A-level art history axed

News that the last exam board to offer A-level art history will axe the subject: see here. The news has been received by many with dismay: see Bendor Grosvenor's blog post, and the Association of Art Historians' statement regarding the decision by the AQA exam board.

But is this bad news for higher education?

Helping students write better (3)

I've adapted my description of this activity from a colleague, Hulya Oztel, Principal Lecturer at de Montfort University. It's called 'reading cards' and is designed to help students engage with literature and provide feedback on their writing - a very soft form of formative assessment, if you will. Hulya says she got it from school in France and uses it with her students, and it's certainly something I'd like to try in future. It's as much about reading as writing, but I think it's principal use is to keep the students writing regularly and critically.

Students read a journal article, chapter from a book, or book section. They then compile a 'reading card' that consists of the following:

1. The full bibliographic entry of the book/chapter/article. (You'd need to say what format you wanted it in: MHRA, Chicago (footnote), MLA, etc).

2. An abstract. Students should write their own abstract of the piece, limited to 250 words. Plagiarism is a danger here but we are helped in a subject like art history because a lot of literature is published in books rather than journals, and even journal articles don't always have abstracts.

3. Some key quotations drawn from the piece.  

4. A short critical discussion, up to 500 words. Students can identify strengths and weaknesses of the piece, and say whether they agree or disagree, and why. Graham's Hierarchy of Disagreement, or a 'hierarchy of agreement' can help them clarify the nature and extent of their critical response - see my earlier post 'Seminar Activities (2)'.  

5. Further reading. Students nominate further readings - you stipulate how many - and add a short sentence for each one explaining their choice, eg. 'Addresses the same issues in an earlier period', 'Mentioned by the author as important for shaping their views on this topic', and so on.

Hulya says she asked the students to complete four reading cards over the course of ten weeks, and after she'd given feedback the students could revise three and submit them as part of their coursework portfolio. It needs to be a regular activity but how you organise the feedback would need some thought, especially if your group is over say 15 students! 

Helping students write better (4)

In an earlier post I mentioned the Royal Literary Fund's invaluable resources for students and other academic writers: their super Writing Essays guide, and their Dissertation Guide.

They've recently started two blogs. One is called Top Tips and is full of helpful ad hoc advice from the RLF Fellows to help you write more effectively. The second blog is called What's Happening and features reflections from Fellows on the link between their workshops with students, and their own creative writing.

Thanks to Dilly Fung (@DevonDilly) for bringing this to my attention!

Digitising British Art in the Witt Library

A welcome development! The Witt Library has received a donation to enable them to digitise some 250,000 images from the British Art boxes - hopefully covering all the artists born up to 1799. See here for more details: http://courtauld.ac.uk/study/resources/image-libraries/digitising-british-art-in-the-witt-library

Seminar activities (1)

'Getting the buggers to talk' is the somewhat arresting title of a book on secondary school teaching I saw recently in the Institute of Education's bookshop. Not appropriate for university, to be sure, but the sentiment is familiar enough. Here's a great discussion-based activity I learned from the Open University and have tried many times. It's most effective where the group has studied a topic together and are discussing the issues. It's ideal for a revision class where you might use it to cover issues raised in the exam. 

Clear some space in the middle of the room and put three chairs down. Group is seated round the edge. Invite three students to come and sit on the chairs, and give them a question to discuss for about ninety seconds. The best questions are those where people might have different views, eg. 'Is the Enlightenment relevant today?', 'Is the world safer with only one superpower?', and so on. Reassure them that they will only have to talk for ninety seconds - not a second longer. 

Tell the rest of the class to make notes on what's said. Hopefully they should all be familiar with the topic (Enlightenment literature, art, etc; world politics after the fall of the USSR, and so on). The key is to give the rest of the class something to do, and to reassure the three students sat in the middle of the room that their peers are busy with their notes and not staring at them intently. 

Start the students talking. Sit back and don't intervene, even when awkward silences occur. On the stroke of ninety seconds, place a fourth chair in the centre of the room. Pause the conversation and let everyone know that if they have something to contribute then they can sit on the empty chair and join in the discussion, and that one of the original discussants must then leave to ensure that there is always an empty chair for anyone who wishes to join in. Generally the more controversial the topic the more likely you are to have people willing to sit in the empty chair, and this calls for a good judgment about levels of knowledge and aligning the question with what your students are likely to know. 

You can let the discussion roll on, or cut it short and give the students a new topic and repeat the process. 

Helping students write better (2)

This week I read the Royal Literary Fund's very helpful Essay Guide and Dissertation Guide. Long documents both, but the gist is simple: rewrite, rewrite, rewrite.

The following day a colleague showed me the stats for the 'writing advice' website they run for their students. The 'writing discussion' page received 105 visits, the most recent being the day previously, but the 'share and critique' page was visited only 5 times.

Can you see the mismatch? The experts say that rewriting is the key to producing good work, but students are reluctant to show their work to others, which if not the first step in that process is surely the most vital.

So here are some thoughts about how students can be encouraged to share their work and receive feedback:

Wisdom

Recently I read this verse in the Book of Proverbs: 'The first to present their case seems right, until another comes along and questions him' (Proverbs 18:17). I've thought a lot about it, and can't think of a better summary of what the academic life is all about.