Dear Jason,
You wrote,
"I wondered what experiences or thoughts anybody else had in regard
to sampling in art and design. I am hoping to make a case to the
University to exclude Art & Design from the requirement to sample
every module (we currently have around 300) every year. As part of
this I would be grateful if anyone could spare the time to share
their thoughts."
As Rowena noted, many schools do sample work for various purposes. I
do not know if the benefits outweigh the drawbacks, but I do see some
benefits. I have a few suggestions that may help.
1) Use appropriate digital technology
Use the new digital camera technology for photographs. This is not a
perfect solution, but it will reduce your cost in time and equipment
use.
2) Collect the digital documents of each course on a single CD-ROM
Since this is a sample, gather your sample collection on a CD-ROM for
inclusion with whatever submission you create.
3) Encourage students to document their own work
In courses where it is possible to do so, encourage students to
document their own work in a course portfolio and draw on student
documentation.
4) When possible, use student-developed documents to evaluate students
When it is appropriate, incorporate documentation into the student's
own work and grading criteria. If the school supplies the equipment
for digital photography or video work, students could be expected to
make two copies of paper documentation supported by two CDs or two
videotapes.
Where students can make two sets at a fair cost, ask for two copies
of the portfolio. (For a different reason, we ask students to submit
two copies of their major semester project in some courses.
Admittedly, there is not the same kind of heavy pictorial material as
found in art and design, and there are no artifacts. But it is worth
noting that some schools do this as a matter of routine.)
5) The use documentation requirement as a basis for added resources
Use the school's requirement for documentation as an opportunity to
get additional resources. Where a department of mathematics or
literature can use words on paper, your documents are
equipment-intensive. If you are required to accept unusual burdens in
comparison with other programs, the school must expect to enable your
work by providing the resources you need for documenting art and
design modules.
6) Build a school collection
Use the documentation requirement as an occasion to begin developing
a school collection documenting school courses, activities, and
achievements. In the long term, this can become a valuable school
archive. It will have many uses.
7) Include a narrative component in all student submissions
Adjust course requirements slightly to require a well-developed
written description for student projects. Many universities already
require students to describe their work in any field.
In the natural sciences, we cannot observe the process of an
experiment, and nearly everything vanishes after most experiments.
What we have is an articulate description of what happened and why.
An increasing number of art and design schools require students to
prepare a narrative description of their work. In courses and
programs where you do this, the student narrative will very
effectively translate into a major part of the sample. In some cases,
you might well determine that a careful narrative device might
constitute the entire sample: in performance, for example, a script
or score might be useful.
Learning to write this kind of written narrative is a necessary skill
for any student who will go on to graduate work, and vital to any who
plan to go on for research education in art and design.
There is one further point worth considering. You wrote,
"A photograph of a fashion garment or a video of a performance can't
realistically be used as a measure of quality - the facsimile is too
far removed from the original."
Documents of many kinds are standard tools in the daily professional
practice of art and design. Even so, different kinds of documents are
considered representative for professional purposes across most of
the art and design fields. Artists and designers use them. Companies
and museums use them. Entire industries use them.
Even though photographs of a fashion artifact or a performance video
are not the same as the original, these are accepted methods of
documenting work in these fields. The fashion industry uses
photography as a primary method of communication, and performance
videos have been a standard way of documenting performance since the
1960s.
Best regards,
--
Ken Friedman, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Leadership and Strategic Design
Department of Leadership and Organization
Norwegian School of Management
Visiting Professor
Advanced Research Institute
School of Art and Design
Staffordshire University
|