REMARKS ON THE PROJECT BY PROF. GUSTAV HELLBERG
It seems like students have different ideas on what a course on a university undergraduate level is about. Being professor I am responsible to teach and guide the students to next academic study level or a professional life after graduation. This course aim was to give students some tools to understand their own work with images, how to understand and describe one's work and work process. The result of this course has to be displayed in a public presentation such as an exhibition. An exhibition can be made in many ways and a decision was made together to make an internet exhibition of the student's work.
With the ready result launched on the decided day we can look at what was achieved. All though all students have received the same information and opportunity to discuss in group and with the entire class, the presented results varies.
The Internet ProjectOf the five groups two groups have made a group presentation, where they have experimented with and investigated the media itself and thus made an interesting platform to present their works as well as themselves.
Some groups haven't engaged much in their web-page's layout or the content presented on it.
Some groups didn’t meet decisions that the entire class/project agreed on.
The Public Space ProjectThe whole project was decided to be made simultaneously on the internet as well as in the public space. The internet page was launched on decided date. The project’s home page worked. Some, but nor all, pages was connected and equipped with required links and link controlled buttons. Those pages also didn’t contain the required project logotype. These means that the entire web-exhibition doesn’t meet the level that was planned. This is a problem to the entire class. However, those groups who didn’t engage in making their pages work and look properly are noted by the professor as problematic.
The poster/flyer/sticker part of the project didn’t really take off. Half hearted attempts to place the QR-code posters around the campus made a sloppy impression and is probably not going to create any interest or traffic to the web project.
AssessmentAn assumption on these results is that the students have different ideas of what their education is about. I have a feeling that some students are only thinking of the class, its assignments and project as means to satisfy the guidelines of an imagined syllabus to gain points that should correspond with described grade levels. As the course and its topic is addressing necessary aspects of professional strategies and knowledge on how to work in the fields of image making, photography and art, the students need to engage with an university level education. Thus students that engage only with a minimum execution of course assignments and final project fail on the course’s foundation, namely to learn, engage and work with reality based problems. This is the only way to understand what is needed for a future professional career, which is this course and department’s aim.
These misunderstandings of university education will most likely have further disadvantages on future careers for those students who can’t understand that the education given is for a future professional career. The professional career of a photographer, image maker or artist is entirely based on the quality of one’s works (images) and an individual’s ability to coherently present ideas and images in relevant contexts.