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Laura Joyce, Anne Schwan and Sarah Artt (School of Arts & Creative Industries)

We propose a session that introduces the video essay as a form of assessment, which we are planning to introduce on the BA English and BA English & Film in the coming academic year. This is an emergent area in both research and pedagogy and we hope that this form of assessment would benefit all students, including those who do not have a practical background in filmmaking. Video essays would also be useful as an innovative form for MA Film and MA Creative Writing applicants to use in their portfolios. The video essay would also support a wider departmental interest in the digital humanities. We plan to share some of the current open access resources that are available on video essays and to show some examples of the form. We intend to use the session to open up discussion around the advantages and limitations of using video essays as a form of assessment and to more pragmatic discussions around implementation and assessment criteria with a view to trialing this form of assessment across levels 2-4 across the programme. Research and teaching linkages will be demonstrated with reference to In Transition a new peer-reviewed video essay journal. We would hope that this mode of assessment would be valuable across all subject areas. This assessment would particularly benefit distance and overseas students as video essays would be online and would therefore be an ideal assessment for all learners regardless of location.