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Education Blog Posts - The Open College of the Arts

To find out more details about the transfer to The Open University see A New Chapter for OCA.

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Tutor News: Farewell and thanks to Peter Lester thumb

Tutor News: Farewell and thanks to Peter Lester

After almost five years with OCA Graphic design Department, and many more in design education, notably  Nottingham Trent University, as head of Masters Studies in Visual Communications, Peter Lester is to retire.

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OCA News: Student Fees from August 2022 thumb

OCA News: Student Fees from August 2022

We are announcing today, Tuesday 17th May 2022, the fees which will apply to the next academic year (from 1st August 2022 to 31st July 2023).

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Introducing the Painting department programme tutors thumb

Introducing the Painting department programme tutors

In a new development at OCA, we have introduced the new role of Programme Tutor. For painting, the programme tutors support the Head of Department and tutor team to develop the degree programme and to support the learning community to thrive and feel at home in the painting department.

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In Conversation: Gina Lundy and Dan Robinson – periodic review and vision for photography? thumb

In Conversation: Gina Lundy and Dan Robinson – periodic review and vision for photography?

From the end of January Photography Programme Leader Gina Lundy will be taking maternity leave. We are really excited to welcome Dan Robinson into the role whilst she is away. Below, Dan and Gina discuss the coming 12 months, course review and the vision for the Photography Programme going forward.

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The Writer’s Voice: Part 2 – Fiction thumb

The Writer’s Voice: Part 2 – Fiction

In fiction, ‘voice’ refers to the person who’s speaking, more commonly called ‘the narrator’ (it’s unusual to refer to the ‘narrator’ in poetry). The narrator may be a character in the story (as in first person narratives) or they may be someone telling the story but not actually present (as in third person narratives).

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The Writer’s Voice: Part 1 – Poetry thumb

The Writer’s Voice: Part 1 – Poetry

What is meant by ‘voice’ in poetry? Personally I don’t think it’s easy to distinguish between ‘voice’ and ‘style’. Both are abstract terms that are concerned with the overall effect of a piece of writing rather than any specific technique, so both are the sum of all the other parts of the writing craft. In both fiction and poetry, ‘voice’ and ‘style’ are created from word choice, tone, use of punctuation and grammar, rhythm, choice of subject matter, choice of point of view, use of imagery, and so on. In poetry, specific poetic techniques also contribute to voice, including line length, line breaks, use of stanzas, rhyme and meter.

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Photography is Simple thumb

Photography is Simple

‘Photography is Simple’ is a notoriously difficult assignment. It’s controversial (especially the older version which gave you the option to submit just one word for your assignment notes). The work coming in has been variable and it’s really tripped some people up, including some of our most confident students. So I decided to give it a run through myself.

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Farewell to OCA’s Peter Haveland thumb

Farewell to OCA’s Peter Haveland

Peter Haveland, a tutor on visual studies and photography courses is retiring from his teaching career and leaving OCA. He’s been working with OCA for the best part of twenty years, so has seen the organisation evolve and grow. To mark Peter’s retirement, and out of my own curiosity, I asked him a few questions to reflect on his time as a tutor. 

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OCA & SANE: A new partnership thumb

OCA & SANE: A new partnership

We are very pleased to announce that we are working in partnership with the leading mental health charity SANE to support mental health. We are working together to deliver SANE’s new Creative Awards Scheme, a new initiative to enable people suffering from mental health or caring for people with mental health issues to access the visual arts and harness their creativity. 

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