Saturday, 11 May 2013

Context of Practice OUGD501 - Module Evaluation


OUGD 501 Evaluation


1. What skills have you developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them:

I have of course become more informed contextually with the twelve lectures we have received. I also now know that contextual knowledge is important for my personal practice and it should help direct my development process and design decisions.

I particularly found the panopticism lecture and seminar interesting and from there decided to write my essay around it. I think it was a good choice and I think the link between the Chinese censorship that exists online was great starting point to flesh out an informed essay discussing the panoptic methods the Chinese government employ. In relation to the essay it has also taught me how to construct and essay title, which I now know, is important. Hopefully this will allow me to choose an appropriate title for the COP3 and my dissertation. After I received my first essay draft backed it allowed me to understand where I was going wrong. I analysed the analysis Richard made and bullet pointed what I should do next time to make it easier on myself. I found that I generate too much of my own content and should look to summarise more on what authors say. I also realised where I needed to re-arrange my writing structurally for example I didn't define what panopticism was in the essay as an introduction, I don't why I did this but it seemed really obvious after I received my feedback. I now know how to compare/contrast three authors using triangulation, which when introduced (triangulation) I found extremely confusing. This year I was given dyslexia software which I have utilised to help me write, specifically I use the 'Read and Write' tool which read out writing in a robotic voice. Although the voice doesn't sound convincing it does help as I can see where I have made mistakes or where the flow of my writing could make more sense. I have utilised online tools to help me with my Harvard Referencing, which makes it fairly straightforward, and I also feel more confident in finding and using quotes from authors.

I think the theory into practice task has allowed me to build upon my concept development, which Simon and Lorraine have also introduced. I can now see where I can make practical links to the theory, which hopefully makes coherent sense. I think the freedom of the Theory Into Practice tasks allows you to explore contextual subjects you are interested in. By researching the Small House Movement I found more of a focused interested within sustainability that focused on design rather then radical sustainable movements.

My ability to research has improved. I now spend much more time researching specific topics because of the way I title the research task. Linking back to titles for the essay, I’ve realised is makes it easier for yourself if you have a specific point of interest you can focus on and talk about a subject in more depth.


2. What approaches to methods of design production have you developed and how have they informed your design development process

I choose to do a publication in the form of a small booklet, which meant I had another chance to work with editorial design and layout. I inserted interactive pages and also tried to experiment with dimension. My booklet is quite small because I thought the concept of exploring the Small House Movement within a large-scale book would be ill informed. I tried to use the conventions of a book to illustrate points and examples I was making theoretically which was quite challenging in the way I had to lay certain pages out so that this was possible. This leads me on to printing. It was extremely frustrating printing my booklet off within InDesign. I ended up printing around 8 booklets just to get the layout right which is pretty off the subject I was producing for - sustainability. It ended up being more of a learning process in printer settings!

This time around I have chosen to get everything ready for hand in extremely early. I am writing this module evaluation three days before hand in so that I don't have to worry about getting it all done on the day. I learn my lesson from the responsive module when I handed in three and a half minutes before the deadline time. I don't need the stress!

3. What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these?

I enjoy learning about new theories and think I generally understood most theories we were presented this year. I think the fact that I have been motivated to understand and be open to discuss in seminars theories has allowed me to move foreword contextually making me more informed.

Again I think my conceptual process has improved and the way created a link between the theory and the practical work this year was positive. The fact that I even understand this is extremely important I think is a start. I will continue contextual discourse positively in COP3.

I have come to almost enjoy structured writing and doing the essay and my confidence has definitely improved. I want to build upon my new writing skills and I will aim to improve the structure of my writing next year.

Thankfully I have been really organised which has meant I haven't had so much work to do for hand in as it is already complete. The way I have organised myself in lectures and within seminars had made this process successful. I will continue to blog the lectures at the time I then find more contextual research afterwards. I will also complete the study tasks as soon as possible to the work being set. When its fresh in your mind its obviously a lot easy to complete.

4. What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these in the future

I have procrastinated a lot more this year then last. I don't know why but I feel drained this year around and everything seems to be less of a novelty. I find blogging boring although I understand its better then using sketchbooks or power points. I think it’s down to the arrangement of posts and labels. I don't want the blogging I am doing to be a waste of time. I will try and make some kind of master order I can use throughout all modules to help organise my work so that it can be presented efficiently.

I still find when I have to present work to groups I can feel anxious and verbally not make coherent sense. I want to overcome this and I think the only way to do it is to continue to get involved more and also become more confident in my own opinion.

5. Identify five things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these?

Write my dissertation to a set structure. This will allow me to plan what I want to say and make it easier to triangulate. I will plan my dissertation thoroughly before starting to write. This will improve the structure.

I will finish my essay once I receive my draft at the time rather then later in the year so that it will be still fresh in my mind. This will make it easier to pick up where I left.

I will organise my blog posts better. This will allow me to document my work to a higher standard and achieve more marks.

Be confident when I present ideas concept to the group. This will allow me to appear more coherent and informed about my work.

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