Hello Esra,
"Calibrating the quality." This is important and I'm glad you bring it up. At times it can feel like herding cats in design where there are seldom definitive, "correct" answers. I've found defining quality can be especially challenging for learners who may be taking a bevy of courses where they are expected to answer correctly (memorizing historical events and details, completing math problems) and the ambiguity associated with design "problems" stands out. It's especially frustrating for learners who like to ask "what do I need to do to get an A in this class?".
While it's debatable if learners read the course syllabus all the way through, it's the place where measures of quality are typically defined (I'm tinkering with where to put this so it gets read/referred to more often). Still, defining quality in this section in detail helps answer questions about performance and expectations.
For example, here's the section of my materials I use to qualify "exemplary" work (this is followed by sections for all the other rubric labels):
Exemplary: Demonstrates outstanding originality and transformative innovation. Research is exhaustive and inspires unexpected design outcomes. Learners always participates in discussions, facilitating deeper discussion with insightful and eloquent responses. Performance on examinations demonstrates mastery of content. Applies acquired knowledge and synthesizes inventive ideas from this knowledge. Design outcomes demonstrate an extremely high-definition attention to detail and attention to easily missed, unexpected details is apparent. Selects precise content that's timely and sensitive to the context and purpose of the design outcome. Creates aesthetically immersive outcomes that integrates form and function to facilitate complex conceptual communication. Outcomes demonstrate thinking about ways intended and unintended stakeholders/audiences will be affected by the design. Demonstrates work ethic and collaboration expected of design leaders and innovators. All assignments are turned in on time. All objectives and directions followed and executed as assigned and include work that exceeds stated requirements. Transformational improvement observed over the course period.
Showing/demonstrating samples of excellent industry/professional work can also help qualify excellence. I am still working to find ways to make quality expectations clear in advance instead of during the "why did I get this grade?" conversation when work is returned. I'm interested to hear how others are going about calibrating quality when we all probably hope learners exceed our own (difficult to define) quality expectations.
Best,
Dennis Cheatham
Assistant Professor, Communication Design
Graduate Director, Experience Design MFA
Miami University | Oxford, Ohio
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