PROPOSED CHANGES TO THE VISUAL ARTS ASSESSMENT CRITERIA

Are you mad? Changing the criteria? The course has only just had its first examinations session and they are thinking of changing them already?

Like any good organization, the DP visual arts curriculum and assessment teams review, consider and where necessary adjust.

And having scrutinized the files of many thousands of students in May, June and July, the decision was made to tweak the assessment criteria for the 2017 examination sessions.
“Tweak” is the operative work here. There are of course no big changes: the criteria are all the same but in some cases the wording of descriptors has been modified.

Yes, but WHY?

Jayson Paterson has written on the OCC:

“As an international course, there is never a time in the year when a course is not “mid-way through” , as the Diploma runs a May and November examination session. In the past, if there have been issues discovered through the delivery of the course or during Grade Award with the assessment tools, we have been stuck with them for the life of the course and had to address them with, most recently, clarification documents that have been made available to teachers and examiners or further back, clarification documents that were only available to examiners.

The changes that have been made were made at the urging of the senior examiners, most of who also teach the diploma after considering:

• the May 2016 submissions and how candidates actually addressed the task;
• feedback from team leaders and examiners on where there were difficulties in interpreting or applying the assessment criteria;
• discrepancies between English, Spanish and French translations that potentially could advantage responses in one language over another;
• language used in the criteria that caused unexpected “peaks” in the distribution of marks in each criterion.

Neither the Assessment Division or the Curriculum Division would authorize changes if they in any way altered the nature of the assessment components or what was expected of the candidates. If both these departments and the senior examiners felt that changes were required, and would advantage the students, then I say, sooner the better”.

The modifications should not change how you prepare the artworks etc for your submissions.

But your teacher(s) should find it easier to decide your internal assessment marks (for the exhibition) and predict your grades.

Your teacher will be able to give you the complete revised versions for all components – this blog post is just by way of a heads-up.

All this information is available to your teacher through the IB OCC (Online Curriculm Centre)

There are versions of the updated criteria in English, French and Spanish.

Please note, the re-wording I’m discussing here constitutes likely changes. and is taken from a pre-publication draft.

Also this only applies to 2017 and beyond. The updated Visual arts guide will be published on the OCC by February 2017.

(If you are in a southern hemisphere school uploading for the November examination session, don’t worry. Your uploaded files will be assessed using the original assessment criteria).

So what’s new in these drafts?

I have provided (below) some examples of ‘old’ and ‘new’ descriptors – two comparing old and new text in descriptors from the Comparative Study, two doing the same from the Process Portfolio descriptors, and a look at old and new for the Curatorial Rationale descriptor from the Exhibition component.

For each criterion I have used the wording of the top markband descriptor.

COMPARATIVE STUDY

A Formal Qualities (top markband descriptor)

OLD

The work identifies and analyses the formal qualities of the selected pieces from at least two cultural origins. The analysis of these formal qualities is consistently informed and effective.

NEW

The work provides a consistent, insightful and informed identification and analysis of the formal qualities of the selected pieces.

B Function and Purpose (top markband descriptor)

OLD

The work demonstrates a consistently informed and appropriate interpretation of the function and purpose of the selected pieces within the cultural context in which they were created.

NEW

The work provides a consistent, insightful and informed analysis and demonstrates thorough understanding of the function and purpose of the selected pieces from at least two contrasting cultural contexts.

PROCESS PORTFOLIO

Skills, techniques and processes (top markband descriptor)

OLD

Working across at least the required number of media and forms, the work demonstrates assured and sustained experimentation and manipulation of a range of skills, techniques and processes, and a highly appropriate selection of materials, consistent with intentions.

NEW

Working across at least the minimum required number of media and forms, the portfolio demonstrates assured and sustained experimentation and manipulation of a range of skills, techniques and processes, and a highly appropriate selection of materials, consistent with intentions.

Critical investigation (top markband descriptor)

OLD

The work shows in-depth critical investigation, clearly communicating a secure and insightful awareness of how this investigation has impacted upon the student’s own developing practices and intentions.

NEW

The portfolio shows in-depth critical investigation into other artist’s art-making practices, clearly communicating a secure and insightful awareness of how this investigation has impacted upon the student’s own developing practices and intentions.

EXHIBITION

Curatorial practice (HL only) (top markband descriptor)

OLD

The curatorial rationale fully justifies the selection and arrangement of the exhibited works.

The curatorial rationale effectively articulates the relationship between the artworks and the viewer within the space made available to the student.

NEW

The curatorial rationale fully justifies the selection and arrangement of the exhibited works as appropriate to the student’s stated intentions.

The curatorial rationale effectively articulates the relationship between the artworks and the viewer within the space made available to the student.

Image

Photograph taken by me of 17th century painting in the National Gallery, London, subsequently modified (with additional captions etc).