Hi one and all... for those of you following my trail into the weird and wonderful life of Postgraduate studies... feel free to read below the feedback for I filled in for my course:
MA STUDENT QUESTIONNAIRE
General Comments – Brainne Edge
1. Has the programme fulfilled your expectations?
Not at all. My proposal before entering the course was to produce a 30 minute comedy sketch show. Days into the course I was told this was inappropriate, and also told about 4 essays that I knew nothing about before accepting the place on the course. Once I had decided on a different idea to begin working on I found there was little specific help that was offered to me as there were no practical tutors that worked within television, only film. I feel future students should be made very aware of what is to be expected throughout the year before they accept the place.
2. How far has the programme helped you to focus, refine and achieve the ambitions you had for your MA year?
As above. What I aimed to do at the start I had to change. My main reason for embarking on an MA was to learn new techniques and hopefully new computer packages and even work with film. It became apparent early on in the course that none of this would be offered to me. As I was new at the Institute I found it very hard to know who I should even approach for these things, and when I asked for help I very rarely got the help I needed. By the time I had reached my final project in the summer of 2003 I had become so disillusioned with the Institute that I resorted back to how I worked within my BA in Salford, and strongly feel I learned nothing of what I wanted to achieve during my time in Surrey, except the computer package AVID DS.
I went there to learn – and wasn’t told that in order to do that I would have to teach myself.
3. How far has the programme provided the potential for engagement with the wider postgraduate community?
In my whole time within the Institute I felt out of place, maybe some of this was due to being the only northerner in the system, I would feel very uncomfortable trying to mix in those circles again therefore I will be avoiding it for the future.
4. Has the programme helped you to understand and find strategies for approaching your research?
Yes, I am a lot more interested in researching, which helps me while directing. A lot of the things I covered while working on my MA has helped me to further my studies into improvisation techniques. I have learned how to map out my studies and found more places to gain research from.
5. How far has the Surrey Institute succeeded in providing a creative and positive environment in which to study and exchange ideas?
Over the course of my time at the Institute my confidence dipped to previously unknown levels, so I would suggest it not only didn’t succeed but failed miserably. Throughout my time there the only responses I received for my work were critical, I cannot recall a time where anything positive was said – at least I never left a meeting or read feedback that made me feel like what I was doing was of any worth. Some of this would be my own self-deprication, but it is mainly fuelled by what I deemed as negative feedback. I did however value my practical tutor’s comments, especially during my final project. I didn’t feel that the Institute helped with the ‘exchange of ideas’ much as I was the only person pursuing the Film and Video Masters and none of the other students present in the seminars were that interested. The only seminar’s I felt I gained anything towards my project were the ones that I led myself.
Individual Modules
I would also like to receive specific response to your experience of individual modules in terms of:
· the quality of teaching, tutorial support, supervision and guidance offered
I felt that the amount of time offered to me by tutors was insufficient, I think mainly due to the small amount of time they were at the Institute during the week. Also my tutors seemed to not talk to each other. For one piece of work I received, from two separate tutors, a 2:1 grade and a Fail. Also during the writing of my script the main tutors that were advising me on it contradicted each other, which stopped me from asking their opinions. This caused me to re write my first episode (I was planning a series of 4-6) 14 times, and caused me not to complete the amount of work I wanted to in this area. Finally, the tutors that were coaching me in this area were not Television writers but film writers… consequently I feel this is why my project became a little film, and not the ‘pilot episode’ I wanted it to be.
· the facilities provided
The Institutes facilities are superb, the only problem is the red tape surrounding them. It wasn’t until the middle of Semester Two when I was finally told how to gain access to the equipment, and when I was, I was left to my own devices. My main problem was that I was not a previous student of the Institute, therefore the other students knew the system, how it worked, and who to go to. It was just assumed that I would know the same. My main gripe about the facilities is that the technician’s looking after them (specifically AVID DS) weren’t aware of how to maintain them. My final project was uncompleted due to a fault on the computer I was on. I was told I would have to ‘put up with it’ which caused me a great amount of distress.
· specific issues relating to 1 to 5 above.
See above.
The Practical Project Module strands in
· MA38
It seemed to me that unless we were in the same field as each other (ie: Film and Video in my case) we could not really help each other. Tenuous links were the closest thing I got to anything that even touched upon my project.
· MA40
See above
· Final Project Module, MA42.
The fact that there was absolutely no tutorial support during the summer 3rd Semester I found to be ridiculous. I had paid for a full year, and I expected that we would be able to get some help during that time. The Design students seemed to be meeting with their tutors at least fortnightly, the last time I saw the co-ordinator was in July, 2 months before the hand in. This was also the last time I met with my dissertation tutor, who missed the appointment we scheduled for mid August. My practical tutor was very helpful during my editing process, especially as she could see how distressed the entire year had made me.
The Supporting Studies strand of taught seminars
· MA38, Theoretical Approaches to the Visual Arts and Media
I can’t remember this strand right now.
· MA40, Institutions in the Arts and Media
I found this module the most useless out of them all. There were no talks on anything television related at all. The BBC would have been the most obvious choice.
Work in Progress seminars
These were some of the few seminars that I felt actually helped me with my project, however I felt I was useless to the other students as I knew very little about art and art history and it wasn’t something I was interested in.
Advanced Research Methods I and II
These I found utterly useless and could have been reduced into ‘Read this book, and check the internet’. I also found being lumped in with the PhD students to be very intimidating, I was mostly blanked for any comments I made and in the end stopped contributing, and finally just stopped attending.
If you have any suggestions for how the programme might be improved I would welcome these, together with any other comments you might like to add.
This would take me far too long at present to write. I will get back to you on that.
I am aware of how negative this feedback is but I feel firstly I should not have been allowed on this course when it was extremely apparent that the Institute could not accommodate me, nor I them. The whole experience led me to be diagnosed with anxiety caused by the intense pressure to produce things I had not been made aware of, I wasn’t able to leave the course due to the life altering changes I had made to go there in the first place, and the expense (that I am STILL paying off) – not to mention the fact that I had turned down a place at Salford University to do an MA also. I am still bitter about the whole experience and feel I came out of it all with a sub standard piece of work that I was unable to concentrate on because of the intensity of the academic work I also had to produce. I have not been able to use my final project to help me advance in my field, and probably wont ever be able to as it was never completed to my own standards, let alone the Institute, mainly due to lack of time (both to do with the amount of time I had to concentrate on other aspects of the MA, and the technician’s incompetence during my editing), and faulty equipment.
The only positives I have gained from this experience is how to research and how to live in a new place on my own, that and the friends I made while staying there.
I am still awaiting word as to whether I have actually passed this Masters.
Brainne Edge
