The Research and Communication Skills module was not something I was looking forward to, but now that it’s done I think that it has helped me to improve some of my skills and investigate interesting topics that I would otherwise be less informed about.

I was surprised that each week I was able to sit through a two hour lecture in the morning and be engaged with it the whole time. This is down to the great choice of varied topics that were well presented in depth by the lecturers.

I can definitely see progress in my work from week one  in that I researched the topics more thoroughly and didn’t just use information that I already knew. My favourite week was on the topic of Artificial Intelligence because I probably new the least about it initially so I learnt a lot and feel that was my strongest blog post. It was also the first week that I properly referenced my work since I was unaware on how to do this until that point; it would have been better if we were shown that this was something we should be doing from the beginning. That leads on to the only real issue I had with this module: I think it would have been useful to get some guidance on what is to be expected from our writing, especially since I am not very well informed when it comes to writing essays. If I knew some tips for researching, referencing and writing from the beginning it would have been a lot smoother.

Going forward into studio work, I think the knowledge and skills that I’ve learnt through this module will certainly allow me to create work that is more informed and relevant. I now have a much better understanding on ways to develop and improve anything that I make and different ways that I can do this.