ARCH43915: Professional Placement / Professional Research Project (ICHM)

• To develop knowledge and critical awareness of cultural heritage sites or organisations by reflecting on the experiences of the responsibilities and pressures present in the working environment.
• To enable you to develop a critical understanding of how cultural heritage organisations serve their audiences and how they engage with complex political, economic and social cultural factors.
• To provide you with the opportunity to develop your professional skills and/or awareness through undertaking, as appropriate, EITHER a Placement to contribute to a project within a cultural heritage organisation and evaluate that project effectively, or undertake a Professional Research Practice Portfolio in which you will identify a key issue in contemporary cultural heritage professional practice and analyse that issue effectively.

• The Placement or Professional Practice Research Project gives you the opportunity to undertake a defined problem-orientated project/issue in 'real-life scenarios'. These enable you to put your learning into practice and to reflect on and integrate your experience in the workplace in your course work.
• The Reflective Practice Log will be a key tool in enabling you to reflect on and integrate your experience in the workplace in your course work by using professional reflective practice.

Subject-specific Knowledge:

• Advanced knowledge of a cultural heritage site, institution or professional body and its political, social, economic and ecological contexts

Subject-specific Skills:

• By the end of the module, you will have had the opportunity to develop the following specialist skills to an advanced level:
• an advanced ability to apply subject-related knowledge and advanced theoretical models to a cultural heritage site, institution or professional body
• an advanced ability to identify and propose suitable problem-solving and planning strategies in the management of cultural heritage and present this information, together with advanced analytical conclusions, to others using appropriate presentation techniques
• advanced ability to synthesise, evaluate and present complex material, including original data and theoretical arguments relevant to cultural heritage

Key Skills:

• You will have had the opportunity to gain and develop your key skills as follows:
• demonstrate intellectual and professional autonomy by learning and practising independently and taking responsibility for aspects of learning and professional activities in both academic and professional contexts
• demonstrate the ability to think critically about new and/or unfamiliar ideas by communicating such reflection in written and oral contexts, forming coherent arguments and presenting them to a group (in the course of a workshop) or on a one-to-one basis (in tutorials)
• demonstrate communication skills by developing the ability to express themselves clearly, concisely and appropriately in writing and with relevant illustrations using distinct formats (essays, reports); identifying and analysing complex issues effectively in workshop presentations;
• develop information technology skills by demonstrating the ability to support your assignments and oral presentations appropriately (e.g. word processing, databases, presentation software, graphing, image processing, web-based resources)
• work as a reflective practitioner by reflecting on, and recording in an appropriate format, their research, learning and professional practices and using these reflections as the basis for tutorial discussions, assignments and for the development of the concluding Professional Practice Project or Dissertation
• demonstrate professional conduct by demonstrating the ability to observe professional and academic standards, including appropriate use of relevant ethical codes of practice

• This module uses a combination of a preparatory workshop, one to one tutorials and a placement / professional practice seminar.
• The Placement / Professional Practice Research provides you with the opportunity to undertake a defined problem-orientated project which requires you to engage with the professional environment. These projects thus bring the reality of professional life into the MA while issues which you identify may act as a springboard for further research including the Professional Practice Project or Dissertation. There will be opportunities for group discussion and exploration of selected topics in greater depth to enable you to develop your analytical, discursive and interpersonal skills.
• Individual tutorials will give you the opportunity to discuss ideas and issues with the module convenor, review your progress and map out future activities.

Term 3 Placement/Professional Research Practice Work-in-Progress Seminar students will benefit from debate with their peers and placement hosts when they are able to attend and formative feedback from the Module Convenor. Placement Observation of competence Competency will be assessed on the basis of satisfactory/non-satisfactory through written feedback from the Attachment host. A visit may be made to the host institutions whilst the Placement is underway. Feedback will be given during individual tutorials. The Reflective Practice Log This log will be used as the basis for tutorial discussions and informal feedback.

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