A Handbook for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education Enhancing academic and Practice

350 ❘
Teaching in the disciplines
Interrogating practice
Articulate what you understand by research in your discipline. Do you know
whether your students understand research in the same way, and if not, how
could you find out?
What could you do to develop your students’ understanding of research in
the context of their project work?
ASSESSMENT
Assessment in the visual arts is usually accomplished through the presentation and
examination of a collection of student work in a portfolio that contains evidence of the
project process, research, drawings, artefacts, samples, sketches, thoughts, developmental
ideas and finished products or recording of performances. It may be unclear to the
student, and indeed to the new lecturer, what is actually being assessed. Assumptions
vary and may include the product, the process, the person and the learning outcomes.
This variation in belief can give rise to discrepancies in practice between tutors and
difficulty on the part of students in understanding the nature and intention of assessment.
This lack of clarity can inhibit student learning.
There have been criticisms of assessment in the visual arts as being subjective and
lacking in rigour. Research has shown how tutors arrive at grades through discussion
(Orr, 2006) in a process which is rigorous but socially negotiated and includes unwritten
criteria. In order for students to understand the assessment process and develop the
capacity for effective self-evaluation and development, opportunities must be provided
for them to understand assessment practices through formal explication and through
social learning, as happens for tutors (Drew and Shreeve, 2006). This can enable students
to benefit and learn from assessment rather than seeing it as something that is ‘done to
them’ (Shreeve et al., 2004) (see also Chapter 10 for a discussion about the impact of
assessment on learning).
The crit is a common assessment format encountered in the visual arts (point 5 above).
It may be undertaken for both formative and summative assessment purposes and is an
excellent opportunity for students to learn from other people’s work. However, there can
be some very real problems which reduce the effectiveness of the crit as an opportunity
for students to learn. In critiques controlled by the tutor, research shows that students tend
to learn less. Students report being nervous, anxious, even terrified, and unable to listen
to comments made about others’ work as they wait their turn to explain and defend their
work. Afterwards they may be so relieved that they switch off from the rest of the session.
The crit has been explored extensively through tutors’ and students’ perspectives by Blair
(2006a, 2006b).