Story, Symbol and Meaning in the Arts

Subject EDUC20063 (2011)

Note: This is an archived Handbook entry from 2011.

Credit Points: 12.50
Level: 2 (Undergraduate)
Dates & Locations:

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2011:

Semester 2, Parkville - Taught on campus.
Pre-teaching Period Start not applicable
Teaching Period not applicable
Assessment Period End not applicable
Last date to Self-Enrol not applicable
Census Date not applicable
Last date to Withdraw without fail not applicable

Parkville campus

Timetable can be viewed here. For information about these dates, click here.
Time Commitment: Contact Hours: 36 hours
Total Time Commitment: 120 hours total commitment
Prerequisites: None
Corequisites: None
Recommended Background Knowledge: None
Non Allowed Subjects: None
Core Participation Requirements: Attendance at all classes (tutorial/seminars/practical classes/lectures/labs) is obligatory. Failure to attend 80% of classes will normally result in failure in the subject.

Coordinator

Dr Pam Macintyre

Contact

Education Student Centre
Subject Overview: This subject involves a practical and theoretical study of how humans construct and communicate meaning through the expressive symbol systems of the arts. Its focus will be on narrative in the traditional forms of drama, literature, visual arts, music, dance, and also contemporary hybrid forms. The practical content will be supported by a series of lecture/tutorials in which appropriate theoretical frameworks from a number of disciplines will be introduced. Focus texts include those produced for children and young adults.
In this subject students will be involved in making narrative and artistic texts across a range of genres and within a variety of contexts. Artistic texts will be taken to mean music, performance and visual texts in addition to the more traditional written and spoken forms. Students, individually and in groups, will also analyse the use of story and symbol in artmaking and the co-construction of meaning with an audience in a diverse range of settings.
This subject is suitable for students with little formal art or writing background.
Objectives: Students will demonstrate:
• An enhanced understanding of visual and textual narrative and the relationships between them and with audiences;
• An understanding of construction and communication of multiple symbol systems;
• The capacity to understand and apply a range of symbolic and expressive systems;
• An enhanced capacity to critically analyse a range of visual and narrative texts in and across cultural contexts;
• The ability to make an original visual and/or textual narrative;
• An enhanced capacity to create, imagine and innovate, and to reflect on these processes.
Assessment: There will be two items of assessment.
Item 1: A class presentation. 40 per cent 1,600 words or equivalent. Presentations take place throughout the semester.
Item 2: A negotiated project incorporating artistic practice and a supporting theoretical commentary 60 per cent 2,400 words or equivalent. Due end of semester.
Prescribed Texts: Readings will be given out in class.
Breadth Options:

This subject potentially can be taken as a breadth subject component for the following courses:

You should visit learn more about breadth subjects and read the breadth requirements for your degree, and should discuss your choice with your student adviser, before deciding on your subjects.

Fees Information: Subject EFTSL, Level, Discipline & Census Date
Links to further information: www.education.unimelb.edu.au
Related Breadth Track(s): Creativity and Learning Communities

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