Can You Hear Me?

The recent changes in educational delivery experienced by schools, FE and HE have demanded an initially abrupt adaptation in approach from every topic area. Some can make the move relatively seamlessly but what of those subjects which rely on creative technologies: how can those disciplines remain distanced and yet enable students to engage creatively, work collectively, and learn by encountering the equipment and skillsets needed to complete their education?

The move to students being remote or only partially on campus (blended) is not a new consideration but is one not undertaken on this scale before. This work will look at the ways in which teaching film and media at degree level via a blended approach might re-invigorate and re-define traditional methods, leading to the potential development of a curriculum that further empowers those in HE alongside delivering the more traditional hands-on teaching which students desire.

This work will also consider the inadequacies of a national infrastructure which assumes a connectivity and digital status not enjoyed by all, and asks what options there are for those who have found themselves disadvantaged by the 2020 lockdown.

The forced decentralising of the student body across the world raises interesting and timely questions about how we are able to meet the academic, social, and professional needs of those traditionally expected to be on-campus for 3 to 4 years when delivery in that space becomes difficult or impossible to maintain through forces outside of University control. In this case the newly familiar refrain of “Can you hear me” takes on added meaning as everyone moves to new ways of working, delivering and learning.