• Offered for Year: 2024/25

• Module Leader(s): Mrs Armelle Tardiveau

• Owning School: Architecture, Planning & Landscape
• Teaching Location: Newcastle City Campus

Semesters

Your programme is made up of credits, the total differs on programme to programme.

Aims

The Academic Portfolio is a record of all the assessable work a student produces during the 4 year undergraduate Master of Architecture and Urban Planning degree (M-AUP). This work will include design project work (presentation material and process), essays, reports, and dissertation, along with the project briefs, essay questions, and module outlines.
The aims of the Academic Portfolio are to:

1.       Review all work assessed for the M-AUP degree.
2.       Understand the inter-relationship between the broad range of knowledge and skills gained over the course of the degree.
3.       Curate all work already assessed, present it thematically using the ARB/ RIBA Part 1 validation criteria within a portfolio format.
4.       Improve selected work that was, in the context of the course in which it was produced, assessed to be weak, either by being incomplete or having failed to address key course objectives. (Such improvement is deemed to be new work and is assessed within the Academic Portfolio course, and does not imply a retroactive re-assessment of any other, already-completed modules).

5.       Demonstrate student achievement to ARB/RIBA Part 1 level in the four year M-AUP degree as a whole, in each of its module components, and in each of the project components of the modules.
6.       Critically articulate the inter-relationship between the disciplines of Architecture and Planning and the knowledge and skills acquired over the course of the degree.

Outline Of Syllabus

The Academic Portfolio module requires students to curate the outcomes of academic work undertaken during the 4 year undergraduate Master of Architecture and Urban Planning degree and present it in the form of an integrated academic portfolio as defined by the ARB/RIBA at Part 1 level. The portfolio may involve various forms of presentation (drawings, installations, printed books/reports, models photographs, films, digital material, etc.) and any other evidence of work that has been assessed as part of the programme leading to the award of Part 1. The assembly of the portfolio is often given inadequate attention by students of architecture: by thematising it, the course establishes it as a design issue in its own right. Emphasis is placed upon the eloquence of the total presentation, the ability to critically reflect on the work, as well as upon the appropriateness of the use of specific representational forms and the skill demonstrated in their deployment.
Lectures, tutorials and workshops will support and guide students in the preparation for assessed document.

Lectures will support students to:
•       understand the themes and validation criteria.
•       develop a critical reading of portfolio precedents, for a variety of audiences.
•       identify skills and competences developed during the Master with the support of the Graduate Framework.
•       critically reflect on the learning journey, with an emphasis on the inter-disciplinary nature of the degree.

Workshops will reinforce representational and digital skills such as CAD and Adobe suite competences. These will help students develop critical visual skills and articulate a coherent narrative for their document and as well as their learning trajectory.

Tutorials help review the refined / new work and support the reflection of the concluding essay focusing on the inter-disciplinary nature of the degree demonstrating an understanding of design, people and place in the context of climate emergency. In addition, group tutorials create a forum for students to present and discuss their developing compilation with peers and tutors. Detailed advice will be given in relation to the course requirements. Students will then have until the submission deadline to consolidate their portfolios on the basis of this advice.

Semester 1 will focus on:

•       understanding the ARB/ RIBA Part 1 validation criteria and themes.
•       self-assessing the work in relation to each criteria/ theme through the compilation of the 4 years of the degree.
•       critically analysing a variety of portfolio precedents in order to understand how to present the work to a variety of audiences.
•       identifying areas of improvement of work and reflect on how the work could be improved. If any new work is produced it must be noted as per module aims that any such improvement is deemed to be new work and is assessed within the ARC8092 Academic Portfolio module, and does not imply a retroactive re-assessment of any other, already-completed modules.

Semester 2 will focus on:

•       establishing a visual and textual narrative of the learning journey.
•       critically reflect on the learning journey through a concluding essay that focuses on the inter-disciplinary nature of the degree and how it supports a broader understanding of design, people and place in the context of climate change.

Teaching Methods

Teaching Activities

Teaching Rationale And Relationship

This is a self-directed module wherein students are expected to engage in critical reflection over their entire academic output throughout the program. The portfolio will be used as a tool for locating and assessing how the student has engaged with the professional validation criteria, reinforcing, through the self-curatorial exercise, the student's understanding of the entire curriculum.
Since the portfolio encapsulates work completed over the 4-year length of the degree, students start receiving individual feedback with regular tutorials, and instructional workshops provide students with skills needed to assemble the portfolio. This module will provide students with fortnightly contact with the module leader and with their peers, and an opportunity to ask questions, seek clarifications or expand on the discussions in an informal manner. During these sessions, the guided structured learning activities and guided independent study will be explained, including how they relate to the module learning outcomes. The lectures will reinforce the reflective and thematic nature of the academic portfolio and provide a framework to identify knowledge, skills and competences gained through the studies and how it gives coverage of the ARB/RIBA Prescription Part 1 Criteria.

Should the public health situation not allow for present in person teaching, the scheduled lectures will be delivered through pre-recorded content blocks, two per session of 15- 30 minutes each, with weekly live online module talks and drop-ins. The pre-recorded lecture materials will be complemented by learning activities which will provide students with the opportunity to reflect on the recorded material covered and explore more in-depth the topics covered by reading a selected paper or analysis precedents, which will then be discussed as a cohort in a non-synchronous online discussion board facilitated by the module leader. The sessions will be recorded, and made available for those that are unable to attend. In addition, the tutorials and workshops supporting the assignment will be delivered as synchronous online.

Assessment Methods

The format of resits will be determined by the Board of Examiners

Other Assessment

Formative Assessments

Formative Assessment is an assessment which develops your skills in being assessed, allows for you to receive feedback, and prepares you for being assessed. However, it does not count to your final mark.

Assessment Rationale And Relationship

The portfolios are assessed and moderated by a panel of internal staff members. The portfolios are assessed on:

•       evidence of critical and comprehensive engagement with professional ARB/RIBA criteria.
•       graphic presentation quality.
•       critical reflection of the inter-disciplinary nature of the degree and how its themes support a broader understanding of design, people and place in the context of climate change.
•       critical reflection of the students’ learning journey including self-assessment of skills and abilities.

Please note the 80% portfolio submission must be passed in order to pass the module overall as ARB Accreditation Criteria mapped for this module are assessed through the portfolio.

Reading Lists

• ARC8092's Reading List

Timetable

• Timetable Website: www.ncl.ac.uk/timetable/
• ARC8092's Timetable