AALHE 2018 Annual Conference

Assessing art and performing arts programs might seem to present challenges of subjectivity. Clichés like "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" might serve as attempts to capture this perspective. However, arts faculty are professionals and thus possess sound and experienced-based perspectives, and their judgements can, and do, render valuable insight into student learning and development in the arts. In addition, arts professionals can serve as panel assessment participants, providing professional perspective (as opposed to traditional "academic judgement" in areas such as English, History, etc.), and give extremely valuable feedback to the program leaders about student performance that can be incorporated into the curriculum. In this session, we will describe our processes for assessing student work in Columbia's performing arts and art majors; how internal and external perspectives are utilized; and how these approaches inform us about student growth in our arts disciplines. Attendees will view and assess samples of student work in diverse arts disciplines, such as Photography and Design, and discuss the challenges, opportunities, and ultimately, the benefits of these activities.