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Programme code | 1INOV012U |
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Programme type | Single Honours |
Programme director(s) |
Eleanor Rycroft (Theatre contact)
Daniella Jenkins Programme Director (Innovation) |
Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
School/department | Centre for Innovation |
Second School/department | Department of Theatre |
Teaching institution | University of Bristol |
Awarding institution | University of Bristol |
Relevant QAA subject benchmark groups | Dance, drama and performance (2019) (benchmark statement) |
Mode of study | Full Time |
Programme length | 3 years (full time) |
The innovators of the 21st Century will bring together arts and humanities, design, science, engineering and enterprise to deliver new products, services and ways of working and living. This degree combines an in-depth subject specialism in Theatre with interdisciplinary breadth, creative teamwork and entrepreneurial skills. Students undertaking this course will spend 220CP of their time studying Theatre to gain a solid discipline strength, whilst spending 140CP of their time applying that knowledge to innovate and learn about how to take innovative ideas forward into initial plans for a startup enterprise.
This programme integrates research-informed critical, historical and theoretical teaching with high-quality creative and production experience, both through teaching in discipline-specific and equipped facilities in the department and placement in a professional context. The programme develops students’ interest in practices, histories and theories of theatre and their understanding of the interrelationship between performance practice, theoretical study, historical, cultural and political contexts. It enables students to deepen and expand their skills, knowledge and understanding of theatre and performance studies whilst applying that specialism knowledge to innovate. This programme’s focus is on innovation and collaboration across the disciplines within a project-based learning environment. Assessment is by a combination of essays, individual and group presentations, practice based productions, vivas, documentation, client led work, critical analysis and reflection of work undertaken. Having gained a combination of specialised and transferable skills, students are well-equipped to pursue a range of careers relating to the contemporary creative industries and arts-related professions, and within academic, professional and managerial sectors, as well as go on to launch their own startup enterprises.
The city of Bristol has been identified as a media and cultural-industries hub with a very diverse and rich infrastructure for the arts in a comparatively small city. The Department of Theatre has an international reputation for both its practice-based research and teaching: it pioneered practice as a research methodology in the academic discipline of performance studies. The combination of the Department with the city’s rich ecology of theatre and performance makers and organizations makes this programme an excellent and compelling addition to our successful undergraduate provision. With active, close and long-term partnerships with many of the city’s theatre organizations, the Department has a long track record of producing graduates with high employability across the arts and related fields, as well as many who go on to make significant contributions to the arts. In addition the Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship is building up a significant reputation for equipping its students to be agile, adaptable, resilient, entrepreneurial and innovative, key skills for employability in this ever changing employment market. This is achieved through its innovative pedagogical approach which has led the Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship to win the HE National Enterprise Educators Award in 2018.
Programme Intended Learning Outcomes | Learning and Teaching Methods |
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Acquisition of knowledge and understanding through lectures and seminars (1-7, 10) Set and directed viewings and visits to performances, and directed reading, with a strong emphasis on primary materials (1-8, 10, 12) Seminars and small-group tutorials to encourage student participation and advance understanding of difficult materials (1-12) Seminars and workshops to develop student creative and practical production skills acquisition (5, 6, 8-12) Production meetings and supervisions to provide formative feedback and develop student skills in practical project realisation (5, 6, 8-12) Tutorials and supervisions to provide formative feedback and develop student skills in presentation and essay writing (1-7, 10, 12) Acquisition of knowledge and understanding for innovation, design and entrepreneurship occurs through lectures, workshops, seminars and tutorials (13, 14, 15 & 16) Workshops and demonstration to develop student practical innovation skills acquisition (13, 16) Innovation challenges to develop students’ skills in practical innovation and entrepreneurship (13, 14 & 16) Innovation project supervision and design challenge mentoring meetings to provide formative feedback (13, 14 & 16) |
Methods of Assessment | |
Coursework analytical and research essays (1-7, 10) Individual and group presentations (1-8, 10, 12) Practice-based presentations and performances (1-12) Workfiles, journals and vivas (1-12) Individual and group innovation coursework portfolios (including rapid prototyping and proof of concepts) and presentations (13-16) Reflective accounts of practical work and learning (13-16) Iterative and agile practice based innovation and entrepreneurship challenges (13-16) |
Programme Intended Learning Outcomes | Learning and Teaching Methods |
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Acquisition of knowledge and understanding through lectures and seminars (1, 2, 4-6, 9) Set and directed viewings and visits to performances, and directed reading, with a strong emphasis on primary materials (1, 2, 4-6) Seminars and small-group tutorials to encourage student participation and advance understanding of difficult materials (1, 2, 4-10) Seminars and workshops to develop student creative and practical production skills acquisition (1-3, 5, 6, 10-16) Production meetings and supervisions to provide formative feedback and develop student skills in practical project realisation (3, 9-14, 16) Tutorials and supervisions to provide formative feedback and develop student skills in presentation and essay writing (1, 2, 4-9) Acquisition of skills to innovate, design and create enterprises occurs through lectures, workshops, seminars and tutorials (17 - 20) Workshops and demonstration to develop student practical innovation skills acquisition (17 - 20) Innovation challenges to develop students’ skills in practical innovation and entrepreneurship (17 - 20) Innovation project supervision and design challenge mentoring meetings to provide formative feedback (17 - 20) |
Methods of Assessment | |
Coursework analytical and research essays (1, 2, 4-9) Individual and group presentations (1-10,13,14,16) Practice-based presentations and performances (1-15) Workfiles, journals and vivas (1-16) Individual and group innovation coursework portfolios (including rapid prototyping and proof of concepts) and presentations (17-20) Reflective accounts of practical work and learning (17-20) Iterative and agile practice based innovation and entrepreneurship challenges (17-20) |
Programme Intended Learning Outcomes | Learning and Teaching Methods |
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Acquisition of knowledge and understanding through lectures and seminars (3, 7, 9) Set and directed viewings and visits to performances, and directed reading, with a strong emphasis on primary materials (3, 4) Seminars and small-group tutorials to encourage student participation and advance understanding of difficult materials (2-7, 9) Seminars and workshops to develop student creative and practical production skills acquisition (1-9) Production meetings and supervisions to provide formative feedback and develop student skills in practical project realisation (1-9) Tutorials and supervisions to provide formative feedback and develop student skills in presentation and essay writing (3-9) Acquisition of skills to innovate, design and create enterprises occurs through lectures, workshops, seminars and tutorials (10-15). Workshops and demonstration to develop student practical innovation skills acquisition (10-15). Innovation challenges to develop students’ skills in practical innovation and entrepreneurship (10-15). Innovation project supervision and design challenge mentoring meetings to provide formative feedback (10-15). |
Methods of Assessment | |
Coursework analytical and research essays (2-5, 8) Individual and group presentations (1-9) Practice-based presentations and performances (1-9) Workfiles, journals and vivas (1-9) Individual and group innovation coursework portfolios (including rapid prototyping and proof of concepts) and presentations (10-15) Reflective accounts of practical work and learning (10-15) Iterative and agile practice based innovation and entrepreneurship challenges (10-15) |
Statement of expectations from the students at each level of the programme as it/they develop year on year.
Level C/4 - Certificate |
Year 1 is introductory, providing a foundation for second and third year learning and for fulfilling the programme’s outcomes. Students gain familiarity with performance forms, key theories and concepts, contexts and ways of analysing theatre and performance. Through workshops, practical skills are acquired, in theatre production, reading a script for performance and staging a play for an audience. In addition, students develop their ability to discuss issues and write critically about the arts in a broader cultural context, in dialogue with film and music students on the Criticism in the Arts unit. They will also have gained an understanding to how design and systems thinking can be applied to problems to innovate and unearth novel and creative solutions that may have been missed from undertaking a purely analytical approach whilst gaining experience in working in multidisciplinary teams. |
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Level I/5 - Intermediate |
In their second year students take two lecture and seminar units, which expand their contextual and historical, cultural and political frameworks for understanding theatre and performance. Students deepen their understanding of performance forms, genres or periods through optional units, which draw on expertise from staff research and enable a focus on particular theatre practices. In these options, which are taught across Level I/5 and H/6, students are expected to improve their skills in both creative, collaborative practice and their ability to reflect critically and theoretically. Students’ capacity for self-directed learning is also developed, which is necessary preparation for Level H/6 (e.g. through researching longer essays, devising and realising group performance projects). Student will be expected to critically reflect on past and present case studies and develop further their transdisciplinary working to real world digital and creative client problems. Students will be encouraged to broaden their perspective beyond the subject provisions in Theatre with Innovation and take either an open unit, learn how to program or design specifically for human computer interaction. |
Level H/6 - Honours |
In the final year, students choose two supervised independent study options: written dissertation, practical performance project, extended essay and/or work placement. They develop their individual interests, and conceive self-directed projects that prepare them for professional contexts or postgraduate study. Students produce longer essays, are expected to formulate more nuanced and sophisticated arguments, refine their ability to gather and assimilate information, and should be confident using more advanced theory. Their knowledge of forms, genres and practices becomes deeper and they are expected to produce more professional, conceptually-informed creative practice. Their knowledge and understanding (15A) should be in depth and advanced, they should show a mastery of intellectual and creative attributes (15B), demonstrate self-motivation, effective collaborative working, independent thinking and a range of other transferable skills (15C). Within the transdisciplinary group project the students will be expected to innovate for their own chosen problem by exploring the potential of new technologies to enable disruptive innovation to change the way people work and live. They will be supported by mentors and coaches to explore how their proposed solutions may be turned into an enterprise. |
The intended learning outcome mapping document shows which mandatory units contribute towards each programme intended learning outcome.
For information on the admissions requirements for this programme please see details in the undergraduate prospectus at http://www.bristol.ac.uk/prospectus/undergraduate/ or contact the relevant academic department.
UG Workload Statement
Success as an undergraduate student depends on you being able to make the transition to self-motivated, independent learning. Programmes are designed to assist you in this development, in many cases by starting with units in which timetabled teaching, such as lectures and practical classes, provides the foundations of knowledge and skills in a subject, moving on to individual research-based work. Over time you will be expected to take increasing responsibility for your own learning, guided by the feedback on your work that you will receive. At the heart of your studies at every level there must be regular and disciplined individual reading, reflection and writing and it is this skill of independent studies, above all others, that will serve you best when you leave the University.
Most programmes use credits and a 20 credit unit broadly equates to about 200 hours of student input. This includes all activities related to the teaching, learning and assessment of taught units.
A component of this is the time that you spend in class, in contact with the teaching staff, which includes activities such as lectures, laboratories, tutorials and fieldwork. Some of this activity may be online and could consist of activity that is synchronous (using real-time environments such as Blackboard Collaborate) or asynchronous (using tools such as tutor moderated discussion forums, blogs or wikis).
In some programmes there are field courses and/or placements that will take place in concentrated periods of time.
Outside scheduled activities you are expected to pursue your own independent learning to build your knowledge and understanding of the subjects you are studying. Such independent activities include, reviewing lecture material, reading textbooks, working on examples sheets, completing coursework, writing up laboratory notes, preparing for in-class progress tests and revising for examinations.
We recognise that many students undertake paid employment. To achieve a sensible balance between work and study, you are advised to undertake paid work for no more than 15 hours per week in term-time.
Professional Programmes
Many undergraduates in the Faculty of Health Sciences will be following the professional programmes of:
For these professional programmes, full time attendance is compulsory unless absence is formally approved. Academic activities are timetabled throughout the 5-day week and student workload is around 40 hours per week on average. Where possible, students in the early years are permitted Wednesday afternoons for sport and extra-curriculum activities. This may not be available in later years of professional programmes as when a student progresses through the curricula there is an increasing exposure to clinical and professional activities. Students in clinic or on placements may need to stay later than core times of 08.00 – 18.00 or even overnight to observe out-of-hours activities. This increasing exposure to clinical activities means that students on these professional programmes often have longer term dates than the University standard. Individual years within programmes are likely to vary in length (for example because of the timings of placements) and further information on this will be found in individual programme regulations. Another important point to note is that many of the assessments sit outside of the standard University examination timetable and are likely to be more frequent meaning that students will more oftentimes be engaged in revision activities and self-directed learning.
Faculty of Health Sciences
Faculty Assessment and Feedback Statement for Undergraduate Students. University of Bristol access only.
The first year introduces students to histories, contexts, forms, and ways of analysing performance, and enables them to develop practical skills in theatre production. In addition, they will develop their ability to discuss issues and write critically about the arts in dialogue with film and music students. Students studying across the different specialisms on the innovation degrees then come together as a cohort to learn and apply design and systems thinking for digital and creative innovation and put it into practice their working in transdisciplinary project teams. In the second and final year, optional units deepen students' analytical expertise, knowledge around particular performance contexts, periods and genres and expand their practical skills in theatre-making. Students in their second year expand on their understanding of how to design to meet real human needs, learning from past and present success and failure case studies to help them think about future opportunities. The transdisciplinary project work in the second year works with real world clients where students develop empathy for the people they are designing for, explore solutions, iterating to develop an unexpected range of possibilities, and create prototypes to take back to the client to test with real customers or users. In their third year students explore innovative and disruptive ideas, changing the way people live and work. Students will learn about different ways to generate ideas, ranging from brainstorming to crowd-sourcing, exploring project opportunities and creating prototypes to test with real people. Alongside this students will learn about different kinds of enterprise that can be used to take forward their ideas supported by mentors and coaches. Students also take up to two supervised independent study projects, chosen from: extended essay; written dissertation; practical performance project; work placement. Optionality increases through Years 2 and 3 so that students can specialise, and these self-initiated projects provide skills that prepare them for postgraduate study or professional contexts.
Unit Name | Unit Code | Credit Points | Status | ||
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Design and Systems Thinking for Innovation | INOV10001 | 20 | Mandatory | TB-4 | |
Transdisciplinary Group Project 1: Being Human | INOV10002 | 20 | Mandatory | TB-4 | |
Introduction to Performance Studies | THTR10008 | 20 | Mandatory | A,B | TB-1 |
Staging the Text | THTR10006 | 20 | Mandatory | TB-2 | |
Performance Contexts | THTR10003 | 20 | Mandatory | TB-2 | |
Select from one of: | |||||
Introduction to Performance Practices | THTR10011 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 | |
Introduction to Design for Performance | THTR10010 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 | |
Certificate of Higher Education | 120 |
Unit Name | Unit Code | Credit Points | Status | ||
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Performance Histories | THTR20010 | 20 | Mandatory | TB-1 | |
Politics of Performance | THTR20005 | 20 | Mandatory | TB-2 | |
Transdisciplinary Group Project 2: Solving Someone's Problem | INOV20002 | 20 | Mandatory | TB-4 | |
Innovation at Work | INOV20004 | 20 | Mandatory | TB-4 | |
- Select a further 40 CP from the list below.You are advised to select 20cp from TB1 units and 20cp from TB2 units | |||||
Melodrama | THTR20008 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 | |
Popular Performance | THTR20018 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 | |
Interpreting Plays | THTR20011 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 | |
Applied Theatre | THTR20002 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 | |
Choreography for Theatre | THTR20004 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 | |
Performing the Archive: Re-use, Re-enactment and Adaptation | THTR20012 | 20 | Optional | C,E | TB-2 |
Early Modern Theatre Practice | THTR20013 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 | |
Clowning Through History | THTR20014 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 | |
Decolonising Performance | THTR20019 | 20 | Optional | TB-2 | |
Diploma of Higher Education | 120 |
Unit Name | Unit Code | Credit Points | Status | ||
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New Creative Ventures | INOV30006 | 20 | Mandatory | TB-2 | |
Making Ideas Happen | INOV30007 | 20 | Mandatory | D | TB-2 |
Ideation for Innovation | INOV30008 | 20 | Mandatory | A | TB-1 |
Select a minimum of 20cp and a maximum of 40cp from this list: | |||||
Independent Study: Extended Essay | THTR30017 | 20 | Optional | B,E | TB-1,TB-2 |
Independent Study: Dissertation | THTR30018 | 40 | Optional | TB-4 | |
Independent Study: Performance Project | THTR30015 | 40 | Optional | TB-4 | |
Select a further minimum of 20cp and a maximum of 40cp from the following Theatre units (so that you have chosen 60cp in total from this and the list above): | |||||
Devised Performance | THTR30003 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 | |
The Age of the Actress: Eighteenth-Century Performance Practices | THTR30022 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 | |
Contemporary British Theatre | THTR30019 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 | |
Site-Specific and Immersive Performance | THTR30006 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 | |
Translation and Adaptation | THTR30007 | 20 | Optional | TB-1 | |
Professional Development in Theatre and Performance | THTR30023 | 20 | Optional | TB-1,TB-2 | |
Theatre with Innovation (BA) | 120 |
Unit Pass Mark for Undergraduate Programmes:
For details on the weightings for classifying undergraduate degrees, please see the Agreed Weightings, by Faculty, to be applied for the Purposes of Calculating the Final Programme Mark and Degree Classification in Undergraduate Programmes.
For detailed rules on progression please see the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes and the relevant faculty handbook.
Please refer to the specific progression/award requirements for programmes with a preliminary year of study, the Gateway programmes and International Foundation programmes.
All undergraduate degree programmes allow the opportunity for a student to exit from a programme with a Diploma or Certificate of Higher Education.
Integrated Master's degrees may also allow the opportunity for a student to exit from the programme with an equivalent Bachelor's degree where a student has achieved 360 credit points, of which 90 must be at level 6, and has successfully met any additional criteria as described in the programme specification.
The opportunities for a student to exit from one of the professional programmes in Veterinary Science, Medicine, and Dentistry with an Award is outlined in the relevant Programme Regulations (which are available as an annex in the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes).
An Ordinary degree can be awarded if a student has successfully completed at least 300 credits with a minimum of 60 credits at Level 6.
The pass mark for the professional programmes in Veterinary Science, Medicine and Dentistry is 50 out of 100. The classification of a degree in the professional programmes in Veterinary Science, Medicine, and Dentistry is provided in the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.
Please note: This specification provides a concise summary of the main features of the programme and the learning outcomes that a typical student might reasonably be expected to achieve and demonstrate if he/she takes full advantage of the learning opportunities that are provided.
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