Bachelor of Arts Honours in Visual Studies
Culture and Arts - Cultural Studies
Purpose and Rationale
Qualification Overview
The purpose of this qualification is to encourage informed discussion, analysis, and interpretation of selected aspects of visual culture to facilitate effective communication in the visual, oral, and written fields. In today's visual and digital era, visual and information literacy are essential in various professional, educational, cultural, and organizational contexts. This post-graduate qualification aims to produce specialists in visual communication to develop a visually literate and articulate society in South Africa.
Primary and Secondary Aims
The primary aim is to equip learners with the knowledge, skills, and disposition to access visual communication constructs for optimal performance in their chosen professional roles. The secondary aim is to help learners develop advanced research skills for further learning and improved marketability, encouraging continued post-graduate studies to advance knowledge about visual culture in South Africa.
Educational Goals
Fostering an informed, critical, and empowered approach to reading the visual environment is a key goal of this qualification. Understanding visual ideologies and constructs that shape visual codes and conventions in society is essential for learners to relate to a broader understanding of visual culture. The outcomes are designed to promote ongoing learning and critical thinking.
Role in Various Fields
With the prevalence of visual images in mass media and culture, professionals in various disciplines must understand how visual images are encoded for analysis, interpretation, and evaluation. Skills acquired in visual studies can benefit interdisciplinary fields such as communications, broadcasting, cultural studies, tourism industries, fine arts, information design, and arts education. Postgraduate courses in visual studies can enhance critical paradigms and thinking constructs for related fields of expertise.
Workplace Competencies
This qualification aims to provide learners with postgraduate skills and competencies to excel in competitive workplaces. Skilled professionals with versatile capabilities acquired through this qualification can contribute to the media, communications industries, tertiary institutions, and enhance the standard of scholarship in South Africa.
In conclusion, this qualification has broad applications across various professional sectors and aims to produce individuals equipped with the necessary skills to excel in visual communication and related fields, ultimately contributing to the advancement of visual culture understanding in South Africa.
Outcomes
- Learners will become acquainted with more specialised knowledge regarding the historical, discursive and conceptual frameworks that inform the workings of visual culture in society. With the development of their critical skills, learners will be able to comprehend how visual ideologies, codes and constructs are encapsulated in the visual image in various fields such as art, design, technological media, and popular culture, and will be able to investigate how these manifest in visual sign systems in society. Learners will be empowered to collect, analyse, organise and critically evaluate information regarding visual communication on a more advanced level.
- Learners will be equipped with the skills to understand the communicative value and ideological function of visual culture in society and will be encouraged to develop visual literacy to a sophisticated level of competency in order to develop the critical skills and critical thinking to engage competently with visual culture. Learners will be encouraged to apply this knowledge to interpret and deconstruct visual messages in a variety of media and in different historical contexts.
- Learners will be able to develop and apply the knowledge gained to advantage in various professional and organisational contexts, with due cognisance of cultural diversity, the needs of the community, and commitment towards the environment. Emphasis is placed on the learner's ability to think creatively and to apply knowledge and skills in complex, challenging situations, to communicate efficiently, and to pursue the demands of life-long learning.
Assessment Criteria
Degree Requirements in Visual Communication
Learning Outcomes:
- Master the ability to critically interact with visual culture.
- Understand the dynamics and functions of visual images in society.
- Decode visual ideology relating to race, class, and gender.
- Communicate knowledge of visual phenomena effectively.
- Demonstrate familiarity with contemporary systems and technological paradigms in visual communication.
- Locate visual culture in a historical framework.
- Comment on the role of visual images in creating visual identities.
- Conduct independent research and problem-solving at a postgraduate level.
- Use visual literacy skills to contribute economically to the field and society.
- Apply knowledge creatively to enhance social skills and communication.
Assessment Methods:
- Portfolios
- Simulations
- Work-place assessments
- Written examinations
- Oral examinations
- Other: Group discussions, presentations, peer evaluations, live applications
Integration of Assessment:
- Ensures achievement of degree purpose.
- Encourages practical application of skills.
- Provides a comprehensive evaluation of competency.
- Fosters collaborative learning and real-world application.
Qualification Details
- Type
- Honours Degree
- NQF Level
- 08
- Min. Credits
- 120
- SAQA Source
- More Information
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This page includes information from the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) . Builtneat Pty Ltd trading as Study Start, has modified all or some of this information. SAQA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications.