Assessment Tools Applied To Arts

Appraisal, Evaluation, Measurement Techniques for Creative Arts

© Jo Murphy

Jul 5, 2007
Assessment Gear, Clarita from Morgue Files
Using assessment instruments as goal setting tools and planning guides can ensure smooth communication and enthuse Art Students. Avoid stress by planning with students.

Art Teachers who plan their assessment well ensure meaningful communication with students and their parents about

  • where they are at, what has been achieved so far,
  • whether they have met criteria and standards
  • where students are heading,
  • what their aesthetic and artistic themes are and how they are developing,

A collaborative approach will make goal setting inspirational if the student can gain a sense of self direction and feel empowered by the opportunity to self assess.

Strong assessment is often targeted towards goal setting to begin with and then self measurement to conclude. Well planned assessment tools can become a source of inspiration and facilitate smooth communication not only between the teacher and the student but enable very constructive teacher facilitated conversations to occur between parents and students. If the teacher capitalises on this communication flow, students can be schooled about how to communicate with their audience. This will become relevant on sharing nights and at exhibitions , when receiving awards and on other public occasions.

Tools Of Assessment

If students keep a visual journal consistently methodically and with enthusiasm, suitable material will be available when it comes to assessment time. If the teacher continually talks through this process with students a communication flow will develop.

The Visual Journal serves a variety of purposes.

The student can :

  • keep all relevant material together, consistently clustered and themed
  • show how they have developed and evolved their themes
  • identify hot spots of difficulty and arrange for extra tuition to resolve issues
  • or develop their own plan to address problems and learn in these areas see

The teacher should be able to discern:

  • where the student needs help with drawing
  • where the student needs help in certain areas of competency such as literacy, persuasive discourse etc.
  • identify areas where literacy can be boosted through linking visual imagery with other work such as poetry, note taking, poetics etc

Electronic Journals

  • The student can keep electronic journals too
  • This can help with storage. Sites like Photo Bucket or Webshots ensure that the student can keep lots of visual imagery to support there work and the development of their themes
  • This will help with Accessibility. These types of sites ensure that you can access their work at any time and from any where this makes writing reports easier

Themed Units may be accompanied by Criteria Sheets What Is A Criteria Sheet?

  • These help the student to understand what the teacher is expecting from them
  • Helps the teacher record whether the students has met the expected criteria
  • Ensures parent and relevant others know what was happening during the unit and they can see where the student is heading for purposes of support and planning future directions

The most important aspect of assessment for Art Students and their teachers is to keep it simple. This will ensure ease of communication. Don't allow the tasks to become burdensome – rather – they should ease stress and make learning fun!

Relevant Articles

Planning Digital Pathways for Art: Time Efficient Electronic Journals for Creative Arts Storage Systems

The Artistic Self and Journaling.: Discipline and The Habit Of Creativity Drawing101 cites the first reason for journaling in a visual art diary is to gain a sense of self discipline. Mastery of self and......

Inspirational Journal: Creativity, Exploration, Self-Direction wrote an essay about 14 Reasons to Keep Visual Journals A diary has value and is relevant to any creative can be kept online in an electronic journal or online......

Relevant Blogs

What Is A Global Comment? What Is A Criteria Sheet?


The copyright of the article Assessment Tools Applied To Arts in Arts Education Curriculum is owned by Jo Murphy. Permission to republish Assessment Tools Applied To Arts in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.


Assessment Gear, Clarita from Morgue Files
Art Books/ Piles of Work For Assessment, Jo Murphy
     


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