Course Coordinator:Suzanne Breeze (Sbreeze@usc.edu.au) School:School of Business and Creative Industries
UniSC Sunshine CoastUniSC Moreton Bay |
Blended learning | Most of your course is on campus but you may be able to do some components of this course online. |
Online |
Online | You can do this course without coming onto campus, unless your program has specified a mandatory onsite requirement. |
Please go to unisc.edu.au for up to date information on the
teaching sessions and campuses where this course is usually offered.
Contemporary design is grounded in a diverse history of art, design and digital culture. This course provides a foundational knowledge for interdisciplinary design and demonstrates the ways in which design today is changing and impacting other sectors from health to environmental science. This course will provide you with the skills to critically evaluate and utilise problem-solving strategies, creativity, and theoretical frameworks to address a diverse range of design challenges in wider social, political, cultural and ecological contexts.
| Activity | Hours | Beginning Week | Frequency |
| Blended learning | |||
| Learning materials – Interactive online learning activities. | 1hr | Week 1 | 12 times |
| Tutorial/Workshop 1 – Scheduled face to face workshops. | 2hrs | Week 1 | 10 times |
| Fieldwork – Scheduled field trip | 2hrs | Week 5 | 2 times |
| Online | |||
| Learning materials – Interactive online learning activities. | 1hr | Week 1 | 12 times |
| Tutorial/Workshop 1 – Scheduled online workshops (Recorded). | 2hrs | Week 1 | 10 times |
| Fieldwork – Scheduled virtual field trip (Recorded). | 2hrs | Week 5 | 2 times |
Contemporary art and design Visual culture Designing for social and cultural change Digital culture Design ethics Creative AI Augmented reality and extended reality Sound design Design pathways and industry engagement Emerging technologies Inclusive design Virtual and immersive environments Curation and collaboration
100 Level (Introductory)
12 units
| Course Learning Outcomes On successful completion of this course, you should be able to... | Graduate Qualities Completing these tasks successfully will contribute to you becoming... | |
| 1 | Critically evaluate and utilise problem-solving strategies, creativity, and theoretical frameworks to address a diverse range of design challenges | Knowledgeable |
| 2 | Apply understandings of relevant social and political contexts to the analysis of works of art and design. | Empowered |
| 3 | Identify and reflect upon important works of art and design and communicate their significance. | Knowledgeable |
| 4 | Recognise and reflect on local, regional, and global perspectives to work independently and collaboratively on creative practice and research projects with industry partners | Creative and critical thinker |
| 5 | Develop culturally sensitive design skills that respond to place, embrace sustainability, and acknowledge Indigenous protocols and perspectives | Creative and critical thinker |
| 6 | Interpret and reflect on design ethics and inclusive design practices to produce socially engaged, agile, relevant and impactful design outcomes |
Empowered Ethical |
Refer to the UniSC Glossary of terms for definitions of “pre-requisites, co-requisites and anti-requisites”.
Not applicable
Not applicable
Not applicable
It is assumed you will have basic visual analysis skills.
Not applicable
Standard Grading (GRD)
| High Distinction (HD), Distinction (DN), Credit (CR), Pass (PS), Fail (FL). |
In most weeks there will be individual activities and/or small group collaborative tasks. These will support the development of ideas and understanding for Tasks 1 and 2. These activities and class discussion will provide formative feedback on approaches for Tasks 1 and 2.
| Delivery mode | Task No. | Assessment Product | Individual or Group | Weighting % | What is the duration / length? | When should I submit? | Where should I submit it? |
| All | 1 | Essay | Individual | 30% | 1200 words (equivalent) |
Week 5 | Online Assignment Submission with plagiarism check |
| All | 2 | Artefact - Creative, and Oral | Group | 30% | 5-minute oral presentation with supporting creative artefacts |
Week 11 | Online Assignment Submission with plagiarism check |
| All | 3 | Portfolio | Individual | 40% | 5 designs, 800 word reflection and documentation. |
Week 12 | Online Assignment Submission with plagiarism check and in class |
| All - Assessment Task 1:Digital Story | |||||||||||||
| Goal: | Demonstrate core academic skills through a multimodal digital story exploring concepts in contemporary art, design and digital culture. |
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| Product: | Essay | ||||||||||||
| Authorship Statement: | |||||||||||||
| Format: | You will create an engaging web-based digital story that critically explores a topic related to contemporary art, design and digital culture. This task invites you to communicate your ideas through a combination of text, images, sound, video and interactive media, presented in an online digital format. Your digital story should demonstrate your core academic and creative skills, including critical thinking, research, correct referencing and synthesis of scholarly ideas, while also showing an understanding of how media, narrative and design shape contemporary digital culture. You will select a topic from the options provided on Canvas, undertake research, develop a clear line of inquiry, and creatively express your analysis in a multimodal format that brings together creative design, storytelling and critical reflection. Your final submission should include the equivalent of 1200 words across text and creative media, supported by credible academic sources and presented in a coherent, accessible and engaging format. |
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| Criteria: |
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| Generic Skills: | Communication, Applying technologies, Information literacy |
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| All - Assessment Task 2:Creative Pitch | ||||||||||||||||
| Goal: | Develop and present an original creative concept in a short oral presentation supported by digital artefacts. |
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| Product: | Artefact - Creative, and Oral | |||||||||||||||
| Authorship Statement: | ||||||||||||||||
| Format: | You will develop an original creative concept and deliver a 5-minute group oral presentation, supported by digital artefacts. This assessment introduces the format of a professional creative pitch, preparing you for industry-facing communication and authentic design practice. Your project will respond to a theme introduced in class, and the medium, format and creative direction of your concept will be developed in consultation with your tutor and group during weekly workshops. You may draw on the industry partner briefs and opportunities available in Canvas, or propose your own idea that aligns with your emerging design interests. The pitch format strengthens your ability to communicate ideas clearly and confidently to a live audience, a core skill in contemporary art, design and digital culture. All students are required to contribute to the research, development and live presentation. Your supporting media may include images, prototypes, short video, audio, or other creative artefacts that help communicate your concept. Your presentation should demonstrate your creative process, your understanding of contemporary design contexts, and your ability to articulate ideas with clarity and professionalism to diverse audiences. |
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| Criteria: |
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| Generic Skills: | Organisation |
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| All - Assessment Task 3:Art and Design Portfolio | ||||||||||||||||
| Goal: | Portfolio of 5 workshop activities submitted as a digital portfolio |
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| Product: | Portfolio | |||||||||||||||
| Authorship Statement: | ||||||||||||||||
| Format: | You will produce a portfolio of original designs resulting from workshop activities. All requirements for each project are available on Canvas. Final portfolio must be submitted as a cohesive digital portfolio with an 800 word reflection on the tasks, alongside evidence and documentation of creative process (including sketches, software used and/or creative development) |
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| Criteria: |
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| Generic Skills: | Communication, Problem solving |
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A 12-unit course will have total of 150 learning hours which will include directed study hours (including online if required), self-directed learning and completion of assessable tasks. Student workload is calculated at 12.5 learning hours per one unit.
Please note: Course information, including specific information of recommended readings, learning activities, resources, weekly readings, etc. are available on the course Canvas site– Please log in as soon as possible.
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Academic integrity is the ethical standard of university participation. It ensures that students graduate as a result of proving they are competent in their discipline. This is integral in maintaining the value of academic qualifications. Each industry has expectations and standards of the skills and knowledge within that discipline and these are reflected in assessment.
Academic integrity means that you do not engage in any activity that is considered to be academic fraud; including plagiarism, collusion or outsourcing any part of any assessment item to any other person. You are expected to be honest and ethical by completing all work yourself and indicating in your work which ideas and information were developed by you and which were taken from others. You cannot provide your assessment work to others. You are also expected to provide evidence of wide and critical reading, usually by using appropriate academic references.
In order to minimise incidents of academic fraud, this course may require that some of its assessment tasks, when submitted to Canvas, are electronically checked through Turnitin. This software allows for text comparisons to be made between your submitted assessment item and all other work to which Turnitin has access.
Eligibility for Supplementary Assessment
Your eligibility for supplementary assessment in a course is dependent of the following conditions applying:
(a) The final mark is in the percentage range 47% to 49.4%; and
(b) The course is graded using the Standard Grading scale
Late submissions may be penalised up to and including the following maximum percentage of the assessment task’s identified value, with weekdays and weekends included in the calculation of days late:
(a) One day: deduct 5%;
(b) Two days: deduct 10%;
(c) Three days: deduct 20%;
(d) Four days: deduct 40%;
(e) Five days: deduct 60%;
(f) Six days: deduct 80%;
(g) Seven days: A result of zero is awarded for the assessment task.
The following penalties will apply for a late submission for an online examination:
Less than 15 minutes: No penalty
From 15 minutes to 30 minutes: 20% penalty
More than 30 minutes: 100% penalty
For more information on Academic Learning & Teaching categories including:
For more information, visit https://www.usc.edu.au/explore/policies-and-procedures#academic-learning-and-teaching
UniSC is committed to excellence in teaching, research and engagement in an environment that is inclusive, inspiring, safe and respectful. The Student Charter sets out what students can expect from the University, and what in turn is expected of students, to achieve these outcomes.
For course-specific questions, contact your teaching staff or Course Coordinator.
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