Hello! If you’re seeing this sample assignment, you’ve probably been asked to be a part of the beta launch of this site. This isn’t a fully-developed assignment, but it serves to demonstrate for you what actual assignments will look like on this site, at least as far as formatting is concerned.
You might say something like the following, although it needn’t be nearly as wordy.
This assignment takes place over two class sessions. First, have students read the first chapter of John Berger’s Ways of Seeing before class. Then, in class, discuss this reading, drawing particular attention to what the text has to say about reproduction (photocopies, TV images, etc.) and how modern reproduction techniques have transformed art by altering the environment(s) in which an individual piece of art can appear.
Have students then visit an art museum prior to the next class meeting — some choices that are free for them include the American Folk Art Museum and the MoMA — and use their smartphones to photograph three different works from that museum. Have them share these photos to your class’s eportfolio within a blog post where they consider the way that their own reproduction of the work reflects and challenges the issues discussed in John Berger’s chapter.
At the next class meeting, discuss the blog posts. Then, project the pictures the students took at the front of the classroom. Discuss: How does the scale change our experience of the art? How about its context on a smartphone screen in one’s hand vs. on a laptop computer screen at home vs. on a projector screen in a classroom vs. actually in person? You might even incorporate Magritte’s “Treachery of Images” — in class, are they looking at the artwork they photographed, or are they looking at an image of the artwork they photographed, and what’s the difference?
Have them reflect on their ideas from this discussion in a second blog post, answering the following questions (adapted from Angelo & Cross’s Classroom Assessment Techniques — see below): What was the most important thing you learned in these past two class sessions? And what questions remain uppermost in your mind?
Seminar & Learning Goals
Note that this is categorized as a seminar 1, 2, and 4 assignment, with multiple unrelated learning goals, so that it will show up for you when you browse this site no matter which class you select.
Assessment Tools
Student learning for this assignment will be evaluated by treating students’ second blog post as a minute paper, a classroom assessment technique described in Thomas A. Angelo and K. Patricia Cross’s (1993) Classroom Assessment Techniques, 2nd edition. Angelo and Cross (p. 152) note that “[s]imply tabulating the responses and making note of any useful comments is often all the analysis that is needed. Consider saving Minute Papers from early in the term to compare with responses at midterm and later. Comparing responses over time can allow you to see changes and developments in the clarity of student writing and thoughtfulness of answers.”
Notes
As mentioned above, this is just a demonstration assignment meant to give you an idea of how your assignments and projects will show up on this site.
Credit
Joseph Pentangelo, Macaulay Honors College.
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