I am familiar with School Arts magazine and am very excited for you. I think your article is well written for this publication and your project is valid for today's art educator. I am considering putting together some type of online gallery for my students to comment on next year. I teach elementary so they are not expected to build a portfolio but I think it is important for them to reflect on their artwork even at this age.
Good luck with the publication!
Response to SoyeonatorSchool Arts Magazine
I decided to choose this magazine because it show the practical ways of teaching art in class and I want my AR to be viewed and used widely and practically challenge art teachers to help their students with technology.
Guidelines
• successful lessons
• areas of concern
• approaches to teaching art
Each issue of the volume year revolves around a theme that focuses on the human side of the studio art projects, i.e. story, play, meaning. The editor determines which issue/theme is the best fit for your article so don’t worry about fitting a theme. It is more important to be passionate about your lesson, idea, or concept. Go to schoolartsonline.com, for upcoming themes.
Once you pick a topic you can start writing.
Think about:
• How you would express your idea to a fellow art teacher.
• What idea, artist, trend, or issue influenced your idea.
• The main ideas you’re are trying to communicate.
• What teachers need to know to effectively teach the lesson.
• What problems a teacher might encounter.
When writing:
• Use a conversational style.
Sample Cover Design with student work by Becky Wong (12)
The article that will be proposed
How to maximize the art-making time in class with specific feedbacks to fulfill the intense requirements of AP Studio Art exam? I wonder what would happen if I give feedbacks online using web 2.0 tools.
AP studio art requirements
Advanced Placement (AP) Studio Art requires 12 art pieces of breadth section and 12 art pieces of concentration section. In total, students have to create 24 pieces of artwork by the end of April to take the exam on May. Although many students already have 9 to 10 pieces to start with from previous art classes, it is still very difficult create 12 pieces of concentration that mandates all pieces in one theme. My AP studio students call this concentration section a thesis. As students develop a thesis, it is essential to assess and critique their work in class or outside the class because a thesis must demonstrate both skill and concept in depth. To fulfill the requirement, individualized instruction with specific feedback was necessary. It is not surpring to say that critique in art makes a significant difference. (Blaikie, el. 2004) According to Dorn and Sabol, portfolios have been a valid and the most commonly used assessment in art education. Colleges and competitions currently ask more of digital portfolio than slides for their jury process, which has shifted the way art students develop portfolio. (2006)
Problems during preparing for AP Exam
Past two years of teaching AP, critique after each project took us two to three days to go over everyone in class. First year, we spent 15 days to critique before AP exam and it delayed the art-making in class. It was crucial to complete 12 pieces of thesis before AP exam and I decided to have less critiques in class. Individual feedback from teacher was the only source of critique and sometimes it made students a passive listener, not an active assessor. Moreover, slide-taking itself took me exactly 19 hours in one week to take more than 12 students’ portfolio of 24 pieces. It was a nightmare as a teacher to take of all students’ portfolio in short period of time. Even after slide-taking, looking for agent who could develop the film in short time was another big issue for students.
Even after AP exam guidelines changed their submission to digital format last year, students waited till the last minute and did not know how to take pictures and upload them in a professional way. Their photos were crooked and exposure was incorrect. I had to take and edit the photos for them, which took me another days of nightmare right before the exam.
Building a Digital Portfolio
In the beginning of this school year, I decided to train students early on to take and edit their own work as a digital portfolio. In Cycle 1, students uploaded and edited four pieces of art on Flickr. Low quality photos were asked to be resubmitted. They also started online critique using Flickr group page after an in-class critique with a glossary of art terms. During the interview after the online critique, students mentioned that they were able to have enough time to think and use proper art terms.
Students mentioned that they had more time to think and respond for the critique. They also explained that they learned how to use art terms and be more objective. After Cycle 2, students have created a set with eight to nine pieces of artwork. The essay of their thesis was included. Students exchanged feedbacks within a small group using guideline questions.
After Cycle 2, students’ critique skill dramatically improved. Students actively exchanged thoughts and suggestion and the only thing I needed to do was to confirm and praise their active interaction. It was obviously different from in-class critique, where only few out spoken students constantly participated. I noticed that online critique gave everyone a voice, even to ELL students. One of the ELL student mentioned that he/she used a dictionary to understand other’s feedback and many of them suggested that they had more time to think and write when critiquing others. Students also mentioned that they learned how to talk about art with proper and specific terms.
As a teacher, the biggest difference for me was that I was able to manage digital submission process during the AP exam without hassle. Last year, I used to be very busy, shooting, formatting, editing, and burning students’ portfolios into CDs. This year, students completed everything about photo images and I just had to assess and suggest how to organize their portfolio once they uploaded images of artwork onto AP digital submission site. This process has allowed me to be able to oversee the exam digital submission process with clearer mind. I also noticed digital portfolio as a holistic assessment. Students were able to assess and decide how to organize their portfolio during Cycle 2, which let them be more independent and productive learners. Dorn and Sabol (2006) claimed that digital portfolio is not only a useful assessment tool but also effective motivational tool for students because it encouraged them to actively engage and participate in their art making. Using digital portfolio, students took greater ownership and responsibility of their learning process.
Implications for the future
This study confirmed me that digital portfolio and online critique facilitate the individualized instruction with less restriction of time and space. I realized training students to build their portfolio from the beginning is very important to fully benefit from the online activities. In my school, all art and music teachers will implement digital portfolio for freshmen classes to document and assess student performance and progress. After first year of learning the use of digital portfolio and developing it, students will continue building their own digital portfolio throughout four years of art program. Hopefully students can practically use their portfolio when applying colleges, competitions and exams in the future with a organized body of work prepared. I am currently designing a web page to demonstrate how to build a digital portfolio using Flickr web 2.0 tool for next year students.
Teacher role in building a digital portfolio in the first year will be intense of covering how to shoot, edit, upload and organize the photos. It will also be challenging to train students to critique works of art with proper terms. I believe it is worth doing after students start creating their own portfolio because it becomes a strong assessment tool to increase their sense of ownership and inner motivation. Plus, teacher will be able to monitor students’ weakness and strength to guide them to the better direction based on individual’s need.
Conclusion
To maximize the art making time in class and to fulfill individual student’s need, digital portfolio and online critique can be a great assessment tool that promote self reflection, sense of ownership and constructive critiques among students. It also allows teachers to nurture students’ learning outside the class with a full attention to each individual with less restriction of time and space. This study implies that digital portfolio opens up new possibilities of individualized instruction in a large school setting.
