The program map, below, shows the proposed subjects and structure of the new honours program. Semester one is made up of three subjects that have face to face teaching, and one subject that may have supervision, but is self directed research.
program map showing subjects for honours
Honours consists of 96 credit points, of which 48 credit points are allocated to the honours research component.
Communication Histories and Futures (that’s a working title only by the way) will be a theory subject. The working premise here is that this is honours in a School of Media and Communication so all graduates of this school, in honours, need to have a key, sophisticated, and potentially common grounding in key theories across these disciplines. It is expected to be a three hour large seminar per week.
Research Methods is currently available via several different postgraduate offerings, where honours students select the methods subject that suits their discipline and practice. In the honours stream we intend to have one methods subject so that a) we develop a strong identity and experience as a cohort, b) can develop a ‘best of’ model for research methods that is less a series of introductions to method A, B and C than a reflective, problem based enquiry into simpler (but more complex) questions of what a discipline is, what counts as knowledge in a discipline or practice, what counts as a proposition, and so on. The object is for honours students to develop tacit, as well as explicit, knowledge about what research is as a complex, messy but also institutionalised practice where you need a variety of strategies near to hand to be successful as a researcher. This is expected to be a three hour problem based large class, either once, or twice (with shorter class times) a week.
Lab 1a, 2a, etc are the research laboratories/studios. There are four proposed, and they run for the entire year (yes, across both semesters). They are the same, and students do the one laboratory for all of honours. Each laboratory is individually themed and all research will relate to this theme within each lab, whether by thesis or project. Therefore the labs will be necessarily interdisciplinary, since students will be from any of the undergraduate programs in the school (and of course from other universities). A lab will have a research leader, who is an expert in the theme of the lab, and so the lab will support, intersect with, and participate in the lab leader’s current research practice. The themes for the labs are not yet determined, but will reflect existing strengths and directions of research within the School. The themes must be flexible enough to allow any student to be able to undertake a relevant honours project, which potentially extends from creative writing through various professional media practices, cultural and communication studies through to game design and communication design. The laboratory is currently envisaged to require three hours of scheduled class time per week.
Semester two continues the laboratory, while the rest of the enrolment load is dedicated to individual, self directed research (whether thesis or project). Students also have an individual supervisor, who’s principal role will be to provide disciplinary oversight and mentoring.
The Part A course guides are available via a .zip archive.