadlines
  • construct and sustain a reasoned argument
  • evaluate and make use of information from a variety of primary and secondary sources.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

  • Teaching and Learning: The module is managed through a series of lead lectures and associated group work sessions (workshops, seminars and tutorials) in which students examine themes and issues in the arts.
  • The emphasis is upon active learning, and students are encouraged to contribute to sessions by taking account of their developing knowledge of music and visual arts.
  • The module will be supported by visits to appropriate local arts institutions.
  • Students are provided with a selection of readings to support the required reading lists and are expected to take individual responsibility for sharing their reading with other people taking the module.
  • Students engage in discussion, in informal presentations, and in a range of task based activities.
  • There is a series of practical sessions through which students explore and produce music and visual art.
  • They have the opportunity to share their work with their peers and tutors, and to examine critically, each other's work.
  • The experience gained in these practical workshops is used to inform the students' understanding of the theoretical base of the module.
  • Some of these workshops may involve local artists and representatives from art institutions.
  • There is a programme of directed study tasks which include reading, preparation for practical work, and other tasks which tutors may set from time to time.
  • Assessment: The examination programme is designed to encourage students to think about the nature of the arts and the place of the arts in society.
  • Assessment is provided through a three hour examination.
  • The examination criteria focus on the students' knowledge and understanding, intellectual skills and use of English.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Activity Number Frequency Duration Total/Hours
Lectures 18 Weekly 2 hours 36
Preparation and Reading 164
Total 200

Summative Assessment

Component: Examination Component Weighting: 100%
Element Length / duration Element Weighting Resit Opportunity
three-hour unseen written examination 100%

Formative Assessment:


Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University