touchpoint 1.3
DESCRIPTION
A newsletter for students in the School of Arts at Brunel University London. Read about the latest events and opportunities, responses to feedback and updates.TRANSCRIPT
Feedback updates and news
1.3. APR>2011
© Brunel University
School of Arts sets the pace
Pro-Vice-Chancellor Professor Ken Darby-Dowman has praised the School of Arts for exceeding the Brunel average completion rate in National Student Survey.
The NSS (National Student Survey) gathers student feedback from final year students across the UK. It is used to provide data published on Unistats.com. Prospective students can use the results to help make informed choices about where and what to study. The feedback is also useful to Brunel and UBS to facilitate best practice and enhance the student learning experience.
You and your answers remain anonymous at all times and your contact details are only used for the purpose of the survey. Level 3 students yet to complete the survey can follow the link below:
For students in the School of
Arts
National Student Survey 2011
Have your say!
Suggestion Box ResponsesThanks go to all the students who have contributed to the new Suggestion Box scheme. School Manager Diane Woodhead said “it was great to read your ‘Have your say’ comment cards, as hearing from you is one way that we can help improve our service.” The suggestion box is now a permanent feature in the Gaskell reception area. A sample of the latest comments and responses are posted below and more examples can be found on
“All staff on the front desk are legends! The receptionist is really lovely, always helps with any
problems and room bookings”.
It’s really good to hear such nice things about our staff; these comments are being passed on to all staff
within the School.
“I have had lots of timetable clashes over my three years, very frustrating”
We do understand the frustrations that the Timetable has caused in the past but we give assurances we are constantly working with the Timetabling Team at the University to improve the process. This year we anticipate the timetable will be available earlier but this means that module choices may not have been made clashes avoided via EPortal in the Summer, rather than leaving this until the first week of term.
“A big thank you to everybody in the School
of Arts for a really supportive attitude towards mature and part-time students…
really brill!”.
“Some lecturers do not always upload lecture notes to U-link”
U-Link is currently undergoing a review as an information repository and whilst we encourage all staff to upload lecture notes, these may purely be a précis of the lecture as we want to encourage students to engage with the subject through regular attendance.
© Brunel University
Library News
Need Help with Information SkillsIf you require additional information skills support please contact me to arrange a one to one appointment. Advice and support can be given about searching databases, referencing, effective online search techniques and I can also provide recommendations for resources in your subject area.To arrange a one to one appointment:
Follow the Tweets of the Arts Librarianhttp://twitter.com/ArtsLibrarian
It can be really difficult to keep up-to-date with new resources and information related to the Arts. People often use the phrase “information overload” to describe how they feel about all the data that’s out there. I’ve recently started tweeting to record useful web resources, details of new journal and database descriptions and details of concerts and other exhibitions. I also follow the tweets of authors, composers, journalists, newspapers, journals, trade associations, clubs and organisations in the arts. Follow me on Twitter to find out about new resources online in your subject area.
© Brunel University
Creative Networking Night
The first Touchpoint Student Creative Networking Nighttook place on 1st March 2011 in the Artaud Building.
The event provided an opportunity for students to meet other musicians, writers, actors, filmmakers, games designers, directors and journalists from across the School of Arts.
Students were encouraged to share their skills by forming a creative company and given the chance to win one of four sets of £500 to bring a project to life. The winners will be announced in the next issue of Touchpoint and a showcase of their work will take place at the start of the next academic year.
© Brunel University
ASK is here for the Arts!b
ASK Academic Skills is located on the ground floor of the library and provides a variety of services designed to help you succeed. We can help you become a better writer and critical thinker, design and deliver a quality presentation, manage your time effectively, and much more. The easiest way to get assistance is to come by our drop-ins Tuesdays –Thursdays 12-2 pm and alternate Thursdays (even weeks) 5-7 pm.
Exam and Revision Assistance from ASK
As the exam period draws near, ASK is here to support your revision efforts. Our ‘Skills4Study’ service now has a new exams module to help you get started and stay focussed. You can access Skills4Study through the ASK U-Link section, and while you’re there have a look at our other resources.
Click on the links above to email ASK and to see the workshop timetable. Be sure to visit the ASK U-Link section for loads of materials covering every aspect of academic skills.
© Brunel University
DramaARTAUD FORUM 1: The World from within and without(in memoriam of Kazuo Ohno)
The first Artaud Forum took place on the 4th-5th April, initiating a series of annually held events at Brunel University’s Artaud Performance Centre.
A performance laboratory and research symposium, the Forum will bring together an invited group of international theatre and dance artists, filmmakers, photographers, art theorists and scholars engaged in creative practices that reflect on major innovative performance traditions of the past century and their impact on current performance knowledge and physical/ physical-digital techniques.
The first instalment of the ARTAUD FORUM is dedicated to the memory of Kazuo Ohno and the complex convergences/differences between Japanese and Western performative methods. It featured video installations, photo exhibitions, live performances (by Katsura Isobe and Manabu Shimada, and Tokyo artist Biyo Kikuchi), and Peter Sempel's film “Just Visiting this Planet” (tribute to Kazuo Ohno).
http://people.brunel.ac.uk/dap/artaudforum.html
The event is organized by Johannes Birringer (artistic director, DAP-Lab, School of Arts), with Hironobu Oikawa (director, Maison Artaud, Tokyo), and is part of the research events programmed by the Centre for Contemporary and Digital Performance (with additional support of the Brunel University Graduate School, the Goethe-Institut London, and DAIWA Foundation).
Journalism
New web link for journalism students:
News on ScreenNews on Screen is a resource from the British Universities Film and Video Council (BUFVC). It contains a database of over 180,000 cinemagazine & newsreel stories (1910-83) linked to production documents & films.
© Brunel University
Appy to ‘elp budding Brunel journalists
Journalism staff have won a £7,000 grant to develop an iPad app which will be used to help Brunel students learn key skills in journalism.
Murray Dick, Paul Moody and Malcolm Zammitt applied for the money through the university's Learning and Teaching Innovation Fund, and will produce an app which for use in scenario-based journalism training seminars held at Brunel. The team created the app because journalistic skills can be difficult to explain and to teach in class- or lab-based settings and because many people come to journalism from other subject areas. The final product (and seminars) will be made available to Brunel students from any school, who are interested in a career in journalism.
The team hope the app and seminar series may have wider commercial application, and hope to have a ‘beta’ version ready by October 2011. Members of the team will be presenting preliminary findings at Brunel’s E-learning 2.0 conference in July – for more information on this conference, see their website: http://www.elearning2.org/
Journalism network nightFebruary saw the first of what we hope will be many network nights for the journalism department. Students from all years, undergraduate and postgraduate, converged on the Artaud building for an evening of light refreshment, conversation and enlightenment.
Everyone was encouraged to bring home-prepared food, and so tables groaned with many delectable dishes. We are very grateful to Brunel alumni Josh Darlington for sharing his experiences of local journalism, and it seemed (from the volume in the surrounding area, and feedback on the evening) that everyone enjoyed the quiz. Look out for future events.
MusicMusic this term has hosted two inspiring international visitors, electronic duo Shackle and American pioneer minimalist Phill Niblock. An ensemble of fourteen Music staff and students presented a Niblock concert in London's Café Oto to a full house and good reviews, and the Piano Circus/Colin Riley event at King's Place packed the place out and was unanimously praised by the critics.
Frank Griffith: Latest Gig List now online
View Frank’s upcoming gigs online, including a chance
to see the Frank Griffith Nonet at Ronnie Scott’s on
the 17th April or the Frank Griffith Trio on the 27th
May in the Roberts Room
here at Brunel
© Brunel University
Musicbru
Musicbru is a new blog created by Carl Faia, online since January, dedicated to the activities and information pertinent and ever-so-lightly impertinent to the music department. Concerts, conferences, competitions, and other useful information gets hand picked and presented in one easy to find virtual kiosk.
The blog is fed by the staff while students are welcome to contribute. Everything on the blog, including timely Tweets, is sent to Musicbru on Facebook where users can interact, repost, comment and give feedback.
You can find out what staff are up to when they're not teaching as well as find relevant photos on Flickr, follow us on Twitter, listen to students on SoundCloud and find some of the better RSS feeds from selected sites. The blog is always evolving and feedback is welcome. Click on any of the logos below to get direct access.
English & CW
© Brunel University
The launch event for the new Brunel Interdisciplinary Network on Gender and Sexuality took place on 24th February, with presentations from Professor Jay Kleinberg (Politics and History), Professor Ruth Simpson (Business) and Professor William Spurlin (English).
The Network, founded by English lecturers Jessica Cox and Wendy Knepper, has attracted interest from scholars and students from across the university, and various plans are in the pipeline for future events and collaborations. To find out more, click on the logo above to visit the website or email [email protected].
English Students
The Literary Encyclopedia is now on Facebook!The page features interesting links and posts on the wall.
Click on the logo below to access.
Screen Media
© Brunel University
New Databases for Screen Media StudentsTwo new databases have been recently added to the collection for Screen Media Students.
The Arts on Film Archive and BFI InViewThe Archive can be found in the databases area for Film and TV http://www.brunel.ac.uk/life/study/library/subject/film/databases. Remember to log-in using your Brunel network username and password before accessing either of the resources. Please feel free to contact Laura for a one to one appointment if you would like a demonstration ([email protected])
Arts on Film Archive The Arts on Film Archive provides access to a large range of films on art produced in the United Kingdom between 1953 and 1998. It is a useful record of documentary film-making in the UK. There is a searchable database of over 450 films by the film department of Arts Council England.
BFI InViewBFI InView allows access to over 2,000 hours of non-fiction moving image titles selected by the BFI National Archive. The images can be browsed according to broad political and economical themes.
BEAM Festival 2011 24th – 26th Junewww.beamfestival.com
This June the University campus is set to become a playground for experimental sound and performance with the launch of the first Brunel Electronic and Analogue Music Festival - a brand new high-tech weekender!
Invading and taking over the Artaud Performance Centre from 24 – 26 June, the BEAM Festival features evening performances by world-leading artists in live and interactive electronics, intensive workshops to build your own electronic instruments, sonic robots, live demonstrations and pervasiveoutdoor games.
Join the BEAM Team!Interested in gaining experience working on music and arts events? Want to test your skills in a live environment?
We are looking for a team of enthusiastic, hard-working and passionate people to volunteer during the BEAM weekend. From assisting demonstrations to tech set up and Front-of-House, there’s a whole range of roles available and in return for your hard work you’ll get free access to festival events and valuable experience for your CV. If you’d like to know more about joining the BEAM Team, or to sign up, email Natasha at [email protected]
(sign up on first-come, first-selected basis with last date to sign up Friday 29th April).
Enter your own performance or installation for the festival! The BEAM Open Calls invite submissions from students working in music and technology in the form of installations, demonstrations or interactive work. The deadline for entries is 30th April 2011, and you can find details of how to apply at www.beamfestival.com
Get involvedBecome a Rep
Course Reps, School Reps, and Disabled & Dyslexic Student Reps are elected by you to represent your views and push for change that will improve your life at Brunel.
They can help with you with academic issues at module, course, and school level, and give you information on how to resolve any other problems you may have. You can find more information on what Reps do and how to become a rep at:
http://www.brunelstudents.com/studentreps
Could you write this newsletter?
If you’d like to contribute to the next issue of Touchpoint contact the editor: [email protected]
© Brunel University
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