Rubrics Cubed

The name of the Rubik’s Cube puzzle sounds very similar to the rubric, a list of specific criteria for scoring academic projects. Indeed, if you look at the structure of a typical rubric with it’s matrix columns and rows and compare it to the famous cube you might think the two were related. Or not. In fact Rubik is the name of the Hungarian sculptor who invented the cube in 1974. It is not related to the rubric at all. Only in the mixed up mind of someone, like myself, who’s been working on getting his mind around writing his first rubric this week. 

What would a Learner Blog Rubric look like? I did a lot of thinking about this during the course of the week. This was central to our week four study of Technology in Art Education at the Academy of Art University. When left to think freely my mind comes up with images and mix up of words and concepts. 

Imagined Learner Blog Rubric

My ideas for a Learner Blog Rubric changed several times through out the week and then I took this assignment with me to Los Angeles on Friday. Into LAX late morning and out late at night the same day. My thoughts continued to change during this time right up until today when it was time to be finished.

I want to quote Patty Knott a contributor to Incredible @rt Department regarding creating a Rubric for Grading Art. She writes, “The important thing in designing rubrics is that YOU believe in what you are evaluating is important and you consider what the students think is important.” 

What Knott says here sounds like a good starting point for my rubric. I’d like to start my thinking at the broadest level I can imagine for a rubric. For me this would be inspiring students to take the risk of putting their work into a public space and inso doing, join a conversation. The conversation would include some self reflection, openness to student’s own ideas and to the ideas of their peers. That is already four high-level ideas for a rubric. A second level of engagement would be in terms of clear communication. Subheadings here would have to do with language, design and cultural sensitivity. A final layer would be to show some engagement in the media itself. I’m imagining a student using one or more of the follow as a vehicle for expression; photos, video, audio, written language, the internet, blogging or some other form of personal expression that can be shared in a learner blog. 

At some level this learner blog could be a vehicle for learning english language skills or art and design skills or many other subjects. These various subjects have some very specific metrics for measuring success in the context of a blog. I kept my thinking related to the blog itself. 

My ideas start rather broad and then I wrestle with making them more concrete and measurable.  Headings I went through included self reflection, openness to self work and openness to peer work. I shifted gears and started thinking in terms of point of view, strategy, consistency, effective communication and overall success. I ended up focusing on Subject, Strategy, Consistency and Effective Communication. 

Learner BLOG Rubric

	A (85 -100%)	B (60 - 84%)	C (40 -59%)	D (0 -39%)
Subject	Student effectively defined a Blog topic that showed a thoughtful understanding and consideration of class objectives	Student effectively defined a Blog topic related that showed a some understanding and consideration for class objectives	Student effectively defined a Blog topic related class prompts that showed just a very basic understanding of class objectives	Student effectively defined a Blog topic related class prompts that showed no consideration for class objectives
Strategy	Student described a CLEAR intention and consideration for pursing their Blog topic over time. This could include projected timeline for posting, specific sub-topics to cover and other ideas about how to approach the topic.	Student described SOME intention and consideration for pursing their Blog topic over time. This could include projected timeline for posting, specific sub-topics to cover and other ideas about how to approach the topic.	Student described LITTLE intention and consideration for pursing their Blog topic over time. This could include projected timeline for posting, specific sub-topics to cover and other ideas about how to approach the topic.	Student described NO intention and consideration for pursing their Blog topic over time. This could include projected timeline for posting, specific sub-topics to cover and other ideas about how to approach the topic.
Consistency	Student was EXTREEMLY consistent in their effort towards documenting their topic over time and relative to their strategy.	Student was REASONABLY consistent in their effort towards documenting their topic over time and relative to their strategy.	Student was SOMEWHAT consistent in their effort towards documenting their topic over time and relative to their strategy.	Student was NOT consistent in their effort towards documenting their topic over time and relative to their strategy.
Effective Communication	Student used EXTREMELY clear communication in blog posts. This can include, use of language, spelling, grammar, source siting. It includes use of design for communication and the use of other media like photos, video, audio and digital versions of other art work.	Student used REASONABLY clear communication in blog posts. This can include, use of language, spelling, grammar, source siting. It includes use of design for communication and the use of other media like photos, video, audio and digital versions of other art work.	Student used SOMEWHAT clear communication in blog posts. This can include, use of language, spelling, grammar, source siting. It includes use of design for communication and the use of other media like photos, video, audio and digital versions of other art work.	Student used NOT very clear communication in blog posts. This can include, use of language, spelling, grammar, source siting. It includes use of design for communication and the use of other media like photos, video, audio and digital versions of other art work.

My  hope was to develop a rubric for a stop motion animation class. I did start some thinking that way but are still in progress. When thinking about broadly about engaging students in stop motion animation I am interested in having them question what they see, especially in terms video, gaming and animation. Why is it you believe what you see when this happens on the screen.

What do you think? Leave your comments below. 

Technology on the Water; Keeping a balance of technology in the art classroom

There is always a free San Francisco Examiner for you when you get off at the Bay Area Rapid Transit at Montgomery Station.

photo credit Zarko Drincinc External link  under CC-BY-ND

A man at the top of the escalator hands the paper to anyone who will take one, reminding them it is free. It has the look of a traditional paper, a paper of substance. I’m always surprised how it feels when you take one, a handfull of pages. Just the same it has a beautiful nostalgic aesthetic, an attractive font announces the name of the paper and bold fonts announcing the headline below.  A faint echo of a media that was once thick with news and advertisements.

There are many parallels that can be drawn as technology changes industries and institutions. One institution that has seen little changes over the year but now seems poised for change is that of teaching. This is one of the more striking things I have found so far from what we have been learning in the Integrating Technology into Art Education Settings course at the Academy of Art University

This past Tuesday as I got off the escalator at the Montgomery Station, I grabbed the paper because the headline resonates with what we are studying in class. Headline for Tuesday, February 10th, “Technology Timeout; SF Teens To Take A Break From Devices”.  How appropriate, the article by Laura Dudnick, spells out why schools are making a push to put more technology in the classroom while at the same time trying to retain a balance.

I am of two minds about the beauty of all of this technology. I greatly enjoy media. I have made media technology a part of my world for a long time. I enjoyed working with 8mm film and then portable reel to reel video recorders in the seventies. Personal computers, smart phones and the internet has just made all that I enjoy, just that much easier.

While I enjoy new media technology I also find it overwhelming and resistant to limit setting. My perspective comes in large part from being the parent of a teenager. There is  an overwhelming side of new media technology. Phones, iPads, laptops and other computers are taking over all aspects of our lives. When setting a limit for my teen it’s hard to make that same limit for myself. I have online assignments to complete, articles to read, banking to do, taxes to pay, all the business of managing a home, train as a teacher, develop as an artist and oh so much more.

I couldn’t resist drawing a comparison between changing industries like that of the newspaper and institutions like teaching with changes on the horizon. Seeing Laura Dudnick’s article in the Examiner seemed poignant in light of this class but I’m really very excited to get started.

In these first weeks of Integrating Technology into Art Education Settings we have looked at an overview of Web 2.0 tools and how they are expected to impact the classrooms of today and of the future. Specifically we looked at Google Docs. We created a document on our own and, defying space and time, we created a document with a fellow classmate online.

I greatly enjoyed the process of creating a project with fellow student Charelese Thomson. We shared and developed ideas with a surprising amount of ease. We drew inspiration from the Philip Scott Johnson’s Visages d’Art and colorful portraits such as this one.

tony a.k.a ironman

, by doepicshitt

From that we toyed with ideas for developing a lesson plan that would take advantage of students from various backgrounds sharing and morphing their self portraits using Google Docs.  You can see that lesson here.

Moving forward, I am excited about opportunity to creating a balanced lesson plan that integrates technology. As part of a Richmond Art Center Art in the Community Program I developed a stop motion animation curriculum that is ready for an update. I am hoping that this is an opportunity to more successfully integrate new media technology into that curriculum. As part of that effort I look forward to documenting my process in this Blog.

At the Contra Costa County STEAM Colloquium doing stop motion animation

At the same time I am looking for ways to keeping a balance of technology in the learning experience. I think there is much to be learned by the experience of schools like Convent of the Sacred Heart High School who are experimenting with having their students take breaks from the same technology they are advocating in the classroom.

What do you think? As a class member or a community member, I invite you to share your feedback and suggestions here.

Welcome

I'm looking forward to exploring the appropriate and ideal use of today's media technology in the art classroom.