Student Artwork Research Articles

Reflections From Graduate Adult Learners About Service Learning

Many colleges and universities now embrace the concept of service learning as a legitimate and beneficial means engage students in their learning experience and challenge students, faculty, and staff to make a lasting, positive impact on social and environmental challenges that proactively respond the needs of others (North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University [NC A&T], 2015b, para. 1). Adult education is grounded in responding the needs of others, and our field places emphasis on adult learning theories such as transformative learning and experiential learning. So why is there paucity in our field with regard service learning in graduate programs of adult education? During the 2015-2016 academic year, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (NC A&T) has charged students, faculty, staff, and alumni complete 125 service projects as it celebrates 125 years as a land grant university committed community engagement. According NC A&T (2015a), service learning is defined as a participatory approach learning which supports academic studies and helps develop the skills, citizenship and values of students. Its primary goal is encourage understanding and evaluate the intricacies of our diverse and interconnected world by becoming contributing members of a local and global community, (para 1) Service learning is an educational approach that balances formal instruction and direction with the opportunity for adult learners serve in the community as a pragmatic, progressive learning experience. Although approaches differ among institutions, service learning provides participants the opportunity learn through the practical experience of serving the community. In our Social Gerontology course's primary text, Learning Later, Findsen (2005) tells us, Lifelong learning necessitates attention older adults in a variety of social roles, even if most attention is given economic and employment issues by the state rather than in fuller participation of older adults as citizens (p. 2). Not only are older adults affected by this, but adults with disabilities fit into this category as well. Therefore, why is this an understudied topic in the field of adult education? During the course, we participated in a service-learning project volunteering at After Gateway (2015), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation, certified by the North Carolina Division of Aging and Adult Services: After Gateway is an adult day health program caring for intellectually and developmentally disabled adults whose conditions present a constant challenge family and community institutions. After Gateway provides activities that meet each participant's continuing recreational, vocational, educational, and health personal care needs, (para 1) When we entered the facility, multiple environmental components communicated After Gateway's commitment learner centeredness. The sound of music and laughter permeated the hallways. Cindy, the program coordinator, led us down a hallway that displayed student artwork, including handprints, paintings, and letters friends. We were instantly impressed with the bright hallway colors that made us feel welcomed and set the tone for the facility. We felt we entered a place where learning was going take place. Again, not only was the environment welcoming, but the display of the student's work told a story about the After Gateway program. The environment communicated that the adult learners have a collective voice, they have talent, and what they do is most important. We assisted with the field day events and co-facilitated educational activities with classroom coordinators. After completing paperwork regarding volunteer responsibilities and confidentiality, we received an organized agenda listing the day's scheduled activities. …

A study of the use of pairwise comparison in the context of social online moderation

Traditional moderation of student assessments is often carried out with groups of teachers working face-to-face in a specified location making judgements concerning the quality of representations of achievement. This traditional model has relied little on modern information communications technologies and has been logistically challenging. We argue that social online moderation, coupled with the use of analytical and pairwise scoring methods and technologies, can provide better moderation outcomes and highly valuable professional learning experiences improving teachers’ understandings of assessment standards. This paper reports on a component of a study involving Visual Arts teachers from rural schools making comparative judgements of digitised student artworks. We report the teachers’ observations of the social online moderation processes, including the quality and standard of the digitised artworks, the effectiveness of the pairwise comparison process, the functionality of the online tools, and the concept of using online scoring for moderation and standard setting purposes.

Malaysia-Thailand, Beyond the New Ornamentalism in Contemporary Jewelry

Towards a new perspective of pedagogical approach and constructive criticism in art practice based education, the investigation is focusing on Malaysia-Thailand contemporary art & craft jewelry in academic area. From the traditions of national craft heritage the jewelry, silverware and metalwork is now a day almost lost its conservation to their modern people and its community. The Jewelry is representative of national artifact of high crafting. It passes through present where number of contemporary art objects and lifestyle design gadgets are already dominating new behavioral to society. From this perspective, the different between lifestyle and culture can shape up concept and identity of contemporary jewelry. Where the traditional elements can still remain in somewhere with us! Many academicians, designer makers are working and try to modernize these national prides which obtained the traditional implicit knowledge and local wisdoms. The art and design education also concerns this matter by raising many cultural topics involved into curriculum. It becomes a subject that students can reflect their role of preservation or expression on their cultural contents. The cross cultural perspective of rising perception of the author on contemporary jewelry education between Thailand and Malaysia has begun in 2008 by the invitation of Department of Fine Metal, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Malaysia. The UiTM invited a staff (author ) of Department of Jewelry Design, Silpakorn University Thailand, as an external assessor for final year student assessment. The participatory research occasionally began from that point under the pedagogical framework. Observations, interviews, critics on student artworks, were the main activity process that both of students and staff of institution also interacted according to the process of assessment. Definitely, the differentiation between the students’ outcome of jewelry project in Malaysia and Thailand are obviously divergence. However, the traditional ornament of each country and cultural influences also be noticed that have been frequently inspired in students’ work. The constructive criticism was always the core discussion during the students’ assessment and exit meeting with UiTM department members. During year by year, there were number of improvements can be noticed not only on the students’ outcomes but also the academic relationship through collaboration activities that create among two institutions.

Is the critique relevant? The function of critique in a studio art classroom, told three times

Abstract Is the critique relevant? Art and design education is changing as we move deeper into the twenty-first century. This article will describe and investigate the critique from three vantage points: The first is a common sense narrative, the mythical ideal of critique presented in stories of how art should be taught. The second works to take apart this ideal, looking at how this formalized assessment is experienced by students and the symbolic ‘violence’ of authority-driven educational practices. The third perspective unpacks how we, as practitioners and educators in the field of art and design, understand meaning in artworks and what is described as valuable in assessment. The focus here is on the presentation of originality and the problem with a lingering adherence to Modernist notions of linear progress. ‘The function of critique in a studio art classroom’ re-examines critique and asks us to reframe classroom conversations of student artwork.

Social Studies Education and Public Art: The Detroit Billboard Project

Based on action research, this study examines the effects of community-oriented arts integration in the social studies. In Detroit, high school students engaged in persuasive writing and design while exploring community issues. The project culminated in the installation of student artwork on a billboard in the city's cultural center. The findings suggest that creative projects with real-world applications are motivational, and they promote civic education. The majority of the students reported that their awareness of community issues had increased. This study has implications for the implementation of projects for democratic education and service learning, arts integration in the social studies, and the use of authentic assessments in contextual, culturally responsive teaching.

Seeing Experiences of Interdisciplinarity through Student Artwork

This paper explores visual response methods as a representation of student learning in a college-level interdisciplinary curriculum integrating art and engineering. The visual response methods, specifically visual journals and postcards, are examples of authentic assessment and alternative data collection methods embedded in a mixed-methods (qualitative dominant) practitioner research case study. In the paper, we focus on different means for analyzing these visual responses (e.g., through hermeneutic analysis, document analysis, and narrative analysis) and deliberate the contribution of diverse analysis methods to the researchers’ understanding of students’ experiences of interdisciplinarity in this course.

The Portable Art Gallery: Fostering Student Ownership and Meaningful Artmaking through Exhibiting Student Artwork

(2014). The Portable Art Gallery: Fostering Student Ownership and Meaningful Artmaking through Exhibiting Student Artwork. Art Education: Vol. 67, No. 4, pp. 13-17.

‘Art in the Library’: Interstitial readings between art education and artistic practice

Abstract The growing interest of many artists in alternative spaces for artistic creation and the interdisciplinary nature of most educational curricula have encouraged the teaching staff at the University of Barcelona’s Faculty of Fine Arts to adopt a new methodology – an educational turn – that offers students the direct experience of creating ‘artworks in the user’s space’. This article reports on that experience, ‘Art in the Library’, which in recent years has formed part of the University’s Bachelor’s degree in Fine Art, in the subject Interdisciplinary Attitudes. The student artworks reported on in this paper are site-specific projects, which constitute a professional challenge for their creators and were exhibited to a general public. The authors of the paper propose that ‘Art in the Library’ meets a challenge in contemporary educational practice and understands art education as an act of creation.

Not just a pretty face: putting the learning into the Learning Commons

Not just a pretty face: putting the learning into the Learning Commons

A picture tells 1000 words: learning teamwork in primary care

Teamwork and patient centredness are frequently articulated concepts in medical education, but are not always explicit in the curriculum. In Ireland, recent government policy emphasises the importance of a primary care team approach to health care. We report on an appraisal of a newly introduced community-based student attachment, which focused on teamwork. To review students' experience of teamwork following a community clinical placement by examining student assignments: essays, poetry, music and art. Year-2 graduate-entry students (n = 45) spent 2 weeks with a primary care team. Attachments comprised placements with members of the primary care team, emphasising team dynamics, at the end of which students submitted a representative piece of work, which captured their learning. Essays (n = 22) were analysed using a thematic content analysis. Artwork consisted of painting, collage, photography, poetry and original music (n = 23). These were analysed using Gardner's entry points. Three core themes emerged in both written and visual work: patient centredness; communication; and an improved appreciation of the skills of other health care professionals. Students identified optimal team communication occurring when patient outcomes were prioritised. Metaphors relating to puzzles, hands and inter-connectedness feature strongly. The poems and artwork had a high impact when they were presented to tutors. Primary care team placements focus student attention on teamwork and patient centredness. Student artwork shows potential as a tool to evaluate student learning in medical education.

Art-Based Learning Strategies in Art Therapy Graduate Education

This mixed methods research study examined the use of art-based teaching methods in master's level art therapy graduate education in North America. A survey of program directors yielded information regarding in which courses and how frequently art-based methods (individual in-class art making, dyad or group art making, student art projects as course assignments, visual journaling, and student art making as a thesis focus) were employed. Qualitative data from in-depth interviews of program directors and recent graduates were analyzed with respect to the function, benefits, and deficits of art-based learning strategies. Such strategies were found to be valued for their integrative function, as a means of personal growth and development, as documentation of experience, and for the transfer of learning to clinical work. Participants also described privacy concerns and ambivalence regarding the evaluation of student artwork.

Perfectionist Attitudes of Artistically Talented Students in the Art Classroom

Perfectionism has been studied within its dimensions in the literature and often defined as adaptive or maladaptive in its nature. While various instruments have been developed to measure perfectionism, this study focused particularly on perfectionism as artistic expressions and classroom behavior. Lack of research and evidences associating perfectionism with student artworks inspired this study. Findings showed connections between aspects of perfectionism, student created artworks and student behavior in the art classroom. It was concluded that study of students' artworks has potential to identify perfectionism as another source of information among artistically talented students. Findings revealed specific perfectionism-related attitudes and expressions in the art club.

‘Being an artist you kind of, I mean, you get used to excellence’: Identity, Values and Fine Art Assessment Practices

AbstractIn this article I report on a study into fine art lecturers’ assessment practices in higher education. This study explores the ways that lecturers bring themselves into the act of assessment (Hand & Clewes 2000). I interviewed twelve fine art lecturers who worked across six English universities. Lecturers were asked to relate to me how they learnt to assess student artwork and what informed their judgement making. My research explores the interfaces between fine art lecturers’ assessment practices, their values and identity/ies. My analysis offers a rendering of the ways that values underpin lecturers’ assessment practices. The article explores the ways that lecturers’ assessment decisions relate to their experiences as ex art students, their identity as artists, their own artistic practices, their conceptualisation of the arts arenas and the HE sector. My key overarching argument is that identity/ies and values underpin and enrich fine art lecturers’ assessment practices.

“So What.” “Who Cares?” “Whatever.” Changing Adolescents’Attitudes in the Art Classroom

AbstractWhile teaching art in a small midwestern high school, I began an investigation to better understand my students’ learning experiences. As my students engaged in a visual culture—oriented art curriculum, I investigated their responses to curricular activities, their interactions, and my teaching practice. Student journal entries, survey responses, teacher observations and reflections, transcriptions of classroom discourse, and student artwork were among data collected for analysis. Although the activities the students encountered during the curriculum were noteworthy, the relationships and interactions occurring in response to curricular activities were of most significance in influencing students’ actions. This essay further describes my observations and findings from this study, and offers suggestions for the teaching of adolescents in the art classroom.

"So What." "Who Cares?" "Whatever.": Changing Adolescents' Attitudes in the Art Classroom

While teaching art in a small midwestern high school, I began an investigation to better understand my students' learning experiences. As my students engaged in a visual culture-oriented art curriculum, I investigated their responses to curricular activities, their interactions, and my teaching practice. Student journal entries, survey responses, teacher observations and reflections, transcriptions of classroom discourse, and student artwork were among data collected for analysis. Although the activities the students encountered during the curriculum were noteworthy, the relationships and interactions occurring in response to curricular activities were of most significance in influencing students' actions. This essay further describes my observations and findings from this study, and offers suggestions for the teaching of adolescents in the art classroom.

Meaning and identities: a visual performative pedagogy for socio‐cultural learning

In this article I present personalised socio‐cultural inquiry in visual art education as a critical and expressive material praxis. The model of Visual Performative Pedagogy and Communicative Proficiency for the Visual Art Classroom is presented as a legitimate means of manipulating visual codes, communicating meaning and mediating values through imaging technologies. It identifies that visual art studio learning outcomes as exhibition artworks facilitate the mediation and communication of ideas, and support understanding of individual identities, social behaviours, culture and beliefs.A critical phenomenological methodology was used to explore longitudinal and case‐study learning insights about student learning in a post‐compulsory visual art curriculum in New South Wales, Australia. Through analysis of student artworks, reflective journals and post‐schooling case‐study interviews, the research identified that this unique learning environment developed visual communicative proficiency in the students.The findings affirm the significance of personalised imaging inquiry strategies to support understandings about the self, society and culture. The studio pedagogies and visual arts education curriculum in NSW represents an alternative approach to a prescribed and explicit values curriculum. This article will identify the key elements of the model of Visual Performative Pedagogy and Communicative Proficiency for the Visual Art Classroom. It will expand on the aesthetic and critical approach in arts learning as studio pedagogy and the exhibition process that generates public benefits through socially embedded and embodied inquiry.

Behind the lines and lines and lines: student studio solutions to projects that facilitate the exploration of visual and textual languages within fine arts practice

<disp-quote> Whatever helps learners with special needs can indeed be of help to all learners. (Race 2005: 159) </disp-quote> The work illustrated in this paper represents students who have responded to projects and studio workshops that address notions of reading, as opposed to looking at imagery and looking as opposed to reading texts. Active learning is viewed as a means of engaging with projects developed to facilitate enquiry into handling texts as artwork and artwork as text. I am not advocating any formula for working with dyslexic students or students defined within the above remit for Widening Participation. I do not claim any specialist experience about dyslexia, but I am attempting imaginative solutions to students' individual personal struggles in studying and practicing in the Arts. Using a Constructivist teaching model, whereby I hope to facilitate learning rather than to teach, and students are encouraged to respond to, and adapt projects which will inform the curriculum content of the subsequent student cohort. Docendo Disco: By teaching I learn (Grayling 2006: 226) is the philosophy that supports the ongoing development of work in this genre. Each academic year, student's responses to work using text inform the curriculum content for the following student cohort. Student evaluation and comment genuinely informs the developing curriculum in an effort to reflect what students perceive to be relevant and useful. Specific examples of student artwork, which challenge the perceived stigma of dyslexia, will be discussed. Encouraging students to use their primary personal understanding of the condition to confront it is central to the theme of dyslexia as personal experience. It is important to note that whilst I am aware of our dyslexic cohort and of Widening Participation agendas, curriculum development is for the benefit of all our students. The individual case studies presented are done so with the consent of all graduates of York St John University whose work is represented and with the understanding that their work frequently addresses individual experience of diversity or difference. The work will provide a forum for future discussion. Art can empower and enable students to confront and challenge their unique contribution to a University community. The results are often exciting and can stimulate reflection and discourse for curriculum development within Higher Education Faculties.

Dual Diaspora and Barrio Art: Art as an Avenue for Learning English

This study examined student artwork as free expression in order to conduct an analysis of diaspora as related to urban, middle school students learning English. Subjects consisted of middle school students representing a variety of countries with Spanish being the primary first language of the majority of participants. Using a qualitative approach and following an action research framework, the researchers collected a variety of data. Analysis of the data included coding, categorizing, and re-examining in order to identify specific recurring themes. Findings indicate that through opportunities for free expression students were able to communicate naturally, develop language skills, and emerge with a strong, cultural voice. Findings were utilized to inform and improve practice.

Historic Preservation in Art Education

More students become interested in these issues when they have time to visually analyze a property in their artwork and when that local property is considered important or in danger. When the student artwork is complete and is entered in the contest, participation in the competition can result in community recognition, awards, and a publication credit.

Preparing for Personalized Medicine

STUDENTJAMA provides a forum for critical exchange on current issues in medical education, research, and practice. It is produced by a group of medical student editors in collaboration with the JAMA editorial staff and is published monthly. The content of STUDENTJAMA includes writing by medical students, physicians, and other researchers, as well as original medical student artwork and creative writing. The articles and viewpoints in STUDENTJAMA do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the American Medical Association or of JAMA. All submissions must be the original unpublished work of the author(s). All submitted work is subject to review and editing.