Learning and teaching
We use a variety of learning and teaching methods, including lectures, seminars, screenings, student study groups and web and IT resources. All our modules centre the learning experience on seminars, involving groups of between 10 and 20 students, typically running for two hours. Many modules are supported by weekly 50-minute lectures. Students often prepare for seminars by involvement in student study groups, which encourage collaboration and team working.
Typical contact time with academic staff is eight hours per week, on top of which you’re expected to attend other activities such as study groups, workshop activities and film screenings. Students studying Film and a Modern Language may have a few extra hours as language study is necessarily intensive. Most of your work will be done in group and self-directed study: viewing and reading module material, writing essays or preparing material for seminar presentations. You should expect your total workload to average about 40 hours per week during term time.
We’re actively engaged in introducing new methods of learning and teaching, including increasing use of interactive computer-based approaches to learning through our virtual learning environment, where the details of all modules are stored in an easily navigable website. Students can access detailed information about modules and learning outcomes and interact through activities such as the discussion forums.
We are committed to your academic development. Through seminar work you’ll be trained in skills of critical analysis and learn to develop evidenced-based arguments. We foster your research skills through training in the use of library-based or electronic resources to research a topic. We offer detailed feedback and essays can be discussed on a one-to-one basis with the tutor who has marked them. Study Skills tutors are also available within the department to work on specific problems in written work and assessment.
As part of our commitment to Personal Development Planning (PDP), all first year students complete the online student self-appraisal systems, designed to encourage students to reflect upon their strengths and preferences and consider their plans for academic work and employment. All students have the opportunity to discuss their current PDP with their Personal Tutor.
Research-led teaching
Research-led teaching ensures lectures are up-to-date and relevant and you will benefit from access to the latest thinking, equipment and resources. All staff teach second and third year options which are linked to their own interests which include areas such as film history; gender studies; issues of identity; technology and spectacle; European, East Asian and American cinema; time, space and pacing in the cinema; and acting and performance.
Facilities
Exeter has unique resources which make it ideally positioned to support the study of film. The Bill Douglas Centre for the History of Cinema and Popular Culture holds a wide-ranging collection of more than 70,000 film related artefacts and the collection is available for all students to use as a research and study resource. The diverse collection includes objects relating to the history of the moving image, such as optical toys, magic lantern slides and a Lumière cinematograph; film publicity such as posters from the Hollywood era to contemporary film; material on film stars such as Charlie Chaplin, Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn; and material on animation, particularly on Disney films. The holdings also include the papers of British producer Gavrik Losey, the director and producer Don Boyd and the producer James Mackay which include papers that relate to the work of Derek Jarman. Many of our film modules exploit these resources, giving students a highly distinctive and valuable experience of studying and researching film using primary materials, documents and artefacts.
Our Audio-Visual collection in the University library comprises over 12,000 films on DVD and video, in addition to books about and recordings of American music of all kinds. Recent investment in our learning spaces has ensured that lectures, screening and seminars take advantage of multimedia equipment.
