“In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes”

 THE 15 MINUTE INTERVIEW

By Kightlinger, Jack E., White House photo [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/15_minutes_of_fame

As many of you are by now aware, there are some more upcoming changes to the interview process: there is now a choice – a 15 minute student interview or a 1000 word statement. One or the other is compulsory.

Personally I think these are good changes and will generally help the assessment process and make for a better understanding of the student’s work, providing both art teachers and their students understand what they need to do.

I understand that many teachers and students love the idea of a 20 (SL) or 30 (HL) minute interview as an important way of explaining, presenting, justifying, discussing and/or describing the achievements, challenges, processes etc of the course.

Yes – as a culminating event it’s great.

But as an assessment tool (or even as a supplement to assessment), unfortunately its somewhat unreliable, and in the hands of many teachers, it can be clumsy and ineffective.

As an examiner in the last session, I watched all interviews all the way through (or up to the 20- or 30-minute maximum) – but in the case of many I gained very little that was not already evident in the investigation workbook pages or the candidate statement.

The IB is busy working on the guidance documents both for the 15 minute interview and the 1000 word statement, which should help teachers and students make whichever one they choose more effective and more useful for assessment in 2014.

I’ll be reviewing these as soon as they are published – stay tuned!

In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes!