Evaluation of teaching and learning in the visual arts

Question: How best to evaluate art teaching at the university level?

As student, peer and self evaluation become more and more deeply embedded in the university teacher's role, differences between kinds of teaching and learning, and between the methods of evaluation appropriate to each kind, become increasingly apparent. Some generic forms of evaluation may serve well in many of the discursive disciplines. Other generic forms may serve well in many of the analytic/scientific disciplines. However, refinement of established methods and the development of fresh and distinctive approaches to evaluation in some areas still remains to be done.

Areas not well served by the more common, established evaluation methods include European and Asian languages, music, art and drama. Teaching and learning in these areas is, in many ways, unlike the kinds of teaching and learning that prevail in other discipline areas. In particular, the manner and means of communication in one-to-one and small-group classes in these areas are frequently quite unlike those in discursive tutorials and analytical workshops and practical labs. Evaluation methods that are sensitive to these differences need to be developed if teachers in these areas are to have a fair opportunity to represent the quality of their teaching when seeking new positions, tenure, promotions or awards for merit.

This paper outlines difficulties inherent in the evaluation of art teaching at the university level. It discusses a research project which will develop strategies for use in one university-based school of art.