Joining the growing list of courses on campus are ART 183: First-Year Assessment, ART 283: Second-Year Assessment, ART 383: Third-Year Assessment, ART 423: Fourth-Year Assessment and ART 483: Senior Project Final Assessment.
All art majors are now required to take all five of these zero-credit courses. Starting this year, these zero-credit classes are a new pass/fail progress report on a student’s work.
Dr. Wayne McWee, interim chair of the Theatre, Art and Graphic Design Department, stated that the purpose of adding these new courses is to simplify the process of portfolio assessments, allowing a more efficient way to organize the vast number of students that must be judged each year.
Previously, each student had to be individually recorded on paper before the paperwork was processed by the Registrar’s office and altered into a student’s record.
The new zero-credit courses have been created to more easily track a student’s progress for the Art Department. Before, there has never been truly official documentation of a student completing their mandatory Portfolio Assessment.
The new zero-credit courses for Art majors will not affect GPA, but will restrict the student from registering for additional Art courses if he or she receives a failing mark.
According to the 2013- 2014 Undergraduate Catalog, “All students majoring in the Art program must participate in, and pass, five annual portfolio assessments.”
Each portfolio assessment is conducted during the spring semester during the month of March. Senior Art majors take an additional art assessment during the month of October to evaluate the student’s progress on his or her Senior Project.
McWee explained that the purpose of each assessment is for the Art students to show off five to seven of their best works for their evaluation.
For sophomores, juniors and seniors, the pieces they choose for their portfolio must pertain to their concentration. Along with their works, students are also assessed for their historical knowledge, oral presentation and field terminology, each of which is ranged in a score from unacceptable to outstanding.
Third and fourth year students are required to participate in the Junior Art Show and Senior Art Show located every April to May in the Longwood Center for the Visual Arts (LCVA).There are cases when a student’s work may not be strong enough, or their presentation is not prepared enough, resulting in an evaluation score titled, “conditional no pass.” This allows the student to retake the assessment later in the semester. This evaluation score is only granted if “the assessing faculty members believe the problems with the work can be improved,” reports the 2013-2014 Undergraduate Catalog.
If a student receives the evaluation score, titled, “no-pass,” the student will be ineligible to advance to the next level in the Art programs. The student must then wait one year before being eligible to be reassessed.
Third and fourth year students are required to participate in the Junior Art Show and Senior Art Show every April to May located in the Longwood Center for the Visual Arts (LCVA). There are cases when a student’s work may not be strong enough, or their presentation is not prepared enough, resulting in an evaluation score titled, “conditional no pass.” This allows the student to retake the assessment later in the semester. This evaluation score is only granted if “the assessing faculty members believe the problems with the work can be improved,” reports the 2013-2014 Undergraduate Catalog.
If a student receives the evaluation score, titled, “no-pass,” the student will be ineligible to advance to the next level in the Art programs. The student must then wait one year before being eligible to be reassessed.
If a student receives two “no-pass” evaluation scores, the student will lose the opportunity to major in Art.
More information can be gained from the Art section of the Theatre, Art & Graphic Design section on the Longwood University website.
