Educational structure
In this module, we introduce the relation between design, art and technology, the role this plays in human history, and how it influences us every day. We do so by organizing six seminars in which six key-moments within this history are discussed. This sextet is preceded by an introductionary presentation.
For every one of the six key-moments (or subjects, themes), study materials are provided in the form of videos, artworks and text. These materials are accompanied by particular questions to help the student go through the materials, contextualize it in a more contemporary setting, and prepare for the seminar.
No summaries
The questions are meant as invitations for students to actually engage with the materials. They are meant to prepare you for our seminar on the subject. Answers that read like general summaries will not help you – and will likely make participation difficult.
Each individual session actually consists of two parts. The first part (taking up about ninety minutes) will be the actual seminar, with students being responsible for the contents (see below). During the second part, the teacher will follow up on the discussion and provide some more examples and materials.
After the first, introductionary presentation, the six subjects will be divided between the students in such a way that at least two students are responsible for one subject. We will call these students the introducers.
The task of the introducers is not to explicitely explain or summarize the materials at hand, but to activate the group's thinking. They are responsible for the creation of a situation in which the group works actively with the materials, form positions, and engages in a lively discussion.
The introducers need to distill and discuss difficult or unclear passages or concepts from the text, asking the whole group to participate in their clarification. When everything in clear, they will invite the group to work on one or two key ideas from the materials, using whatever means necessary except a (powerpoint-)presentation.
One can use any appropriate form for this invitation; examples include the following:
No presentation
The introducers are not asked to give a summary and / or overview of the materials, so they don't need a presentation (like a Powerpoint-presentation). A presentation like that induces passive hearing instead of active engagement. Of course, if you want to show particular artworks, you can use slides to do that.
The sessions are seminars, not lectures. Participation presupposes preparation, so for every sessions all students are required to study the given materials and provide elaborations of the exercises in time before the session – an MS-teams assignment-point will be provided.
These elaborations will be given extensive feedback, so that students can improve on this preperation over the course of the module. They are not assessed, but they do function as admission tickets to the seminars. Elaborations must be personal, concretre, and delivered on time.
No elaboration: no access
Students that have not delivered elaborations of the questions and exercises will be unable to voice interesting, informed and engaging points of view on the subject manner. Therefore, if you fail to provide answers to the questions or elaborations of the exercises, you will be registered as being absent at that particular seminar.
At the end of the term, students are required to explore one of the subjects that we have discussed in a more thorough manner. This exploration can take any form that suits the students: an essay (of about 3 or 4 pages or some 1500 words), a video-clip, a rap or popsong, a painting or sculpture, ... It is up to the student to make clear why this form has been chosen and how and in what way this work deepens our understanding of the subject at hand. This is an individual assignment.
We have collected some elaborations of previous editions of the minor, by means of inspiration.
Students are assessed on the following criteria:
Theory and Philosophy is a 5EC module, which means that students are expected to put in 135 hours of work (5 × 27). This time is (more or less) divided as follows:
| Activity | Workload (hours) |
|---|---|
| Introductionary presentation | 1 × 3 = 3 |
| 6 seminars of three hours each | 6 × 3 = 18 |
| 6 times preperations | 6 × 8 = 48 |
| 1 time preperation for presentation | 1 × 16 = 16 |
| 1 time in-depth elaboration | 1 × 24 = 24 |
| Unforeseen | 26 |
| Total | 135 |
Apart from the elaborations, students are required to actively participate in the discussions. This means voicing an opinion or asking interesting and informed questions.
Participants are required to have at least an eighty percent attendance of the meetings (as per the Teachings and Examination Regulation of Minerva, which you can find here (§6.3, login required)). With six session in total, that means that 4.8 meetings (8 × 6 / 10) must be attended. Depending on the participation of the student, this number can be floored to 4 or ceiled to 5, such to the insight of the teacher. In all cases, students must make their absence known a day before the session takes place (barring force majeur).
In the end, the grade for this module is dependent on the introduction, the discussion and the active participation, elaborations of the exercises, and the in-depth elaboration. This rubric (MS Excel, 12kB) can be used as a general guide line.
We expect you to use AI (ChatGPT and image generation tools, at a minimum) in this module; in fact, some assignments will require it. Learning to use AI is an emerging skill and we will provide tutorials about how to do this in an efficient and interesting way.
Be aware of the limits of ChatGPT: