FROM THE ARCHIVE - Making marks: assessment in art and design

Making marks: assessment in art and design
Susan Orr, York St John University

This article offers a brief overview of key points emerging from Susan Orr’s research into art and design lecturers’ assessment practices. She has worked in this area for some years and has carried out a range of interview-based and observation-based studies across more than eight universities. In this article she discusses the ways lecturers assess identities, artistic practices and artwork holistically. Her key point is that art and design assessment is best understood as an artful practice - indeed it might be likened to a form of connoisseurship.


Published in Summer 2010: Networks, Issue 10, pp. 9 - 13.

To access the article

GENERAL NEWS - from HE

EVENT - HEA Scholarly Activity & Research skills workshop

Coleg Gwent's City of Newport Campus, Wales

7 June 2012

This is an extra workshop in the series. This event will provide HE in FE professionals with an introduction to the knowledge and skills associated with research and scholarly activity. Through a series of practical activities, guest speakers and case studies which, collectively, consider the contribution research can make to the college environment, particularly in terms of enhancing practice and policy in the following areas: Developing funding applications; Research design; Research impact; Dissemination.

For more information

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EVENTS - UK Quality Code for Higher Education, Chapter B3: Learning and teaching - Consultation events

Belfast - 8 June 2012

Edinburgh - 15 June 2012

Cardiff  - 21 June 2012

Birmingham - 11 July 2012

QAA is currently consulting on the content of Chapter B3: Learning and teaching of the UK Quality Code for Higher Education (the Quality Code). This new Chapter addresses the management of flexible and distributed learning provision, and work-based or placement learning. These events will bring together representatives from across the UK to share their thoughts on the content of the Chapter, and provide feedback on the draft text. Delegates will also have the opportunity to hear about innovations and share practice in learning and teaching, whilst learning more about further developments in the Quality Code.

For more information

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CALLS – for papers SRHE conference
Celtic Manor Resort, Newport, Wales

1    What is Higher Education For? Shared and contested ambitions – Newer Researcher Perspectives

11 December 2012

Deadline for papers: 15 July 2012

This year, echoing the theme of the SRHE Annual Research Conference, (see below) the organisers invite contributitions to the critical discussion “What is Higher Education for?” from the perspective of the Newer Researcher.

2   SRHE Annual Research Conference - What is Higher Education For? Shared and contested ambitions 

12-14 December 2012

Deadline for papers: 29 July 2012

The Society for Research into Higher Education invites contributions to this international conference which will examine many perspectives about what higher education is for, explore ways in which research into higher education can support and strengthen shared ambitions and by taking a broad and multi-faceted view of the nature and purpose of higher education discussions will illuminate disputed ambitions.

For more information on both calls

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NEWS - QAA has recently published Part C of the UK Quality Code: Information about higher education provision

Part C is concerned with the quality of the information about higher education provision in terms of whether it is fit for purpose, accessible and trustworthy. The Quality Code is the definitive reference point for all those involved in delivering higher education which leads to an award from or is validated by a UK higher education provider. It makes clear what institutions are required to do, what they can expect of each other, and what the general public can expect of all higher education providers.

For more information

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NEWS - New Higher Education Academy Handbook for External Examining

The HEA has collated the outputs from their research and development work on ‘enhancing the support for external examining' into a handbook which seeks to provide guidance, advice and general information on external examining. The handbook primarily concerns external examining of taught programmes at foundation, undergraduate and postgraduate levels.
For more information

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NEWS - Regional profiles of higher education 2009-10

HEFCE has published the 11th edition of its 'Regional profiles of higher education'. It sets out a range of data on the pattern of higher education (HE) in each of the nine regions in England. Information for each region includes: a map of all the universities and colleges providing HE courses; a profile of students’ study methods and counts of students by institution; characteristics of students: age, gender and ethnicity, origin, subjects studied, full-time or part-time, undergraduate or postgraduate, the annual income and funding of each higher education institution (HEI), employment on graduation and more.

For more information

NEWS – short films from British Council archive now online

The British Council Film Collection is an archive of over 120 short documentary films made by the British Council during the 1940's designed to show the world how Britain lived, worked and played. 

'We don’t want this collection to be just a static directory of old films; we want people to use it as a creative resource, to seek inspiration within its varied content and unusual history. We want you to download these films, to reinterpret them, and to share your interpretations with the world.' (British Council, 2012)

http://film.britishcouncil.org/british-council-film-collection

NEWS – launch of Journalism Education

The first issue of Journalism Education,  a new journal sponsored by the Association for Journalism Education in the UK and Ireland has been published online.

Journalism Education is an international peer-reviewed journal devoted to publishing original research articles, commentaries and reviews of interest to everyone actively involved in teaching and research in this field of enquiry.

Its aim is to reinvigorate current thinking in a manner alert to the importance of aligning academic scholarship with real-world, professional priorities. It is interdisciplinary in its scope, inviting contributions from a diverse array of approaches committed to identifying, exploring and critiquing pressing issues of common concern.

At a time when journalism’s very status within modern societies is being profoundly recast by formidable challenges, it is hardly surprising that discussions about what counts as ‘journalism education’ tend to be rather lively. The editors hope to encourage stimulating dialogue and debate, both by revisiting familiar assumptions with a critical eye, as well as by inspiring fresh perspectives about new ways forward.

To access the journal and download a free pdf copy of Volume one, number one April 2012:

http://journalism-education.org/issue-1-1/

EVENT - Art & Design and . . . Innovation and Business

Mithras House, University of Brighton

26 June  2012                   

At the Council of Higher Education in Art and Design (CHEAD) conference, held in Edinburgh in 2011, delegates identified the importance of articulating value of art and design and its education with other disciplinary communities, prospective students and public audiences.

The Faculties of Arts and Business at the University of Brighton have been working in concert over the past 18 months funded under the University’s pioneering research challenge scheme to interrogate and explain how the epistemologies, scholarly infrastructure, practical working methods, outcomes and experiences employed within art, design, innovation studies and business studies may educationally and professionally provide insights that can encourage the translation and bridging between disciplinary fields, contribute to cultural, social and economic advancement and generate new knowledge or enhance public understanding. See: http://arts.brighton.ac.uk/projects/pioneering-research-challenge

The success and values of art and design and its education are generally identified by the quality of the artefacts produced, but provide little detailed analysis or articulation as to the knowledge, media and methods employed in such achievements and how such predominantly constructivist form of knowledge building might be key to building and advancing new educational models that help students and staff bridge disciplinary barriers. 

Building on an international symposium focusing on design and Innovation held at the University of Brighton in March 2012, this joint symposium in collaboration with CHEAD hopes to build a dialogue across these fields from the perspective of Art & Design community.

To date the practices of art and design have been primarily analysed and articulated by others and this event will develop voices from within the community and share these with colleagues within innovation and business through the design and development of a pilot pamphlet publication, inviting participants from across the art and design community and their collaborators to attend and share how they have or might create the conditions through which to systematically interconnect different kinds of knowledge and reveal transformative ways of seeing, thinking and developing new insights and opportunities for creative learning.

This is one of the Higher Education Academy Workshop and Seminar Series

http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/events/detail/2012/seminars/disciplines/DW203

Reminder - voting still open for student award entries

Reflect:on Learning Experiences in Art, Design & Media, the Student Award 2012. 

Voting closes on Friday, 11 May 2012

The award, now in its seventh year, provides a unique opportunity for students to showcase their work alongside a range of UK institutions to a global audience.

Students were asked to focus on their experiences of learning in art, design and media and submit an image or piece of multimedia (visual / audio / film / etc) accompanied by a short statement that reflects the epiphanies, inspirations, enablers and opportunities that are part of the experience of higher education. We think you will agree with us that the work is of a high standard and there are some interesting entries.

Submissions are not being formally assessed but, as last year, the winner and runner up will be selected via an online voting system. The winning entry will be eligible for the prize of £300 and the runner up £100.  (So there have been over 600 votes!)

http://arts.brighton.ac.uk/projects/networks/issue-17-april-2012/art-design-and-media-student-award-2012

EVENT - Teachers' Academy 2012 Porto

University of Porto, Portugal
11-13 July 2012

The ESMAE School of Music and Performing Arts and the Faculty of Fine Art, University of Porto are hosting the 5th European League of Institutes of the Arts (ELIA) Teachers’ Academy. 

The Teachers’ Academy is an international platform for ideas and practices for teachers in artschools in Europe and beyond. Its main aim is to contribute to the professional development for lecturers in higher arts education.

The ELIA Teachers’ Academy aims to contribute to the professional development of professors, teachers and researchers in higher arts education by facilitating their participation in – and engagement with – challenging experiences and debates set in an international context. Teachers’ Academy Participants will:

• engage with innovative pedagogic and research methods at  international level;
• acquire new insights and practices about educating artists in and across the art disciplines;
• share their latest ideas and practices with international colleagues.

The Teachers' Academy and NEU/NOW LIVE Festival
This year's edition of the Teachers' Academy will be held in conjunction with the ELIA NEU/NOW LIVE Festival, an annual event featuring high quality, exciting work of art graduates from all over Europe. The combination of these two dynamic events will result in a participatory experience covering the range of arts education pedagogy from process to production.

http://www.elia-artschools.org/Activities/teachers-academy-2012-porto?lang_id=2