Art History
Program, Department of Art
PLAN FOR THE
ASSESSMENT OF LEARNING
Version 4.0,
This document delineates
the plan of the art history faculty of the
A. Knowledge
The art history
faculty believes that students receiving the B.A. in art history should acquire
knowledge of the following:
1. The history of art
In their
required coursework for the B.A. (see Appendix II) art history majors should
acquire a sound, basic knowledge of the following essential aspects of the
history of western art and architecture:
a. the essential chronology of western art,
ranging from the prehistory of
b. essential
aspects of tradition and innovation in western society and culture,
particularly as they relate to the development of artistic style and subject
matter;
c. works
from the range of western culture that manifest the achievements and various
aims of artists, and of the goals of their patrons or matrons;
d. essential
media and processes used by artists; and
e. a
vocabulary essential to the understanding and interpretation of works of art.
2. Art historical
methods and concerns
Through their
historically based coursework, as well as a new course, Methods in Art History (see Appendix III) students should acquire a
basic knowledge of the development of the art historical discipline and its
working methods (such as style, connoisseurship and analysis of content),
various ideological approaches to the discipline (e.g., formal analysis, style
and periodization; iconography; Marxist theory; feminist theory), and
historiography.
B. Skills
1. Skills
related to and developed in the art history
curriculum
The art history
faculty believes that students graduating with the B.A. in art history from the
a.
Visual analysis
Students
should develop their abilities to analyze fundamental formal and aesthetic
aspects of works of painting and sculpture and, if possible, architecture.
b.
Writing
Students
should achieve appropriate levels of maturation in the conceptual and
linguistic skills necessary to understand, analyze and communicate about works
of art in historical context.
c.
Critical Thinking
Students
should achieve the appropriate levels of skill necessary to understand, analyze
and critique scholarly discourse relating to the art historical discipline.
d.
Research
Students
should achieve appropriate levels of maturation in the skills necessary to gather
and analyze information related to the art historical discipline, and in the
citation of scholarly sources.
2.
Non-curricular skills
The art history
faculty believes that students graduating with the B.A. in art history from The
University of Toledo would strongly benefit from developing skills in a number
of areas relating to the discipline. While not directly addressed in the art
history curriculum, students will be advised to acquire knowledge of the
following:
a.
Computer Literacy
Students
will be advised to acquire, through coursework, workshops or tutorial study, a
basic knowledge of computer hardware and software relating to research, word
processing, data processing and graphics.
b.
Photography
Students
will be advised to acquire, through coursework, workshops or tutorial study, a
basic knowledge of the use of both film and digital cameras to record and
document works of art and architecture.
c.
Operation of audio-visual equipment
Students
will be advised to acquire, through coursework, workshops or tutorial study, a
basic knowledge of the use of audio-visual equipment essential to the
presentation of art historical material, such as slide projection equipment,
video projectors and digital projection equipment.
d.
Exhibition techniques
Through
coursework, workshops, independent study or internships, art history majors
should become familiar with basic skills relating to the installation, display,
labeling, interpretation and cataloguing of works of art.
Assessment will occur once in each
academic year and will focus on majors late in their undergraduate careers.
While participated in by all full-time members of the art history faculty, the
professor teaching Methods in Art History
will coordinate the process.
A.
Senior Assessment activities
Methods
in Art History will be
open only to advanced art history majors, preferably seniors. It will be the
responsibility of the professor in charge of the course to help students in
assembling portfolios that will be assessed by the entire full-time art history
faculty. The following materials will be included in each portfolio:
1. An informal examination of art
historical knowledge
Students enrolled in the course will take
concise informal exams that will not be graded. The exams will draw upon the
areas of knowledge outlined in Section I.A.1 above. Students will be shown a
range of works of art that will include both mainstream works frequently used
in undergraduate courses and textbooks, and works that are rarely used. They
will be asked to discuss them briefly in terms of chronology, style, authorship
and essential characteristics. The full-time faculty will analyze student
response according to a set of standards that will result in a quantitative
score. This analysis, as well as student comments on them, will be very helpful
in assessing our historically based-curriculum (I.A.1) as well as visual
analysis (I.B.1.a).
2. A written exercise in visual analysis
In the Methods in Art History seminar, students will be asked to describe
and analyze in class the formal characteristics of a work of art that, by
design, will not be familiar to them. The full-time faculty will analyze these
submissions according to a set of standards that will result in a quantitative
score. This analysis will be very helpful in assessing the effectiveness of our
curriculum in terms of description, visual analysis, and written expression
(I.A.1.f and I.B.1.a).
3. Two writing samples dealing with
critical thinking and research
Art history majors will be instructed on
course syllabi to save all written assignments from their courses in the major.
During the construction of portfolios in Methods
in Art History, majors will be asked to choose from their saved work two
formal writing assignments. The full-time faculty will analyze these
submissions according to a set of standards that will result in a quantitative
score. This analysis will be very helpful in assessing the effectiveness of our
curriculum in terms of writing, critical thinking, and research (I.B.1.b-d).
4. A senior exit questionnaire and
statement of self-assessment
Graduating majors in Methods in Art History will be asked to submit information about
their skills in non-curricular areas (I.B.2.a-d), and a letter of
self-assessment that reflects on their experience with the major. This material
will provide formative information for the art history curriculum and advising.
B.
Alumni follow-up questionnaires
The faculty will make every effort to
follow the careers of our graduates, and to solicit their evaluation of our
curriculum after they have pursued careers or further education. The Director
of Art History will coordinate this effort; all full-time faculty will analyze
the information gathered.
III.
THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ART HISTORY ASSESSMENT PLAN
Led by the Director of Art History, the
full-time faculty will create the quantitative measuring instruments for three
important instruments for assessment: a) the informal examination of art
historical knowledge, b) written exercise in visual analysis, and c) analysis
of writing samples (II.A.1-3). As part of the process, the Director of Art
History will coordinate the assembly and analysis of senior portfolios
consisting of three formal writing assignments and a letter of
Methods
in Art History will be
offered for the first time in the Fall Semester of 2004 under an existing
Special Topics number (ARTH 4980). The new course will also be submitted to the
College for approval as a required course in the major with a unique course
number. Pending approval by the College and University, it will become a
required course—given once a year— for all students declaring an art history
major in the 2005/6 academic year.
During the Fall of 2004, Dr. Richard
Putney will teach Methods in Art History. He will coordinate the full-time
faculty’s assessment activities called for in this document (II.A-B) and the
publication of an assessment report for the art history program..
Spring
2005
The art history faculty is currently developing
curricular initiatives relating to essential practices in the conservation and
display of cultural and artistic artifacts. Once available to our majors, such
educational experiences will also be folded into our assessment program. An
experimental course in Museum Practices
will be offered for the first time in the spring semester of 2005. Pending the
establishment of an effective curriculum and approval by the College and the
University, it will become a regularly offered course and a requirement for art
history majors.
Art History Program, University of Toledo
The essential mission of the art history program
is to teach and guide students of the University of Toledo in the maturation of
the conceptual abilities, visual perceptions and linguistic skills necessary to
understand and analyze works of art in historical context. Centering upon the
fine arts and engendering the values traditionally associated with a liberal
education, the art history program intends to provide its students with the
instruction and the guidance necessary for their success in the pursuit of
careers or of further educational experiences, whether in the history of art or
other fields of human endeavor. Although the art history program will focus its
curriculum upon its undergraduate majors in art history, art education and
studio art, it also has a strong commitment to providing offerings of the
highest quality to student majoring in fields other than art. In providing
outstanding educational experiences for all of its students, the program will
effectively utilize the uniquely combined resources of The University of Toledo
and The Toledo Museum of Art. Housed on the Museum campus in close proximity to
an art collection worthy of any university in the world, the program will take
full advantage of an environment that is ideal for enhancing the understanding
of the creative process. With the cooperation of the university and the museum,
the program aims to realize the vast educational potential provided by an
unusually advantageous institutional affiliation, and for its faculty members
to realize their full potential as teachers and scholars.
APPENDIX II
Requirements
in the Art History Major
Requirements at the time of this writing call
for the completion of a four-course sequence of 12 credit hours in the history
of western art: ARTH 2000 – Aspects of Ancient Art (3 credit hours); ARTH 2020
– Aspects of Medieval Art (3 credit hours); ARTH 2040 – Renaissance and Baroque
Art (3 credit hours); and ARTH 2080 – Modern Art (3 credit hours).
In addition, majors are to take at least one
three-credit course in non-western art, to be drawn from the following: ARTH
2100 – Introduction of Asian Art (3 credit hours); ARTH 2200 – Ethnographic Art
(3 credit hours); ARTH 3250 – Topics in Asian Art (3 credit hours); ARTH 3270 –
Topics in Ethnographic Art (3 credit hours); ARTH 3300 – African Art (3 credit
hours); or ARTH 3350 – Art of the Ancient Americas (3 credit hours).
To complete the major, which has a minimum
requirement of at least 33 credit hours, majors are to take a minimum of 18
additional credit hours in the history of art; the maximum hours allowed in the
major is 45, with the exception of the optional senior thesis (four credit
hours).