About This Course

In this course, you will learn the core concepts that underpin the FilmEU pedagogical approach- The Samsara Framework, with a special focus on its theoretical underpinning and guidelines for its implementation.

This course is aimed at all the staff of the FilmEU University Alliance. Its primary aim is to guide teaching and learning practice and curriculum design.

FILMEU is an alliance bringing together four European Higher Education Institutions: Lusófona University in Portugal, Baltic Film, Media and Arts School, University of Tallin in Estonia, LUCA School of Arts in Belgium and Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art Design and Technology from Ireland. Together, these institutions are collaborating around the common objective of jointly promoting high-level education, innovation and research activities in the multidisciplinary field of Film and Media Arts. Our mission is to create a European University that will greatly contribute to Europe’s leading role as a provider of education and research in the creative and artistic areas.

The Course is organised in seven units, 6 addressing the theory and practice of the design and implementation of the Samsara framework. The 7th is a review of the course which is followed by a quiz. All units are designed in a progressive and practical way

Requirements

There are no requirements for participation on this course.

• Unit 1 – Introduction to the Framework
• Unit 2 – Learning Theories
• Unit 3 – Teaching Methodologies
• Unit 4 - FIVE Key Approaches to Teaching
• Unit 5 – The Samsara Framework
• Unit 6 – Samsara into the Future
• Unit 7 – Review of the Samsara pedagogical handbook
• Course Quiz
• Interactive Digital Notepad for Practicum

Course Staff

Barry Dignam

Barry Dignam is the of Head of European Projects at the National Film School, IADT. The role includes leading IADT’s involvement in FilmEU (the European University of Film and Media Arts) and related projects including FilmEU_RIT, C-ACCELERATE and CRESCINE. Formerly he was the Head of Department of Film & Media / National Film School, Chair of Film & Television and Irish Course Director of Viewfinder (the Erasmus+ Joint Master of Art in Cinematography). As an educator, he has over twenty years’ experience in teaching, academic strategy and leadership. He studied Drama at Trinity College Dublin and Film at the National Film School IADT. As a filmmaker, he has made many multi-award-winning short films including ‘Chicken’, ‘Dream Kitchen’ and ‘A Ferret Called Mickey’. He’s had been nominated for a Palme d’Or at Cannes and a Berlin Bear. ‘Monged’ a feature he co-wrote with Gary Duggan premiered in 2015. His films have been presented in official selection at over a hundred and fifty international film festivals. They have been screened by top broadcasters and released on DVD, VOD and theatrically in Europe, the US and beyond.

Dr Deirdre O’Toole is a lecturer in the National Film School of Ireland, IADT. She lectures on the BA (Hons) Film and Television Production, BA (Hons) New Media Studies and the Erasmus+ MA Kino Eyes. Deirdre has a practice-based PhD in Film and Visual Studies from Queen's University Belfast, where she made documentaries collaborating with storytellers who had experienced trauma. Deirdre is a filmmaker who has worked for many years as a cinematographer where she filmed documentaries, music videos and dramas. Deirdre has directed three documentaries which have been shown extensively in film festivals and galleries around the world including Chagrin Documentary Festival, Ohio, Red Rock Film Festival, Utah, Docs Ireland, Belfast, Aspen Mountain Film Festival, Colorado, On Art Film Festival, Poland, Kinosmena Festival, Minsk, Irish Film Institute Documentary Festival, and Europa Documentary Festival, Egypt. Her work was showcased for four months in the Turchin Centre for the Arts, North Carolina in 2019, twice in the Saranac Gallery in Washington and twice in CIACLA, USA.

Damien Byrne is an academic and award-winning producer. He has taught in The National Film School in IADT since 2007, teaching across the animation programmes at degree and post graduate level. He co-developed the MA in 3D Animation in association with Sheridan College, Toronto, Canada which he jointly chairs. He is an academic lead for IADT in FilmEU, jointly leading the curriculum design and educational development work package (WP3) as well as the physical and virtual infrastructural work package (WP5). He is also a member of the FilmEU RIT research pilot 1, which is concerned with developing a methodology for the creation of a pan European short animated film data base.