Postgraduate Course: Creating Visual Narratives (EFIE11506)
Course Outline
| School | Edinburgh Futures Institute |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This elective explores modes of storytelling with image and text, and introduces students to techniques of image making, narrative structure, and the adaptation of narratives from verbal to visual formats. Students will be introduced to the principles of narratology, as well as methods of critical analysis, narrative drawing and working with visual materials, in preparation for them creating their own new visual narrative. |
| Course description |
Students will begin by undertaking research in textual and visual data relating to selected works that have relevance to a particular contemporary issue or context: for example, the impacts of climate change; epoch-changing social and political developments; and major global events . Students will then work with course organisers and other students during seminars to storyboard, workshop and develop their own original visual narrative inspired by their research into the core creative works.
This could take the form of an infographic, a comic, a graphic adaptation or artwork to be submitted by the end of the elective, accompanied by a reflective document evidencing the research and development of this work.
No specific art or creative writing experience is required to do this course, though we ask for enthusiasm to experiment with and explore different methods of research and making. Workshops and practical projects will introduce methods for both on campus and online students . Limited drawing and collage materials may be required for the workshops but students can work with what is to hand; similarly photography and digital tools can be used in the workshops and the making of the visual narrative, but these are not mandatory for the course.
The aim of the activities is as much about learning and experimenting with different methods of researching, analysing and reflecting on the core textual and visual data as it is about making an engaging and new work that speaks to the important global challenges raised through the course.
Edinburgh Futures Institute (EFI) - Hybrid Course Delivery Information:
The Edinburgh Futures Institute delivers many of its courses in hybrid mode. This means that you may have some online students joining sessions for this course. To enable this, the course will use technologies to record and live-stream student and staff participation during their teaching and learning activities.
Students should be aware that:
- Classrooms used in this course will have additional technology in place: in some cases, students might not be able to sit in areas away from microphones or outside the field of view of all cameras.
- All presentations, and whole class discussions will be recorded (see the Lecture Recording and Virtual Classroom policies for more details).
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2026/27, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 30 |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 3,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 2,
Supervised Practical/Workshop/Studio Hours 15,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
176 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
The course will be assessed by means of the following components:
1) Creative Research and Development Portfolio (100%)
Students will submit a PDF portfolio of 8-12 pages documenting the research and development of creative work, including documentation of workshop activities and the final visual narrative. Includes 800-1,000 word reflective report. |
| Feedback |
Feedback on any formative assessment may be provided in various formats, for example, to include written, oral, video, face-to-face, whole class, or individual. The Course Organiser will decide which format is most appropriate in relation to the nature of the assessment.
Feedback on both formative and summative in-course assessed work will be provided in time to be of use in subsequent assessments within the course.
Feedback on the summative assessment(s) will be provided in written form via Learn, the University of Edinburgh's Virtual Learning Environment (VLE).
Formative Feedback Opportunity:
Formative feedback is ongoing feedback which monitors learning and is intended to improve performance in the same course, in future courses, and also beyond study.
Group and individual verbal feedback will take place in workshops and meetings. Peer review and feedback takes place at key stages during the workshops and for final work.
Formative feedback will be given on a first draft of the PDF as students are developing their personal projects. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Collate and present a diverse range of interdisciplinary research undertaken individually and as part of a small group.
- Evidence skills in analysis and interpretation of primary and secondary sources.
- Evidence experimentation with, and iterative development of, visual and textual materials.
- Produce original creative work combining visual and verbal narrative methodologies.
- Critically reflect upon the process of researching and developing a creative project.
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Reading List
| A primary text and relevant visual sources will be selected for analysis for each year group, and a list of recommended secondary reading will be provided; this may change year on year depending on the focus of the primary text. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Visual Narratives,Narratology,Creative Practice |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Prof Michelle Keown
Tel: (0131 6)50 6856
Email: michelle.keown@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Zoe Hogg
Tel:
Email: Zoe.Hogg@ed.ac.uk |
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