Educational Insights
University of San Jorge
Ways of Seeing Designed Spaces: Teaching Visual Rhetoric
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Melissa Bender, Karma Waltonen
In this paper we discuss an assignment that introduces university students to the visual rhetoric of designed, public spaces. The students visit a museum or gallery, analyze the ways in which exhibit design influences visitor experience, and write a follow-up report. Offered in the context of writing courses for students specializing in design or fine arts, the assignment aims to help students develop the critical- and design-thinking skills that they will need to succeed in their future careers. As writing studies scholars, we believe that this aim is best achieved through fostering rhetorical awareness in our students. When students make their site visit, this rhetorical framework, combined with their understanding of core design principles, enables them to distinguish between the content and the design of an exhibit, consider how visual rhetoric influences wayfinding and visitor experience, and analyze the effect delivery media may have on visitor attention. Using examples from our students’ work, we share the assignment’s design, challenges, and effectiveness.
Featured A Case Study of the Critique Experience in a Master of Fine Arts Program : A Conversation about Higher Education Pedagogy View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Amy M Anderson
I recently conducted a qualitative case study asking students and alumni of a Master of Fine Arts/Studio Arts program in the United States about their experiences in and with critique in their degree program. The purpose of this study was to understand the nature of critique and add empirical research to the growing scholarly conversation about the effectiveness of critique strategies as a technique of guiding artists, bettering the artwork, and as a form of assessment in an academic setting at the graduate level. In this single case study, interviews were conducted with 8 participants affiliated with the same regionally accredited state university within the last 20 years. Interviews were transcribed, coded, and analyzed for themes. Themes that emerged were ambiguity in the role of critique, including expectations of the student-maker and how work was assessed, the impact of professors’ personalities and engagement, and the discovery of and results of an overall culture of humiliation. The results of this study illuminate a need for professor and departmental reflection about setting clear and intentional expectations and goals of the critique process as they relate to educating the adult learner enrolled in a graduate program. By juxtaposing the results of this study with the requirements outlined by the regional accrediting agency and standards published by other organized bodies invested in the success of graduate programs in the fine arts, suggestions are given to help guide instructors and departments in a reflective process of evaluation of critique and instructional methods.
Teaching Resiliency in Visual Art Education: Preparing Pre-Service Teachers to Work (and Stay) in Art Classrooms View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Justin Makemson
Promoting teacher resiliency is rarely the top priority of visual art educator preparation programs. Programs concentrate instead on creative explorations, curriculum design, classroom organization, developmental theories, differentiated instruction, and other issues important to the immediate success of their pre-service art teachers. Preparing visual art teachers solely to enter the classroom and find quick success is undeniably somewhat short-sighted; educator preparation programs need rather to equip and then continue to support their pre-service teachers as they enter into teaching visual art, find lasting success, and most importantly commit to staying in the classroom. The year-to-year teacher attrition rate (e.g. the percent of educators moving from one teaching position to another or leaving the field entirely after a limited time in the classroom) in the United States of America approximates sixteen-percent; each year eight-percent of working teachers move from one teaching position to another while an additional eight-percent leave the profession completely. The purpose of this paper is two-fold: 1) To examine evidence-based practices educator preparation programs that can be implemented with pre-service teachers to help reduce high rates of teacher attrition in visual art classroom; and 2) To introduce preliminary findings from an ongoing research project that consists of interviews with 'highly resilient' visual art teachers (e.g. teachers who have remained in the same position for 5+ years) and campus site visits to educator preparation programs in visual art education reporting higher levels teacher retention in students graduating from their programs.
