Year
2024Credit points
10Campus offering
Prerequisites
Nil
Restriction: Permission from the National Head of School or Course Coordinator is required. Quotas apply. An application process will apply for special projects on offer and academic merit will be considered. The student must be undertaking a major taught by the National School of Arts and Humanities (not including Mathematics and Technology).
Incompatible
ARTS330 Internship , MEDA300 Professional Engagement and Internship , TECH307 Technologies Professional Experience
Unit rationale, description and aim
This subject involves the completion of a 70-hour special project integrating academic learning, employability skills and attributes and an improved knowledge of organisations, workplace culture and career pathways in the Arts and Humanities. The project or placement gives a hands-on experience of work in the Arts and Humanities sector and is supplemented by workshops and/or excursions that focus on key cultural institutions, consultancies, government agencies, or local government/community organisations and will prepare students for the project or placement. Prior to the beginning of semester, ACU staff will have identified and engaged with appropriate project partners to develop a list of potential placements or projects that align with relevant majors in the National School of Arts and Humanities. Students will complete a 70-hour special project and use the rest of the semester to complete the tasks related to it. On completion of the subject, students will have completed and reported on an Arts or Humanities related project. The aim of the unit is to enhance students' employability skills including communication, interpersonal, analytical and problem-solving skills; organisational and time-management techniques; and an understanding of career planning and professional development in the Arts and Humanities.
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.
| Learning Outcome Number | Learning Outcome Description | Relevant Graduate Capabilities |
|---|---|---|
| LO1 | Demonstrate an independent approach to learning and knowledge | GC2, GC3, GC4, GC9, GC10, GC11 |
| LO2 | Work collegially to complete a range of activities as a member of a team in a special project setting | GC2, GC3, GC4, GC6, GC8, GC12 |
| LO3 | Apply knowledge and skills in the Arts or Humanities to complete a relevant project or placement requirement | GC2, GC3, GC4, GC5, GC8, GC9, GC10, GC11, GC12 |
| LO4 | Reflect on the process and output of a work project/placement to articulate their academic and career development learning from the experience | GC6, GC7, GC8, GC9, GC11, GC12 |
Content
The course will be structured in three parts:
Part One: Arts Pathways
- Preparation for taking up special projects
- Workplace culture
- Introduction to the Arts and Humanities sector (key cultural institutions, consultancies, government agencies, local government/community organisations).
Part Two: The Internship
- Students undertake a (pre-organised) special project with a project partner on a distinct topic, which can be completed within the designated period.
Part Three: Reflections on Professional Practice
- Showcasing and presentation skills on project experiences
- Linking skills to project requirements
- Presenting project experience to potential employers in the future.
Learning and teaching strategy and rationale
This unit takes the form of a special project with an internal Arts or Humanities academic, ACU department, or partner organisation.
By engaging directly with Arts and Humanities organisations and practitioners (and with guidance and support from ACU staff) students will develop their skills and knowledge of professional practice in a particular field of the Arts and Humanities, through a series of experiential activities.
At the same time, the course workshops will involve a range of active learning activities including reading, writing, analysis, debate, discussion and problem solving.
Attendance Mode: 150 hours, including a 70-hour special project or placement, and face-to-face or multimode workshops/modules. The balance then becomes private study to complete readings and assignments for the unit.
The unit may be offered over a 12-week semester period or as a summer or winter intensive.
Assessment strategy and rationale
This special project placement component of this unit will be assessed by a pass/fail grade and students must complete the requirements of the project to gain a pass for this hurdle.
The assessment tasks for this unit will be graded and have been designed to assess students’ developing skills and knowledge over the course of the semester – in relation to both the on campus learning activities and their off-campus internship experiences.
Overview of assessments
| Brief Description of Kind and Purpose of Assessment Tasks | Weighting | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|
Hurdle Requirement 70 hours satisfactory special project or placement before the end of the teaching period and 100% attendance at workshops. | Pass/Fail | LO1, LO2 |
Case Study Exercise Students will develop a case study to share with other students based on the project they are undertaking. | 50% | LO3 |
Major Written Task Students will write a 2,000 word essay/report reflecting on their placement and relating their experience to current directions in the Arts and/or Humanities. OR Students will produce an artefact or product as part of their project and include a 500-word reflection on their placement and relating their experience to current directions in the Arts and/or Humanities. Both the artefact or product and the reflection will be graded. | 50% | LO3, LO4 |
Representative texts and references
Cauvin, Thomas. Public History: A Textbook of Practice. New York: Routledge, 2016.
Daniel, Ryan, and Daniel, Leah. "Enhancing the Transition from Study to Work: Reflections on the Value and Impact of Internships in the Creative and Performing Arts." Arts and Humanities in Higher Education 12, no. 2-3 (2013): 138-53.
Guarise, Desalina, and James Kostenblatt. "Unpaid Internships and the Career Success of Liberal Arts Graduates."NACE Journal 78, no. 3 (2018): 37.
Hodges, Sue. Hands on History. South Melbourne: Sue Hodges Productions, 2006.
Kean, Hilda, and Paul Martin. The Public History Reader. London: Routledge, 2013.
Kramer-Simpson, Elisabeth. "Moving from Student to Professional: Industry Mentors and Academic Internship Coordinators Supporting Intern Learning in the Workplace." Journal of Technical Writing and Communication 48, no. 1 (2018): 81-103.
Lang, Caroline, and John Reeve, eds. The Responsive Museum: Working with Audiences in the Twenty-First Century. London: Routledge, 2006.
Neugebauer, John, and Jane Evans-Brain. Making the Most of Your Placement. London: SAGE, 2009.
Tolich, Martin, Paris, Anna, and Shephard, Kerry. "An Evaluation of Experiential Learning in a Sociology Internship Class." New Zealand Sociology 29, no. 1 (2014): 119-34.