Planning Digital Pathways for Art
Time Efficient Electronic Journals for Creative Arts Storage Systems
Beginning the process of creating an electronic storage system can seem overwhelming to an Art Teacher. "Going Electronic" can save time, money and stress once planned.
When you plan an Electronic Assessment Storage System for Art Assessment strategise around these items.
- Units of Work that are integrated into a semester plan.
- Criteria Sheets what is a criteria sheet?
- Storage such as an external hard drive
- Digital Camera and Video for performance or field work
- Display Folders that identify bench marks.
- Visual Diaries preferably with a clear cover.
- An easy simple Systematic Mapping Process.
You will find it easier if you
- Keep the system and its description simple
- Use Criteria Sheets as the key to mapping the process.
- Clarity at the beginning of the unit facilitates students working thematically
- Personal process has been recorded by the end of the term or semester
- Map out and tweak the system until it functions.
- Think it through - a system set up well will ensure the years to follow will become easier and easier.
- Continually tweak the Digital Pathway and you will find it will become easier.
A Suggested Process
- Staple criteria sheets to the front of the unit in the students Visual Dairy.
- Adhere photographs of final pieces into the Visual Diary at the time they are completed with a reference to where the student has stored the piece in the electronic system.
- All external pieces such as animations or videos of performance are to be linked clearly in one folder
- Reference clearly at the spot in the process where each piece is stored
- This will map the process.
- All Visual Diaries should have a cover page designed to show the students understanding and creatively use of the Seven Elements of Design as an assessment item.
- Insist that the lettering which displays the students name and class group is large Ensure identification of the student is clear not just to you but to a digital camera
- Books can be laid out and the cover pages photographed in groups. (To save time)
- Group this data in an Organiser such as Adobe Organiser
- Splice and dice the photographs to create a cover image for each student
- Create a folder for each student with this image in top position. To ensure you can locate each folder easily in Thumbnail View
- Photograph all or select important pieces in each Visual Diary individually.
- At this stage only have one students work on the camera to avoid having hundreds of images on the camera that will need to be sorted through. This task can be overwhelming so keep this process very simple
- Drop these images into the labelled folder with out editing.
- Before moving on to another student select the sample images for that student. Edit and present these neatly and assemble on a grid or chart with space for comment
- Locate any Electronic work that has been stored on the system and transfer it to that folder. By referencing this work you have created a simple pathway for that student.
- After completing process for every student, write a comment on each record. You will be able to see the collection of work at a glance and make a global assessment. what is a global comment?
- If you need printouts of the work, print records now to save double handling.
As you become familiar with this kind of storage system you might want to update the folders weekly
If you update the record of the student weekly, you could save yourself a lot of time at the end of the semester.
Whilst beginning this process can seem overwhelming “Going Electronic” can eventually save you an enormous amount of time and money. Communication channels are streamlined and motivation is often increased for all involved.
The copyright of the article Planning Digital Pathways for Art in Arts Education Curriculum is owned by Jo Murphy. Permission to republish Planning Digital Pathways for Art must be granted by the author in writing.
