Studio Practice Courses are built around individually negotiated semester-long projects, based on the practice-led pedagogy employed by the School of Art. These may be structured as individual courses in more than one Workshop, or bundled to create multiple units of two, three, or four Courses. In the latter case, the scope and workload of approved projects are increased in proportion to the number of Courses in the specific Workshop. A full time load is four Courses per semester. Courses are conducted primarily at the School of Art with excursions to the national cultural institutions, including the National Gallery of Australia, as well as interstate. Students are required to research and establish the frame of reference for their own practice, by reference to contemporary practice and historical precedents, and to produce a Studio Report as a requirement of the course each semester.

The relation of Studio Practice Courses to other Courses

In the Studio Practice courses, with full participation, a student will gain skills and expertise in:

1. articulating the approved objectives through the creation of works of art, design, performance or new media arts
2. developing appropriate experimental and analytical methodologies and technical expertise
3. demonstrating effective communication skills articulating discoveries and achievements
4. establishing appropriate historical and theoretical context for the approved Studio Practice Semester Project

Assessment of course requirements and weighting

In order to complete the Course you need to pass in the Studio Practice Course Project. The Studio Practice Course Project comprises two elements: the Studio Practice Project (weighted at 80%) and the Studio Report (weighted at 20%). If you are undertaking more than one Studio Practice Course Project in the same workshop, the Courses may be bundled, with the same elements and weighting as above.

The Report is not intended to be a dissertation or thesis in a conventional academic sense, but should provide the viewers/assessors with a detailed account of what has informed the Studio Practice work and its historical and theoretical frame of reference.

The progressive outcomes of the studio practice based courses are assessed by periodic critique plus mid-review sessions and end-of-semester presentation to an assessment panel. Critique sessions will provide advice on work in progress in response to approved projects, the mid-semester reviews will provide indicative advice on a student's achievement against the criteria, and the end of semester presentation will assess the final outcomes against the agreed requirements of course projects.

Assessment criteria

The following are the criteria by which the merit of a student's presentation of the outcomes of the approved Studio Practice Project are assessed in relation to the School Grade Definitions. Your presentation of both Studio Practice outcomes and the Studio Report will be assessed in relation to:

• the standard of your presentation of the outcome of the approved Studio Practice Project, plus evidence of the working processes and other visual references relevant to the work displayed
• the standard of your verbal account of the aims, methods and context of the Studio Practice work as it evolved over the course of the semester in response to the questions of the examination panel
• the standard of your description and analysis of your processes and references in the form of the Studio Report
• the standard of your demonstration of a wide and critical reading and relevant visual research
• the standard of your competent presentation of written work with appropriate style and referencing.