Meaningful Grading: A Guide for Faculty in the Arts

by Hoag Holmgren, Natasha Haugnes, Martin Springborg

Overview

College and university faculty in the arts (visual, studio, language, music, design, and others) regularly grade and assess undergraduate student work but often with little guidance or support. As a result, many arts faculty, especially new faculty, adjunct faculty, and graduate student instructors, feel bewildered and must “reinvent the wheel” when grappling with the challenges and responsibilities of grading and assessing student work.

Meaningful Grading: A Guide for Faculty in the Arts enables faculty to create and implement effective assessment methodologies—research based and field tested—in traditional and online classrooms. In doing so, the book reveals how the daunting challenges of grading in the arts can be turned into opportunities for deeper student learning, increased student engagement, and an enlivened pedagogy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781946684493
Publisher:	West Virginia University Press
Publication date:	06/20/2018
Edition description:	1st Edition
Pages:	240
Sales rank:	874,474
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Natasha Haugnes, currently at the Academy of Art University and California College of the Arts, has worked in art and design university settings for twenty-three years, and has authored two ESL textbooks.

Hoag Holmgren has worked in the field of faculty and educational development for over twenty years. A former creative writing instructor, he is the author of the poetry collection p a l e o s  and No Better Place: A New Zen Primer, both published in 2018.

Martin Springborg is a faculty member in the Minnesota State system of colleges and universities, where he teaches photography and art history.

Read an Excerpt

CHAPTER 1

PART I

* * *

Course Design and Preparation

Part one is designed to help you prepare for teaching, ideally before the start of the semester.

Examining Your Own Beliefs and Biases

Faculty artists come to the profession of teaching with underlying beliefs and knowledge about teaching and learning. Understanding your own perspective can help you create and implement effective grading and assessment practices.

1. Quantifying the Qualitative

2. Examining Aesthetic Sensibility

3. The Apprenticeship of Observation

Knowing Your Context

How does your own institution define success? What is the grading and assessment culture of your institution and department? What are the student learning goals for your institution and department? Answering questions like these can define and clarify the parameters within which you are working and help illuminate best practices.

4. Novices and Experts

5. Getting Involved

6. Implications of Grades

Defining Success in Your Course

Defining what the big markers of success will look like in your course ahead of time helps you design the grading and assessment into your course from the outset. Integrating the assessment in this way ensures that grading supports teaching and learning — that it is not tacked on as an afterthought.

7. Course Design: An Overview

8. Course Design: Defining Goals

9. Course Design: Teaching and Learning Activities

10. Course Design: Assessment Criteria

11. Your Grading System: Math Matters

12. Ungraded Assignments

13. Scaffolding Learning Tasks

14. Soliciting Feedback

Tip 1

* * *

Quantifying the Qualitative

How can I grade art? It's subjective. How can I attach a number to the quality of concept, aesthetics, or craftsmanship? These are central questions that many thoughtful faculty artists ask.

On the surface, it does seem paradoxical to attempt to quantify art when art is often precisely that which defies definition and breaks rules. On the other hand, if we are teaching art, we must believe that it can be learned. And if students can progress in that learning, we must find a way to describe their progress — to quantify it.

Faculty artists often speak wistfully of the instructors in math or science departments who have it so easy when it comes to counting things that their students do and proving that learning outcomes are being met. Math and science teachers may be more comfortable with the spreadsheets and numbers they use to calculate grades, but when it comes to quantifying learning, no department has it figured out perfectly. Anyone who says they do is probably missing something important.

Here are a few guidelines to bear in mind as you develop a quantifiable assessment system for students' work:

* Remember that your system will not be perfect. Artistic ability and growth, like most abilities, cannot be measured perfectly. There will be holes in the grading systems. There will be aspects of the art that you never even talk about with the students. That is okay. You will likely continue to revise your grading system throughout your career.

* Focus on one course at a time. Courses have different goals or outcomes, so you need to develop distinct grading systems for each one that you teach. For example, a beginning design course may focus on developing skills for seeing and selecting color palettes for existing designs, while a more advanced course emphasizes using those skills in combination with composition, layout, or even market research skills. The first course's grading system will likely focus on smaller, more discrete units of learning, while the second course's system may de-emphasize the discrete skills in favor of integrated skills.

* Start with the "big buckets." Gather a range of student work for a particular course from previous semesters. Divide the work into three piles: not passing, passing, and high passing. As you describe each pile of work, you will begin to establish the baseline expectations of quality for this project or course. Avoid getting too granular — don't focus on the distinction between A- and B+, for example — at this point. Once you determine the expectations for these initial categories, the more refined grades will fall into place more easily.

* Don't ignore process. As you go through the "big buckets" exercise described above, you may find that one piece does not look as good as the others, but you know the student who created the piece made remarkable progress over the course of a semester. If progress is an aspect of performance that is central to your course, define what that progress looks like. It may entail elements such as the amount of engagement in critique, questions the student asked, or how many revisions or iterations the student completed between critiques.

* Don't try to quantify the rare, inexplicably wonderful artistic moments that occur. Or at least, don't begin there. Many instructors, when asked about their students' work, want to talk about the truly exceptional pieces from the truly exceptional students. Many faculty artists have expressions to describe this je ne sais quoi, wow factor, or thing that makes it soar. Moments of exceptional sensitivity, talent, or insight are exciting and should be celebrated (perhaps with a ceremonial rubric burning). And yes, it is difficult to quantify these moments. So don't.

Tip 2

* * *

Examining Aesthetic Sensibility

Investigating and clarifying our aesthetic tastes before the semester begins can help weed out unintentional or excessive bias when it comes time to grade or give feedback. If we're not careful, our comments about the value, or lack thereof, of well-known artists or art traditions can tempt students into creating work solely to please us. By extension, our choices of work that we present and discuss can perpetuate — or challenge — cultural values and assumptions in the classroom. We're entitled to articulate personal opinions about art, but we need to be mindful about the impact of sharing and unpacking opinions in the classroom.

In this self-examination process, we anticipate and identify the unintended messages we send about the aesthetics we value and our opinions about art. These messages can be detrimental to fostering a learning environment and a genuine development process. How can we support students in developing unique work and opinions independent of our own? Consider the following ways to engage in this investigative process:

* Reflect on the following questions:

• What message about aesthetic values am I sending when I share my opinions about art?

• When I express an opinion, am I being clear that I am expressing an opinion?

• Am I sending an unintended message by omitting certain artists or art movements from the course or from the discussion?

• Am I able to talk about interesting or instructive qualities of a work of art that I personally dislike?

• Does my own aesthetic bias influence my grading, or am I sending the message that it might?

* Build activities into your class where you discuss the contributions of different traditions and schools in order to facilitate a creative, open, and dynamic environment.

* Include discussions about contributions by artists from nondominant cultures.

* Identify art that represents a wide variety of styles, including some that you respect but don't necessarily like, to share with students as examples for discussion throughout the semester.

* Resist the temptation to use your own work as an exemplar of excellence. Be clear that you do not use your own art because you don't want students to be tempted to mimic your work.

* Include an explicit policy in your syllabus about expectations regarding styles and genres. For example, if your course emphasizes a particular style of drawing or genre of film, make that clear.

* Use a rubric for grading (see tips 35–40).

* Model examples of constructive feedback that get beyond personal taste and focus instead on specific aspects of the work. Have students distinguish between personal reactions such as "I don't like nature photography" or "I don't like poetry that rhymes," and more observational, analytical, and constructive comments such as "The long tree shadows in this photo create a sense of stillness." Discuss which types of comments are more helpful when discussing peer work.

Tip 3

* * *

The Apprenticeship of Observation

Whether we are aware of it or not, we have learned a tremendous amount about teaching from simply watching our own teachers. And these lessons stick with us — for better, or in some cases, for worse. Dan Lortie calls this informal process the apprenticeship of observation.

Whether we emulate the techniques of instructors who inspired us or replicate ineffective teaching practices, we are likely unaware of why we're doing it, according to the apprenticeship of observation model. Sometimes those teaching practices contradict our current teaching beliefs. For example, you might believe that students' progress is best assessed through their projects, but in practice you base your grades on exams because that is how your own instructors assessed you. Even when we emulate effective teaching, exploring the underlying scholarship supporting those teaching methods will strengthen our practices and deepen our beliefs.

Recognizing our inclination to teach the way we were taught is the first step to breaking out of ineffective patterns of instruction, strengthening effective ones, and seeking out opportunities to make improvements. In order to align our teaching and grading with our beliefs, we need to recognize how our teaching and grading practices have been influenced through our own apprenticeship of observation. How to do that, and where to take the first steps are the key challenges. If you are on a campus with a teaching center, that is an excellent place to start. But even if you do not have access to a teaching center, the following ideas can help you examine the connection between underlying beliefs and teaching habits. Most of these have to do with observation — either inviting peers to observe you or observing the successful teaching practices at your institution:

* Schedule classroom observations with someone you trust. (Most teaching center observations are completely confidential, between you and the teaching center staff.) It's easy to feel vulnerable being observed and instinctively shut down to the idea of staff or even fellow faculty entering your classrooms. Moving past this initial feeling will lead to positive connections and explorations of teaching that will likely yield positive outcomes in your classrooms.

* Attend workshops on teaching and learning practices. Your own teaching center may offer these. There are also excellent conferences and webinars on teaching that are available through other colleges or organizations.

* Schedule time to discuss teaching practices, along with underlying assumptions and beliefs, with one or more of your department colleagues, even if it's just over coffee.

* Connect with faculty from other departments around teaching and learning issues to gain exposure to teaching methods not employed in your own discipline. Sometimes these types of meetings are arranged through teaching centers as well — whether within departments or across departments.

* Take the knowledge that you gain through the above personal connections and pursue readings on topics most relevant to your own teaching practice. Teaching center staff and peers will be able to help with reading lists, and there are many excellent articles and ideas on websites associated with teaching centers at other colleges.

Tip 4

* * *

Novices and Experts

"I'm not going to tell you exactly what to do. Trust your gut!"

Comments such as these can be frustrating for beginning-level students. The instructor is asking the students to approach a challenge with more sophistication than they possess. And those same instructors may become frustrated by students who want step-by-step solutions spoonfed to them after they have received less than satisfactory grades. This communication gap is common among people with vastly different levels of expertise, and it can interfere with clear communication and trust, both of which are crucial to grading and feedback.

Many who teach art are experts in their fields. According to theories about this expert-novice continuum, experts have internalized so much of the content of their fields that they are able to immediately see or feel the entirety of a situation, and decisions throughout the creative process feel more intuitive than deliberate and step-by-step. The problem with becoming an expert is that once we are able to see and feel things in a certain way, it becomes almost impossible to remember what it was like not to see or feel them in that way. It can be difficult for an expert artist to give grades and feedback that take into account the challenges, assumptions, and frustrations a student may be experiencing. A mere awareness of the expert-novice dynamic can give instructors more patience with students, even if they do not remember what it was like to learn their craft.

There is no simple formula to becoming an expert, but one thing that many experts have in common is that they have usually engaged in 10,000 hours or ten years of focused, deliberate practice. Deliberate practice consists of setting a specific goal, focusing on the task, getting and incorporating informed immediate feedback, and repeating the task until one meets the goal. Instructors can bridge the expert-novice gap while guiding students toward becoming experts in the following ways:

* Present grades and comments in a way that illuminates a way forward, encouraging process and artistic evolution. Focus comments on the rationale behind the letter grades that you've assigned to student work.

* Be aware of when you are asking novice students to solve expert-level problems. Consider simplifying the projects. Or "scaffold" complex projects so that they are more achievable for novice students. (See tip 13.)

* Understand that novice students often lack the vocabulary to explain what they see. Be explicit in your teaching of vocabulary to support their increasingly complex understandings.

* Continue to ask questions such as "What is your gut reaction?" when you have students look at unfamiliar work, but do not expect their gut reactions to be as sophisticated as your own. Have students assess their own development as they answer that question at the beginning of a semester and again at the end of a semester. Their answers will reveal their changing ways of looking at work. It may not progress in a linear way. Often, when going through a particularly disruptive period of learning, students reorganize their thinking and feel that they are going backwards. Talk to students about this process.

* Have students analyze and reflect on the quality of the time they are spending on homework, studio time, and work done away from class. How much of the total time was actually deliberate and focused practice? What does deliberate, focused practice feel like? What does easy busywork feel like? What does work that is too difficult feel like?

* Invite students to discuss the grades and comments you give. What kinds of comments do they find useful? What do they find less useful? Analyze their answers and adjust your feedback to their level accordingly.

Tip 5

* * *

Getting Involved

Teaching at an institution of higher education can be a solitary experience, especially for part-time faculty or faculty just beginning their careers. Either you teach courses at odd times of the day, when very few of your colleagues are around, or you are so swamped with your teaching responsibilities that you have little time for anything else. After a year or more of this, it's easy to resign yourself to working in your own silo within a much larger college or university. But it's important to break out of this mode of thinking and to become involved outside of your own immediate area, focus, discipline, or slate of courses.

Getting involved more broadly at your college or university has many benefits. Most immediately, it will help you to become part of a community of educators. This connection to the larger community often leads to trusting relationships with other educators. As those relationships build, you gain a better sense of how your teaching efforts align with those of other faculty and departments. This can help you in designing your courses and assessing and grading student work, with an eye toward student success not only in your disciplinary area(s) but also in the broader college or university. Being knowledgeable about institutional mission, goals, and initiatives can help you align your teaching with your department and institution, creating a more cohesive experience for students.

If you are seeking promotion or tenure, becoming connected to institutional mission and values — paired with meeting your faculty colleagues outside of your own discipline and serving with them on committees — can never hurt, especially if your institution's review process includes service. And if you are working as part-time faculty, taking these steps can sometimes improve your chances of filling a full-time appointment down the road — either at your current institution or another.

So how do you become involved? What steps should you take, and what are the most logical points of entry? Leora Baron-Nixon, in her book Connecting Non Full-Time Faculty to Institutional Mission, lists other ways that faculty can get involved at their institutions — including but not limited to representing departmental or college-wide issues on the faculty senate and participating open forums.

Keep your ear to the ground, read some of those all-staff emails, and consider one or more of the following:

* Seek out your institution's professional development staff and committees, and see where you can contribute and how you can benefit from involvement.

* Plan to attend meetings in your department, cross-departmental gatherings that may interest you, or other events where your knowledge and expertise may be valued.

* Ask to be included in portfolio reviews or on juries for exhibits in your department or larger institution. The discussions that take place on those committees can give you a sense of what quality of work your department expects.

* Participate in the larger life of your institution (joining departmental or area- specific clubs, planning campus events such as guest speakers or conferences, etc.).

* Finally, consider getting involved in your institution's or your department's accreditation or reaccreditation efforts. For example, offer to serve on a task force related to writing your college's or university's portfolio or application for regional accreditation or reaccreditation. Related to that experience, you may also be interested in serving as a reviewer for such regional accrediting bodies. They are often looking for faculty and staff who are interested in serving this way, and this experience will be helpful as you volunteer in this process within your own department or at your institution.

(Continues…)

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Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Part I Course Design and Preparation

Examining Your Own Beliefs and Biases

1 Quantifying the Qualitative 9

2 Examining Aesthetic Sensibility 13

3 The Apprenticeship of Observation 16

Knowing Your Context

4 Novices and Experts 19

5 Getting Involved 23

6 Implications of Grades 27

Defining Success in Your Course

7 Course Design: An Overview 30

8 Course Design: Defining Goals 35

9 Course Design: Teaching and Learning Activities 39

10 Course Design: Assessment Criteria 43

11 Your Grading System: Math Matters 47

12 Ungraded Assignments 52

13 Scaffolding Learning Tasks 55

14 Soliciting Feedback 58

Part I Supplementary Resources 61

Part II During the Semester

Communicating Goals

15 Making Grading Expectations Clear 69

16 A Mutual Understanding of Progress 73

17 Clarifying Teaching Methods 75

18 Choice of Graded Projects 78

19 Office Hours 81

Emphasizing Process over Results

20 Making Creative Process Explicit 85

21 Redefining Effort 89

22 Problem Finding 92

23 Generating Ideas and Brainstorming 95

24 Aha! Moments 99

25 Grading and Mistakes 102

26 Contemplative Practice 106

27 Famous Artists' Early Work 109

28 The Artist-Apprentice Dynamic 113

29 Grading Participation 116

30 Grading Discussions 119

31 Self-Assessment and Creative Process 123

Part II During the Semester

Teaching Content and Skills

32 The Language of the Discipline 126

33 Assessing Research 129

34 Skills-Based Assignments 131

Rubrics

35 Creating Rubrics 133

36 Using Rubrics 137

37 When to Introduce a Rubric 141

38 Student-Generated Rubrics 144

39 Rubrics for Peer and Self-Assessment 148

40 Common Rubric Pitfalls 151

The Critique

41 Structuring the Critique 155

42 Critiquing in the Online Environment 159

43 Peer Critique 162

44 Art Directing vs. Critiquing 164

45 Critique Journals 167

Part II Supplementary Resources 171

Part III Post-semester

46 Requesting Feedback on Your Grading 181

47 Post-semester Community: Moving Beyond Assessment 183

48 Reflecting and Planning for Next Semester 186

49 End-of-Semester Evaluations 189

50 Norming Your Grades 191

Part III Supplementary Resources 195

Acknowledgements 199

Notes 201

Editorial Reviews

Fills a significant gap in the teaching and learning literature. I am particularly impressed with the ability of the volume to serve simultaneously as text, guide, and reference, and suspect that artist-teachers will find the same utility.”
David Chase, coauthor of Assessment in Creative Disciplines: Quantifying and Qualifying the Aesthetic 

"A rich resource for educational developers.”
​​​​​​​ International Journal for Academic Development 

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