IADT - Sumy State University ICM - Student Cabinet mobility project

From 25th February, IADT hosted 5 of our colleagues from Sumy State University (SSU) in Ukraina, who visited as part of the KA1 project around Student Cabinet systems. The Sumy Team of Iryna Skliar, Volodymyr Liubchak, Vladyslav Khomenko, Yurii Zuban and the esteemed Konstantyn Kyrechenko did excellent presentations and worked hard on scoping possible futures for our project together, both with the cabinet and with the Sumy e-learning platforms.

A highlight of the SSU visit was the Wednesday 27th of February launch of IADT's new Strategic Plan. The SSU team got an opportunity to meet our Minister of State for Higher Education Mary Mitchell O'Connor TD, who was delighted to welcome the team to our Institute and to Ireland.

On Wednesday 27th in the Boardroom of the Media Cube, we experienced something of a 'eureka moment' in our IADT Cabinet project. There followed a fantastic session on the morning of Thursday 28th, with Colm Hennessy, Pat Moffatt, David Doyle, Elena Somoza, Bernard Mullarkey and the Sumy representatives.

Thanks very very much to IADT's Annie Doona, Ronan O Muirthile, Therese Moylan, Elena Somoza, Bernard Mullarkey, David Doyle, Celine Blacow, Colm Hennessy, Pat Moffatt, Des Finn, Marian McDonnell, Karen Muldowney, Linda Carroll and Muiris O Grady for their extremely productive meetings with the SSU team.

High point amongst the 'cultural activities' was Thursday's visit to TCD's Long Room and The Book of Kells.

Some of us will likely travel to Sumy in June 2019, to conduct a formal Peer Review and Report on the SSU Cabinet system, as well as discussing any possible IADT cabinet and e-learning initiatives!

http://sumdu.edu.ua/int/en/news/1771-ssu-establishes-scientific-and-educational-partnership-with-ireland.html

Of course, the moment our Sumy visitors departed, the Spring weather finished in Ireland and the snow (briefly) arrived!

https://icmstudentcabinet.blogspot.com/2019/03/sumy-icm-visit-to-iadt-student-cabinet.html

DAAD - Potsdam conference 18th to 20th February 2019

Thanks very much to our HEA and to DAAD for the invitation to present at DAAD's recent conference in Babelsberg, Potsdam 'Higher Education Institutions of Art, Design and Music as future "European Universities"? Innovative cooperation formats and thematic bridges.'

I presented some of the background to IADT's DL832 Animation's 'Towards Professional Practice' module in the conference's 'Innovative Study Concepts II: Team-Oriented Work on Societal Challenges' session, expertly facilitated by Stefaan De Ruyck from the Royal Conservatoire Antwerp.

Great to meet colleagues from CIT, WIT and UL, as well as Ivan Skvrce and Danko Friscic from University of Zagreb, Academy of Fine Arts, Croatia.

The European Commission's Elena Tegovska did an excellent update on the Commission's latest calls and on their thinking for the next family of Erasmus initiatives (from 2021). European degrees, innovative curriculum, innovative pedagogies, digitisation, staff development (especially increased mobility and internationalisation) are thankfully all priorities for the Commission. In the Commission's plans, cooperation should lead to innovation which should lead to excellence, with more competitive European HEIs addresssing key societal challenges. Artistic research will have the same opportunities as STEM research under the new Erasmus programmes.

Excellent Open Space discussions on the final day. I participated in what became the 'University of The Unknown' group. Exciting stuff!

2011 'cutbacks' on BBC!

Thanks to Brook Lapping researcher Declan Smith, for spotting my ancient Sarkozy-Merkel series of animations from my 'cutbacks' internet series of 2011. Our cutbacks animation appeared in Episode Two (of 3) of Brook Lappings 'Europe: 10 years of turmoil' series for BBC.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2Y3EIdRrAc 

Another prophetic gem from the time was this one, posted on December 9th 2011...

Sarkozy warns that the UK will be a pariah. Sometimes, money is not enough.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2p3cqS3wFU

'cutbacks' was an animated internet series which I developed from 2008 until 2014. Its main concentration was on Irish politics of the day, an eclectic subject which meant that the series always struggled to grow subscriber and viewer numbers.

'cutbacks' was intended to act as a vehicle for developing IP (Intellectual Property) for tv, but broadcasters and funders in Ireland (RTE, TV3 (at the time) and The Irish Film Board) were never interested. We packaged the material in many different ways, but to no avail.

I did manage to develop several short films using the 'cutbacks' characters, including the award winning 'Mister Heaney, a wee portrait' and 'Leitronium'.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAtwCCtBOKo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KFBR_hUV1s

Will I ever be tempted back to developing an internet series? Certainly, but in the full knowledge that the choice of material is crucial and also understanding that even the simplest internet series is a neverending commitment.

There are no holidays on the internet!

ICMs - Sumy, Bath Spa and Yerevan

International Credit Mobility (ICM) between Sumy State University (SSU) and IADT. Student cabinet system - 13^th October 2018 to 20^th October 2018

A student cabinet is a place in which to keep students? Not quite... Student Cabinet refers rather to a paperless feedback and information system for students, a possible single point of entry for each individual student to the ICT systems they need in order to successfully pursue their studies.

Sumy State University have developed such a system, as a result of recommendations made during our June 2016 Tempus ALIGN project peer review of SSU's 'Computational Mechanics' study programme.

The concept behind our new ICM (International Credit Mobility) project is to allow SSU staff and students to present their university cabinet system, so that IADT staff can peer review the cabinet, using IADT lenses.

for more information...

https://icmstudentcabinet.blogspot.com/

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Destin – 31^st October 2018 planning meet in Bath Spa University with Paul Hyland, Rachael Mc Donald and Konstantin Kyrychenko

main tv studio - Bath Spa University

Rachael and Paul planning - October 31st 2018

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International Credit Mobility (ICM) between IADT and SAFAA (State Academy of Fine Arts of Armenia) and YSITC (Yerevan State Institute of Theatre and Cinematography). 10^th November 2018 to 17^th November 2018. This was a planning visit to start our ICM project. Over the next two years, through trainings, site visits and job-shadowing, we hope to enhance SAFAA and YSITC professional development and possibly to design a capacity building toolkit for small Art, Design and Media Academies and Institutions.

Thanks especially to Mane, Lucy and Mika for their enormous hospitality and engagement during the planning visit.

geghard - cultural activities

YSITC - stopmotion setup

YSITC - student theatre stage

sevan - cultural activities

https://icm-capacitybuilding.blogspot.com/ 

"The European Commission support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsi­ble for any use which may be made of the information contained therein."

Mister Heaney in Galway, Again! Film Fleadh Retrospective Screening Wednesday July 11th 2018 13.00 to 16.00

Thanks to Eibh Collins for including 'Mister Heaney, a wee Portrait' in the first of the Fleadh's 30th anniversary screenings! 'Mister Heaney' won Best Animation in the Fleadh in 2010 and is still fondly remembered by all!

Mister Heaney on the Beach - Sherkin Island, Co. Cork

'Mister Heaney, a wee Portrait' win Best Animation in Galway 2010 - Steve Woods, BoS, DQ and Paul Young

Short Film Retrospective : Programme One
Wed 11 July / Black Gate Cultural Centre / 1pm - 6pm

Short Film Retrospective, 30 Years of Winning. To celebrate our 30th anniversary and three decades of exhibiting shorts, we are delighted to be screening some of our festivals award winning short films. Daily programmes of the Fleadh’s winning films from 1989 to 2017, will be screening in the Black Gate Cultural Centre Wednesday 11th – Sunday 15th.from 1pm – 6pm So, join us in the Black Gate, grab a drink or some nibbles and catch some films! This screening is free and on a first-come-first-serve basis. Each programme will be a mix of genre, medium, production year and rating.

https://www.galwayfilmfleadh.com/project/short-film-retrospective-programme-one/

see 'Mister Heaney, a wee portrait' (2010) on Youtube... (Winner of Best Short Animation, Galway Film Fleadh 2010)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAtwCCtBOKo 

MSPU Skype Seminar 'THE DISSEMINATION OF THE EXPERIENCE GAINED IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE INTERNATIONAL PROJECT TEMPUS'

Thanks to MSPU's Rustem Gibadulin (Director of the Institute for Advanced Studies), Alexey Mikhalsky and to Olga Antropova for their kind invitation to present at their Skype seminar last Thursday morning (31st May 2018). I did 30 minutes on 'Quality Assurance in Irish Higher Education'. I look forward to working with our MSPU colleagues in the near future on partnership initiatives. Thanks to all!

DAAD TCA - Transnational Cooperation Activity - Bonn 16th and 17th May 2018

Grateful thanks to Klaus Birk and Beate Koerner's excellent DAAD team for their invitation to attend the Transnational Cooperation Activity 'Dissemination, Sustainability and Impact in Erasmus+ Strategic Partnerships'. Over 30 National Agencies represented, including our very own HEA. I participated in two Day One Fishbowl sessions with Maggy Ovaa and Francesco Girotti, moderated by Valeria Biggi - very interesting format.

Some central learning through the two days - start every project application with 'impact' - what do you want to achieve? Dissemination also must start with the greenlight of any project, and must keep going all through your project, not happen at the end with the publication of reports etc. Great idea to develop a dissemination plan before you start, and a communications plan - make certain that all partners agree to communicate through the same platforms or channels. On sustainability - the Commission seems very keen that open access, online courses (including non formal courses) should be included as the outputs of more partnership projects - persistent digital resources adding to the knowledge base and CPD for years to come.

Some great tools demonstrated too, including two Impact assessment tools.

Great ideas! Well done and thanks to all!

opening address - DAAD's Klaus Birk

Maggy and the team test the Impact+ tool

Impact+ tool in action