NCPA and Tempus ALIGN Dissemination Conference - Moskva

Arrived back on Sunday from the First Dissemination Tempus Conference in Moscow, November 13-14, organised by Anna Tarasova's NCPA team. The conference 'gathered the widest possible expert, academic, professional and student communities from Russia, Armenia, Ukraine and EU countries: Belgium, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Poland. There were over 160 participants (64 of them were ALIGN project partners).

The conference lasted for two days and was hosted in Moscow State Pedagogical University. The first day presentations dealt with issues around the main conference theme ‘Enhancing the quality and relevance of students’ learning experience’. Tempus ALIGN held a 'coordination' meeting in the afternoon.

On the second day, participants split into three working sessions:

1.      Writing and Using Good Learning Outcomes for Quality Progression of Students
2.      Tools and Mechanisms for Assessing Students’ Leaning Outcomes
3.      Achieving Excellence in Higher Education through Quality Assurance

Bath Spa's Paul Hyland and Inna Pomorina gave an excellent and inspirational closing workshop on 'Student Centred Learning'. Thanks to all!

Conference Opening Address

Conference Room

ALIGN coordination meeting

ALIGN coordination meeting room

NCPA conference - DQ with Ukrainian students and Liza Sozinova

Moskva - metro map

Moskva - traffic

Moskva - climb to Red Square

Moskva - Lenin Mausoleum

Moskva - Gum Department Store

Moskva - Red Square

Moskva Conference NCPA webpage

http://ncpa.ru/index.php?lang=en

Moskva - Shermetyovo - ice on wing

Wednesday - Yerevan, and Ararat appears!

Lunchtime, in between site visits to Brusov and YSAFA. The programme teams on the ground are fully engaged and making great progress towards the development of new programme documents. Very impressive! And this morning, the skies clear and Mount Ararat appears! A BIG mountain, aptly termed as 'Biblical'! Incredible!

Rainy Monday - Brusov

Monday face to face workshop - Brusov

YSAFA workshop - Tuesday

Mount Ararat appears! Biblical! Wednesday.

Library stacks - Brusov

Timetable - Brusov

Yerevan!

Back in Yerevan! Today settling in before starting work in Brusov and YSAFA Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Hovannes Toumanian and Sergei Parajanov Museums!

Hovannes Toumanian Museum

Toumanian at Lake Parvana

Games for children, compiled by Toumanian

Parajanov - 1981 'rudd'

I don't look anything like him actually...

flats at sunset

UCD Science Expressions from 2013

UCD's Dr. Brendan Rooney directed me towards this UCD Science Expressions website which features two of our 3rd year group animations from 2013 - 'Friends Fight Stigma' and 'Sanctity of Sport' (winner of the UCD Science Expressions competition in 2013 - I'm still trying to remember what prize we won exactly?). I never even knew the videos were online!

The projects were tough work at the time for some of our most brilliant DL041 Animation students, but there was great learning in the process.

UCD Science Expressions website

Sanctity of Sport (2013) on Youtube

http://www.ucdscienceexpression.ie/projects/new-project/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIf5IGT58EA&feature=youtu.be - Link to 'Friends Fight Stigma' on Youtube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uqK3EAzc6A&feature=youtu.be - Link to 'Sanctity of Sport' on Youtube

SKVC panel - Lithuania

Just returned from a week-long programmatic review panel for SKVC in Lithuania. Thanks to Annie, for expertly Chairing, to Natalia for facilitating our work and special thanks to my fellow panel members and new friends Julia, Vilma, Mika and Peter! Four programmes reviewed in Kaunas, Klaipeda and Vilnius. Return to Lithuania at the end of November.

Biznis Pelikan - Vilnius

  

Genocide Museum - Vilnius

 VMU Kaunas

VAA Klaipeda - photography

team in Klaipeda (image from Annie)

Baltic near Klaipeda

Near Klaipeda

VTDK - exhibition space

VTDK - animation

VTDK - animation

VTDK - animation studio

VTDK - animation

VTDK - animation

VTDK - animation

VTDK - digital editing

VTDK - photography

VTDK - sound studio

VTDK - library 

VTDK - tv studio

'collage' in 2015 Dublin Animation Film Festival!

I was delighted to hear this week that my short 'collage' is to be screened in the 2015 Dublin Animation Film Festival on Saturday 17th October in the Pavilion Theatre, Dun Laoghaire. Thanks to DAFF Festival Director Fionnghuala Ni Neil, to the selection panel and to my ace producer Fionn Boland!

http://www.dublinanimationfilmfestival.com/official-selection-irish-short-films/

'collage' in 2015 Galway Film Fleadh and no Frameworks

I did promise last year that 'A Warning To All Kings' would be my last self-funded short film ever! My latest animated short offering, a more experimental piece called 'collage' features multiple animation techniques and is 'an often abstract attempt to depict tortured lives and loves in the Ireland of 2015.'

The title of the piece is a respectful nod to filmmaker Sergei Parajanov, whose incredible house museum I look forward to returning to later this year, in Yerevan in Armenia. Imprisoned many times by the soviet authorities, Parajanov said 'I was not allowed to make movies and I started to make collages. Collage is a compressed film.'

Thanks to Ruth Matthews and Daniel Gallagher for the voices on 'collage' and thanks to ace producer Fionn Boland for looking after festival entries et cetera!

On a downside, my latest Frameworks application was shot down earlier this week - not even shortlisted, extremely disappointing. What can I say?

http://parajanovmuseum.am/

http://quindpdp.blogspot.ie/2014/01/yerevan-sergey-parajanov.html

http://quindpdp.blogspot.ie/2014/05/my-last-short-film-ever.html