Prepare Students For Professional Practice As Photographic Artists
The BFA in Photography is the professional degree for Photography students in the Art Department. The BFA program will provide students with the skills to practice the art of photography at a professional level. The BFA will also qualify students to pursue the MFA degree at graduate schools in the United States.
Objective
Demonstrate Digital Imaging Skills
Students will demonstrate proficiency in the creation, manipulation, and printing of digital images.
Indicator
Digital Portfolio
Students in ART 3379 will create portfolios of work for the final project using digital imaging techniques.
A committee of Photography faculty will evaluate the samples of work from the portfolios to determine successful demonstration of:
• Ability to evaluate and process Image color, white-balance, perspective, value, contrast and artifacts correction.
• Ability to create and construct complex composite images that reflect a true photographic reality by image evaluation, color/tone matching, bitmap image construction, shadow construction and transformation, and multi-step processes.
• Ability to create and maintain a photographic workflow, understand digital image global standards and prepare images for multiple formats, i.e. print, web, pdf, etc.
• the student's ability to express and communicate ideas and concepts through the medium of photography.
Criterion
70% Of Students Will Score 80 Or Higher
The portfolios will be evaluated by 2 members of the Photo faculty. The faculty will use a rubric that uses a scale of 0-100% to evaluate the abilities and proficiencies. It is expected that at least 70% of the students evaluated will score 80 or higher in each aspect of the evaluation. Last year, works from an exhibition by students in ARTS 3370 was assessed and all of the students scored above 80 in the assessment.
While the assessment was positive, faculty still feel strongly that there is need for improvement in teaching digital skills to students. This year, the rubric was revised. This year, work from ARTS 3379 was used as the indicator in order to get a better sense of knowledge from advanced students. The same criteria of 70% scoring 80 or higher will be maintained.
Finding
Weakness In Concept And Technique
50% scored above 80 on evaluation of color balance
8% scored above 80 on compositing
0% scored above 80 on photographic workflow (faculty were unable to assess this from the images provided)
50% scored above 80 on expression of concepts and ideas.
The results indicate, and faculty agree that digital manipulation and concept development are weaknesses of the photography program.
Action
Improve Digital Photography Courses
This year a separate section of ARTS 2370 was added for Photography majors and minors only to address the inconsistency between sections. The goal of this class was to be more focused on advanced techniques for Photo majors. More image editing workshops will be offered in both ARTS 2370 and ARTS 2375 to improve student competency in Adobe Photoshop. The Photography Program Coordinator will continue to meet with the photography faculty to make sure learning objectives are being met and discuss ways to improve the quality of assignments.
Objective
Professional Practice Proficiency
Students will be proficient in the creation, manipulation, and printing of digital images and demonstrate the ability to use these techniques to create photographic artworks that have a personal aesthetic and are conceptually sophisticated.
Indicator
Senior Portfolios
Seniors in the BA Photography program will take ARTS 3369 Studio Practices 2 and ARTS 3376 Photographic Narratives. Portfolios by seniors in these classes will be assessed.
The works in the portfolios will demonstrate
• expression of concept through art • artistic development through the evolution of concept • use of medium and materials to express concept • evidence of personal voice • professional presentation
Criterion
75% Of Students Will Score 85 Or Higher
The portfolios will be evaluated by 2 members of the Photo faculty. The faculty will use a rubric that uses a scale of 0-100% to evaluate the abilities and proficiencies. It is expected that at least 70% of the students evaluated will score 85 or higher in each aspect of the evaluation. All of the students met the criteria for evaluation. This year, we are replacing work from ARTS 3369, Studio Practices 2, with work from ARTS 3378 Contemporary Issues in photography and raising the expected percentage of 70% to 75% score 85.
Finding
Successful Learning Outcomes
85-100% of the students scored above 85 in each category. Faculty observations indicate that technical ability continues to improve from last year’s evaluations. Content and artistic development are still improving, but continue to be an area for improvement. The area of professional presentation methods could be improved. The Photography Program has seen improvement in image editing (Photoshop) and expression of content, but should continue to strive for growth.
Action
Professional Presentation Workshops And Exhibitions
In addition to ARTS 4315 Professional Practices, presentation techniques will be discussed in ARTS 2375. More image editing workshops will be offered in both ARTS 2370 and ARTS 2375 to improve student competency in editing. The coordinator will continue to work with all Photo faculty to develop assignments and curriculum that will help students to improve on content.
Students will continue to hold public exhibitions of their work in ARTS 3376 and 3378 as well as ARTS 4315 Professional Practices. During these exhibitions, students will engage the community by giving public talks about heir work and presenting written descriptions of their photographic projects.
Goal
Knowledge Of The History Of Photography
Students in the BFA Photography program will have an understanding of the History of Photography. The will be familiar with contemporary theories, trends and practices in photography and be able to contextualize ideas in the continuum of this history and understand the relation of their own work to photography that has preceded it.
Objective
Historical And Contemporary Knowledge
Students in the BA Photography program will have an understanding of the History of Photography. They will be familiar with contemporary theories, trends and practices in photography and be able to contextualize ideas in the continuum of this history and understand the relation of their own work to photography that has preceded it.
Indicator
Contemporary Photography Exhibition Proposal And Paper
Students in ARTS 3381, The History of Photography, will propose an exhibition of work by contemporary photographers of their choice. The will write an essay to that includes an analysis of the works and their historical significance.
The essays will discuss the formal attributes of the photograph, the style, the social or political influences, the technology use, and the subject matter.
The essays will: • provide a clear introduction and draw conclusions supported by visual and contextual evidence. • move from specific examples to general statements. • describe the works accurately and clearly. • use vocabulary introduced in classroom lectures and photography history textbooks. • convey a clear and convincing image of their perspective. • use external information about the cultural context and photographic techniques gathered from readings and presentations. • present an understanding of the works in a way that is convincing and supported by detailed evidence. • sum up major ideas and draw convincing conclusions grounded in visual evidence and contextual information.
Criterion
70% Will Score 85 Or Higher
The essays will be evaluated by 2 members of the Photo faculty. The faculty will use a rubric with a scale of 0-100% to evaluate the abilities and proficiencies. It is expected that at least 70% of the students evaluated will score 85 or higher in each aspect of the evaluation. This year The History of Photography, was taught by a professor who has a PhD in Art History. As a result of this change, the standards of scholarly research have been strengthened for the writing assignment. Last year target score is raised to 85. The faculty would like to continue to assess and maintain this objective since the standards of the class have now been improved.
Finding
Improvements Needed
This years results showed areas that need improvement.
30% scored above 85 in clarity of writing
50% scored above 85 in their abilty to describe works of art
40% scored above 85 in their ability to place the works in historical context
20% scored above 85 on their use of professional vocabulary
60% scored above 85 on demonstrating understanding of works
305 scored above 85 on their conclusion.
Faculty observations indicate that the use of vocabulary is still in need of improvement. Students have shown great improvement in writing conclusion paragraphs and understanding historical context for the work they are studying. There has been a shift, with new faculty teaching in a more academic approach and student’s understanding of the history of art photography is greatly improving.
Action
Continue To Develop Photo History Curriculum
Currently, ARTS 3381, The History of Photography is being taught by an Art Historian. The Photo faculty will continue to work with the Art History faculty to develop curriculum and make sure the Photo students are continuing to improve their knowledge of photo history.