ART DEPARTMENT

4. assessment of the department and its programs

4.A.1-Mission Statement

The St. Ambrose Art Department believes that art is an all inclusive discipline in which forms, ideas, and times are connected. As educators and artists, we teach our students how to understand and create art that speaks to this interconnectedness.

Our departmental mission complements that of the university by developing more than just the eyes of our students. We present them with a holistic experience in which aspects of their mind, body and spirit are explored, challenged, expressed and enriched.

4.A.2-Learning Objectives for the major

Our goals are not limited to specific courses as the departmental philosophy of interconnectedness means we teach all of these objectives to some extent in each course. There is, however, an important developmental transition that occurs between the foundation and advanced levels of art making.

Initially, a student’s art is class-directed and takes its cues from the professor’s instructions. Intermediate assignments include more personal choice and place increased responsibility on the student. Work at the advanced level is characterized by self-directed art making.

foundation:

To provide students with:

                l) real world technical skills

                2) a strong art historical sense

                3) the ability to see that art is reflective of the individual and universal selves.

intermediate:

                4) to develop the student's ability to synthesize classroom learning with personal life experience.

                5) to strengthen the student's skills to convey ideas in a meaningful way.

                6) to develop the student's ability to be articulate about their own work and the work of others in the spoken and written word.

advanced:

                7) to foster the student's ability to be competent, ethical and productive

                     members of the art community of the world.

4.A.3-Methods for Assessment in the Major

4.A.3.a, c-Tools of Assessment and Descriptions

1) peer and faculty critiques of work

The major assessment tool in the art department is the critique. In a critique, the professor gives the participant immediate feedback on their work. Students are also asked to comment critically on their own work and that of their peers. The same methods of critique are used for all studio classes in the art department, from foundation to senior honors but the terminology, art historical referencing, depth of analysis and degree of challenge are intensified as time passes. Written as well as oral responses are generated by critiques. This process of critique and feedback occurs in most studio classroom sessions.

2) written analyses

While studio classes work with the development of forms and ideas in present time, art history classes provide the bridge to the forms and ideas of past times and other cultures. For the student, the study of art history develops a visual repertoire of artistic imagery and a grounding in the historical reasons for art making. The major assessment tools in art history are written analyses of style, and content area tests. Many studio courses assign written research and/or analysis of historical art work as well.

3) student portfolios

The artist’s portfolio is he/r history and personality in a carrying case. At all departmental levels, portfolios are invaluable tools that enable students to grow and learn from their evolving work. The portfolio is the clearest way to assess progress in the work being produced. It documents growth and experience while it highlights strengths and weaknesses. In the art field more than in almost any other discipline, the student's portfolio becomes the key to professional acceptance.

4) written student assessment

In addition to group and private critiques, the department assigns written student self-assessment and peer assessment of ideas and artwork. These typically occur around mid-semester.

5) Junior-Level student interviews by all faculty

We have not found the Junior Level Interview idea useful for our purposes. During our Vision Planning, we decided to set time aside each Fall at mid-semester to discuss the work, attitudes, accomplishments and goals of all art majors. This formalizes a process that is ongoing in our daily discourse.

We will discuss each student in the department. Foundation-level students will be discussed in terms of work ethic, dedication to the department etc. Upper-class students will additionally be discussed relative to the maturation of their work and thought.

Prior to this meeting, we will collect a self-assessment from each art major. During the meeting, a feedback form will be used to collect data on the individual student. Data from this form will be shared with the student.

6) Senior exhibit

During the senior year, students prepare for a final exhibit which provides a visual forum for their work. This show is attended by the public as well as the campus community.

7) Exit Portfolio

The department will collect an exit portfolio described below from each graduating student reflective of the experience of 1-6 above. Exit portfolios are kept in the art department. We have eliminated the requirement that a companion binder of ten duplicate slides and the student's artistic statement be kept in the library. This is redundant and costly.

The portfolio will consist of:

                                a) artist’s statement or portfolio rationale (Fine Art and Design only)

                                b) ten original art works recorded on slide, zip disk or other appropriate medium (Fine Art and Design only)

                                c) one upper level art historical research paper.

The department chair holds the ultimate responsibility for collecting and updating these portfolios. As students graduate, the portfolio serves as a repository for undergraduate achievement and a magnet for information on the graduate's career progress. The continued documentation of the Art major's professional development is an important facet of our on-going departmental assessment.

8) Alumni Assessment

We have found that one, three and five-year assessments, as proposed at our last review, are not necessary. We hear from our graduates regularly and have a good sense of their progress. Last year, we sent surveys to all know alums and have incorporated their feedback into our curriculum review discussions. This year, we initiated a departmental newsletter and have recently sent out the first issue. This yearly communication will go to all graduates to solicit and disseminate significant alumni news as well as important developments and accomplishments in the department.

9) Evaluation of Student Teaching for Art Education majors

Part of the evaluation of an Art Education major is an extensive feedback form written by each Cooperating Teacher with whom a student studied and taught. These forms are retained by the Education department.

4.A.3.b, d-Explanation of choices and applications

We’ve chosen a broad selection of evaluative criteria to accommodate the diversity of expressive forms of art making and appreciating. Despite the individual nature of the artistic process, communication with peers and society at large is also needed by the artist. Therefore, the feedback of a variety of audiences is required.

Class critiques include all class members. By showing work in Galvin hall cases, the audience expands to the whole campus. The Senior Show includes the Quad City community and beyond.

Real world technical skills are incorporated into each of our Studio Fundamentals courses. After the student has chosen a major, these skills, tools and ideas increase in complexity. Our pre-requisites were carefully re-structured during our last review to promote a smooth transition from simplicity to complexity.

A strong art historical sense is imparted via our requirement of a minimum of four (4) Art history courses with more available. The “Names” project-the introduction of relevant artists and their work into studio classes-brings historical relevance into the student’s art making. Field trips, along with museum and gallery visits complete the cycle with immediate interaction with the physical work of art as opposed to it’s two dimensional reproduction.

The ability to see that art is reflective of the individual and universal selves is a complex order. But since art is both made and studied in our curriculum, many opportunities are made available. People and cultures from around the world are studied. Their art and artifacts represent what these societies have felt, thought and believed and are an intrinsic part of art historical study.

Against this broad background, the ideas, opinions and feelings of the individual artist are drawn out, clarified and fortified in their writings and visual studies. As mentioned before, this eventually amounts to a synthesis of classroom learning with personal life experience. The growth of their portfolio attests to this synthesis.

At the heart of peer and public critique is the goal of strengthening the student's skills to convey ideas in a meaningful way. Ongoing dialogue with peers and faculty leads the artist to increasingly articulate discussion of their own work and the work of others. Naturally, the art work is evolving into more authentic and sophisticated forms as the student matures.

The ability to be competent, ethical and productive members of the art community of the world is the focus of our program. Their art making is fueled by knowledge that it can make a difference/contribute to the dialogue with the world at large. Our students are avid participants in local culture and they support the local art scene.

Internships and the Senior Show bring the student to the graduate school and professional job entry level. Of our recent graduates, approximately 90% employed in their field of choice.

4.A.4-Documentation of Student Learning in the Major

The accumulated assessment materials are stored in portable files kept and maintained by the department chair.

4.A.5-Use of Assessment Information to Improve Education

The Art department faculty provides on-going assessment feedback to students as described in part 4.A.3 above. In addition, the faculty will meet as a group to review the assessment materials described in regard to departmental learning objectives in 4.A.2. This review of strengths and weakness will inform educational program changes and improvements and will typically take place in the year prior to the program review. The majority of our assessment tools have a built-in component of verbal or written feedback for the student.

4.A.6-Evaluation of the Departmental Assessment Plan

Prior to program review, the faculty will review the learning objectives and assessment methods and change them as deemed necessary. This year’s review found them to be as important and as relevant as ever.

4.B-Assessment of Teaching and Learning in the Major

4.B.1-Present and describe any data which assesses student learning of departmental objectives

The quality of the work done by our majors is recorded in the slides, disks and writing samples of recent graduates. Reviews of our art education majors continue to be very high.

                 a) what is revealed about strengths and weaknesses of the educational experience?           

 Our programs are new as of the last Zero Based Review. We’ve only had three graduating classes (1997, 98 and 99) from these new curricula on which to base our observations. When our assessment data are examined in aggregate, it appears that within financial and space limitations, we are doing an excellent job preparing artists, designers and art educators for their future. We have made adjustments based on feedback from our alumni survey. The employment record of the graduates of our new programs is outstanding and their job mobility is high. The invited members of the Design Group had many favorable things to say about our offerings.

The weaknesses of the educational experience, sometimes not evident to the student, take on a variety of forms which we listed in the Vision Plan (SWOT) which I’ll summarize:

Art is not well understood nor appreciated on this campus. A more art-aware environment campus-wide would encourage artists to create and to share their creation. The Art-on-Campus proposal would add a handsome, campus wide public art/collecting agenda for all to share. Like most other programs, this one requires both funds and staffing. I’d be glad to send an AOC document to anyone requesting it. Within reason.

Space-both quantitative and qualitative-is a problem. Impeded by a 31 year-old configuration of studios, there are problems in administering courses. Our new Design program suffers especially in cramped quarters. .

Painting and drawing are assigned to the same space out of necessity creating problems for both disciplines. Storage space of support materials for the art history courses in non-existent. With the Catich Gallery inoperable, we only have the Galvin hallway for display of art and this is earmarked for student work. We sincerely hope that the implementation of the Performa plans will help to alleviate this problem. The experience that local art venues provides our majors is very limiting.

Our Graphic Design major is delivered entirely by adjunct faculty and the program’s Mac technology is under-supported on this campus.

The need for administrative assistance has long been an identified need within the department. Coordination of Senior Honors; keeping up with alumni relations; and the handling of the many community-related requests for our expertise are more than we can successfully handle. This position could be shared with other Galvin departments.

                b) how have these data informed the program changes?

As mentioned earlier, our program changes are few and relatively minor this year, indicative of the success of our last curricular revision. Most of our intended improvements requiring funding have appeared in planning documents and other funding requests. Some changes are forthcoming and will be presented to this committee in time for inclusion in the 2001-2003 catalogue.

4.B.2-evaluation of requirements, sequencing and prerequisites

With the exceptions noted in section 2, we are satisfied with the changes from our last review. The new set of prerequisites has proven to be helpful in enhancing student achievements and linking these achievements in a productive way as suggested by our learning objectives.

GENERAL EDUCATION ASSESSMENT

4.C-General Education Assessment of Teaching

4.C.1-For ALL courses-gen ed components                 (see table I following this page; not available online)

4.C.2-For Designated General Education courses                  (see table II following this page; not available online)

                a) Existing courses

                                1) Document that the department is teaching Gen Ed courses in accordance with the Gen Ed mission p. 22

                                2) Present evidence of teaching to divisional goals in each course

                                3) Indicate Skills, Attitudes/Values each addresses and provide evidence

                b) New courses                                                                 NONE

comments

The two grids included in this report carry a dense load of information. Perhaps this short narrative can serve as an introduction to that information and help suggest the larger picture behind it.

All of our studio courses concern themselves with the delivery of content. This is in addition to but, perhaps less obvious than the technical control of tools, visual organization principles et al. These are vehicles for the transmission of messages from the artist to an acknowledged audience. The messages themselves are carefully chosen from the personal experiences, histories and curiosities of the student artist/gen ed student. The student is encouraged and taught to present authentic, personal responses to their world and to translate them into the medium under consideration. Calligraphy, Printmaking, Ceramics, and Photography courses all feature aspects of their own rich histories and social contexts.

The gen ed art history courses provide direct connections to societies, geographies, media and ideologies past and present. Demonstration of the profound usefulness of art to most societies presents the student with reasons for admiring and making art themselves.

The Names project, introduced about three years ago, attaches a group of historical art figures to each studio course.  The work and personality of the Names artist are used to deepen student appreciation for the content of the course and to paint/point the way to future development and to forge a strong bond between present and past art making.

Collaborative art making, peer critique and professor’s comments are combined in most studio classes encouraging an environment of tolerance, camaraderie, open-mindedness and civilized competition. Students utilize many forms of communication in their course work and the maturation that accompanies continual self-expression is one of the major rewards of teaching in the arts. In the critique of others, the student is taught to be honest and kind simultaneously.

The greatest liberalizing that occurs in our department is the student’s transformation into someone who sees beauty, harmony and meaning in a complex and often mean world. We graduate artists who will not be bored with nor disinterested in their world.

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