Unit rationale, description and aim
This introductory-level unit supports students in developing a range of practical creative and research skills, and the ability to apply them to a collaborative project. The foundational creative skills developed will be in areas such as: film and sound production, graphic storytelling, voice and performance, and writing. Students will draw on these valuable practical skills confidently throughout their studies; they are skills that are highly sought after in a broad range of workplaces, for completing a wide range of professional projects.
The unit will take as its theme the rich concepts of places and place-making: the ways in which physical (or virtual) locations are imbued with human meanings, and more specifically, how communities have shaped, and continue to shape, the shared places that define their common lives. Places and place-making will be explored from a variety of perspectives, such as: urban geography, place-based community development, Indigenous peoples and place, historical approaches to place, engaging with ‘difficult’ heritage, place-making through creative practice, and place-making for the LGBTI+ community, for those who are neurodiverse, and for people with physical disabilities. During the course of the unit, students will develop and build their practical creative and research skills through engagement with these topics.
The aim of this unit is to support students in using collaborative and creative skills to design, research, and present a project on the topic of place and place-making.
Learning outcomes
To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.
Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.
Explore the graduate capabilities.
Define ‘place-making’ and identify and describe on...
Learning Outcome 01
Use a variety of practical creative skills to crea...
Learning Outcome 02
Collaborate effectively in small-group teams to co...
Learning Outcome 03
Produce an informed and engaging approach to place...
Learning Outcome 04
Content
Topics will include:
- Foundational Practical Creative Skills (chosen from):
- video production
- audio production
- graphic storytelling
- voice and performance
- music
- creative writing (including micro-writing)
- Approaches to Place and Place-Making (chosen from):
- urban geography
- place-based community development
- place-making through creative practice
- Indigenous peoples and place
- historical approaches to place and ‘palimpsest’ places
- places with ‘difficult’ historyo place-making for the LGBTI+ community
- place-making for those who are neurodiverseo place-making for people with disabilities
Assessment strategy and rationale
The assessment tasks in this unit are designed to sequentially develop students’ analytical, research and creative skills, as well as their ability to work collaboratively towards the completion of a substantial project on the unit’s theme. The first assessment task is a low-weighted assignment designed to engage students with the overall theme of the unit. This task will focus on the development of Learning Outcome 1. The second assessment task will build on the work of the first, and will require students to produce a proposal for their Final Creative Project that includes both individual and group components. This task will allow students to build group rapport, demonstrate progress in the development of their practical skills, and work towards their Final Creative Project in a structured environment. The second assessment task assesses Learning Outcomes 1, 2, 3 and 4. The third assessment task is the culmination of the learning of the unit and builds on the skills and knowledge developed and assessed in the first two assessment tasks through the completion of a substantial Creative Project on place or place-making. This Project will be documented in an e-portfolio that may be shown to future employees. The final assessment task will assess Learning Outcomes 2, 3 and 4
Overview of assessments
Written Response to Place and Place-making Requi...
Written Response to Place and Place-making
Requires students to complete a researched written response to an approach to place-making presented in class (500 words).
20%
Proposal for Final Creative Project with “Work-in...
Proposal for Final Creative Project with “Work-in-Progress” Portfolio
Requires students to complete a developed proposal for a final collaborative Creative Project. The proposal will include “work-in-progress”, such as examples or documentation of creative work completed in previous weeks presented as an e-portfolio. The proposal will include both group and individual components.
35%
Final Creative Project (with Portfolio) Requires ...
Final Creative Project (with Portfolio)
Requires students to complete and present a final collaborative Creative Project on place and place-making using a combination of research and creative skills. The Creative Project will include both group and individual components, and will be documented in an e-portfolio.
45%
Blokland, T. “Celebrating Local Histories and Defining Neighbourhood Communities: Placemaking in a Gentrified Neighbourhood.” Urban Studies 46, no. 8 (2009): 1593-1610.
Cresswell, Tim. Place: A Short Introduction. 2nd ed. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2015.
Eckenwiler, Lisa. “Displacement and Solidarity: An Ethic of Place‐making.” Bioethics 32, no. 9 (2018): 562–568.
Loh, Carolyn G., Amanda J. Ashley, Rose Kim, Leslie Durham, and Karen Bubb. “Placemaking in Practice: Municipal Arts and Cultural Plans’ Approaches to Placemaking and Creative Placemaking.” Journal of planning education and research (2022): 1-12.
National Endowment for the Arts. How to Do Creative Placemaking. Washington, DC: National Endowment for the Arts, 2017.
Papageorgiou, Kyriaki, et al. Envisioning the Future of Learning for Creativity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship. De Gruyter, 2022.
Place and Placelessness Revisited. Edited by Robert Freestone, and Edgar Liu. New York: Routledge/Taylor & Francis, 2016.
The Routledge Handbook of Placemaking. Edited by Cara Courage, Tom Borrup, Maria Rosario Jackson, Kylie Legge, Anita McKeown, Louise Platt, and Jason Schupbach. Abingdon/New York, Routledge, 2021
Learning and teaching strategy and rationale
This unit is designed to enhance the learning of a wide range of students by approaching the unit theme of place and place-making through interactive classes that will both develop students’ critical understanding of different perspectives on place and place-making, and also build their capacity to respond to their new knowledge through the application of practical creative skills.
The unit will be taught in primarily in face-to-face mode, and may also include synchronous online classes where appropriate.