Focus Digital - Ian Biscoe
At the start of the module, we ask students to present their past work, what they hope to learn in the module and what they intend to do for their graduation projects, using a microphone—most have never done that before. It’s a small thing, but it symbolises that they’re in the Trans Realities Lab now, which is a space where we start from scratch and build. We make it very clear early on that this module isn’t just about learning digital skills—it’s also about starting to shape their graduation work. That’s why we’ve adjusted the structure of the module over the past three years: we concentrate most of the skill development through workshops into the first half and focus on project development during the second half of the module.
The skill-based workshops change each year. We try to make improvements and keep things current. This year, we had workshops on digital systems, human interaction with sound, and open-source software tools like Blender which allow us to create objects which we can place in a games engine and animate with motion capture, or stage as part of virtual worlds with XR. We also had workshops where students worked with electronics, learned the basics of programming or received an introduction to applied AI, its benefits and problems. We also had a workshop with dancers and choreographers where students learned about movement and filmmaking—how to compose a shot, understanding depth of field, and using camera rigs while physically moving.
At DAE, there tends to be an emphasis on the final shiny thing, which we’re less interested in at the Digital Focus. We want to know how students got there. That is why we’ve started to include more foundational things into the curriculum—basic formal research methods, ways of referencing, documenting your process, sharing your work. We’ve borrowed research methods from software development—Agile, for example, which is about doing lots of incremental processes rather than having a single defined end goal where you have less scope for discovery and correction during development. Research is something you do constantly—testing, prototyping, reflecting. Research can be fast, iterative, and practical.
The lab helps make that real. Students use the same tools and spaces as the professionals that perform research in the Trans Realities Lab—film producers, sound artists, performers, technologists—and students can choose to observe or collaborate. During the Glow Festival in 2023 students volunteered and supported the building of a large-scale installation using motion capture, working together with the research team. Some students wore motion capture suits and performed in the virtual environment each evening, unbeknown to the 0.5 million visitors to Glow who saw only their digital avatars on the streets below. I don't believe in a separation of education and professorial research; there's a huge overlap. We want students to see what real-world research looks like and to contribute, because some of their ideas are brilliant and challenge our assumptions.
It’s rare to find this kind of transdisciplinary lab setup at larger universities. At national education conferences, I’ve been asked how we built this. The truth is, we’re lucky—we’re small, we’re dynamic, flexible, we can adapt quickly, and that’s our strength because we are able to create new ways of combining education and research holistically. That’s what makes the digital focus module work. It’s hands-on, research-connected, and grounded in real practice.
