quality enhancement plan · quality enhancement plan 4 i. executive summary professional practices...

Quality EnhancEmEnt Plan

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Table of Contents

Executive Summary 4

Developing the QEP: Process and Identification of the Topic 6

QEP Committee, Student Learning Outcomes, and Literature Review 7

The Literature Review 10

Conclusion 14

References 14

The MCA QEP Plan and Actions for Implementation 15

Appendices 23

i. QEP Pilot Program curriculum maps 24 ii. QEP Pilot Program

measurement Plan for the ay 11–12 30

Quality EnhancEmEnt PlanQuality EnhancEmEnt Plan

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I. Executive Summary

Professional Practices

Justifying a college education in the visual arts on the basis of employability can

appear to be difficult feat. until recently, the subject of employment after college was often ignored by college and university art programs. the attitude of many faculty was that their responsibility was to teach, not provide job training. But, times have changed, tuitions have risen and parents, if not their children, have become sensitive to the financial challenges facing young adults. the daunting prospect of heavy debt incurred in the pursuit of a seemingly impractical skill-set in a non-existent job market is not something most parents wish for their children. Or so it would seem.

the surprising fact of the matter is that each year thousands of people graduate with Bachelor of Fine arts degrees. One estimate places the number of students currently in BFa programs across the u.S. at about 500,000. that is a large number of young people investing themselves in fields with ostensibly little pay off in a strictly monetary sense.

the constituent groups of memphis college of art chose to pursue the topic of Professional practices as its Quality Enhancement Plan because they believe in the value of a studio art education. however, they also think it is indefensible for an art college to prepare students to make art, but not prepare them to make a living from what they create. the constituents of the college are deeply invested in

improving the opportunities available to mca graduates in finding meaningful employment in the field that they love.

mca’s QEP is designed to greatly expand the preparation of students for the working world. the college is moving from a single elective Professional practices course to a fully integrated curriculum that embeds essential skills and knowledge throughout the four years of study. Even the most introductory-level classes will begin to address important content previously covered inconsistently, if at all, in the various degree programs. mca hopes to instill in students from the very start of its BFa programs a mind-set for success as well as the requisite skills and knowledge to pursue a career in a field of their choice, and not to just settle for a day job.

the mca Professional Practices QEP began with a list of outcomes generated by alumni, faculty, and students of mca that all agreed were essential. these outcomes reflected the work and life experiences of the alumni and faculty, and the current academic experiences of the students. this list of outcomes provided the focus and objectives of the entire plan.

creating an inventory of the professional practices content existing in the degree programs was the next step in the process. all programs completed “inventories” of their professional practices content and then, using the program outcomes, produced a plan that specifies in what classes the missing material will be introduced, developed, or mastered.

implementation of this plan began in the spring 2012 semester in a limited number of “spearhead” programs. With a relatively limited number of programs in the initial implementation, mca hopes that any unanticipated challenges will occur on a small scale and that working them out this spring will pave the way for a smooth implementation for the rest of the programs coming on line the fall 2012 semester.

the last major aspect of the mca QEP plan won’t be instituted until the fall semester of 2014. this is a stand-alone, compulsory class in the third year of study that will cover a set of outcomes outside the reach of the expertise of the mca faculty. these outcomes involve subjects such as conducting job searches, personal and professional budgets, networking, and State and Federal taxes. a full-time faculty member will organize the class and oversee a series of expert guest instructors who will deliver the material.

in combination with the outcomes added to the programs, this course will greatly expand mca’s ability to cover a tremendous breadth of Professional practices content.

From the very first meeting of the QEP committee, program content and outcomes were conceived in a way that they could be measured by a comprehensive assessment system directly connected to the college’s existing assessment model. measurement will begin in may of 2012 and then occur on a continuous end of semester basis.


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the imPlementation of the QeP can be seen in the following organizational chart:

QEP Organizational Chart

Leadership Committee

QEP Committee #1

Division ChairsArea Heads

Degree ProgramsFoundationsLiberal Studies

Faculty

Drawing Faculty

Graphic DesignFaculty

Digital Cinema Faculty

AnimationFaculty

PaintingFaculty

IllustrationFaculty

PhotographyFaculty

SequentialNarrativeFaculty

SculptureFaculty

PrintmakingFaculty

Career Services

QEP Committee #2

Established QEP Topic

Researched topic and developed proposed plan

Lead implementation and develop professional practices course outcomes


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II. Developing the QEP: Process and Identification of the Topic

the process of developing the memphis college of art (mca) 2012 Quality

Enhancement Plan (QEP) began after the SacS 2012 Orientation meeting in atlanta on June 7, 2010. attendees from mca included interim President Ken Strickland, Vice President for Finance and administration Sherry yelvington, interim Dean/SacS liaison Remy miller, academic coordinator mary molinary, and art Education coordinator Jennifer Gonzales. this group became the mca leadership team, with the addition of Vice President for Enrollment and Student affairs Susan miller, and Faculty Representative Professor haley morris-cafiero.

the leadership team first met on June 30, 2010 to discuss strategies for collecting ideas and feedback for choosing memphis college of art’s Quality Enhancement Plan topic from the various constituents of the college. the team ultimately decided to use an online survey because of the ability to reach the largest audience during the summer months including current students, staff, faculty, board members, and alumni, and for the ease of collecting, sorting, and viewing responses. a short and very general survey was created on the Survey monkey site, and the college constituency was contacted through the mca website, email, a postcard mailing, and the alumni digital newsletter to lead them to the survey site and encourage participation. the main question was calculated to draw topic suggestions without limiting feedback or restricting ideas:

“tell us the one improvement or change you would make at mca that enhances student learning, is measurable, and could realistically have an impact over a 5-year period.” Further questions asked them to expand on the initial suggestion. a timeline was developed for events that would lead to the final choice of the QEP topic.

the mca QEP survey was put online on July 1, 2010.

the leadership team met again on august 3 to review the initial results of the survey and to plan the events set out on the QEP timeline (agenda august 3, 2010). the timeline was edited to include an announcement of the QEP and survey at the august 25, 2011 mca convocation during the first week of classes as it was an additional opportunity to involve all students, particularly incoming freshman. the survey was scheduled to close on august 30, 2010 and the next meeting of the leadership team was set for august 31 to review the survey and organize the survey results into topics.

Results of the survey were discussed at the august 31 leadership team meeting. it was decided that each member would look at the survey results individually and reconvene on September 7 to compile a list of topics.

the team also planned a constituent Discussion, which involved choosing a representative group of the various constituencies to which the topics would be introduced and discussed; the representatives would then present the topics to their constituents. the Dean’s council members were chosen to represent the faculty since the council is made up of the elected chairs of each academic area and the Faculty Representative. the five members of the Student alliance were chosen to represent the students with the help of the Director of Student life, since they are also elected officers. Finally, a group of staff members were chosen to represent the various staff offices, from admissions, instructional technology, and Student affairs. a total of 16 people made up the constituent representative group.

On September 7 the leadership team discussed the interpretations of the survey results by the various members. through a process of grouping all the narrative response results into categories of overarching issues or concerns to be addressed and based on the overlap of concerns and ideas in

the survey results, the leadership team determined the large majority of responses fell under three main topic areas: Professional Practices, mca library, and Service learning. the committee collaborated on concise definitions of these broad categories for presentation to the constituents and a PowerPoint presentation was prepared.

On September 10 the constituent Discussion took place in myers auditorium. a PowerPoint presentation was prepared. the SacS liaison presented the three QEP subjects and moderated discussion among the larger group. the presentation was then distributed to the representatives of faculty, students, and staff. they were given the task of presenting it to their constituents within the next week and then instructing their groups to vote by email by September 17.

On September 15 the SacS liaison did a brief presentation of the three QEP topics to the Board of trustees and invited them to participate in the voting. two Board members did vote.

During the next week the constituent Representatives reported back to their respective groups. Votes were submitted to the SacS liaison from September 12 through September 17, although predictably some votes trailed in afterwards.

the leadership team met on September 20, 2010, and the votes were counted. Professional Practices was the clear choice with 50% of the respondents voting for it as the topic. it was also decided at that time that the SacS liaison would head the QEP committee and propose a representative group of members from the college community to be approved by the leadership team.

the SacS liaison spoke with SacS Vice-President marcy Stoll to discuss the QEP voting results and the choice of Professional practices as topic. the choice was confirmed as memphis college of art’s QEP topic.


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III. QEP Committee, Student Learning Outcomes, and Literature Review

the SacS liaison proposed to the leadership team that the following

members of the mca community make up the mca QEP committee:

Remy miller, Interim Dean, SACS Liaison (Staff)Gadsby creson, Director, Career Services (Staff) leah Gose, Assistant Professor,

Photography (Faculty)Zark Strasburger, Assistant Professor,

Design/Foundations (Faculty)cynthia thompson, Professor,

Paper/Printmaking (Faculty)Gary Backaus, Principal, Archer Malmo

(Board of Trustees and Alumni)carroll todd, Sculptor

(Board of Trustees, Alumni)mary and Ben colar (Alumni)Jeshua Schuster, (Student, Fine Art,

President, Student Alliance)Evan leggoe, (Student, Fine Art)Jonah Westbrook, (Student, Design Art)

the SacS liaison contacted the proposed members, and they all agreed to participate. an initial meeting was set for november 8, 2010. the first meeting involved an introduction to one another; an overview of the SacS QEP process and professional practices; a discussion of Student learning Outcomes; and the assignment of research projects for the respective groups of faculty, alumni, and students.

Discussion as to what format a professional practices curriculum might take, the most common form being a single capstone class, which mca already offers. the SacS liaison had informally polled academic Deans from sister institutions in the alliance of independent colleges of art and Design (aicaD) at their annual meeting. Research was conducted by the Director of career Services via her contacts in the careers in art and Design group comprised of Directors of aicaD career Services directors of aicaD who maintain a listserve. those institutions that addressed Professional practices directly only did so through discrete elective classes. the SacS liaison advanced the possibility of professional practices content embedded in the existing curriculum.

this meeting generated a small list of outcomes and ideas for possible outcomes that the SacS liaison compiled for the next meeting. Each constituent group was asked to put together a list from

which could be derived additional Student learning Outcomes. alumni were asked to draw on their personal expertise to define “crucial knowledge and basic experiences that students should have when entering their particular field.” Students were asked to state what they thought were the knowledge and skills they would need to be competitive upon graduation in their course of study. Faculty were asked to begin compiling lists of articles, books, and online sources containing references to professional practices. a “check-in” meeting was scheduled for november 30, 2010.

at the november 30 meeting the various groups were asked to report on their tasks. all agreed that more time was needed to devote to their assignments, however there were already valuable ideas for consideration in the form of the lists of “crucial knowledge and basic experiences” in the case of some alumni, and “expectations” in the case of students.

the student group talked about their personal experiences regarding course work at mca and in regard to their conception of professional practices. Of particular concern to them were the Writing courses. they felt these were lacking a focus on professional writing skills that were important during their course of study at mca as well as for their extracurricular endeavors such as applying for fellowships, internships, business letters, artist statements, etc.

the student and alumni lists were then interpreted as outcomes, the redundancies were eliminated and they were combined with the november 8 list to make an updated list of outcomes that the committee felt should be covered in a professional practices curriculum.

While these reports were valuable, the committee felt broader student and alumni input would be beneficial. the committee decided to undertake a survey through the student newsletter/blog. the Director of career Services agreed to take on this project. to get broader input from alumni, it was decided to produce a survey through the alumni online newsletter. Both of these online sources would reach the largest audience possible in the shortest period of time. the SacS liaison collaborated with the college advancement office on this effort.

Professor cynthia thompson then gave a brief presentation on the current professional practices class, which mca has offered since

2004. the alumni in particular found this very informative and helpful. they were not aware of this class since it had been developed within the past 10 years. the alumni found that the professional practices class already covered many of the skills they had included on their lists (even if these skills could only be covered in summary fashion in the course). the professional practices class and alumni lists now provided a more expansive content model for the outcomes to be covered more comprehensively throughout the college.

the committee was reconvened on February 1, 2011. at this time the two surveys directed at students and alumni had seen returns. the student survey had been emailed to the entire student body and asked a single question: “What skills or knowledge from your concentration or major will make you more competitive in your field after graduation?” the student response was limited, with only 17 replies. these did not result in any outcome ideas different than those of the committee’s student members.

the alumni response was even more limited, with only one reply. Fortunately the respondent was extremely thoughtful and positive. the respondent graduated in 1981 and taught classes in some aspect of professional practices at several of our aicaD sister institutions. not only did we get an enthusiastic note of support for our idea, but also discovered a possible consultant or visiting artist as well. nonetheless, such a limited response was unsatisfactory, and the committee decided to repeat the call for feedback in the next newsletter. the alumni survey was repeated for several months and eventually yielded a handful of highly supportive responses, but again no additional outcome ideas.

the SacS liaison had requested a report from leadership team member haley morris-cafiero on how professional practices might fit into the program assessment currently being developed by the faculty under her leadership. cafiero’s report was helpful in envisioning the professional practices content that already existed in two current programs, Photography and illustration, how these programs might be evaluated and how that system of evaluation would be extended to the rest of the degree programs.

at this point the discussion moved back to what form our plan might take to deliver the content we wanted students to obtain.


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the various committee members’ views began to coalesce around the idea of a plan along the lines of a professional practices curriculum integrated or embedded into the existing structure of each academic program rather than a discrete elective class or classes that attempted to meet the needs of all students in all disciplines. the committee saw major disadvantages to both the option of a single capstone class and multiple program specific classes.

the major drawback to a single capstone class is the impossibility of covering all of the necessary information in one class for students in programs as diverse as Graphic Design, Painting, and Digital media, for instance. What constitutes professional practices in these three programs would be very different because students in these areas are typically aiming for different goals, different employment opportunities, and different employers. the content of one class could not possibly include all information and skill sets pertinent to each group of graduates.

the second option of offering specific professional practices classes devoted to servicing each individual program would allow the flexibility to address each program’s specific professional practices needs, but the drawbacks were glaring. two major points steered the committee away from this option:

1. Given the outcomes that the committee discussed the most serious obstacle would be the possibility of eliminating current course work to make room for a professional practices course in each major or concentration. losing an existing class in each major or concentration to make room for such a class would be untenable. it would entail a great deal of lost information within each program. the likelihood of faculty agreeing to such a change is very small.

2. there would likely be a great deal of overlap and redundancy in the content of classes like this. it would be wasteful in terms of existing resources both financial and human capital. certain skills and ideas generic to all students, the ability to write resumes, for instance, would need to be taught in every one of these classes in each program. this would mean a tremendous loss of instructional opportunity as faculty in each program would have to be pulled from other class assignments or part-time faculty would have to be hired to teach information being taught basically simultaneously in every program

Furthermore, this scenario would not take advantage of the broad and basic aspects of

professional practice that could be addressed from the freshman level in Foundations coursework. involving Foundations would leave more specific information relevant to a particular concentration or major to be covered in the degree programs. this strategy would offer a unifying aspect in Foundations and build a professional practices “ethos” from the very beginning of an mca education. it is impossible to instill in students such an attitude at the end of the student’s college career.

in light of these discussions, it seemed necessary to find out what professional practices content was already included in the various programs at mca. the SacS liaison suggested that an “inventory” of existing professional practices content be developed for each major or concentration. the SacS liaison was charged with developing a questionnaire for the various area heads that would provide insight into what content was already covered in the curricula and at what point in the various programs. With such a questionnaire the committee could understand what professional practices (represented by the QEP outcomes the committee had developed) content was included in a given program and what was missing. Recommendations could then be made about what content could be added, how, and at what point.

For the next meeting, the faculty group was asked to conduct more focused research on the aicaD group of schools to see if there were any precedents or models to inform the direction we were considering. their charge was to see if any aicaD schools were integrating professional practices content into the entire four-year BFa degree program.

SacS liaison would report on the Program Questionnaire. additionally the Director of career Services would give an overview of her work with students since she is currently the staff member most directly involved with students and their career planning. it was clear to the committee that the faculty and staff needed to coordinate and cooperate with one another in an effort to help students move into the working world. the Director of career Services is the staff “point person” in this regard, and the committee would need to understand her role and responsibilities in order to guide faculty efforts.

the committee reconvened on april 5, 2011. Director of career Services Gadsby creson presented the overview of her activities in the career Services office.

again, the committee noted that it is important that the implementation of the QEP in academic programs should dovetail with the efforts of the career Services office.

Faculty members leah Gose, Zark Strasburger, and cynthia thompson presented their research on aicaD schools and their approaches to professional practices. all of the schools that were researched address professional practices within individual courses or through various piecemeal assignments within the courses of a particular program. none of the aicaD schools that were examined have demonstrated an emphasis on professional practices through a holistic program encompassing the entire curriculum. this meant that we were in uncharted waters as there were no models of best practice that quite fit the committee’s idea.

the SacS liaison presented a report on the alumni Professional Practices survey. While the responses were limited, they were uniformly positive about the idea of professional practices as the focus of the QEP. they demonstrated that there was strong support for the concept without adding significant information to the research.

the SacS liaison and Director of career Services presented summary results of the survey of the Division chairs and area heads, which was designed to provide information about existing professional practices content and where it was addressed across the programs. unfortunately, while the information gathered provoked valuable discussion, participation was incomplete and could not be used for meaningful data.

Discussion amongst the committee brought up the question of what aspects of professional practices could not be addressed in the programs. this led to reconsideration of the idea that a capstone course along the lines of the existing professional practices class might be offered in the senior year to deal with outcomes that could not be covered in the programs. this course would include information relevant to all visual art students such as networking, taxes, health care options, job interviewing, and other topics possible to be addressed in a interdisciplinary course. a final suggestion that the course be moved to the junior year in order to fully prepare seniors for their final year was met with approval all around.

the meeting ended with a proposal that the SacS liaison, faculty, and staff members of the committee summarize the information and discussions of the


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QEP committee and construct a broad plan that would spread professional practices throughout the mca curriculum in a systematic way with measurable outcomes. this proposal would be brought to the mca faculty for affirmation and implementation. the aforementioned proposal was met with unanimous assent.

the following list of student learning outcomes was compiled from the various lists and discussions among the members during the mca QEP committee meetings throughout the 2010-11 academic year. this list was to be submitted to the memphis college of art faculty as part of a proposal for outcomes for which the faculty might design methods of assessment that would begin implementation starting in the spring 2012 semester.

ProPosed student learning outcomes for memPhis college of art Quality enhancement Plan• Students will demonstrate

the ability to write a resume.

• Studentswilldemonstrate

the ability to write a cover letter.

• Studentswilldemonstratethe

ability to write an artist statement


basic grant writing ability.

• Studentswilldemonstratetheability

to submit work to juried exhibitions.

• Studentswillhaveanon-academic

service experience during their

MCA career.

• Studentswilldemonstratetheabilityto

research job opportunities in their field.


toapplyfor501(c)(3)tax-exempt

non-profitstatus.


to research grant opportunities.

• Studentswillhaveaninternship

experience during their MCA career.

• Eachstudentwillhaveanindividual

website before graduation.


usesocialmediatoolsforself-promotion.


to create a portfolio of their class work

at every level.

• BFAGraduateswillbeableto

professionally document their work.

• Studentswilldemonstrateaworking

knowledge of Federal and State taxes

as it applies to the business of art.

• Studentswilldemonstrateaworking

knowledge of health services relative

to their field.

• Studentswillhaveaninterdisciplinary

collaborative experience.


to present and discuss their work with

an audience.


to give an effective public presentation.

• Studentswilldemonstratebasic

computer/software literacy

applicable to their field.

• Studentswilldemonstratebasic

knowledge of communication etiquette.


to research various resources to stay

current in their field.


the ability to prepare for and

engage in a job interview.

• Studentswilldemonstrateabasic

knowledge of copyright usage.


the ability to make a personal

and professional budget.


research and apply for graduate school.

Professional Practices Inventory Grid

course

Program Outcomes1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

XX 100 i i i i i

XX 200 i D i i i i

XX 300 i i i i i i i i i i i i

XX 400 i i i i i i i i i i i D

XX 500 D i i D D

XX 600 i i i i i

While writing the plan draft proposal the SacS liaison developed a way to “poll” the area heads and chairs to gain the information that did not result from the narrative questionnaires sent out in February. leadership team member haley morris-cafiero and the SacS liaison collaborated on a simple grid along the lines of the curriculum maps devised for mca program assessment. the grids listed the outcomes developed by the QEP committee along with the courses of a given program on the top and sides of the grid. Where existing content was covered it could be plotted and where new outcomes needed to be covered could be seen. these grids became an essential tool for the area heads and chairs to develop their plan for implementation of the QEP outcomes.


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Gary Brookins’ 1990 editorial cartoon is a humorous response to the bull market in art investment during the late 1980s, but it is only funny because of the irony of the situation. the idea that artists might challenge the earning power of doctors is a reversal of the reality of the pecuniary expectations of those in the arts, which is perhaps best expressed in the clichéd term “starving artist.” the genuinely tenuous financial predicaments of famous artists in history such as Vincent van Gogh have colored the general public’s perception of contemporary artists to the degree that few believe there are any employment options for artists except possibly teaching. it is the nightmare of many parents that their children might come home at some point in their childhood with the seemingly irrational notion that they would like to pursue a career in the arts. memphis college of art’s enrollment team and faculty know from experience that the chief concern of parents sending their children to mca is what they can do with their degree once they graduate.

the welfare and future of their children is, of course, a legitimate concern for parents and therefore must also be a serious concern for the colleges and universities chosen to provide those children with an education. it is not only misperceptions and clichés that color parents’ views. the u.S. Bureau of labor Statistics report (2011) on the job outlook for artists and related workers found the following:

competition for jobs is expected to be keen for both salaried and freelance jobs in all specialties because of the number of people with creative ability and an interest in this career is expected to continue to exceed the number of available openings.

the same report indicates the job prospects for this group are tight:

“competition for jobs as artists and related workers will be keen because there are more

qualified candidates than available jobs. Employers in all industries should be able to choose from the most qualified candidates.” according to the report, typically it is the fine artists and craftsman who face the most difficult path to employment because:

...they work mostly on a freelance or commission basis and may find it difficult to earn a living solely by selling their artwork. Only the most successful craft and fine artists receive major commissions for their work. competition for the privilege of being shown in galleries is expected to remain intense, as will competition for grants from sponsors such as private foundations, State and local arts councils, and the national Endowment of the arts. Because of their reliance on grants, and because the demand for artwork is dependent on consumers having disposable income, many

of these artists will find that their income fluctuates with the overall economy.

this is certainly a sobering outlook; however, it is also nothing new to those involved in higher education in the visual arts. the challenge of employment for graduates earning a Bachelor of Fine arts degree (in fields other than graphic design) is met by students in a variety of ways. upon graduation many expect to find part-time or full-time work in a related or even unrelated field in order to make money and pursue their personal art. Others find that their education has provided them with skills and abilities applicable in fields they did not anticipate. the list of career options that mca graduates have pursued is quite long and incredibly varied. the following is a partial list of occupations drawn from alumni research by mca career Services:

the literature reviewWhile the mca QEP committee felt

little need to justify the decision made by the constituents of mca in choosing to focus on professional practices as the topic for its QEP, it did want to understand the issue of professional practices in a broader context. For many institutions of higher learning and especially art colleges, the imperative to better prepare students for their chosen careers has become a self-evident issue of the greatest importance.

Besides the desire to make sure that the college’s academic standards are maintained, there is a substantial benefit to the well-being of the college through retention and student satisfaction.

in the past at mca, these issues had been addressed mostly from the staff/administrative perspective. Student affairs established the office of career Services in 2000, which has made great strides in aspects of professional practices such as taking a leadership role in the development

of opportunities for internships. in 2002, during mca’s last reaffirmation, the college’s QEP addressed the topic of retention. the academic response, beyond the important and certainly significant addition of the Professional practices course, was rather muted, perhaps reflecting attitudes of long-time faculty whose art education and careers had not overlapped with the current hyper competitive job market and the recessions of the mid-1990s and in the present.


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Educators

Freelance/Business

Designers

Graduate School

Students

Other Art Related

Occupations of MCA AlumniSpring 2011–Fall 2011

K–12 Art Teachers

Adjunct Art Instructors

Faculty-Art

Museum/Arts Non-Profit

Web Designer, Video, or Animator

Illustrator

Graphic Designer

Photographer

Exhibiting Artist/Art Business Owner

Graphic/Illustrator

Creative Director

Web Designer, Video, or Animator

Display

MA(T)/tl)

MS Art Therapy

MS Videogames

MFA

Arts Recruiter or Artist Manager

Tattoo Artist

Screen Printer

Sculptor/Jeweler

Art Therapist

Retail Art Workers

Artist Assistants

Museums/Gallery Owner/Preparator

Non-Art Related

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90


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While the chart indicates the wide-ranging skills, resourcefulness, persistence, and versatility of our alumni, it does not demonstrate what mca has done to help them achieve their success. it does not show what we taught them that helped them to become professionals in their chosen fields. it shows what they have done, not what we have done to help them. it is incumbent on mca to do a better job of this. in her article, “Employability issues for fine art educators,” Sophie harbour (2005) states, “Fine art students can and do have a variety of transferable skills that directly relate to the working environment but these skills need to be identified by institutions and promoted as such” (p.127).

the Destinations and Reflections study was undertaken and written by harvey and Blackwell (1999) at the centre for Research into Quality. it is a study of the careers of art and design professionals in England and confirms harbour’s finding and states:

“art and design graduates potentially have the kinds of attributes that are sought by employers — initiative, creativity, independent judgment, oral communication skills, flexibility, adaptability, self-reliance, self-confidence, analysis, critique, and synthesis.”

collateral skills and abilities notwithstanding, no one at memphis college of art believes we are doing all we can or should do to answer the professional practices needs of our students. there is a growing sense of a moral imperative to do so. David Butler and Dawn Weatherston ran the life, Work, art project (2003–2005) at the university of newcastle-upon-tyne, which helped students make the transition from college to a professional career. Butler and Weatherston (2004) wrote in the london times higher Education, “it is no longer acceptable for institutions to provide students with a fine-art degree but take no responsibility in preparing them for life after graduation.”

harvey and Blackwell (1999) found in their study that British art and design graduates had several weaknesses in the job market that parallel those of mca students. “teamwork skills and interpersonal skills,” or what we refer to collectively as collaboration, was recognized as a challenge for mca students some time ago, particularly in graphic design, which is inherently a collaborative enterprise. merrion’s (2009) panel of academic experts envisioned the oncoming necessity of “learning laboratories established jointly by institutions in formal

partnerships with corporate enterprises and not-for-profit agencies” and foresaw that “partnerships between higher education and the professional arts world will help students prepare to make the transition into their careers” (p. 21).

harvey and Blackwell also found indications of deficiencies in the writing and math skills of art and design students. these appear to be endemic to visual art students, and mca students may be particularly unprepared in these subjects as we draw many students from the mid-South region where primary education is typically ranked below national averages.

harbour (2005) observed, “as the employment expectations of prospective students (and their parents) become more crucial it is increasingly the creative subject disciplines that are being more rigorously evaluated regarding their potential as a basis for future employment,” and “it is in light of these changes that the development of a range of ‘employability skills’ are becoming progressively more important for graduates in all subject areas.”

the article “art Schools: a Group crit” published in the may 2007 Art in America has become something of a classic piece in which 13 artists, critics, and scholars discuss the various issues concerning art education relevant to art colleges and university art programs. Every one of the 13 writers addressed, directly or obliquely, positively or negatively, the issue of what graduates of art colleges and programs do after they graduate.

Of those researchers that addressed the issue directly, their concerns have only become more prevalent in the intervening years. according to leslie King-hammond, Dean at maryland institute college of art (2007), “additionally there is a greater emphasis on professional development, including teaching and entrepreneurial skills,” and “mFa programs should also be bringing in critics, collectors and curators to interact with the students, to share their professional experiences” (p. 102). maryland now offers a graduate program in the business of art. Former Dean of the School of the arts at columbia university Bruce Ferguson (2007) said, “On the other hand, there is a set of necessary professional skills, many of them social, that is more a priority than ever before: networking, writing and speaking skills, fiscal planning, the mastery of intellectual property rules.”

this position finds support from margaret merrion (2009) who writes:

“to prepare students to engage in the creative economy, colleges will offer and students will take more courses in arts entrepreneurship. Students will expect to be prepared for employment opportunities outside of the arts or where the arts and industry converge, in part through internships and practica with local arts organizations. Student learning outcomes will need to be assessed with an eye toward the relevance and effectiveness of the curricula” (p. 18).

the Bureau of u.S. labor Statistics (2011) found that in 2008 “about 60 percent” of artists are self-employed which means that art schools must give their graduates a thorough grounding in the entrepreneurial skills that will allow them to compete in the marketplace. it is clear from our research and from the direct experience of the mca faculty and staff that this is the case. the more relevant question is how to go about doing it. What is the most effective format for the delivery of a professional practices curriculum?

at memphis college of art we have been addressing this issue piecemeal for many years but not in any systematic way. there has been a stronger focus on the Visiting artist program and increased scheduling of informational “brown bag” talks by faculty and students. this is an aspect of academic life recommended by many arts faculty and administrators, including leslie King-hammond, Judith Kirshner, and Robert Storr (Rubenstein, et al., 2007). it is part of the college art associations Standards and Guidelines for mFa programs (caa Board of Directors, January 31, 1979).

as mentioned previously, mca’s most significant programmatic move in addressing professional practices was made with the introduction of the Professional Practices course tD400 in 2004. this class is typical of similar courses offered by many art colleges and university programs. it is a one semester, 3-credit elective course most often taught by one of the full-time faculty. it relies on the knowledge and flexibility of that faculty member to teach to a wide variety of students in very different areas of study. that faculty member must have a very broad range of professional experience to address fine art students in painting, printmaking, sculpture, photography, etc. and design art students in graphic design, illustration and digital media. the faculty member must also make contacts to bring in experts in content areas where they do not have expertise.

certainly there is much overlap


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and common ground when it comes to resumes, cover letters, communication skills, portfolio creation, and other generic skills and abilities relevant to all student in all programs. however, there are also very different and particular competencies specific to each major and concentration that one teacher cannot cover. it is also not possible for experts from each area to be brought in because of time and financial constraints. mostly the Professional Practices class has been slanted toward the expertise of the instructor, and this has usually been someone in the fine arts.

So, no matter how conscientious the teacher, it is beyond the capability of any one mca faculty member to cover the breadth and depth of knowledge needed to address all of this information equally to all students. to complicate matters, in recent years the information that needs to be covered has expanded to include subjects such as taxes, health care, personal incorporation, and copyright law. these are mostly beyond the realm of expertise of most of, if not all, mca faculty.

as previously mentioned, there are a number of important aspects of professional practices accomplished through the career Services office: internships and the Give Back program are two principle activities that expose students to working world experiences and bring them into contact with potential employers. the importance of these types of programs are commented upon by merrion (2009) who writes, “Students will expect to be prepared for employment opportunities outside of the arts or where the arts and industry converge, in part through internships and practica with local arts organizations” (p. 19). according to Krensky and Steffen (2008), “Given the power of art to transform and the power of service learning to engage, art educators in the academy have a moral obligation to employ pedagogies such as arts-based service learning in response to the community crisis in civic engagement “ (p. 18). Writing about the young Design Project bringing together design students, industry, and schools in England, John Butcher (2008) stated, “the students were no longer ‘design students pursuing an individual path,’ their attitudes had changed and they had become designers, working together to solve the problems brought by real clients” (p. 177). these are three different, positive outcomes of learning outside the classroom.

career Services also presents numerous

workshops and speakers on topics as diverse as conducting a job search, graduate school information, artist residencies, digital portfolios, and how to start a business. there is also a career Fair that brings local employers from various arts and arts-related fields into the college to interview and talk with students. career Services also schedules one-on-one career counseling and makes classroom visits if requested. however, one of the main problems with all of these efforts are that they are optional and require the students to voluntarily participate.

Despite the positive efforts to advance the attractiveness of mca graduates on the job market, there is a consensus that we are not doing all we can, and this sense is only enforced by the number of schools that have added professional practices courses to their curriculum. this determined the second direction taken in our literature research.

With the knowledge that our Professional Practices (tD 400) class was not adequate to fulfill the needs of all of our students, and the addition of professional practices courses in each major or concentration would entail a huge change in the curriculum that would dilute the rigor of the programs and undoubtedly result in a great deal of redundant information from program to program, we began to look for information that would tell us how other colleges and universities specifically address professional practices.

We could find no specific literature that anthologizes the approaches taken to this subject by universities and colleges. the vast majority of the research had to be done online by searching “professional practices” and by visiting individual websites of colleges and universities. much of our information had to be inferred from program curriculum and course descriptions. Some of the results included:

Oxford university’s Ruskin Professional Practice Programme is an optional internship plan that takes advantage of Oxford’s prestige in placing students for part of a semester with well-known galleries, museums, and other arts organizations in England and around the world.

cornell university’s college of architecture art Planning has an elective program called aaP nyc that includes the possibility of an internship experience and a professional practices course.

the university of north texas advertises their professional practices course that is taught at the undergraduate and graduate

levels. it is apparently an elective course.the herron School of art and Design

at indiana university-Purdue university indianapolis offers a program through their Basile center that is more like an internship than a professional practices program. the program philosophy is strongly slanted toward civic engagement although students would certainly gain some practical, work-related experience.

taking advantage of the alliance of independent colleges of art and Design (aicaD) connection and recognizing that these schools are most like our own, we focused much of our research on the various courses and programs these schools have addressing professional practices. this entailed having to go to each college’s website.

Rhode island School of Design has dedicated elective professional practices courses in some of its degree programs. Parsons the new School appears to have a required professional practice class in the BFa Fine arts curriculum. Kansas city art institute requires two 1-credit courses in the junior and senior year that cover some aspects of professional practice.

the milwaukee institute of art takes a novel approach offering a minor in Business in conjunction with marquette university. Students take 15 hours of credit in various business classes at marquette.

the cleveland institute has several senior-level, 3-credit classes that deal with various aspects of professional practices. two of these are required for graduation. Presumably students could also take the other professional practices classes for elective credit.

the art academy of cincinnati requires a professional practices component of their BFa degree program that is an internship or practicum involving the student in a community partnership. art center college of Design has a dedicated professional practices course for most if not all programs.

maryland institute college of art has taken the most unique and unprecedented approach to professional practices by establishing an entirely new degree and online masters program in Professional Studies (mPS). this 14-month program manages to prepare students for the “key functional areas of business management, including accounting, finance, marketing and more.” mca hopes to accomplish the same goals without requiring an additional degree or more tuition.


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IV. Conclusion

after study of the various approaches of other institutions and determining

the needs of our students, the committee reached the conclusion that none of the existing strategies used by other institutions fulfilled the breadth or depth of the needs of our students. Elective course work was out of the question as it does not assure that all students would have equal access to and benefit from the information. Despite the value of the information covered in the existing course, it does not function to the benefit of the entire student body. through our own experience with our Professional Practices course we were aware that this was neither effective enough nor comprehensive enough to meet the needs of our students.

another consideration with our current offering is its placement within the curriculum. as a senior level class it is offered to students at a time when the information and skills they are learning are taught too late to be of use. For instance, students learning how to apply to graduate school in the fall semester of the year they apply are already behind schedule. if they were to take the class in the spring semester of their senior year, the deadlines for application might have already passed before the information was delivered.

the introduction of dedicated Professional Practices classes within each program or concentration would be impractical if not impossible for a college of mca’s size. it would require a tremendous amount of curricular change that would disrupt and displace valuable experience and information that is currently taught. it would undoubtedly result in redundancy from program to program that would waste faculty and financial resources.

the establishment of a totally new program to deliver a professional practices curriculum seems like overkill and even unethical in terms of cost and value for the student. it also would not address the needs of a significant number of the student population, including graphic designers and possibly illustrators who can move directly into the working world with a BFa. to delay the presentation of relevant professional practices information for these students would put them at a disadvantage from graduates at other educational institutions and add to the already onerous financial strain of their college education. this we cannot do.

V. References

AAP New York City Center. (2012). Retrieved from cornell university, college of architecture, art, and Planning website: http://aap.cornell.edu/nyc/

Barnam, R. (2010, June). ATSU 5010 Professional practices in art. Retrieved from university of north texas libraries website: http://www.library.unt.edu/research-tools/class-pages/art-4825-professional-practice-studio

Bennett, S. (2000). crossing the line. The International Journal of Art andDesignEducation, 1(1), 10-24.

Blackwell, a. & harvey, l. (1999). Destinations and reflections: Careers of British art, craft, and design graduates. Birmingham: centre for Research into Quality, university of central England.

The Business of art and design (Online mPS). (2010). Retrieved from maryland institute college of art Online mPS website: http://www.mica.edu/programs_of_study/the_business_of_art_and_design_(mps).html

Butcher, J. (2008). Off-campus learning and employability in undergraduate design: the Sorrell young Design Project as an innovative partnership. Art, Design Communication in HigherEducation, 7(3), 171-184.

Comprehensivecoursedescriptions2011-2012. (n.d.). Retrieved from cleveland institute of art course descriptions website: http://www.cia.edu/courses/

Course descriptions. (n.d.) Retrieved from art center college of Design course Descriptions website: http://www.artcenter.edu/accd/programs/undergraduate/transportation_design/course_descriptions.jsp

Frank and Katrina Basile Center for Art, Design, and Public Life. (2010). Retrieved from indiana university-Purdue university indianapolis, herron School of art and Design website: http://www.herron.iupui.edu/basile-center

harbour, S. (2005). Employability issues for fine arts educators. Art, Design, & Communication in HigherEducation, 4(2), 121-134.

harvey, l. & contributors. (2003). Transitions from higher education to work: A briefing paper prepared by Lee Harvey (centre for Research and Evaluation, Sheffield hallam university), with advice from ESEct and ltSn Generic centre colleagues.

harvey, l., locke, W., & morey, a. (2003). Enhancingemployability,recognizingdiversity:Making links between higher education and the world of work. london and manchester: universities uK and the central Services unit.

ID Professional practice. (2012). Retrieved from Parsons the new School for Design, interior Design (aaS) courses Spring 2012 website: http://www.newschool.edu/parsons/courses_ug.aspx?id=76331&SubjectcodeFilter=paid%2cpags%2cpsce%2cpsam%2cpsds%2cpsof%2cpupr%2cplad%2cplah%2cplds%2c

plen%2cplfs%2cplsd%2cplvs%2culec&termFilter=Spring+2012

innella, V. (2010, may). curriculum and the gallery space: a service-learning partnership. ArtEducation, 63(3), 46-52.

Krensky, B. & Steffen, S.l. (2008, July). arts-based service-learning: a state of the field. ArtEducation, 61(4), 13-18.

The Marquette connection: Business and advertising minor. (2012). Retrieved from milwaukee institute of art and Design liberal Studies website: http://www.miad.edu/downloads/miad_liberal_studies.pdf

merrion, m. (2009). a prophecy for the arts in higher education. Change:TheMagazineofHigher Learning, 41(5), 16-21.

Professional development. (2012). Retrieved from Rhode island School of Design, continuing Education website: http://www.risd.com/cfm/profdevel.cfm

Professional practice. (2012). Retrieved from Kansas city art institute career Services website: http://www.kcai.edu/life-after-kcai/career-services

Professional practice preparation. (2010). Retrieved from the art academy of cincinnati Professional Practice website: http://www.artacademy.edu/academics_and_programs/professional-practice preparation.php

The Professional Practice Programme. (n.d.). Retrieved from the university of Oxford, the Ruskin School of Fine arts and Drawing website: http://www.ruskin-sch.ox.ac.uk/courses/the_professional_practice_programme

Rubinstein, R., Singerman, h., King-hammond, l., Rinder, l., Fendrich, l., Ferguson, B., … Storr, R. (Eds.). (2007, may). art schools: a group crit [Special section]. Art in America, 95(5), 99-113.

u.S. Department of labor, Bureau of labor Statistics (2011, april 19). Occupational outlook handbook,2010-11:Artistandrelatedworkers. Retrieved from http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos092.pdf

u.S. Department of labor, Bureau of labor Statistics (2011, april 19). Occupational outlook handbook,2010-11:Graphicdesigners. Retrieved from http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos090.pdf


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VI. The MCA QEP Plan and Actions for Implementationaffirmation of the faculty

although the memphis college of art Quality Enhancement Plan topic was

adopted by the college constituencies in September of 2010, and reports were made to various constituencies during the ensuing year, a great deal of the work and writing of the draft plan was necessarily done by the QEP committee, a small if representative group. When it became clear that the direction of the plan would heavily involve the faculty and some changes to the curriculum, the SacS liaison felt it would be wise to present to the full-time faculty a draft version of the plan about which the faculty could raise questions and make suggestions. in the end, the plan would depend on the faculty to shoulder the weight of changes and additions to the curriculum. the plan was submitted to the faculty in late October, and affirmation of the plan was requested after proper consideration. affirmation of the plan came officially in the January 13, 2012 Faculty meeting.

the following is that broad plan given to the mca faculty including a summary of the QEP committee’s history and conclusions:

QEP Plan History, Request for Affirmation from Memphis College of Art Faculty

Professional Practices was chosen as the subject of memphis college of art’s Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) for its 2012 SacS reaffirmation of accreditation on September 20, 2010 by popular vote. Following is the description of the idea of professional practices that was adopted by the college:

“We define professional practices as skills, ideas, and strategies that help our students make the transition between the academic world and working world.

We propose to design and implement a curricular component that addresses each major/concentration and is required for all undergraduate students. course work could be a culminating experience for seniors or a core curriculum that begins with the introduction level in any concentration or major with information embedded into the required courses”.

Soon after this choice was made a QEP committee was formed including representatives from all constituents of the mca community:

Remy miller, Interim Dean, SACS Liaison (Staff)

Gadsby creson, Director, Career Services (Staff)

leah Gose, Assistant Professor, Photography (Faculty)

Zark Strasburger, Assistant Professor, Design/Foundations (Faculty)

cynthia thompson, Professor, Paper/Printmaking (Faculty)

Gary Bachaus, Principal, Archer Malmo (Board of Trustees and Alumni)

carroll todd, Sculptor (Board of Trustees, Alumni)

mary and Ben colar (Alumni)

Jeshua Schuster, (Student, Fine Art, President, Student Alliance)

Evan leggoe, (Student, Fine Art)

Jonah Westbrook, (Student, Design Art)

the committee members were chosen to represent the various constituencies of the college. in the case of alumni, they were chosen also because of their accomplishments and great experience in their fields. One of the first things asked of all committee members was a list of the skills and abilities they thought were essential for successful people in their fields.

During the 2010-11 academic year the QEP committee met to research an approach the college might take to the idea of professional practices. a major component of this research involved looking into “best practices”, or how other colleges and universities address professional practices. in addition, there was research into the literature about professional practices found in professional education journals such as ArtEducation; Art, Design andCommunicationinHigherEducation, and the ChronicleofHigherEducation as well as artist-oriented websites, art journals like Art In America and even u.S. Department of labor Statistics.

in a practical sense, the most valuable information was that about the implementation of professional practices in other colleges and universities around the country including aicaD and national association of Schools of art and Design (naSaD) schools. this almost invariably involved a discrete class or classes that attempted to service student needs from all degree programs. the only exception we found to this approach was at maryland institute college of art where they are instituting a graduate program offering a masters of Professional Studies (mPS) in the business of art and design.

Of course, mca has a Professional Practices (tD400) class and while the value of that class is unquestioned, no single class can provide the breadth and depth of information that is increasingly important to all students in the diverse programs that we offer. What is necessary is a comprehensive approach to professional practices that would provide the “... skills, ideas, and strategies that help our students make the transition between the academic world and working world,” for all students in all programs.


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One answer is a dedicated class in each degree program that would focus on professional practices. this would solve the problem, but potentially require a huge change in the curriculum and the elimination of existing program content which is, even now, stretched thin for many faculty. the other question that would be hard to answer is when in the course sequence such a class would be offered. the problem with a senior capstone course is that it is too late in the college career to be of use to the students who most need the type of skills and information for the pursuit of employment, graduate programs, etc. there is also a problem that the faculty could not teach some of the required content of such a class because they do not have the knowledge and expertise. it would be tremendously expensive, unwieldy, and probably largely redundant for each program to have its own professional practices class.

For the QEP committee, the answer that seemed best suited to the needs of this college and least disruptive to the existing program content was to embed the professional practices content into the programs. in order to deliver the content agreed upon by the faculty we would need to take advantage of the entire four years of the student career. this would mean that the Foundation year would need to be included in this plan. We cannot wait until students enter a major or concentration to begin the process of preparing them for professional life or pursuit of a graduate degree.

to more fully understand the programs and what current professional practices content already existed within them the QEP committee was given a presentation about the current Professional Practices course by Professor cynthia thompson who had most recently taught it. much of the information covered in the class paralleled the lists of essential knowledge presented by the committee members early on. in addition, the Director of career Services and SacS liaison put together a survey of area heads and chairs asking about specific content already covered in the various classes within each program. this is vital information, but the surveys remain incomplete. another more comprehensive

survey is necessary that will provide an “inventory” of professional practices content within each program and indicate at what level in the program these skills are introduced, developed, and mastered. the committee sees this as crucial to the success of the plan. it will guide the implementation of the entire plan by providing a map of the skills specific to each program and allow us to see what skills are generic enough to be spread throughout the Foundations program.

the involvement of Director of career Services, Gadsby creson, reflects recognition by the rest of the QEP committee of the essential role of this position to the success of the QEP. as the staff “point person” for professional practices the Director of career Services is, along with the faculty, the person most important and influential for mca students in pursuit of their career goals. the QEP committee feels it is absolutely necessary to coordinate efforts with this office.

a final consideration is what to do with necessary professional practices content that cannot be taught by the current faculty. this would be content general enough to be required for all students, but too much in depth or outside of the expertise of the faculty to fit into the plan described so far. taxes or health care options might fall into this category. the QEP committee saw the possibility of the current Professional Practices course being revamped to include topics such as these, which would be hard to embed into the programs. Such a class could cover these topics and perhaps be moved into the junior year to assure students are prepared before they move into their final two semesters. in order to do this the class would have to be changed from an elective course to one required for all students.

as required by SacS the QEP is a plan that must involve the entire mca community. Since the QEP plan must involve student learning, the endorsement and participation of the faculty is absolutely critical to the success of the effort. For the general plan that the QEP committee has developed there are unanswered questions and details that have to be resolved and finalized. the QEP committee has done what it can to research and understand

the important issues involved in the subject of professional practices. this committee cannot pursue the matter further. For one thing, this plan would very likely involve change to the curriculum, which only the faculty can approve. Further exploration and implementation of this approach to professional practices rests with the mca faculty.

at the last meeting of the QEP committee the members unanimously approved a recommendation that the chair of the committee and faculty and staff members, “construct a proposal that would spread professional practices throughout the academic programs of memphis college of art.” it now remains only for the faculty to affirm support, finalize, and implement this general plan broadly outlined below:

1. memphis college of art’s professional practices content will be embedded in the existing curriculum.

2. the mca faculty will empower a reduced version of the original QEP committee, with an additional liberal Studies Representative, to continue to lead and implement the QEP plan. this committee will include:Remy miller,

SACS Liaison/FacultyGadsby creson,

Director of Career ServicesZark Strasburger,

Faculty Liberal Studies Representative

3. the mca faculty will adopt a slate of Student learning Outcomes that will be distributed throughout all programs including Foundations.

4. the current Professional Practices course will be revamped to attend to SlO’s not covered in the degree programs. it will become a required class for all students, and possibly be moved to the junior year.

5. Research will continue into the skills, abilities, and qualities embodied in successful artists that will translate into future professional practices content.


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accompanying the draft plan was a revised list of Student learning Outcomes proposed by the original QEP committee. Some of these outcomes were combined and they were reordered by the delivery source. Outcomes 1-13 would be covered in the Foundations or degree programs, 14-18 in the proposed Professional Practices course and 19-21 by career Services.

ProPosed student learning outcomes for memPhis college of art Quality enhancement Plan (as discussed by mca QEP committee 2010-11, reordered by delivery source)

foundations or Program Professional Practices outcomes:

1. Students will demonstrate the ability to write a resume.

2. Students will demonstrate the ability to write a business/job search/gallery cover letter.

3. Students will demonstrate the ability to write an artist statement.

4. Students will demonstrate the ability to create a portfolio of their class work at every level.

5. Students will demonstrate the ability to submit work to competitive exhibitions.

6. Students will demonstrate basic computer/software literacy applicable to their field.

7. Students will demonstrate the ability to research job opportunities in their field.

8. Students will demonstrate the ability to give an effective public presentation about their work.

9. Students will demonstrate the ability to research various resources to stay current in their field.

10. Students will demonstrate the ability to use social media tools for self-promotion.

11. Each student will have an individual website before graduation.

12. BFa Graduates will be able to professionally document their work.

13. Students will demonstrate the ability to research and apply for graduate school.

Professional Practices course outcomes:14. Students will demonstrate

the ability to prepare for and engage in a job interview.

15. Students will demonstrate basic knowledge of communication etiquette.

16. Students will demonstrate the ability to make a personal and professional budget.

- including educational finances17. Students will demonstrate the

ability to do research for and write a grant application.

18. Students will demonstrate a working knowledge of art related business practices including:

- Federal and state taxes;- Personal incorporation; - 501(c)(3) tax-exempt non-profit status;- health services relative to their field; and- Knowledge of copyright usage.

student services outcomes19. Students will have an interdisciplinary

collaborative experience.20. Students will have an internship

experience during their mca career.21. Students will have a non-

academic service experience during their mca career.

a sample curriculum grid/map was included to graphically illustrate when filled out, classes and levels at which each outcome would be covered. (this curriculum map was purposefully similar to those developed for use of the degree programs assessment.)

the distribution of this plan to the faculty effectively ended the first phase of the development of memphis college of art’s QEP. the QEP committee had taken the idea of professional practices, discussed and interpreted what the term meant for mca through the development of a list of possible outcomes, researched the available literature to understand how other similar art departments and institutions addressed the issue, and produced an overarching proposal that envisioned the integration of required content into the programs that would reach every student. With that done the original QEP committee had reached the point where it could no longer continue to participate at the same level of involvement because of the faculty’s authority over curriculum. it would take the mca faculty to advance and implement the plan.

volunteersBefore the plan went out to the entire

full-time faculty, the SacS liaison had already approached some of the area heads who had informally expressed interest in the developing plan. in September 2011 the SacS liaison met with associate Professor Jill Wissmiller, Digital media and assistant Professor haley morris-cafiero, Photography who agreed to begin implementation of the plan in the spring 2012 semester. Because the Foundations program was critical to the expansion of the professional practices curriculum, a representative from Foundations had to be involved from the beginning. the chair of Foundations needed no convincing. Soon after this the lists of professional practices outcomes and inventory grids were distributed and program heads began to determine where the outcomes would be addressed in their areas. after the november 22 faculty meeting assistant Professor David chioffi, Graphic Design also volunteered his program for implementation of the QEP plan in the spring 2012 semester.

With this small group of volunteer programs onboard the idea was to begin the implementation process on a small scale in order to be able to work out unforeseen problems and provide a model to the majority of programs that would begin implementation in august of 2012. in order to facilitate communication between this first group and the remaining programs the area heads in Photography, Digital media, Graphic Design, and the chair of Foundations will provide periodic updates in Faculty meetings and a more comprehensive report on the process in late april 2012. this should help the remaining programs understand the process, prepare during the summer of 2012, anticipate problems, and make a smoother full implementation in the fall 2012 semester.

a streamlined version of the original QEP committee was requested by the SacS liaison and approved by the faculty. this smaller group consisting of faculty and the Director of career Services, was given the task of working with the spearheading program faculty in finalizing the QEP plan and shepherding the development and implementation of the final plan. the committee consisted of three members of the original mca QEP committee: assistant Professor Zark Strasburger, Faculty; Remy miller, SacS liaison and Faculty; and Gadsby creson, Director of career Services. in addition, another faculty member was


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added in recognition of the critical role of the liberal Studies faculty in the Foundations program. assistant Professor maria Bibbs took on this role in addition to serving as editorial consultant for the QEP report.

an initial meeting between the SacS liaison and the faculty spearheading the planned implementation in January took place on December 2, 2011 and resulted in a proposed revision of the Student learning Outcomes. the QEP committee met soon afterwards to consider these changes and made other suggestions for revisions taking into consideration the broader viewpoint of the committee. the grids went through several revisions as the QEP committee and area heads/chair refined the SlOs. Eventually the Foundations and program plans included an inventory Grid that documents the SlO’s currently covered in the existing classes and another implementation grid indicating the new SlO’s that are being added. included below is the list of outcomes refined and finalized by the QEP committee and the area heads/chair of the programs involved in the initial implementation of the plan in December of 2011.

Following are the inventory and implementation grids for Foundations and Graphic Design as examples illustrating where the SlO’s would be embedded in the programs within Foundations and the degree programs. in the final program versions it was decided to simplify the grids by listing only outcomes relevant to the programs.

Program student learning outcomes for memPhis college of art Quality enhancement Plan

foundations or Program Professional Practices outcomes:

1. Students will demonstrate the ability to write a resume.

2. Students will demonstrate the ability to write a professional cover letter.

3. Students will demonstrate the ability to write an artist statement

4. Students will demonstrate the ability to document their work.

5. Students will demonstrate the ability to exhibit work beyond the classroom.

6. Students will demonstrate basic computer/software literacy applicable to their field.

7. Students will demonstrate the ability

to research graduate education and job opportunities in their field.

8. Students will demonstrate the ability to give a public presentation about their work.

9. Students will demonstrate the ability to research to stay current in their field.

10. Students will demonstrate development of a professional web presence.

11. Students will demonstrate basic knowledge of communication etiquette in their field.

12. Students will demonstrate the ability to work collaboratively.

career servicesmca’s original QEP committee

recognized from the beginning the value of the contributions of career Services to Professional Practices at memphis college of art. the director of that office has been the leading edge of efforts to introduce students to opportunities that would give them practical experience as they moved from college into the working world. certainly some degree programs included professional practices content, some more so than others, but few in any systematic way and none with a formal assessment system. likewise, the current Professional Practices course is academic in nature. it was left to career Services to provide real world opportunities for students while they were in college. it was intended from the start of the QEP development process, and reiterated, that the academic programs and office of career Services would collaborate and complement each other so there will be for students a sense that the college is united in its goal of supporting the life goals of every graduate.

the main thrust of career Service’s efforts in this regard are internships and the Give Back Program. these two programs are the principle avenues through which the students get working experience and interact with possible future employers. the Director of career Services maintains that internships are the single most effective means of accomplishing the goal of placing students with a future employer. career Services also sponsors an annual career Fair that brings top companies and organizations on campus to recruit employees and interns, and to review student portfolios.

the mca QEP plan assures that career Services will continue to address a number of the professional practices outcomes

identified by the original QEP committee. however, because of the expanded coverage of outcomes in Foundations and the degree programs, career Services would no longer need to stress outcomes like artist statements, resumes, etc. except in an advisory capacity. instead, career Services would be able to increase the time devoted to the above-mentioned programs and services for which it is the primary source. With the programs taking over responsibility for more basic outcomes career Services can devote time to other outcomes and the development of new efforts.

an example of what can be accomplished for the students with increased coordination and cooperation between the academic programs and career Services office are the series of annual workshops the later currently sponsors. in the 2011–12 academic year career Services scheduled and ran workshops on conducting job searches, mFa Graduate School information, portfolio reviews, artist residencies, and networking among others. at present, these workshops fill a need for many students that their programs do not fill. For other programs the workshops are redundant. Once the QEP is fully instituted and programs begin to consistently address the new outcomes, career Services plans to look for other avenues to fill gaps in the program plans. as the programs evolve to meet the needs of students, career Services will also change and refine its approach to professional practices.

Professional Practices coursethe final piece of the plan envisioned by

the QEP committee is a refit of the tD 400 Professional Practices course. the major limitation of this class was mentioned earlier in this report, specifically that the course has tended to reflect the expertise and genre orientation of that faculty member teaching it. this has typically been a Fine art professor. the effect of this is demonstrated in the fact that the past two times the class was offered only one Graphic Design student enrolled in it.

in the discussions of the original QEP committee which led to the initial list of outcomes and a new conception of the Professional Practices class, there were two important aspects of the class that the committee felt needed to change: the first was that the information covered in the class had to address all students regardless of concentration or major. Since the individual


19

programs would interpret the 12 required program outcomes in ways that were relevant to the major or concentration, the Professional Practices class needs to cover outcomes on the list that were applicable to all students and beyond the expertise of any current faculty member to teach. the committee moved in that direction realizing it could broaden the professional practices offerings considerably if we could redesign the content of the class.

the second point was that the class would need to be moved forward in the curriculum if it was truly going to serve the students. this takes into consideration that some of the outcomes, like the ability to conduct a job search, would be necessary to achieve before the senior year began in order to be of use to the student.

During the november and January meetings of the QEP committee much time was devoted to discussion of the outcomes that would form the basis of this class. after the January meeting a final list of outcomes for the class was produced. Due to changes in the curriculum policy and curriculum committee a course proposal could not be submitted before February 2012. the final outcomes and a provisional course description follow.

td 300 Professional Practices (QeP) 3 credits lecture

this course provides students with information and skills that are non-concentration/major specific and necessary to all professional artists for the transition from college into working life. Guest lecturers will address conducting job searches, personal and professional budgets, networking and marketing, Federal, and state taxes and other important life skills and business knowledge for professional artists.

outcomes for this class:13. Students will demonstrate the

ability to conduct a job search.14. Students will demonstrate the ability to

make a personal and professional budget.15. Students will demonstrate the

ability to do research for and write a professional proposal.

16. Students will demonstrate the ability to network and market themselves and their work.

17. Students will demonstrate a working knowledge of art related business practices including:

- Federal and state taxes;- Personal and professional accounting;- Personal incorporation;- including 501(c)(3) tax-exempt

non-profit status.;- health services relative to their field; and- Knowledge of intellectual property.

Once this course proposal is approved the QEP committee will ask for a full-time faculty member to shepherd the class through the curriculum review process and bring the course to implementation. the committee envisions a full-time faculty member who would be responsible for organization and oversight of the class. that faculty member might teach some aspects of the class, but would mostly be responsible for organization and recruiting experts to teach the various parts of the class.

engagementBecause of the curricular nature of

the memphis college of art Professional Practices QEP there was necessarily a greater involvement on the part of the faculty than any other constituency. Student involvement in choosing the QEP topic and the participation of the students on the QEP committee that did the initial development of the plan was invaluable. likewise, the importance of the participation of staff, especially the Director of career Services has been commented on many times in this report. however, during the phase of devising the plan implementation the faculty had to do the “heavy lifting”.

ironically, and in a very important way the mca QEP plan was intentionally designed so as not to make dramatic changes in the curriculum that would be obvious. the aim was to make smaller changes in increments in order not to disrupt the flow and progression of the classes. Smaller additions to the curriculum would not burden the faculty or alter the program goals, but would produce an accumulated effect over the course of four years that would position students for success as they entered the job market. if the plan is done correctly the additions to the curriculum will be integrated in such a way that the students won’t necessarily realize that big changes were made.

the only major modification to the curriculum that will be obvious will be the adaptation and repositioning of the professional practices course. as the

students in the initial implementation group reach their Junior year they will be required to take this course.

as the plan began to approach implementation the QEP committee began to ramp up efforts to engage the students and college at large. the SacS liaison met with the Student Government group at the end of the fall 2011 semester to outline the overall plan. a blast email was sent to all constituents of the college as the spring 2012 semester started setting the stage for the wider QEP campaign.

combustion, a design agency owned and staffed by a number of mca alumni, was retained to produce a logo, posters, and other promotional materials that would kick off the implementation and make it clear to the students and all of the constituents of the college that something new, different, and important was happening.

a campaign was planned that called for a series of blast emails, mailbox stuffings, give-a-ways, and meetings that would alert and inform the entire campus about various aspects of the QEP plan. a QEP blog was appended to the college web site and was linked to the college Facebook and other mca social media outlets. an initial video post in February by the SacS liaison launched QEP blog.

the social media outlets are particularly important in that they will allow students to interact with each other, with the QEP committee, faculty, or anyone with access to the blog. they provide a record of the thoughts and suggestions of participants over an extended period of time. this should help


20

the QEP committee and faculty to better understand the insights of various constituents into the maturation of the mca QEP plan.

these promotional and informational efforts are ongoing and will continue to grow and evolve as the Professional Practices plan grows and matures. mca’s graduation speaker for 2012 is Daniel Grant, a noted arts writer, a contributing editor of american artist magazine, and author of several books on careers in the arts including, “the Business of Being an artist.”

as the fall 2012 semester starts there will be another informational campaign that will focus the attention of new students on a plan that we think is unique and hopefully uniquely effective in propelling our graduates into a lifetime occupation in visual art.

resourcesmemphis college of art is allocating

adequate funds to develop and maintain the Professional Practices QEP. Since the mca QEP is content rich and involves the embedding of that content into the existing curriculum the initial cost of development and implementation is low. Since it is faculty driven it does not come with administrative costs. this is a plan that involves intellectual and methodological effort not large sums of investment.

the principle anticipated cost is in the proposed Professional Practices (QEP) class. in the fall 2011 semester the Junior class was 78 students. assuming the enrollment remains relatively stable and the class is required and held to about twenty seats, the entire Junior class could be accommodated in four sections during the academic year, two per semester. it is important that the faculty supervisor be a full-time faculty or staff member

as this is an investment in the future of all students graduating from the college and the person organizing the class must be committed and engaged.

as the class will involve very diverse subjects the faculty member in charge will probably teach only a small portion of it. the faculty member’s role will be one of oversight and facilitation of this class. this will entail the recruitment, coordination, and scheduling of experts in the various subjects covered. Each of the expert instructors would earn a stipend per class for services rendered. the cost of experts we would estimate about $100.00 per class with the total cost depending on the number of classes for which they were needed.

if the supervisor is a current full-time faculty member overseeing these courses would probably mean 2/3 of a full-time load. the cost would actually come in the replacement of the chosen faculty member’s replacement with part-time faculty. this would run about $4,800.00 to $6,000.00 per semester depending on the seniority of the part-time faculty member.

like any other aspect of the academic programs the QEP must be supported by adequate library resources. at the time of the formation of the original mca QEP committee the list of mca Pillow library books related to the QEP and supplied to the committee was about 20 volumes with an estimated cost of $3,500.00. a year and a half later the list needed to be updated. this was begun in late January 2012. at present, the investment in Professional Practices-oriented library resources is about. Replacement of a certain percentage of these would cost. Within the library budget a percentage of that budget is set aside specifically for QEP related purchases.

budgets

AY 2010–12description of expense item cost

Marketing:

Pencils $89.32 $89.32

Buttons $120.00 $120.00

Printing costs $75.00 $195.00

Posters $200.00 $200.00

Brochure $300.00 $300.00

Graduation Speaker $2,500.00 $2,695.00

library Resources $2,000.00 $4,695.00

total: $8,294.32


General $300.00 $300.00


total: $1,300.00


General $200.00 $200.00

Part-time Faculty $6,000.00 $6,000.00

Expert instructors $11,200.00 $11,200.00


total: $18,684.32


General $300.00 $300.00


total: $1,300.00


21

date event constituents results

YEAR OnE (JunE 2010-MAY 2011)

6/30/2010 meeting to set timeline for QEP planning SacS leadership team (Slt)

7/1/2010 Email sentFaculty, staff, students, alumni, donors, board members, and friends of the college.

Directing them to survey monkey to suggest ideas for QEP

7/15/2010 Follow-up post card mailedFaculty, staff, students, alumni, donors, board members, and friends of the college.

Directing them to survey monkey to suggest ideas for QEP

8/3/2010 meeting to review survey results

President, VP of Student affairs, academic affairs coordinator, Faculty Representative, VP Business & administration, coordinator art Education Programs, SacS liaison

Reviewed the results of the survey

8/25/2010 convocation Faculty, staff, students Presentation of QEP and invitation for ideas

8/31/2010 meeting to determine which constituents vote on topic Slt

9/7/2010 meeting to review survey results Slt

6 areas identified (library, Professional Practice, Service learning, curriculum Development for liberal Studies, Online, or advanced Studio and Studio Facilities

9/10/2010 QEP constituent Discussion meeting

Slt, Dean’s council, Student alliance, Staff Directors

Results of survey discussed and possible subjects narrowed down to 3 (Professional Practices, library, Service learning)

9/12/2010 Faculty Email all Faculty 3 topics shared with faculty and faculty were asked for their input

9/14/2010 Staff lunch meeting Staff 3 ideas presented and attendees asked to vote on one

9/15/2010 Board Presentation Board QEP topics presented to the board, board asked to vote

October topic chosen Professional Practices was chosen as the QEP topic

11/8/2010 QEP committee meeting QEP committee Defined Professional Practices, discussed SlOs, Best Practices, time line

11/25/2010 Student Representatives chosen 2 students chosen to be student representatives on the QEP committee

11/30/2010 QEP committee meeting QEP committee Discussed current offerings, best practices research, review of literature, personal expertise of alumni, student expectations,

2/1/2011 QEP committee meeting QEP committee

assignments made to research professional practices, review the library resources regarding the topic, connect professional practices to assessment, and connect professional practices to the mission and strategic plan, define the student learning outcomes

2/1/2011 alumni newsletter alumni, faculty, staff comments from alumni regarding the QEP were included in the newsletter. Request for more comments directed to Dean of academic affairs

YEAR TwO (JunE 2011-MAY 2012)

Jun–Sep-11 Research Slt committee members refined plan and continued research of professional practices in similar institutions.

September Faculty Email all Faculty Photography and Digital media programs volunteer for initial implementation.

October President’s QEP SubcommitteePresident, Digital media, Photography and Painting Faculty and career Services

meeting was held by President with area heads to discuss professional practices within the programs.

november Faculty Email all Faculty Draft QEP Plan was submitted to faculty.

november Email Graphic Design Graphic Design program volunteers for initial implementation

november QEP committee meeting QEP committee QEP committee #2 was formed.november ‘11–

February ‘12 QEP committee meeting QEP committee and Program Faculty

meetings of QEP committee and program faculty to finalize outcomes and measurement tools.

January Faculty meeting all Faculty QEP Plan affirmed by full Faculty vote.

January QEP meetingFoundations, Photography, Digital media and Graphic Design

implementation of plan begins in volunteer programs.

February–may QEP committee meeting Slt Focused meetings/research on Proposed Professional Practices class.

Timeline


22

date event constituents results

February QEP meeting Slt Submission of QEP Plan to SacS

march QEP committee meetingQEP committee, Foundations, Photography, Digital media and Graphic Design area heads

QEP committee meets with participating area heads for check-in on progress.

april QEP committee meetingQEP committee, Foundations, Photography, Digital media and Graphic Design area heads

comprehensive report on initial implementation by participating programs.

may assessment ProcessQEP committee, Foundations, Photography, Digital media and Graphic Design area heads

First semester of Professional Practices assessment is submitted to iE committee for data compilation.

may Survey administered Graduating Seniors Baseline Professional Practices Preparation survey of graduating class.

YEAR THREE (JunE 2012-MAY 2013)

august QEP committee meeting all Faculty Begin implementation of remaining degree programs.

august curriculum committee all Faculty Submission of Professional Practices class to curriculum committee.

December assessment Process all Faculty Second semester of Professional Practices program assessment is submitted to iE committee for data compilation.

may assessment Process all Faculty third semester of Professional Practices program assessment is submitted to iE committee for data compilation.

YEAR FOuR (JunE 2013-MAY 2014)

august curriculum committee all Faculty addition of Professional Practices class to curriculum for all students.

December assessment Process all Faculty First round of assessment of Professional Practices course.

December assessment Process all Faculty Fourth semester of Professional Practices program assessment is submitted to iE committee for data compilation.

may assessment Process all Faculty Fifth semester of Professional Practices program assessment is submitted to iE committee for data compilation.

YEAR FIvE (JunE 2014–MAY 2015)

December assessment Process all Faculty Sixth semester of Professional Practices program assessment is submitted to iE committee for data compilation.

assessmentassessment of the mca’s Professional

Practices QEP is very much in line with the assessment of the academic programs that is already underway. Because the entire notion of the QEP plan developed from the mca QEP committee’s very first meeting and the idea of Student learning Outcomes, the entire focus has been on those outcomes. it is fortuitous that this is the case because at the time the QEP began to take shape the larger focus on assessment and assessment methods had not yet begun for the college, at large. the QEP committee didn’t actually realize that by focusing on student learning and what could be achieved within the academic programs they inadvertently brought the QEP outcomes into line with the assessment methods developing throughout the academic programs.

in essence, the QEP outcomes are treated like program outcomes. Each of the pilot programs (Digital media, Graphic Design, Foundations and Photography) completed a curriculum map that outlines when each

of the QEP outcomes will be introduced, developed and mastered. the outcomes are mapped throughout the curriculum, the maps determine courses that will teach and measure each of the outcomes. two methods of measurement are chosen for each outcome. this results in a document, called the QEP measurement Plan, which is an agreement between all of the faculty in the program that states the semester, instructor, and method of measurement used. the faculty members of each program will develop a specific rubric to assess each method of measurement. the cycle of assessment for the QEP outcomes began with the spring 2012 semester.

at the end of each semester, the QEP data will be collected and input into a QEP assessment Summary. the QEP assessment Summary encapsulates all of the data gathered through each program method of measurement and the institutional methods of measurement (i.e. Review committees and BFa Show Review). the completed QEP assessment Summary will

be delivered to the respective area heads of each program and the QEP committee.

the QEP committee is the institutional committee that is responsible for overseeing the assessment of the QEP outcomes. the area heads will meet with program faculty and review the data to determine trends and make decisions about how to improve the students’ scores for each outcome. the area head will fill out a QEP assessment Report that summarizes the data, the methods of measurement and how the results are going to be used to improve student learning. the program will then meet with the QEP committee to discuss the data and the use of results. the QEP committee will outline its suggestions on the QEP assessment Summary form. the QEP assessment Summary is forwarded to the institution’s iE committee for tracking.

assessment of the QEP outcomes continues throughout the year and is reported to the programs and the QEP committee every January and august of every academic year.

Timeline (Continued)


23


Appendices

I. QEP Pilot Program Curriculum Maps (page 24)

II. QEP Pilot Program Measurement Plan for the AY 11-12 (page 30)

OuTCOME 1 Students will demonstrate the ability to write a resume.

OuTCOME 2 Students will demonstrate the ability to write a professional cover letter.

OuTCOME 3 Students will demonstrate the ability to write an artist statement.

OuTCOME 4 Students will demonstrate the ability to document their work.

OuTCOME 5 Students will demonstrate the ability to exhibit work beyond the classroom.

OuTCOME 6 Students will demonstrate basic computer/software literacy applicable to their field.

OuTCOME 7 Students will demonstrate the ability to research graduate education and job opportunities in their field.

OuTCOME 8 Students will demonstrate the ability to give a public presentation about their work.

OuTCOME 9 Students will demonstrate the ability to research to stay current in their field.

OuTCOME 10 Students will demonstrate development of a professional web presence.

OuTCOME 11 Students will demonstrate basic knowledge of communication etiquette in their field.

OuTCOME 12 Students will demonstrate the ability to work collaboratively.

legend

i introduced I introduced (new)

D Developed D Developed (new)

m mastered M mastered (new)


24

Professional Practices Inventory & Implementation Grids

Animation Inventory Grid

course


Dm 200 i i i

Dm 225 i D i

Dm 230 i i i i i i

Dm 270 i i i i i D

Dm 300 D i i D

Dm 310 i i i i

Dm 325 D D D m D

Dm 330 D D D D D D

Dm 370 D D D D D D

Dm 375 D D i

Dm 400 D D D D D m D D D D D D

Dm 405 m m m m m m m m m m m m

Dm 410 D D D

Dm 475 m m m m m m m

Animation Implementation Grid

course


Dm 200 i i I I i

Dm 225 i D I I I i

Dm 230 i I I i i i I I I i I i

Dm 270 i I I i i i I I I i I D

Dm 300 D i i D D

Dm 310 i i i I i

Dm 325 D D D m D D D D

Dm 330 D I D D D D D D D D D D


Dm 375 D D D i



Dm 410 D D D I

Dm 475 m m m m D m M m D m

Digital Cinema Implementation Grid

course


Dm 200 i i I I i

Dm 225 i D I I I i


Dm 240


Dm 300 D i i D D

Dm 310 i i i I i



Dm 375 D D D i

Dm 400 D D D D D M D D D D D D

Dm 405 M M M M M M M M M M M M


Dm 475 M M M M D M M M D M

Digital Cinema Implementation Grid

course


Dm 200 i i i

Dm 225 i D i

Dm 230 i i i i i i

Dm 240

Dm 270 i i i i i D

Dm 300 D i i D

Dm 310 i i i i

Dm 330 D D D D D D

Dm 370 D D D D D D

Dm 375 D D i

Dm 400 D D D D D M D D D D D D


Dm 470 M M M M M M M M M

Dm 475 M M M M M M M


25

Digital Media Concentration Implementation Grid

course


Dm 200 i i I I i

Dm 225 i D I I i


Dm 240

Dm 260


Dm 300 D i i D D

Dm 310 i i i I i

Dm 325 D D D m D D D D


Dm 360


Dm 375 D D D i



Dm 410 D D D

Dm 470 m m m m m m M m M m M m

Dm 475 m m m m D m M m D m

Digital Media Concentration Inventory Grid

course


Dm 200 i i i

Dm 225 i D i

Dm 230 i i i i i i

Dm 240

Dm 260

Dm 270 i i i i i D

Dm 300 D i i D

Dm 310 i i i i

Dm 325 D D D m D

Dm 330 D D D D D D

Dm 360

Dm 370 D D D D D D

Dm 375 D D i



Dm 410 D D D

Dm 470 m m m m m m m m m

Dm 475 m m m m m m m

Drawing Inventory Grid

course


DW 200 i i i i i

DW 220

DW 300 i D i i i D D



DW 410 i i i i D D

Drawing Implementation Grid

course


DW 200 i i D i

DW 220 I I I I I I I

DW 300 i i D i D D

DW 320 i D i D D

DW 360 i D I D D

DW 410 D D D D M D D D D


26

Graphic Design Inventory Grid

course


GD 200 i i i i

GD 205 i i

GD 300 D D i D i D

GD 305 D D D

GD 400 D D D D D D

GD 405 i m m m

Graphic Design Implementation Grid

course


GD 200 I i I i I i I i

GD 205 I I D i D I I I

GD 300 D D D D i D D D D D

GD 305 D D D D D D

GD 400 M M D D M D D M M

GD 405 m m m M M M

Foundations Inventory Grid

course


FD 100

FD 110

FD 120

FD 130

FD 140 i

FD 160

FD 170 i

hu 101

hu 102

ah 100

ah 150

Foundations Implementation Grid

course


FD 100 I I I I I

FD 110 I I I I I

FD 120 I I I I I

FD 130 I I I I I

FD 140 I I i I I I

FD 160 I I I I I

FD 170 I I I i I I

hu 101 I I

hu 102 D I

ah 100

ah 150


27

Illustration Inventory Grid

course


il 240 i

il 270 D

il 360 D

il 365 D D

il 460 i i i D i i i

il 465 i D D D D D D

Illustration Implementation Grid

course


il 240 i

il 270 D

il 360 I D

il 365 D D D

il 460 I D i i I D i i i

il 465 D M D D D D D D

Painting Inventory Grid

course


Pt 110 i

Pt 120 D i i

Pt 210 D i D D

Pt 310 D D D D i

Pt 120 D D D D D

Pt 400 m m m m m m m m m m m m

Painting Implementation Grid

course


il 240 i I

il 270 D D i I

il 360 D I i D D D I

il 365 D D D D D D D

il 460 D D D D D D D

il 465 m m m m m m m m m m m m


28

Printmaking Inventory Grid

course


Pm 100 i i i i i i

Pm 105 i i i i i i

Pm 220Pm 230 i i D i i D i D D D

Pm 250 D i i D i i D i D DPm 300Pm 310Pm 335

D D m D D m D D m D D D

Pm 400 m m m m m m m m m m m m

Printmaking Implementation Grid

course


Pm 100 i i i i i i

Pm 105 i i i i i i

Pm 220Pm 230 I I I i i D i D I D D

Pm 250 I I I i i D i i D I D DPm 300Pm 310Pm 335

D D m D D m D D m D D D

Pm 400 m m m m m m m m m M m m

Photography Inventory Grid

course


Ph 100 i i i

Ph 250 i

Dm 240 i

Ph 275

Ph 300 D i D

Ph 310 D D m i D

Ph 325

Ph 351

Ph 375 i i D m m i D i D D m D m

Ph 400 D m D m m M M m

Dm 260

PP 170Dm 270Dm 340

ah 320

Photography Implementation Grid

course


Ph 100 i i i

Ph 250 D i

Dm 240 i

Ph 275

Ph 300 I D D i D

Ph 310 D I D D D m D i D

Ph 325

Ph 351 D

Ph 375 D D m m i D i D D D

Ph 400 m m m m m M M m

Dm 260 D IPP 170

Dm 270Dm 340

D

ah 320 D


29

Sculpture Inventory Grid

course


Sc 100 i i i

Sc120 i i i i i

Sc 150 i i

Sc 170 D i D D i i

Sc 200

Sc 220 D D i i D D D i

Sc 250 i i i D

Sc 260

Sc 300

Sc 320 D D D D i D D D D

Sc 350 D D i D D D

Sc 370 D i D D D

Sc 400

Sc 420

Sc 425

Sc 450

Sc 455

Sc 470

Sculpture Implementation Grid

course


Sc 100 i i i

Sc120 i i i i i

Sc 150 i i

Sc 170 i i i i i i

Sc 200 D i

Sc 220 D D i i D D D i

Sc 250 i i i D

Sc 260

Sc 300 D I D D

Sc 320 I I D D D D i D D I

Sc 350 I I I D D D i D D

Sc 370 D i i D D D

Sc 400

Sc 420

Sc 425

Sc 450

Sc 455

Sc 470

Sequential Narrative Inventory Grid

course


il 220 i

il 240 D

il 320 i D

il 410 D i D

il 420 D D D D M

GD 200 D

Dm 260 D i

Sequential Narrative Implementation Grid

course


il 220 i

il 240 D

il 320 i D

il 410 D i I D I

il 420 D D D D D M D

GD 200 D

Dm 260 D i


30

Digital Media: Animation Focus Assessment Measurement Plan AY 11-12

co

ur

ses

Dm

200

Dm

225

Dm

230

Dm

270

Dm

300

Dm

310

Dm

325

Dm

330

Dm

370

Dm

375

Dm

400

Dm

405

Dm

410

Dm

470

Dm

475


measure 1: Resume Rubric S12 S12 S12 S12 S12

measure 2: Resume Exam S12 S12 S12


measure 1: cover letter Rubric S12

measure 2: cover letter Exam S12


measure 1: artist Statement Rubric S12 S12

measure 2: artist Statement Exam S12 S12


measure 1: Portfolio Rubric S12 S12 S12 S12 S12 S12 S12 S12 S12

measure 2: Production Exam S12 S12 S12 S12 S12 S12 S12 S12 S12


measure 1: Portfolio Rubric S12 S12 S12 S12 S12 S12 S12 S12

measure 2: Production Exam S12 S12 S12 S12 S12 S12 S12 S12





measure 1: Portfolio Rubric S12

measure 2: Presentation Rubric S12


measure 1: Portfolio Rubric S12 S12

measure 2: Presentation Rubric S12 S12





measure 1: Portfolio Rubric S12 S12 S12 S12 S12 S12

measure 2: Presentation Rubric S12 S12 S12 S12 S12 S12


measure 1: interview Exam S12

measure 2: career Day Rubric S12



measure 2: collaboration Rubric S12 S12 S12 S12 S12 S12 S12 S12


31

Digital Media: Digital Cinema Focus Assessment Measurement Plan AY 2011–2012

co

ur

ses

Dm

200

Dm

225

Dm

230

Dm

240

Dm

270

Dm

300

Dm

310

Dm

330

Dm

370

Dm

375

Dm

400

Dm

405

Dm

470

Dm

475

Dm

475








measure 1: artist Statement Rubric S12 S12 S12

measure 2: artist Statement Exam S12 S12 S12














measure 1: Portfolio Rubric S12 S12 S12

measure 2: Presentation Rubric S12 S12 S12





measure 1: Portfolio Rubric S12 S12 S12 S12 S12 S12 S12

measure 2: Presentation Rubric S12 S12 S12 S12 S12 S12 S12






measure 2: collaboration Rubric S12 S12 S12 S12 S12 S12 S12 S12 S12


32

Digital Media Concentration Assessment Measurement Plan AY 2011–2012

co

ur

ses

Dm

200

Dm

225

Dm

230

Dm

240

Dm

260

Dm

270

Dm

300

Dm

310

Dm

325

Dm

330

Dm

360

Dm

370

Dm

375

Dm

400

Dm

405

Dm

410

Dm

470

Dm

475








measure 1: artist Statement Rubric S12 S12

measure 2: artist Statement Exam S12 S12














measure 1: Portfolio Rubric S12 S12

measure 2: Presentation Rubric S12 S12





measure 1: Portfolio Rubric S12 S12 S12 S12 S12 S12

measure 2: Presentation Rubric S12 S12 S12 S12 S12 S12






measure 2: collaboration Rubric S12 S12 S12 S12 S12 S12 S12 S12


33

Foundations Assessment Measurement Plan AY 2011–2012

co

ur

ses

FD 10

0

FD 11

0

FD 12

0-2D

FD 13

0 3-

D

FD 14

0

FD 16

0

FD 17

0

hu

100

hu

101


measure 1: Portfolio Rubric internal S12 S12 S12 S12 S12 S12 S12

measure 2:Portfolio Rubric External S12 S12 S12 S12 S12 S12 S12



measure 2:Portfolio Rubric External S12 S12 S12 S12 S12 S12 S12



measure 2:Portfolio Rubric External S12 S12 S12 S12 S12 S12 S12 S12 S12


measure 1: Portfolio Review internal S12 S12 S12 S12 S12 S12 S12 S12 S12

measure 2: Portfolio Review External S12 S12 S12 S12 S12 S12 S12 S12 S12






measure 1: Sketchbook internal S12 S12 S12 S12 S12 S12 S12 S12 S12

measure 2 Sketchbook External S12 S12 S12 S12 S12 S12 S12 S12 S12





34

Graphic Design Assessment Measurement Plan AY 2011–2012

co

ur

ses

GD

200

GD

205

GD

300

GD

305

GD

400

GD

405


measure 1: Resume Rubric S12 S12

measure 2: Resume Exam


measure 1: internship Rubric

measure 2: applied Project Proposal Rubric S12 S12 S12


measure 1: artist Statement Rubric S12 S12 S12

measure 2: Grant and Graduate School Rubric


measure 1: Digital Blog Rubric S12 S12 S12

measure 2: Exam Digital Principles of Documentation


measure 1: External Pro Bono applied Projects S12 S12

measure 2: External Digital Professional Blog interactions


measure 1: applied Project critique Rubric S12 S12 S12

measure 2: technical Digital Exam


measure 1: Graduate School Research Format Rubric

measure 2: Employment Research Format Rubric S12 S12


measure 1: critique Rubric S12

measure 2: Formal Presentation Rubric S12 S12


measure 1: Format Research Rubric S12 S12 S12

measure 2: Seminar Rubric S12


measure 1: Digital Blog Rubric S12 S12 S12

measure 2: Social media Rubric


measure 1: External Project Review Rubric S12

measure 2: internship Rubric S12


measure 1: applied Project management and Workflow Rubric S12 S12

measure 2: applied Project Rubric S12


35

Photography Assessment Measurement Plan AY 2011–2012

co

ur

ses

Ph 10

0

Ph 2

50

Dm

240

Ph27

5

Ph 3

00

Ph 3

10

Ph 3

25

Ph 3

51

Ph 3

75

Ph 4

00

Dm

260


measure 1: Resume Rubric S12 F11 S12

measure 2: Resume Exam S12


measure 1: Grad School letter of intent Rubric F11

measure 2: Gallery cover letter Rubric S12


measure 1: assignment artist Statement Rubric S12 S12 S12

measure 2: Grad School and Gallery Packet artist Statement Rubric F11 F12


measure 1: Exam S12 F11

measure 2: Rubric of Practical Exam S12 S12 S12


measure 1: Rubric of Exhibition Summary S12 S12

measure 2: % of acceptances (Goal: 20%) S12 F11 S12


measure 1: Portfolio Rubric S12 S12 S12

measure 2: Exam S12 S12


measure 1: Rubric of Research Journal S12

measure 2: Rubric of Research Presentation S12


measure 1: critique Rubric S12 S12 S12 S12



measure 1: Sketchbook Rubric S12 S12 S12

measure 2: Gallery Proposal Rubric F11 S12


measure 1: Blog Rubric S12 S12

measure 2: Web Rubric S12 S12


measure 1: interview Rubric S12

measure 2: career Day Rubric S12 S12


measure 1: assignment Rubric S12 S12

measure 2: Group Show Rubric S12

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