|
Questions
prospective students or their parents should ask (continued)
If students are planning a career in Graphic Design and the
program cannot meet or come close to the requirements for
an effective education, they should not enroll!
If
students are enrolled in a Graphic Design program and do not
have adequate space or technical facilities; if there are
insufficient credits in the major, if the program is understaffed
or leadership is not working Ð they should complain! If the
institution offers Graphic Design, they are obliged to provide
a reasonable educational program. Complaints should be taken
to upper administration. Teachers and Department Heads usually
cannot make the necessary changes. The Provost and President
are the appropriate offices to approach. The complaints should
be documented in writing and restricted to fundamental issues.
Complaints are most effective when done by a committee of
students rather than individuals. Students should be firm
and persistent, they are paying tuition and have the right
to demand an adequate education.
Selecting
Students for the Program
When admission to the program is limited to a fixed number
of students, it is perplexing to know how best to make the
selection. Every faculty wants the best students but identifying
them is extremely difficult. I have worked with portfolios
and interviews, tests, and open admissions. In addition, I
know of programs that accept students based entirely on SAT
scores.
Personal
interviews have most often led me astray. The student may
come across as articulate, committed and having promise of
being an ideal student. Once in the program there were often
problems with attendance, productivity, attitude or the ability
to handle design process.
One
problem with portfolios is that you never know how much of
the work is the student's or their teachers. An aspect of
portfolios that I did find fairly reliable was an indication
of commitment. My favorite is a crow-quill drawing about fifteen
by twenty-four inches. I don't care about the subject material
or whether it is a good drawing. I know what it takes in time
and effort to fill that space with a crow-quill pen. This
is a clear message that the student is willing to work, sustain
effort and that the work is rewarding to them. Any piece of
work that requires intensive effort and requires an extended
length of time to complete usually reflects the desired qualities
in a student. I prefer seeing drawings to collages, paintings
or conceptual art.
At
Arizona State University, we used a modified version of a
visual test devised by Robert Swinehart at Carnegie Mellon
University. The test had sections on line drawing, concept,
color, visual and verbal directions and design orientation.
The student could submit five pieces of work of their choice
with the test. The test was made available in the Spring semester
and applicants came to my office, signed in and were given
the test. I marked on the sign-up sheet those students who
were handicapped or minorities so we would have this information
when we scored the tests. We were accepting a maximum of forty-four
students each year. The tests were collected and on a Saturday
the entire faculty went through all the materials and scored
the tests. We used a four point scoring system so that we
could also figure in Grade Point Average. The thirty-five
to thirty-eight highest scores were automatically accepted.
We then reviewed handicapped, minority and those students
who had applied the previous year and been rejected. After
considerable review and discussion, the faculty chose the
final students to fill the quota. The names of the accepted
students were posted. This was a very objective process for
selecting students, but we did not seem to have any better
students than if we'd used other procedures. Perhaps a lottery
is next.
The
best method for selecting students is similar to that used
at Basel where they have what amounts to a one year admissions
process. They select a fixed number of students from applicants
who then enter into a one-year admissions process. The students
take basic courses for one year, and on the basis of work
and progress, a fixed number of them are admitted into the
program. I have worked with an open admissions for the first
year and then weaned out those students who seemed uncommitted
or unsuited for the program. This process worked best. A Sophomore
Review where students are accepted by faculty recommendation
to advance into the Junior program accomplishes the same purpose.
However, it leaves only two years for professional education.
Another
method that might work is to have beginning students in the
Department take a general Foundations the first semester,
and elect either a Design or Fine Arts emphasis in the second
semester. Graphic Designs students could be selected based
on performance in the second semester. This also permits Graphic
Design to add one semester to the program.
It
was always our policy to require transfer students to take
our entire program regardless of what level they reached at
another institution. Any accumulation of design credits were
applied to elective requirements.
Student
Records
In every program with which I have been involved, there has
been a fairly high rate of attrition. Usually the largest
number of students withdrew or were dropped in the Sophomore
level; four to six as Juniors and two or three as Seniors.
Overall, there would be a forty to fifty percent attrition
rate for the total program.
At
The Minneapolis School of Art, I soon encountered problems
with failed students or their parents. Other than grades,
justification for failing students came down to the teacher's
word against that of the student, and for me, this was an
untenable situation.
My
response was to develop a form which accommodated all the
Graphic Design courses and teachers. Each course had a separate
space for a grade and teacher comments. The student's name,
date and grade level were also recorded. At reviews, the forms
were filled out, and they were kept in alphabetical sequence
in a loose-leaf notebook. As the student moved through the
program, the forms accumulated. The notebook moved from one
teacher to the next as students moved ahead. Each new teacher
could review the student's progress to that point with all
the previous teacher's comments. In dealing with either students
or parents regarding grades or being dropped from the program,
the records were invaluable and certainly eased our previous
problems with justifying faculty action. The records were
also helpful in supplying information for job references after
students graduated.
Over
the years, the forms were further refined. We eventually made
a separate form for mid-term reviews. The procedure we most
often followed was to have the students stack the work on
their desk during the scheduled class-time including a sheet
of paper with their name on it. The students were not present
when the teacher went through the work. The instructor wrote
comments and gave a tentative grade for each student. These
were copied with one copy left with the student's work and
the other put into the record book. Keeping these records
did mean extra work for teachers but it kept students informed,
and generally, the procedure was well worth the effort.
|
