*DON'T listen to any reviewer who says Provocations are marked harshly - The thing is, the provocations are very short written tasks (with a couple references from readings) you do after each round of tutorials; so as a result, some people treated it like a "blogpost" (like that reviewer said) and yet still expected a good mark. Like, no... you gotta treat it like a proper task, and if you do, it's an easy credit (minimum. I got D's and HD's for the Provs). *Tutorials are super practical and easy, it's like drama, music and visual arts in junior high school - I'm not even exaggerating. Teacher tells you to act/draw/sing something with the class/groups & you do it. *There's one essay at the end which is pretty easy, and has a potentially fun component- you can choose ANY place to go by yourself that involves art, music or drama (like a play) and you write about how the audience responded according to these terms you learn throughout. *Very easy subject. The only fault I would say it has is that I've already done ALL of that in school, so it's like I'm repeating school and paying for it this time ahah. But a good elective if you wanna breeze through.

I chose this unit as an elective to meet the creative arts KLA requirements for a primary education degree. The tutorials were enjoyable-enough but some of the arts areas only catered for young children (under 8) - I know it is an early childhood unit but 80% of the cohort was primary ed students so they "tried" to make the content and resources usable for all ages and they really just werent. The 6 provocations (essentially blog posts) that had to completed were really harshly marked, as was the in-class essay and major asessment. I honestly expected that doing a 1st year early childhood unit in my 4th year of uni would be a breeze but i actually had to put in more effort than some of my 3rd and 4th year units.

The tutorials are really fun but there is a LOT of written work for this unit (6 mini essays, 1 inclass essay & 1 longer essay) and they seem to mark each one pretty harshly.

As the other reviews have noted, the provocations are a major component of this subject and still require extensive reading and the best 250 words you can write. In addition, your provocations are posted publicly to everyone in your tute group. You're expected to comment on previous posts and 'progress' the dialogue about each topic.(Be prepared to delve into your own past experiences of art!). I was thoroughly challenged on my view of the arts throughout the topic. I confess I started with a very low opinion of the value of arts as an educational tool. Now that I've finished I've become a huge advocate of the arts not just in early childhood but as a teaching method for all ages. There's a very strong focus on understanding the role of the teacher in teaching foundational skills in the various art forms. It's very different to the schooling I received (late 70s/early 80s), and wonderfully liberating and refreshing. I was surprised at the benefits of the arts across various curriculum.

Pros: It was so fun to do. The workshops (tutorials) were interactive, engaging, and very relevant to early childhood practitioners! Even people who "can't draw" or "can't sing" will find their inner artistic side. No pressure in the tutorials makes it a great learning experience! Cons: Quite hard to get good grades. The grading style does not reflect the different method of learning for students that they preach about. It is very theoretical and academic (as usual with university subjects) but this means that the practical tutorials do not prepare you that well for these. The markings were strict and the workload intense (6 x 250 word discussions. Just because they are short does not mean you can treat it lightly. They expect your regular essay quality, but you have to do new research for each. Exhausted by the end of it).

This unit was a lot of fun but surprisingly quite a bit of work as you had to prepare a 300 word provocatation each week, which was fine but over all you complete 6 of them which total up to 60% of your marks and we were quite harshly marked on a few of them so you need to put a lot of effort in otherwise you fall behind!

Very enjoyable. Stay on top of the provocations, they are a big part of the subject. :)

This unit is totally awesome taken externally. It means you get two big workshop days instead of the scattered tutorials. Really great opportunity to actually get creative.

IArts is not my thing for doing, I like to enjoy the product though. I will say that the structure of this unit is great and forces you to engage in the content. Not my favourite but nothing like an unpleasant experience.

So fun! I loved every minute of it!