School of Art History – Co-Designing first-year modules with student feedback
A module coordinator within the school of art history convened an ad hoc committee for first-year curricular review, comprising undergraduate class representatives and volunteers. Two undergraduate modules were then subsequently redesigned to incorporate the received feedback, input from academics, and guidance from a review of surveys at world-leading US and UK institutions. This activity resulted in content, core skills and process changes:
Content
Single-artist lectures were replaced with a new programme of 65 thematically organised lectures. The module coordinator introduced global perspectives through lectures and readings on trade networks, colonialism, and new geographical areas (e.g. Spain, Portugal, and their empires). The module coordinator created 4 dedicated lectures on women artists, women patrons, and gender; 2 lectures on race and slavery; and 8 lectures incorporating non-Western art and perspectives. By putting European art in a global context, the course introduces students to the ‘Western canon’ while also teaching them how to critically interrogate that canon.
Core skills
Incorporated secondary-source readings, which were previously excluded from the required readings. This enabled the students to cover more diverse topics and better prepare students for the second-year curriculum. The module coordinator also created new weekly presentation topics to reinforce this. Finally, the module coordinator added three optional skills sessions per semester covering ‘core skills’ for students needing additional guidance.
Process
Implemented new procedures for supporting PG tutors and ensuring consistency across tutorials. This was implemented to ensure standardisation across the 40+ tutorials. The module coordinator introduced new weekly communication to all tutors, which includes PowerPoints for group discussion, recommended in-class activities and handouts, and detailed guidance about academic alerts, approaching deadlines, etc.