Abstract:

This paper reflects on learning experiences designed to enhance professional skills of Audiovisual Communication students at Universitat Jaume I of Castellón (UJI) through a mentoring and a contest system. A Plan to Promote Audiovisual Creation and Reflection was set up in Septembre 2015 to encourage students to create quality projects outside the core curriculum, but under the supervision of a tutor. A mentoring space, which we called CLIFFHAGER was organized every month to bring together teachers and students to critically review the projects, which were presented as a pitching of an idea or already finished. The aim is to create a space of conversation with students, where their successes and failures can be discussed without de pressure of an assessment process. It is positive for students as they can hear a variety of critical and constructive views coming from different teachers on their work, so that they are able to link different skills learnt in different courses. Also, it helps teachers locate possible weaknesses in the curriculum content and design strategies to overcome them. The plan also includes the consolidation Oculus - a University Media Contest – where students can present their projects once they are finished and improved. The overall goal of this plan is to help students create quality projects to build a good portfolio by the end of their degree so that they can get better employment chances. The project has been run as an Educational Innovation Project developed during 2015/2016 at UJI.

Keywords:

Audiovisual, Project, Media, Mentoring, Contest.