Showing posts with label arts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label arts. Show all posts
Monday, 3 March 2014
Artworks need creative titles: an important, but seldom taught, skill.
Written for educators interested in teaching their Visual Arts learners to creatively label artwork.
Why teach creating artwork titles?
Naming artworks is an important aspect of the creative artist's practice. As explained in Don Thompson's excellent overview of the contemporary art market, 'The $12 million Stuffed Shark', an interesting title can be the most important contributor to an artwork's conceptual value, and financial worth. He used Damien Hirst's 'The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living' {1991} as a leading example of this.
By contrast to the important role of titling for practicing artists, anecdotal evidence from my research fieldwork (2009-13) suggests that learners and students are too seldom taught to think about creating interesting titles or even the most appropriate formats to use while labeling digitized artworks. Arguably this is due to Visual Arts syllabi that tend to be dominated by an emphasis on representation, with limited attention being given to communication. According to Kress (2010; 49), representation and communication are distinct social practices: Representation focuses on one’s interest in engaging with the world and one’s desire to give material realization to meanings about that world. By contrast, communication focuses on one’s wish or need to make that representation available to others through interactions.
Despite titles having an important role to play both in representation and for communication, they are often only taught briefly in response to a requirement that artworks be labelled for end-of-year exhibitions. At best, an explanation for this teaching omission could be that creating titles and selecting the most appropriate labeling conventions are assumed to be implicitly understood. At worst, titling may be deemed irrelevant as "just" school or tertiary Visual Arts genres that will seldom be viewed outside the studio or home. Lankshear and Knobel (2003: 107), in particular, have warned educators to avoid this ‘fridge door mindset’ – where project work has no audience purpose beyond the classroom (other than a display on a family’s refrigerator door).
By contrast, a rationale for encouraging learners to think of appropriate titles and labeling conventions {for the (sub-) genres in which work} could draw from these four points:
Titling digitized imagery creatively and labeling them in an appropriate format is not only an important aspect of ongoing e-portfolio design and assessment, but vital in the text-dominant, Internet medium for searchability. Despite this importance, a content analysis of learners' title, format and attribution choices reveals that most pupils had difficulty with; creating interesting artwork titles, adding full labels and consistently formatting them across their artwork project folders. For those that attributed work, several struggled to attribute it to an appropriate source:
Learners were taught to use two formats for labeling; one for the artworks they created, the other for attribution. Both formats are close to those used in their prescribed Art History textbook.In response, five learners chose not to label their artworks at all. "Thembani" was one and explained, ‘I really think that looking at it was to me, more interesting than the title. So, I just thought that the work itself was there. It was important. Like you just see it and you don't need a title saying...'portrait of whatever', because you can just see it. That's what I thought.’ (Int2, 23 November 2012, R19)
Twenty learners used labels that varied from the curricular guidelines and all were inconsistent in not applying a consistent labeling format across all their e-portfolio's imagery. Just one learner achieved consistency for every digitized artwork. There were very few examples of artwork titles being creative; most simply reflected the title of their educator's rubric or artwork subject's content.
Interestingly, two learners took the initiative to use a specific format of labeling for photographic work. In "Hui"'s case, he followed a detailed labelling convention for his photographs. He sourced this format from publications, ‘like National Geographic, when they would give a photo they would say here like give this aperture and all that...’ (Int1, 9 November 2012, R25) He believed that this contributes to making his photographs look more professional.
The 17 independant school learners were taught to sample and publish images that inspired them. 13 sampled works, which six did not attribute. In Thembani's case, he explained that he did not label the images sourced for his Inspiration folder as a side-effect of the Google search itself not showing this information, ‘Ja, when I was looking for inspiration, I just saw artwork which had, um, no title. So, I thought that it would be quite a mission for me to go, like, to go search for titles when I can't really... when I found the work without titles… on the Internet, on Google. So, putting titles on your work was not really important to me... all I wanted to do, was just put work down...’ (Int2 ST1, 23 November 2012, R20). Just seven learners attributed their sources in full.
Recommendations
The poor compliance results that emerged in the content analysis are not surprising, given that educators at both sites did not emphasize titling artworks as an important discipline, nor were learners explicitly referred to interesting titles as inspiration in any e-portfolio lessons. Also, most learners are inexperienced with working in a medium that foregrounds the relationship between the visual (image) and verbal (text) modes.
It is also evident that there is considerable scope to improve pedagogy for labeling in the 'Visual Arts showcase' e-portfolio meta-genre. Below are five recommendations to help Visual Arts educators:
A. Supply learners with an A4-sized, print-out guide.
'Labeling instructions' were part of one e-portfolio lesson's particular curricular materials. Learner feedback was that this was difficult to retroactively refer to. Rather, an A4-sized guide for labeling should be printed for convenient, ongoing reference.
B. Provide (sub-) genre specific labeling formats for learners to select from.
Learners should be encouraged to think how context shapes the the type of format they choose for artwork. Educators can achieve this by reflecting the variety and depth of diverse Visual Culture fields through including varied labeling formats for diverse sub-genres (for example; photography, botanical illustration, poster design and character concept artworks).
C. Check that labeling tools are readily available and that learners are prompted in class to use them.
Learners complained that they did not have sufficient tools at hand to follow the labeling guidelines; in one example "Masibulele" said that he did not have a ruler long enough to measure his his paintings. Ideally, learners should have the tools and opportunities in class to measure their artworks and label them fully. This would be good preparation for their end-of year exhibitions and avoids a tricky problem Hui notes concerning retroactively labeling work, which often required remembering and finding, ‘… the task's name and stuff... so PAT 1.5 'Human Clay' or whatever. So, we had to find all that...’ (Int1, 9 November 2012, R31)
D. Get learners to set file-name titles as a starting point for labeling.
Learners' image file management and labeling can be improved by encouraging them to approximate their image titles in the digitized artwork's file names.
E. Teach interesting titling lessons!
While suggestions points A. to D. may be considered a bit procedural and boring, there's no reason that teaching artwork labeling has to be. Ideally, titling should be included as an important part of the creative art-making process: learners could be referred to contemporaneous works whose appreciation is closely tied to the titles used, for example: Sofia Hultn 'Lazy Man's Guide to Enlightenment' 2011 or Rodney Graham 'The Gifted Amateur, Nov. 10th, 1962.' 2007. Students could then be encouraged to develop interesting titles themselves, and then only representations for them.
N.B. If you have any other suggestions that could help, please suggest them in the comment box below, ta.
Why teach creating artwork titles?
Naming artworks is an important aspect of the creative artist's practice. As explained in Don Thompson's excellent overview of the contemporary art market, 'The $12 million Stuffed Shark', an interesting title can be the most important contributor to an artwork's conceptual value, and financial worth. He used Damien Hirst's 'The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living' {1991} as a leading example of this.
By contrast to the important role of titling for practicing artists, anecdotal evidence from my research fieldwork (2009-13) suggests that learners and students are too seldom taught to think about creating interesting titles or even the most appropriate formats to use while labeling digitized artworks. Arguably this is due to Visual Arts syllabi that tend to be dominated by an emphasis on representation, with limited attention being given to communication. According to Kress (2010; 49), representation and communication are distinct social practices: Representation focuses on one’s interest in engaging with the world and one’s desire to give material realization to meanings about that world. By contrast, communication focuses on one’s wish or need to make that representation available to others through interactions.
Despite titles having an important role to play both in representation and for communication, they are often only taught briefly in response to a requirement that artworks be labelled for end-of-year exhibitions. At best, an explanation for this teaching omission could be that creating titles and selecting the most appropriate labeling conventions are assumed to be implicitly understood. At worst, titling may be deemed irrelevant as "just" school or tertiary Visual Arts genres that will seldom be viewed outside the studio or home. Lankshear and Knobel (2003: 107), in particular, have warned educators to avoid this ‘fridge door mindset’ – where project work has no audience purpose beyond the classroom (other than a display on a family’s refrigerator door).
By contrast, a rationale for encouraging learners to think of appropriate titles and labeling conventions {for the (sub-) genres in which work} could draw from these four points:
- Unlike working in particular media, titling and labeling original artworks (and attributing others) are far more likely to be continuously practiced throughout learners' lives {whether at work or as a hobby}. These skills are not limited to visual imagery, but can be applied to all media;
- While learners often are given the same subject material to draw in class, encouraging them to reflect about how they might differentiate their work using titling will be of interest to the truly creative;
- Encouraging thinking about; titles, varied labeling formats and attribution can help learners better appreciate key attributes of their work's (sub-)genre, the visual creative worlds and better facilitate the relationship between their work and potential online (and offline) audiences;
- Titling is particularly important in the contemporary era of Internet search, where search engine services use text descriptions to deliver image results (whether on Google Images, online portfolio services or other sites) and savvy searchers look for distinctive content with very particular word combinations. In publishing distinctively-labeled imagery online and making it searchable (with appropriate file names, distinctive meta-tag combinations, etc.), learners can pull and cultivate audiences for their particular creative niches.
Titling digitized imagery creatively and labeling them in an appropriate format is not only an important aspect of ongoing e-portfolio design and assessment, but vital in the text-dominant, Internet medium for searchability. Despite this importance, a content analysis of learners' title, format and attribution choices reveals that most pupils had difficulty with; creating interesting artwork titles, adding full labels and consistently formatting them across their artwork project folders. For those that attributed work, several struggled to attribute it to an appropriate source:
Learners were taught to use two formats for labeling; one for the artworks they created, the other for attribution. Both formats are close to those used in their prescribed Art History textbook.In response, five learners chose not to label their artworks at all. "Thembani" was one and explained, ‘I really think that looking at it was to me, more interesting than the title. So, I just thought that the work itself was there. It was important. Like you just see it and you don't need a title saying...'portrait of whatever', because you can just see it. That's what I thought.’ (Int2, 23 November 2012, R19)
Twenty learners used labels that varied from the curricular guidelines and all were inconsistent in not applying a consistent labeling format across all their e-portfolio's imagery. Just one learner achieved consistency for every digitized artwork. There were very few examples of artwork titles being creative; most simply reflected the title of their educator's rubric or artwork subject's content.
Interestingly, two learners took the initiative to use a specific format of labeling for photographic work. In "Hui"'s case, he followed a detailed labelling convention for his photographs. He sourced this format from publications, ‘like National Geographic, when they would give a photo they would say here like give this aperture and all that...’ (Int1, 9 November 2012, R25) He believed that this contributes to making his photographs look more professional.
The 17 independant school learners were taught to sample and publish images that inspired them. 13 sampled works, which six did not attribute. In Thembani's case, he explained that he did not label the images sourced for his Inspiration folder as a side-effect of the Google search itself not showing this information, ‘Ja, when I was looking for inspiration, I just saw artwork which had, um, no title. So, I thought that it would be quite a mission for me to go, like, to go search for titles when I can't really... when I found the work without titles… on the Internet, on Google. So, putting titles on your work was not really important to me... all I wanted to do, was just put work down...’ (Int2 ST1, 23 November 2012, R20). Just seven learners attributed their sources in full.
Recommendations
The poor compliance results that emerged in the content analysis are not surprising, given that educators at both sites did not emphasize titling artworks as an important discipline, nor were learners explicitly referred to interesting titles as inspiration in any e-portfolio lessons. Also, most learners are inexperienced with working in a medium that foregrounds the relationship between the visual (image) and verbal (text) modes.
It is also evident that there is considerable scope to improve pedagogy for labeling in the 'Visual Arts showcase' e-portfolio meta-genre. Below are five recommendations to help Visual Arts educators:
A. Supply learners with an A4-sized, print-out guide.
'Labeling instructions' were part of one e-portfolio lesson's particular curricular materials. Learner feedback was that this was difficult to retroactively refer to. Rather, an A4-sized guide for labeling should be printed for convenient, ongoing reference.
B. Provide (sub-) genre specific labeling formats for learners to select from.
Learners should be encouraged to think how context shapes the the type of format they choose for artwork. Educators can achieve this by reflecting the variety and depth of diverse Visual Culture fields through including varied labeling formats for diverse sub-genres (for example; photography, botanical illustration, poster design and character concept artworks).
C. Check that labeling tools are readily available and that learners are prompted in class to use them.
Learners complained that they did not have sufficient tools at hand to follow the labeling guidelines; in one example "Masibulele" said that he did not have a ruler long enough to measure his his paintings. Ideally, learners should have the tools and opportunities in class to measure their artworks and label them fully. This would be good preparation for their end-of year exhibitions and avoids a tricky problem Hui notes concerning retroactively labeling work, which often required remembering and finding, ‘… the task's name and stuff... so PAT 1.5 'Human Clay' or whatever. So, we had to find all that...’ (Int1, 9 November 2012, R31)
D. Get learners to set file-name titles as a starting point for labeling.
Learners' image file management and labeling can be improved by encouraging them to approximate their image titles in the digitized artwork's file names.
E. Teach interesting titling lessons!
While suggestions points A. to D. may be considered a bit procedural and boring, there's no reason that teaching artwork labeling has to be. Ideally, titling should be included as an important part of the creative art-making process: learners could be referred to contemporaneous works whose appreciation is closely tied to the titles used, for example: Sofia Hultn 'Lazy Man's Guide to Enlightenment' 2011 or Rodney Graham 'The Gifted Amateur, Nov. 10th, 1962.' 2007. Students could then be encouraged to develop interesting titles themselves, and then only representations for them.
N.B. If you have any other suggestions that could help, please suggest them in the comment box below, ta.
Saturday, 7 September 2013
Four Learners Responses to an Emergent ‘Visual Arts Showcase e-Portfolio' Meta-Genre
Written for Visual Arts educators and researchers interested in the electronic learning portfolio design choices that learners make.
I presented at the South African Visual Arts Conference 2013 today on a cross-section of four independent school Visual Arts learners' e-portfolio design choices. Since I spoke in its pedagogical stream', I chose to prepare a paper that focused on learners' design choices and how they varied in reflecting different aspects of the e-portfolio's significance to the learners. This was used as a basis for a pedagogical reflection, which suggested three avenues for future research into teaching approaches:
A Social Semiotic approach to Multimodal Communication (SSMC) was used to explain the significance of designed ‘texts’ (such as an e-portfolio), which learners described in their interviews and profiles. Kress (2000) proposed that textual significance can be explained by using the the three key questions of an SSMC approach; ‘Who produced it?’, ‘For whom was it produced?’ and ‘In what context and under what constraints was it produced?’. Bateman's Genre and Multimodality {GeM} framework (2008) was used to describe learners' varied page design choices using its layout, content and rhetorical structural layers. My presentation features screen grabs from the four case studies and examples of choices that reproduced, extended, replaced or undercut (Yoshioka and Herman, 2000) their educator's guidelines. His instructions constitute a meta-genre (Giltrow, 2002), which one learner complied with very closely and extended, two reproduced, replaced and extended slightly and one completely undercut. These choices are explained in context of the e-portfolio's significance to each learner and my paper concluded with a pedagogic reflection that advised Visual Arts educators to teach these aspects when teaching e-portfolio curricula.
I presented at the South African Visual Arts Conference 2013 today on a cross-section of four independent school Visual Arts learners' e-portfolio design choices. Since I spoke in its pedagogical stream', I chose to prepare a paper that focused on learners' design choices and how they varied in reflecting different aspects of the e-portfolio's significance to the learners. This was used as a basis for a pedagogical reflection, which suggested three avenues for future research into teaching approaches:
A Social Semiotic approach to Multimodal Communication (SSMC) was used to explain the significance of designed ‘texts’ (such as an e-portfolio), which learners described in their interviews and profiles. Kress (2000) proposed that textual significance can be explained by using the the three key questions of an SSMC approach; ‘Who produced it?’, ‘For whom was it produced?’ and ‘In what context and under what constraints was it produced?’. Bateman's Genre and Multimodality {GeM} framework (2008) was used to describe learners' varied page design choices using its layout, content and rhetorical structural layers. My presentation features screen grabs from the four case studies and examples of choices that reproduced, extended, replaced or undercut (Yoshioka and Herman, 2000) their educator's guidelines. His instructions constitute a meta-genre (Giltrow, 2002), which one learner complied with very closely and extended, two reproduced, replaced and extended slightly and one completely undercut. These choices are explained in context of the e-portfolio's significance to each learner and my paper concluded with a pedagogic reflection that advised Visual Arts educators to teach these aspects when teaching e-portfolio curricula.
The ‘Visual Arts Showcase e-portfolio’ meta-genre has changed and matured since 2010 to become one that assists learners by providing in-depth guidance on each design choice. This approach resonates with the compositional approach of Linguistics, where learners create meaning from the “bottom up” through specific modal choices. Although this proved successful in encouraging compliance for particular choices, it is unlikely to help learners in appreciating how different combinations of choices can be used to create successful examples within the ‘Visual Arts Showcase e-portfolio’ sub-genre.
They should encourage learners to think about the cultural and social significance that the e-portfolio may have to them; at their school, in their professional life and in hobbies, the relevant curricular and extra-mural disciplines they want to feature, who they want to involve in its development and their orientation to potential audiences. In addition to supporting coherence, this should also give more freedom to learners to develop their emergent identities and voice.
The results of following this pedagogical curriculum design recommendation are an avenue for future research. Two other important avenues are pedagogical strategies to address time constraints and design choices with e-portfolios supporting social networking: The number of lessons allocated under ‘Self-management and Presentation’ is insufficient for educators to address important issues of self-curation and publication. The effectiveness of strategies (such as ‘flipping the class’) for helping educate learners about these issues should be investigated. An important criteria for Carbonmade being used at the independent school was that it did not afford social networking functionality (Noakes, 2011). It would be interesting to explore the design choices that learners make when their e-portfolios also afford social networking affordances.
The references for the citations in this post are included in my article. I have provided its source data (such as its interviews) under http://www.travisnoakes.co.za/p/articles-and-data.html at https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UXNq-TP8KVOLSAPOSid5ozWdWouTlgz5ltYqCmZOwPY/edit?usp=sharing.
They should encourage learners to think about the cultural and social significance that the e-portfolio may have to them; at their school, in their professional life and in hobbies, the relevant curricular and extra-mural disciplines they want to feature, who they want to involve in its development and their orientation to potential audiences. In addition to supporting coherence, this should also give more freedom to learners to develop their emergent identities and voice.
The results of following this pedagogical curriculum design recommendation are an avenue for future research. Two other important avenues are pedagogical strategies to address time constraints and design choices with e-portfolios supporting social networking: The number of lessons allocated under ‘Self-management and Presentation’ is insufficient for educators to address important issues of self-curation and publication. The effectiveness of strategies (such as ‘flipping the class’) for helping educate learners about these issues should be investigated. An important criteria for Carbonmade being used at the independent school was that it did not afford social networking functionality (Noakes, 2011). It would be interesting to explore the design choices that learners make when their e-portfolios also afford social networking affordances.
The references for the citations in this post are included in my article. I have provided its source data (such as its interviews) under http://www.travisnoakes.co.za/p/articles-and-data.html at https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UXNq-TP8KVOLSAPOSid5ozWdWouTlgz5ltYqCmZOwPY/edit?usp=sharing.
Wednesday, 19 December 2012
Online portfolio page design element questions to help you in creating a better one.
Written for learners new to online portfolio page design choices, plus their educators.
You are already familiar with writing on paper. As you begin to work onscreen as well, it is important to understand the important differences between the analog environment of paper and the screen's digital one. The key aspects to consider whilst designing your online portfolio pages are categorized below, with related questions to answer in helping you design a better portfolio:
1. Understand the terms that define your online portfolio page's layout
Your online portfolio page is constructed using a digital page template that is constructed from a database of entries. Each webpage is constructed inside your web browser and, in Carbonmade's case, has a 'header bar' (featuring the portfolio title and 'Work' and 'About' navigation buttons), a 'page title' (either the artwork project folder's or the name you chose for your about page), a 'body section' (on your homepage this includes your project artwork folders and their titles; in your project's pages an artwork with its labels and tags and in your about page, your description, profile picture and related entries) and a 'footer' (typically used for a statement protecting your artwork's copyright). In reviewing each portfolio page, have you thoroughly defined entries for your; header bar, page title, body section and footer? If not, your page is likely to appear incomplete!
2. Use a spell-checker for your profile description
Are you sure that there are no spelling mistakes in your portfolio? While you may have to rely on your memory or a dictionary when hand-writing your profile, you should write your profile up in a word processing program (like Microsoft Word or Google Documents) to ensure that its spelling is correct. Once you're done, you can 'cut' the text content and 'paste' it into your profile description.
3. Check your digitized artworks' orientation matches your screen's
Paper is commonly used in portrait format, while all screens are made in landscape format. Before uploading digitised artwork, ask yourself if it is formatted for optimal display in the new format? If not, you should experiment with rotating, rescaling and different image resolutions to achieve the desired effect.
4. Check that all the elements of your online portfolio page's structure are present and work well with each other
The designers of Carbonmade's featured portfolios tend to take advantage of all the design options it provides. In particular, their choices for each of these webpage design elements must work together to create a thoroughly-professional impression. Check yours does too, by asking:
4.1 Online browser elements
4.1.1 Does your web address reflect the identity you're aiming to create?
4.1.2 Does your website title save well as a bookmark (see browser- and social bookmarking)?
4.2 Page title elements
4.2.1 Does your portfolio's title link well to your web address and portfolio's content?
4.2.2 Do your homepage navigation buttons link to complete pages?
4.3 Page body elements
4.3.1 Does the background colour you selected for your online portfolio resonate with the overall exhibition space effect you are trying to create (i.e. if your portfolio features mostly sketches, you may want to choose a white background to suggest a sketchbook)?
4.3.2 Does your page's heading tie in well with the page body content?
4.3.3 Do the text options you chose with your font's type, size and colour enhance the page's overall look-and-feel?
4.3.4 Have you titled your artwork project folder categories appropriately and chosen cover imagery for them that best highlights their content?
4.3.9 Have you added sufficient meta-information for your artwork folders and the digitised images they include? (For example, did you enter; an artwork description, a folder description, the relevant tags and a client description?)
4.3.10 Have you linked to your other web presences that relate to your online portfolio?
4.3.11 If you have chosen that you are 'Available for freelance', have you provided appropriate contact details that still protect your privacy from undesirable audiences?
5. Check that your copyright is protected
5.1 Have you added appropriate copyright statements in each artwork's description or your folder labels and your page footer to assert your moral rights as the artworks creator and protect them?
Hope answering these questions helps you create a better, more coherent online portfolio.
You are already familiar with writing on paper. As you begin to work onscreen as well, it is important to understand the important differences between the analog environment of paper and the screen's digital one. The key aspects to consider whilst designing your online portfolio pages are categorized below, with related questions to answer in helping you design a better portfolio:
1. Understand the terms that define your online portfolio page's layout
Your online portfolio page is constructed using a digital page template that is constructed from a database of entries. Each webpage is constructed inside your web browser and, in Carbonmade's case, has a 'header bar' (featuring the portfolio title and 'Work' and 'About' navigation buttons), a 'page title' (either the artwork project folder's or the name you chose for your about page), a 'body section' (on your homepage this includes your project artwork folders and their titles; in your project's pages an artwork with its labels and tags and in your about page, your description, profile picture and related entries) and a 'footer' (typically used for a statement protecting your artwork's copyright). In reviewing each portfolio page, have you thoroughly defined entries for your; header bar, page title, body section and footer? If not, your page is likely to appear incomplete!
2. Use a spell-checker for your profile description
Are you sure that there are no spelling mistakes in your portfolio? While you may have to rely on your memory or a dictionary when hand-writing your profile, you should write your profile up in a word processing program (like Microsoft Word or Google Documents) to ensure that its spelling is correct. Once you're done, you can 'cut' the text content and 'paste' it into your profile description.
3. Check your digitized artworks' orientation matches your screen's
Paper is commonly used in portrait format, while all screens are made in landscape format. Before uploading digitised artwork, ask yourself if it is formatted for optimal display in the new format? If not, you should experiment with rotating, rescaling and different image resolutions to achieve the desired effect.
4. Check that all the elements of your online portfolio page's structure are present and work well with each other
The designers of Carbonmade's featured portfolios tend to take advantage of all the design options it provides. In particular, their choices for each of these webpage design elements must work together to create a thoroughly-professional impression. Check yours does too, by asking:
4.1 Online browser elements
4.1.1 Does your web address reflect the identity you're aiming to create?
4.1.2 Does your website title save well as a bookmark (see browser- and social bookmarking)?
4.2 Page title elements
4.2.1 Does your portfolio's title link well to your web address and portfolio's content?
4.2.2 Do your homepage navigation buttons link to complete pages?
4.3 Page body elements
4.3.1 Does the background colour you selected for your online portfolio resonate with the overall exhibition space effect you are trying to create (i.e. if your portfolio features mostly sketches, you may want to choose a white background to suggest a sketchbook)?
4.3.2 Does your page's heading tie in well with the page body content?
4.3.3 Do the text options you chose with your font's type, size and colour enhance the page's overall look-and-feel?
4.3.4 Have you titled your artwork project folder categories appropriately and chosen cover imagery for them that best highlights their content?
4.3.5 Does the format of the thumbnails you chose (one, two or three per row) create the effect you wanted (for example, choosing one thumbnail per row creates a landscaped cinematic effect for each image)?
4.3.6 Does the labels you chose for your artwork folders look best inside the folder, below it or
should you rather design folder covers that include custom text?
4.3.7 Have you chosen an appropriate style of artwork navigation (either flipbook, flipbook with thumbnails or list) in each folder and is it beneficial to stick to a common style across all folders?
4.3.8 Have your titled your digitised artwork imagery well enough for any viewer to attribute your artwork appropriately?4.3.6 Does the labels you chose for your artwork folders look best inside the folder, below it or
should you rather design folder covers that include custom text?
4.3.7 Have you chosen an appropriate style of artwork navigation (either flipbook, flipbook with thumbnails or list) in each folder and is it beneficial to stick to a common style across all folders?
4.3.9 Have you added sufficient meta-information for your artwork folders and the digitised images they include? (For example, did you enter; an artwork description, a folder description, the relevant tags and a client description?)
4.3.10 Have you linked to your other web presences that relate to your online portfolio?
4.3.11 If you have chosen that you are 'Available for freelance', have you provided appropriate contact details that still protect your privacy from undesirable audiences?
5. Check that your copyright is protected
5.1 Have you added appropriate copyright statements in each artwork's description or your folder labels and your page footer to assert your moral rights as the artworks creator and protect them?
Hope answering these questions helps you create a better, more coherent online portfolio.
Thursday, 9 August 2012
Define your online portfolio's keywords, check its search results and take these steps to improve them.
Written for Visual Arts and Design learners and students who use online portfolios, plus their educators.
Like the proverbial billboard in a dessert, what good is an online portfolio website if it can't be readily found by your family, peers and potential clients? 'If you build it, they will come' may have worked for Las Vegas, but it won't for your online portfolio or other webpage types, whatsoever!
So, once you have created an online portfolio you want to share, it's up to you to take steps to ensure that your online creative presence(s) can be found through being well-ranked, searchable and visible. Here is a step-wise process to achieve just that:
1. Clearly define what you want to present and what you want to be searched under;
2. Refine your personal description, use of keywords and artwork tags;
3. Check your online portfolio service's search engine results;
4. Submit your online portfolio to external search engines;
5. Use your social media presences to promote your portfolio;
6. Respond to your audience;
7. Comment on others' works and create new presences;
8. Check your results, improve; check your results, improve; to infinity and beyond...
1. Clearly define what you want to present and what you want to be searched under.
In the attention economy, it is important to be highly differentiated in the work you do. This will ensure your work stands out and be easier for people searching using the distinctive combination of keywords that describe your artworks. Although it may be hard defining your niche within the constraints of your school's syllabus, you can make a start by thinking about the type of post-matriculation online portfolio you desire (i.e. for example it could have a specific niche in Fine Art (i.e. portraits of people in a particular community) or design (i.e. Surfrican slang).
It is useful to list the words that you would like your online portfolio to be found with, and then to ensure these words are used consistently throughout your portfolio (i.e. in your profile's description, artwork titles and projects' descriptions). These keywords should reflect the media, subjects or themes that predominate in your current and past work (for example; 'body-boarding photography at Cape Town's beaches' or 'Pencil illustrations of Spaza rappers').
If you are at a loss for (key)words, do your own online portfolio apprenticeship by searching the featured work of creatives whose work relates to your artworks and resonates with your interests; learn from the way the describe themselves and imitate their example. As you become comfortable with uploading work and refining your descriptions, you should develop the confidence to set your own example.
2. Refine your personal description, use of keywords and artwork tags.
Like an up-to-date online portfolio helps you prepare for your Visual Arts and/or Design exams, having the right keywords can guide your creativity and ensure your portfolio's development is aimed at realizing your post-school ambitions. Once you know the core of what you wish your online portfolio to be about, you should review your online portfolio and consider changing its title, artworks labels & tags and your profile description & tags to better reflect your desired portfolio presence. Making these changes is important as search engine algorithms rate coherence in an online presence and by consistently repeating keywords, you not only improve your search engine results, but are more likely to pull the most interested viewers for your creations.
3. Check your online portfolio service's search engine results.
You should test that your website is searchable on your portfolio service's local search engine, before checking results from external ones (like Google and Bing). For example, Carbonmade users can use http://carbonmade.com/portfolios to search for text (such as their 'first-' and 'last names') and by 'expertise' to narrow results down. Use your proper name, nicknames or whatever a friend or family member would typically use when searching for you.
No results? Oops. Check your online portfolio service preferences allow your portfolio to be found. Most services are set to "findable" by default, but yours can be an exception.
As you look at the search results page, you will notice that some creatives have not taken any time to check what their results show. Ask yourself, would you (or any other searcher) be likely to click on a result that: looks bad, features bad spelling and vague information?
No results? Oops. Check your online portfolio service preferences allow your portfolio to be found. Most services are set to "findable" by default, but yours can be an exception.
As you look at the search results page, you will notice that some creatives have not taken any time to check what their results show. Ask yourself, would you (or any other searcher) be likely to click on a result that: looks bad, features bad spelling and vague information?
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| Example of a search engine result for a matric learner (29 July 2012) |
If you would like the backing image to your search result to look better (which is usually your 'about' profile pic), you can experiment by seeing how changing this pic affects your result's appearance.
Should your portfolio be hard to find using your names, take steps to improve your search results (i.e. use your first and last name in your portfolio and include your nickname in your 'about' description).
You should also experiment with seeing whether you can be found using the combination of 'keywords' you want to be found with. For example, you can use the 'Sift by Area of Expertise' function to see where your results show up for combination of expertise or skills you wish to be found with.
Should your portfolio be hard to find using your names, take steps to improve your search results (i.e. use your first and last name in your portfolio and include your nickname in your 'about' description).
You should also experiment with seeing whether you can be found using the combination of 'keywords' you want to be found with. For example, you can use the 'Sift by Area of Expertise' function to see where your results show up for combination of expertise or skills you wish to be found with.
4. Submit your online portfolio to external search engines.
Once you're getting results on the local search engine, it is more likely that you'll get results on external search engines. Most users will search for your portfolio using Google or Bing: to register your online portfolio with Google for free, submit your portfolio to https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/submit-url?continue=/addurl&pli=1, and for Bing go to https://ssl.bing.com/webmaster/SubmitSitePage.aspx. You can also submit your portfolio to the Open Directory Project at http://www.dmoz.org/add.html.
At worst, your online portfolio could take up to two months to be indexed and you should check whether, how and where, it appears on the external search engine's results. If you are dissatisfied with the results, you may want to experiment with search engine optimisation techniques.
At worst, your online portfolio could take up to two months to be indexed and you should check whether, how and where, it appears on the external search engine's results. If you are dissatisfied with the results, you may want to experiment with search engine optimisation techniques.
You probably have a Facebook presence and maybe Twitter, Google+ or Pinterest ones, too. By posting a link to your online portfolio, you can introduce online connections to your work and update them when you post a new body of work or similarly significant updates.
6. Respond to your audience.
In Reasons Why Blogs Fail, Rean John Uehara makes several recommendations for bloggers to follow that could also be applied for online portfolios. One of them is to respond to comments; 'Nothing shuns away readers more than a non-responsive author. They might think that your blog is just another aggregator or a robot that publishes posts. Having a human connection is important!' It is rare that internet viewers make the effort to give feedback and you should take this opportunity to respond, whether it is to thank them for their feedback or respond to constructive criticism.
7. Comment on others' works and create new presences.
You can also raise your portfolio's visibility and visitors by commenting on other people's written and visual creative work with a link back to your blog. Once you are satisfied with the standard of your portfolio showcase, you can also create multiple presences that reflect different aspects of your creative work. For example, if you are produced work in computer graphics, you can join and publish them to www.cgsociety.org. You should aim to use sites that have a high authority in their creative niches, this way you work is more likely to be noticed.
8. Check your results, improve; check your results, improve; to infinity and beyond...
Your online presences are works in progress. In trying different approaches in promoting them, you should learn what works to attract the audience you want. Hopefully, this results in your spending less time experimenting online and more time producing artwork :) !
To let this blog's readers know if there are any other tips they should follow, simply add your advice in the comments box below.
To let this blog's readers know if there are any other tips they should follow, simply add your advice in the comments box below.
Saturday, 14 July 2012
Guidelines for learners' Carbonmade homepage and template choices.
Written for Visual Arts and Design learners using Carbonmade and their educators.
Carbonmade gives you varied design choices for creating three distinct pages types; a 'homepage', an 'about' page and 'project folder artwork' pages. In designing with Carbonmade's online portfolio template, you will make design choices that are specific to each page and those that apply to all. This post focuses on providing suggestions for the look-and-feel of your homepage, which covers all template choices and those specific to it. These are your 'portfolio title', 'website address', 'artwork thumbnail layout', 'artwork names', 'background color' and 'footer':
What is your portfolio for?
Before making choices, its important to reflect on your reasons for using an online portfolio. Creating a quality portfolio takes a good understanding of what you want to express, how to achieve it and how you would like your audience to interact.
As a learner, here are some important reasons to create yours:
N.B. If you are unsure, take the time to look at the portfolio examples of the creative types (see the left hand side menu) that interest you, and learn from their example. If a portfolio is one you would like to have one day, simply think about what its creator's goals are, then think if they could match your own...
Your online portfolio's title (and web address')
Once you know the reason(s) you are creating an online portfolio, you should have a sound basis for choosing a name and its website address. Your online portfolio title can be based on your; genuine identity (i.e. your real name), your nickname, a pseudonym, a fake name, a corporate identity or your particular interest (i.e. subject, theme or medium). Whatever your choice, make sure it is well-aligned to your online portfolio's aims, unless your aim is to confuse your audience :) ! As a free user of Carbonmade, your website address will be your portfolio's title inserted between http:// and carbonmade.com (i.e. http://amymullen.carbonmade.com).
Background color
Carbonmade offers just two choices for a background colour; either 'black' or 'white'. In making your choice, it is useful to think of the resonance that your colour choice creates. For example, a white background can suggest a sketchpad and is well-suited for portfolios that feature many drawings. A black background suggests a screen or film negatives and is often highly appropriate for mixed-media, photographic or film portfolios.
Homepage thumbnail layout
Carbonmade offers three design choices for the layout of your homepage's artwork folder covers; either one, two or three thumbnails per row.
If you want to create a cinematic effect, then the one thumbnail option works well. It is also well- suited for artworks in landscape format. If you prefer a look that is more similar to a gallery, then the two or three thumbnails option is more appropriate.
Artwork project folder names
Please visit my tips to name your online portfolios for advice on choosing folder names, if your educator hasn't given you specific instructions.
Artwork project folder images
Your artwork folder covers can either be the first artwork that is inside them, or show an image that does not feature in the folder itself. You can choose whether you there's merit in having artwork or designs that are especially chosen as folder covers, or whether your first folder image does the job.
Copyright your online portfolio's content using your footer.
Your Carbonmade online portfolio's 'header' section is at the top of every webpage and features your online portfolio's name and the 'Work' and 'About' buttons. You can also add a footer, which will appear at the bottom of every page. I recommend that you use this space to assert copyright for your website. To do this, insert the copyright symbol © in front of the year your online portfolio was first-published and then list the copyright owner. For example: © 2010 Travis Noakes. It is also a good idea to do the same for each artwork, when you label each newly uploaded one.
I hope this advice proves helpful. Should you need more, kindly review my online portfolio posts. Comments welcome in the box below, thanks.
Carbonmade gives you varied design choices for creating three distinct pages types; a 'homepage', an 'about' page and 'project folder artwork' pages. In designing with Carbonmade's online portfolio template, you will make design choices that are specific to each page and those that apply to all. This post focuses on providing suggestions for the look-and-feel of your homepage, which covers all template choices and those specific to it. These are your 'portfolio title', 'website address', 'artwork thumbnail layout', 'artwork names', 'background color' and 'footer':
What is your portfolio for?
Before making choices, its important to reflect on your reasons for using an online portfolio. Creating a quality portfolio takes a good understanding of what you want to express, how to achieve it and how you would like your audience to interact.
As a learner, here are some important reasons to create yours:
- To impress your adjudicators by exhibiting it as an adjunct to your analog portfolio in your matric exhibition (on a tablet or laptop computer);
- To showcase extra-mural and co-curricular work, the extra-effort in which might otherwise be unnoticed by your educator;
- To help you in your application for further education;
- To showcase your visual creativity and media-savvy to future employers;
- To show your interests in an amateur, visually creative hobby.
N.B. If you are unsure, take the time to look at the portfolio examples of the creative types (see the left hand side menu) that interest you, and learn from their example. If a portfolio is one you would like to have one day, simply think about what its creator's goals are, then think if they could match your own...
Your online portfolio's title (and web address')
Once you know the reason(s) you are creating an online portfolio, you should have a sound basis for choosing a name and its website address. Your online portfolio title can be based on your; genuine identity (i.e. your real name), your nickname, a pseudonym, a fake name, a corporate identity or your particular interest (i.e. subject, theme or medium). Whatever your choice, make sure it is well-aligned to your online portfolio's aims, unless your aim is to confuse your audience :) ! As a free user of Carbonmade, your website address will be your portfolio's title inserted between http:// and carbonmade.com (i.e. http://amymullen.carbonmade.com).
Background color
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| Learner EG's homepage: white background example (May, 2012) |
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| Learner MH's homepage: black background example (May, 2012) |
Homepage thumbnail layout
Carbonmade offers three design choices for the layout of your homepage's artwork folder covers; either one, two or three thumbnails per row.
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| Learner AK's homepage: horizontal thumbnails example (November, 2010) |
Artwork project folder names
Please visit my tips to name your online portfolios for advice on choosing folder names, if your educator hasn't given you specific instructions.
Artwork project folder images
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| Learner KP's homepage: artwork folder example (May, 2012) |
Copyright your online portfolio's content using your footer.
Your Carbonmade online portfolio's 'header' section is at the top of every webpage and features your online portfolio's name and the 'Work' and 'About' buttons. You can also add a footer, which will appear at the bottom of every page. I recommend that you use this space to assert copyright for your website. To do this, insert the copyright symbol © in front of the year your online portfolio was first-published and then list the copyright owner. For example: © 2010 Travis Noakes. It is also a good idea to do the same for each artwork, when you label each newly uploaded one.
I hope this advice proves helpful. Should you need more, kindly review my online portfolio posts. Comments welcome in the box below, thanks.
Tuesday, 1 May 2012
Tips to name your online portfolio's folders and artworks.
Written for learners creating or maintaining online portfolios*, and their educators.
Following on from my profile page tips, here are ideas for making the best folder name choices and labeling your artwork well. By following these tips, you can ensure that your portfolio reads like a professional's, since it will provide an appropriate framework and descriptions to your creative works' viewers.
Choosing the best design and naming approach for your artwork projects' folders.
Your homepage can feature up to five folders. Depending on your educator's instructions, you may choose folder titles that match his or her syllabus (for example; "Exploration in Colour", "Extra Mural Artwork", "Inspiration", "Sketchbook/Sourcebook work" and "Structure, Form, Light and Shade") or be given the latitude to mix or replace these folders' titles with your own.
In choosing titles, you must consider how these relate to the page's overall design: you can choose whether to name your folders separately using text. Alternatively, you may place labels within the artworks you chose for your folders. You can even decide not to use folder names if the artwork imagery works better blank!
1. Titling folders with text
The most common approach, in which the folder's titles are specified within Carbonmade and use text below or within the folder.
2. Adding text within the artwork folders' imagery
This option allows you to showcase your design skills by combining text and image in the artwork project folder artwork you select.
3. No text
Where the imagery is self-explanatory, it may be best not to use titles at all...
Project folder names.... darling, names!
If the folder names are up to you, you must ensure that they match the artworks you have (or will shortly) upload and resonate with your profile; particularly your description and choices under "Areas of Expertise" and "Skills".
In choosing a naming convention that is coherent between folders, choose an overarching concept that links them, such as: "subject", "medium" or "theme". Below is an example for each category:
Following on from my profile page tips, here are ideas for making the best folder name choices and labeling your artwork well. By following these tips, you can ensure that your portfolio reads like a professional's, since it will provide an appropriate framework and descriptions to your creative works' viewers.
Choosing the best design and naming approach for your artwork projects' folders.
Your homepage can feature up to five folders. Depending on your educator's instructions, you may choose folder titles that match his or her syllabus (for example; "Exploration in Colour", "Extra Mural Artwork", "Inspiration", "Sketchbook/Sourcebook work" and "Structure, Form, Light and Shade") or be given the latitude to mix or replace these folders' titles with your own.
In choosing titles, you must consider how these relate to the page's overall design: you can choose whether to name your folders separately using text. Alternatively, you may place labels within the artworks you chose for your folders. You can even decide not to use folder names if the artwork imagery works better blank!
1. Titling folders with text
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| Separate text example of Nicole Duennebier's homepage, 1 May, 2012. |
2. Adding text within the artwork folders' imagery
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| Text in artwork project folders example from Josh Powers, 1 May, 2012. |
3. No text
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| No text example of Zoe Kovac's Carbonmade portfolio's homepage, 1 May, 2012. |
Project folder names.... darling, names!
If the folder names are up to you, you must ensure that they match the artworks you have (or will shortly) upload and resonate with your profile; particularly your description and choices under "Areas of Expertise" and "Skills".
In choosing a naming convention that is coherent between folders, choose an overarching concept that links them, such as: "subject", "medium" or "theme". Below is an example for each category:
i. Subject
If you would like to upload illustrations of Cape Town's natural beauty done in different media, you may choose to title your folder; "Cape Town landscapes".
ii. Medium
If you enjoy using a particular medium, for example doing sketches in pencil and ink, you could create the folder; "Sketches in ink and pencil".
iii. Theme
You may have created artworks with different media and subject matter, but can be placed under the same theme, for example: "Beauty".
Titling your artworks
After labeling your artwork project folders and uploading the relevant artwork to them, you should add empirical data below each. You can follow this convention which approximates that used in most serious art history books for stating empirical data; <Artist name>, <artwork title>, <date created>. <media>. <Size in cm>. <Location>. Example: Rembrandt, The Prodigal Son, 1669. Oil on canvas. 265.4 x 208.5 cm. State Hermitage, Lennigrad. For your titles, you obviously leave out the name of the artist and the location. For example: Drawing of a pair of shoes from the: ‘Bags, Baskets and Baggage Project’, 2011. Graphite pencil on paper. 420 x 295 mm.
Using other artist's artworks
As a learner you may want to show your viewers examples of other artists' works that have interested you. If you do, you must avoid the danger of misrepresenting other people's artworks as your own by placing their artwork in separate folders and attributing the work to them in the artwork's title.
If your online portfolio work is going to be assessed and it displays any other artist's works without suitable attribution, it is plagiarism and your marks are likely to be heavily penalized for this. So, create an "Inspiration" folder to feature artworks that inspire you, and label them well!
Highlight your extra-mural interests
If you create works in visual culture that fall outside the ones you do in school, you may want to create an "extra mural" folder to reflect your out-of-class activities (for example: fashion design patterns; stencil or logo designs; celebrity drawings or hobby photography).
Adding a description, project web address, client and/or project category
Carbonmade also affords multiple options to add further background about your artwork. You may consider adding a description to the folder; providing further background on its "subject", "medium" or "theme", for example. You may also add information about the project category. While you are unlikely to have a client or project web address while a learner, it is useful to know these options exist to take full advantage when you do :) !
I hope these tips helped you to think through the options for titling your folder and labeling your art (or artworks of others). Please suggest any other tips in the comments box, below?
N.B. The original version of these guidelines were created by a Visual Arts educator for independent school learners, whose choices I am currently studying. I have supplemented, restructured and rewritten his guidelines for a broad online audience of Visual Arts (and Design) learners and educators.
* Although these are shown using Carbonmade examples, they also apply to similar software.
Titling your artworks
After labeling your artwork project folders and uploading the relevant artwork to them, you should add empirical data below each. You can follow this convention which approximates that used in most serious art history books for stating empirical data; <Artist name>, <artwork title>, <date created>. <media>. <Size in cm>. <Location>. Example: Rembrandt, The Prodigal Son, 1669. Oil on canvas. 265.4 x 208.5 cm. State Hermitage, Lennigrad. For your titles, you obviously leave out the name of the artist and the location. For example: Drawing of a pair of shoes from the: ‘Bags, Baskets and Baggage Project’, 2011. Graphite pencil on paper. 420 x 295 mm.
Using other artist's artworks
As a learner you may want to show your viewers examples of other artists' works that have interested you. If you do, you must avoid the danger of misrepresenting other people's artworks as your own by placing their artwork in separate folders and attributing the work to them in the artwork's title.
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| A learner's attribution example for a Lisa Brice artwork. 1 May, 2012. |
Highlight your extra-mural interests
If you create works in visual culture that fall outside the ones you do in school, you may want to create an "extra mural" folder to reflect your out-of-class activities (for example: fashion design patterns; stencil or logo designs; celebrity drawings or hobby photography).
Adding a description, project web address, client and/or project category
Carbonmade also affords multiple options to add further background about your artwork. You may consider adding a description to the folder; providing further background on its "subject", "medium" or "theme", for example. You may also add information about the project category. While you are unlikely to have a client or project web address while a learner, it is useful to know these options exist to take full advantage when you do :) !
I hope these tips helped you to think through the options for titling your folder and labeling your art (or artworks of others). Please suggest any other tips in the comments box, below?
N.B. The original version of these guidelines were created by a Visual Arts educator for independent school learners, whose choices I am currently studying. I have supplemented, restructured and rewritten his guidelines for a broad online audience of Visual Arts (and Design) learners and educators.
* Although these are shown using Carbonmade examples, they also apply to similar software.
Tuesday, 3 April 2012
Online portfolio profile page guidelines for Visual Arts learners
Written for Visual Arts learners about to create online portfolio profiles and for the educators guiding them.
Introducing the structure of guidelines for your online portfolio profile.
You typically enter three types of information into the profile you create for your online portfolio: a brief "(auto)biography", your "contact details" and "abilities". So, although the guidelines below are showcased with Carbonmade, they should still apply to any other service(s) you use. Once you have followed these guidelines, kindly read the assessment criteria at the bottom. Then take the time to reflect on whether your online portfolio meets these criteria and is truly appropriate for its audience(s). It's a good idea to ask your friends for constructive feedback on what you could improve...
Assumptions on which these profile page's guidelines are based.
These guides are based on ones used at an independent school, where learners are taught to develop a showcase electronic learning portfolio (e-portfolio). As such, the guidelines assume that you want to create a profile that reflects your genuine identity. This has many benefits:
Here are four examples for creatives following these types under Carbonmade's featured portfolios:
In writing a creative profile, do your best to stick to discussing your; creative aims, artistic interests and how these relate to your portfolio. Just as Facebook shows your profile primarily to friends, Carbonmade provides yours to those interested primarily in your visual creativity. They are probably not interested in the fact that you play first team, like to party, are a chess whiz, etc. Remember, if your interests are not shown by your art, it's probably of limited interest to them. So, avoid going off topic; only discuss your sporting, musical, political, school or home achievements if relevant to your portfolio's artworks. Also avoid duplication of content; such as your name, which already appears in the page's "portfolio title" and "name".
As a learner, it's particularly important to protect your privacy: avoid putting in your age and information about your school. This information has NO relevance to your audience and could attract the wrong kinds of attention. Rather be general and say that you are a "secondary school learner from Cape Town".
You should update the "about" section of your profile repeatedly as you develop and mature. Read your "about" description aloud. What are the salient points? Does it flow well; with no repetitive or otherwise irrelevant information? Make the effort to rewrite your profile several times; checking that there is correspondence between what you write and what is in your portfolio. For example, if you mention that you are passionate about a particular style of art, artworks in this style must be featured!
2.1 Location: Letting people know that you live in the Western Cape Province, Cape Town (for example) is sufficient. Providing them with anything more is too much information, i.e. Suburb: Nobody needs to know. Street address: Especially you, Mr Stalker!
2.2 Contact details: The same applies with your contact information; if you provide your email address for viewers to get in touch, let your educator and parents know. While email contact may be safer than publishing your mobile and/or home phone numbers, your viewers do not need your contact details upfront, so why make them available for abuse? Rather wait for an email query, whose legitimacy you, your educator and parents should check, before providing phone numbers.
3. Abilities guidelines.
3.1 Available for freelance: While it is tempting to show this button, you need to do a reality check that (a) you produce work good enough to freelance and (b) you have the time to do school work, homework and freelance work? In the unlikely case that you answered "yes" to both questions, go ahead.
3.2 Areas of expertise: List the basic disciplines you are being trained in (or are exploring in extra-mural activities), here. Your school-based areas of expertise may be: "drawing", "painting" & "design". If you do "photography" as an extra-mural activity, list it here. Similarly, if you have done a printing workshop, you could add the discipline ‘printmaking’, too.
4.1 Searchability: Carbonmade features over 470,000 individuals portfolios. If you want to increase the chances of yours being viewed by others, you need to check that your portfolio is easy to search for AND produces an attractive search result that a viewers would want to click. If not, you need to modify your profile's "name", "picture" and "expertise" to improve it:
For example, check out the search result for "Grame Metcalf" below:
First, it's interesting that you cannot search for him by his portfolio title's name ("grabbins" does not produce a result), but only by the real name "Grame Metcalf" he uses under his profile's "name" field.
Although his work has been selected as a Carbonmade featured portfolio, he can still improve its search result's appearance: to do this, he should experiment with a new profile picture which would display better behind the "name", "projects", "images" and "expertise" texts.
4.2 Credibility, integrity and honesty: By ensuring that your profile is thorough and informative, you build credibility with your viewers. Your portfolio's honesty is enhanced by ensuring that the content in your profile page corresponds with what you've uploaded in your project folders. Lastly, by featuring only information that is relevant to your creative work and giving due credit to your influences, you can also simultaneously increase the credibility of your online portfolio and its profile.
I trust that these guidelines proved useful to you? If you have any questions or suggestions for improving them, I'd appreciate you adding them in the comments box below. Thank you.
References
Kirkpatrick, D. (2010). The Facebook Effect: the Inside Story of the Company that is Connecting the World. Virgin Books, Great Britain.
Allen, B. & Coleman, K. (2011). The creative graduate: Cultivating and assessing creativity with eportfolios. In G. Williams, P. Statham, N. Brown & B. Cleland (Eds.), Changing Demands, Changing Directions. Proceedings ascilite Hobart 2011. (pp.59-69).
Introducing the structure of guidelines for your online portfolio profile.
You typically enter three types of information into the profile you create for your online portfolio: a brief "(auto)biography", your "contact details" and "abilities". So, although the guidelines below are showcased with Carbonmade, they should still apply to any other service(s) you use. Once you have followed these guidelines, kindly read the assessment criteria at the bottom. Then take the time to reflect on whether your online portfolio meets these criteria and is truly appropriate for its audience(s). It's a good idea to ask your friends for constructive feedback on what you could improve...
Assumptions on which these profile page's guidelines are based.
These guides are based on ones used at an independent school, where learners are taught to develop a showcase electronic learning portfolio (e-portfolio). As such, the guidelines assume that you want to create a profile that reflects your genuine identity. This has many benefits:
- It should add credibility that you are willing to identify yourself as your portfolio's creator;
- It makes it easy for viewers to search for you using your real name;
- Your curricular artworks are done in the Fine Arts genre, where artists typically use their real-names;
- Using your real name should encourage you to have a sense of personal ownership and, hopefully, continue using it after you matriculate;
- In "The Facebook Effect", David Kirkpatrick quotes its creator, Mark Zuckerberg, as saying; "Having two identities for yourself if an example of a lack of integrity." By openly acknowledging who you are online and behaving consistently over different web services, you may actively develop not only a more coherent identity online, but off-line as well.
Here are four examples for creatives following these types under Carbonmade's featured portfolios:
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Graeme Metcalf's "grabbins" nickname example (1 April 2012)
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| Cecilia Puglesi's "carbonomonono" portfolio header (1 April 2012) |
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| Agni Interactive's corporate identity logo (1 April 2012) |
The downsides of using a nickname, pseudonym, fake or corporate identity is that it may make your portfolio difficult to search for by friends or others interested in you, personally. It may also be perceived to lack credibility when assessed using criteria commonly used by your Visual or Fine Arts educators. Lastly, it leaves you open to identity theft; unscrupulous learners may use your real name to create a fake profile and portfolio for you!
1. Biographic information guidelines.1.1 Portfolio title: The title of your portfolio is very important; it is not only shown on every page of your portfolio, but is the first thing displayed by search engines and is the bookmark title for other people saving your site. You should consider using your first and last name in the title, as well as a short descriptor for the type of online portfolio you have created. For example; "Severus Snape's E-portfolio" or "Pippa Riddle's School Art".
1.2 Name: While you should use your regular name in the title, you should not use your middle names (i.e. "Severus Malcolm Payne Snape") as the benefits of this are generally outweighed by potential threats to your identity's security (middle names being typically used for official purposes).1.3 About: First decide whether you are writing in the first, or being written about in the third, person (click to see good examples of this). To kickstart your profile, consider adding an appropriate salutation to welcome viewers; for example “Welcome, stranger.” Not quite, but you get my drift...
While it is then tempting to write many, many words, please remember that your audience may be willing to only give you a short time. So, try to stick to 350 words as a rough guideline. It is also a good idea to first write your creative profile in software that spell-checks and gives you a word count. You can then cut-and-paste your text into your "about" section.In writing a creative profile, do your best to stick to discussing your; creative aims, artistic interests and how these relate to your portfolio. Just as Facebook shows your profile primarily to friends, Carbonmade provides yours to those interested primarily in your visual creativity. They are probably not interested in the fact that you play first team, like to party, are a chess whiz, etc. Remember, if your interests are not shown by your art, it's probably of limited interest to them. So, avoid going off topic; only discuss your sporting, musical, political, school or home achievements if relevant to your portfolio's artworks. Also avoid duplication of content; such as your name, which already appears in the page's "portfolio title" and "name".
As a learner, it's particularly important to protect your privacy: avoid putting in your age and information about your school. This information has NO relevance to your audience and could attract the wrong kinds of attention. Rather be general and say that you are a "secondary school learner from Cape Town".
You should update the "about" section of your profile repeatedly as you develop and mature. Read your "about" description aloud. What are the salient points? Does it flow well; with no repetitive or otherwise irrelevant information? Make the effort to rewrite your profile several times; checking that there is correspondence between what you write and what is in your portfolio. For example, if you mention that you are passionate about a particular style of art, artworks in this style must be featured!
1.4 Linking: You may already have other online presences that you want to link from within your "about" description. If so, you can add hyperlinks from their web address text under "about". You must check that each link works well, though. It is inconvenient for your viewers if they don't, whilst making you look seem incompetent.
1.5 Profile picture: Here you need to choose whether your photo is for communication or for "art". If you want to communicate to your audience what you look like, it's probably easiest to upload a self-portrait photo of yourself. If it's for art, take the time to create something that is clever and well-executed. Whatever your choice, it will be displayed under the search results for your portfolio, so encourage your viewers to click further by using quality imagery, not a poor quality short-cut. P.S. Google search "worst profile pictures" for examples of what not to do, or watch "Link's Golden Advice for Single Guys". Girls, it'll help you too!
2. Contact detail guidelines.2.1 Location: Letting people know that you live in the Western Cape Province, Cape Town (for example) is sufficient. Providing them with anything more is too much information, i.e. Suburb: Nobody needs to know. Street address: Especially you, Mr Stalker!
2.2 Contact details: The same applies with your contact information; if you provide your email address for viewers to get in touch, let your educator and parents know. While email contact may be safer than publishing your mobile and/or home phone numbers, your viewers do not need your contact details upfront, so why make them available for abuse? Rather wait for an email query, whose legitimacy you, your educator and parents should check, before providing phone numbers.
3. Abilities guidelines.
3.1 Available for freelance: While it is tempting to show this button, you need to do a reality check that (a) you produce work good enough to freelance and (b) you have the time to do school work, homework and freelance work? In the unlikely case that you answered "yes" to both questions, go ahead.
3.2 Areas of expertise: List the basic disciplines you are being trained in (or are exploring in extra-mural activities), here. Your school-based areas of expertise may be: "drawing", "painting" & "design". If you do "photography" as an extra-mural activity, list it here. Similarly, if you have done a printing workshop, you could add the discipline ‘printmaking’, too.
3.3 Skills: Under the ‘Skills’ heading, list the specific techniques/media/tools you are well-versed in using. This could include specific media/techniques such as "acrylic painting", "drawing in charcoal", etc. As you learn and master new techniques/media/tools, etc, you should add them under skills.
4. Important assessment criteria that your online portfolio's profile should meet.4.1 Searchability: Carbonmade features over 470,000 individuals portfolios. If you want to increase the chances of yours being viewed by others, you need to check that your portfolio is easy to search for AND produces an attractive search result that a viewers would want to click. If not, you need to modify your profile's "name", "picture" and "expertise" to improve it:
For example, check out the search result for "Grame Metcalf" below:
First, it's interesting that you cannot search for him by his portfolio title's name ("grabbins" does not produce a result), but only by the real name "Grame Metcalf" he uses under his profile's "name" field.
Although his work has been selected as a Carbonmade featured portfolio, he can still improve its search result's appearance: to do this, he should experiment with a new profile picture which would display better behind the "name", "projects", "images" and "expertise" texts.
4.2 Credibility, integrity and honesty: By ensuring that your profile is thorough and informative, you build credibility with your viewers. Your portfolio's honesty is enhanced by ensuring that the content in your profile page corresponds with what you've uploaded in your project folders. Lastly, by featuring only information that is relevant to your creative work and giving due credit to your influences, you can also simultaneously increase the credibility of your online portfolio and its profile.
I trust that these guidelines proved useful to you? If you have any questions or suggestions for improving them, I'd appreciate you adding them in the comments box below. Thank you.
References
Kirkpatrick, D. (2010). The Facebook Effect: the Inside Story of the Company that is Connecting the World. Virgin Books, Great Britain.
Allen, B. & Coleman, K. (2011). The creative graduate: Cultivating and assessing creativity with eportfolios. In G. Williams, P. Statham, N. Brown & B. Cleland (Eds.), Changing Demands, Changing Directions. Proceedings ascilite Hobart 2011. (pp.59-69).
Friday, 9 March 2012
Create a comprehensive arts portfolio online via multiple presences.
Written for Visual Arts students interested in digitising and publishing a comprehensive record of their artworks online and for the educators helping them.
The good news is that your Visual Arts educator has helped you to develop a showcase electronic learning portfolio (e-portfolio): in my research project, its two educators chose Carbonmade, because it met these criteria. The service suits the pedagogical aims in South African Visual Arts well, where a portfolio of 35 images is often more than sufficient to cover the learner's body of work for an end-of-year (matric) exhibition, as well as tertiary education applications.
The bad news is that the teachers' online portfolio choice seemed to learners to limit them to publishing 35 images online, thereby preventing the publication of their complete oeuvre! In response, an educator highlighted that learners are not limited to using Carbonmade and should consider creating presences with other services to publish the remainder of their artworks. Students could then create reciprocal links between these services to make them easy for Carbonmade's viewers to find; this is a common practice in the profiles of artists with featured portfolios. To help you identify a service you might want to use, I have listed the four commonly linked types, below:
1. An addition to the Social Network presence you already use
(Popular examples: Facebook Pages and Google+)
The impressionist painter, Valérie Pirlot, provides links to many sites, which include online presences; her blog, Flickr account and a Facebook page, galleries; the Saatchi and Victoria Art, and an academy; the Royal West of England Academy.
The value of featuring all these links is that viewers can select specific aspects of her work that they are interested in viewing. It is also testifies to her professional status and the galleries and academy she associates with.
As a learner, you may already have a Facebook account and creating a Facebook page where you upload your artworks should have the benefits of being very convenient, whilst making it easy to share with your Facebook friends.
Google account holders users should consider using Google+. If your digitized artworks are well-labelled, this may have the benefit of producing better ranked search engine results on the world's most popular search engine, relative to other services.
2. A Photo Sharing Presence
(Popular examples: Flickr, Picasa)
(Popular examples: Blogger and WordPress)
Science fiction concept artist, Marek Tarnawski, provides a link to his blog http://farvus-craft.blogspot.com. His blog was created with Blogger, but you could consider using WordPress or other popular blogging software.
The benefit of choosing to blog for you could include:
4. Another Online Portfolio Service Presence
(Popular examples: behance.net, cghub.com)
Carbonmade is just one of many other online portfolio software services focussed on enabling creatives to publish their online portfolios. Each service provides a distinct combination of affordances to cater for the type of creatives they serve; so it's important to define what you may need before selecting one.
For example, CGHub promotes itself as "an online community where computer graphics artists share their latest work, tips, and tools, network with friends, search jobs, and more." So, if you want to improve your computer graphics skills, this may be useful to join. However, if you want to interact with creative professionals outside of computer graphics illustration and want the best visibility of your online portfolio, you should consider using behance.net.
I hope that this overview was useful for you. If there is a type of service I have missed, please mention it in the comment box below. Or if you have any other guidance, please do share. Thanks!
The good news is that your Visual Arts educator has helped you to develop a showcase electronic learning portfolio (e-portfolio): in my research project, its two educators chose Carbonmade, because it met these criteria. The service suits the pedagogical aims in South African Visual Arts well, where a portfolio of 35 images is often more than sufficient to cover the learner's body of work for an end-of-year (matric) exhibition, as well as tertiary education applications.
The bad news is that the teachers' online portfolio choice seemed to learners to limit them to publishing 35 images online, thereby preventing the publication of their complete oeuvre! In response, an educator highlighted that learners are not limited to using Carbonmade and should consider creating presences with other services to publish the remainder of their artworks. Students could then create reciprocal links between these services to make them easy for Carbonmade's viewers to find; this is a common practice in the profiles of artists with featured portfolios. To help you identify a service you might want to use, I have listed the four commonly linked types, below:
1. An addition to the Social Network presence you already use
(Popular examples: Facebook Pages and Google+)
The impressionist painter, Valérie Pirlot, provides links to many sites, which include online presences; her blog, Flickr account and a Facebook page, galleries; the Saatchi and Victoria Art, and an academy; the Royal West of England Academy.
The value of featuring all these links is that viewers can select specific aspects of her work that they are interested in viewing. It is also testifies to her professional status and the galleries and academy she associates with.
As a learner, you may already have a Facebook account and creating a Facebook page where you upload your artworks should have the benefits of being very convenient, whilst making it easy to share with your Facebook friends.
 |
| Valérie Pirlot's Facebook Page (8 March 2012) |
 |
| Leodor Selenier's Google+ page (8 March 2012) |
2. A Photo Sharing Presence
(Popular examples: Flickr, Picasa)
There are many photo sharing sites listed on Wikipedia and in Valérie's example, she chose Flickr. To learners, the benefit of choosing this service, or similar, includes:
- There is a relatively high limit on the number of images that can be uploaded each month;
- It includes a social networking component making it easy to share photos, comments and notes plus join groups you are interested in;
- You could also upload videos;
- It is compatible with many mobile phone applications, so easy to share to when using your phone's camera.
(Popular examples: Blogger and WordPress)
 |
| Marek Tarnawski's concise Carbonmade profile (8 March 2012) |
Science fiction concept artist, Marek Tarnawski, provides a link to his blog http://farvus-craft.blogspot.com. His blog was created with Blogger, but you could consider using WordPress or other popular blogging software.
The benefit of choosing to blog for you could include:
- There is no limit on the number of images that can be uploaded;
- You could also upload other media (such as videos);
- You can provide descriptions of your working process;
- Viewers can choose to subscribe to your blog;
- You can create reciprocal links with other blogs via a blogroll.
4. Another Online Portfolio Service Presence
(Popular examples: behance.net, cghub.com)
Carbonmade is just one of many other online portfolio software services focussed on enabling creatives to publish their online portfolios. Each service provides a distinct combination of affordances to cater for the type of creatives they serve; so it's important to define what you may need before selecting one.
For example, CGHub promotes itself as "an online community where computer graphics artists share their latest work, tips, and tools, network with friends, search jobs, and more." So, if you want to improve your computer graphics skills, this may be useful to join. However, if you want to interact with creative professionals outside of computer graphics illustration and want the best visibility of your online portfolio, you should consider using behance.net.
 |
| Nook's Carbonmade About page features a button that links to his portfolio on the Behance Network (14 March 2012) |
Wednesday, 4 January 2012
The optimal adoption of Web 2.0 services in seven stages for Visual Arts and Design educators
Written for secondary and tertiary Visual Arts and Visual Design educators and decision makers.
The optimal process for a Visual Arts or Design educator to adopt Web 2.0 services (like social bookmarking and electronic learning portfolios) could involve these seven stages:
The optimal process for a Visual Arts or Design educator to adopt Web 2.0 services (like social bookmarking and electronic learning portfolios) could involve these seven stages:
- Personal experimentation with social network services;
- Exploration of online services for curricular adoption;
- Personal use of these services;
- Achieving school management buy-in;
- Introduction of online services in a curriculum;
- Sustained adoption of these services in the syllabus;
- Self-publication with other web2.0-based services.
1. Personal experimentation with social network services.
Post the online self-publishing revolution, educators with an insider mindset will appreciate that the affordances offered by new technologies makes the world different for them and their students. As an example, Dr Paul Redmond highlighted in his talk; "GENerally speaking: Generation Y, Digital Natives and the challenges facing higher education" how the Millenial generation comes to university with different pedagogical expectations to previous generations based on their experience of growing up with technology. In particular, Dr Redmond argues that students now want interaction, peer-learning, contact and control. As a result, he encourages university educators to reconsider their curricular designs in light of addressing millenials' expectations.
Based on initial experiences with a few Visual Arts educators, I would argue that they are better able to appreciate the potential benefits of including Web2.0 services (such as social bookmarking and electronic learning portfolios) into their syllabi, after having personal experience of online social networking services' {such as Facebook or Google+} benefits. Through first-hand experience of finding old friends and colleagues, posting status updates, sharing pictures and other content, then rating it, educators can begin to appreciate how online media use might benefit them and why social network services are proving popular, particularly with their students.
6. Sustained adoption of these services in the syllabus.
After the initial adoption has proven successful, the educator should take steps to ensure that the use of online services in the Visual Arts or Design syllabi are sustainable. Three examples of these by a private school's Visual Arts department head were: improving his class' resourcing and ensuring his students were given access to digitization equipment in the school's library and computer lab, thereby addressing time constraints with scanning; getting school management approval for his department's new policy that all students from grade 10 to 12 should develop e-portfolios, and documenting how the best examples of previous student work could be linked on the school's Visual Arts website section. The educator has also been active in promoting the use of e-portfolios and social bookmarking to other educators at his school and in Cape Town.
Post the online self-publishing revolution, educators with an insider mindset will appreciate that the affordances offered by new technologies makes the world different for them and their students. As an example, Dr Paul Redmond highlighted in his talk; "GENerally speaking: Generation Y, Digital Natives and the challenges facing higher education" how the Millenial generation comes to university with different pedagogical expectations to previous generations based on their experience of growing up with technology. In particular, Dr Redmond argues that students now want interaction, peer-learning, contact and control. As a result, he encourages university educators to reconsider their curricular designs in light of addressing millenials' expectations.
Based on initial experiences with a few Visual Arts educators, I would argue that they are better able to appreciate the potential benefits of including Web2.0 services (such as social bookmarking and electronic learning portfolios) into their syllabi, after having personal experience of online social networking services' {such as Facebook or Google+} benefits. Through first-hand experience of finding old friends and colleagues, posting status updates, sharing pictures and other content, then rating it, educators can begin to appreciate how online media use might benefit them and why social network services are proving popular, particularly with their students.
2. Exploration of online services for curricular adoption.
It is important that Visual Arts and Design educators understand that there are many Web2.0 services outside the most popular social networking ones. Some of these are particularly useful to contemporary visual creative professionals. My research focuses on two types:
Firstly, the varied online portfolio services that are used by creatives. These can be re-purposed to create free electronic learning portfolios (e-portfolios) in new syllabi at schools {ideally meeting these criteria}.
Secondly, social bookmarking services (such as Delicious and Diigo) make it easy for educators to create an archive of digital learning materials and to share relevant ones with different grades. This is particularly useful for sharing online museums', art magazines' and local galleries' content.
While my research originally promoted the use of online portfolios before social bookmarking's use, I now encourage the latter's use first; it faces fewer technical barriers and can be integrated more easily into educators' existing pedagogical practices. For example, students can be given exercises to search online galleries, track down artists' paintings and bookmark those not accessible in their textbooks or other curricular materials.
3. Personal use of these services.
In using online services for the first time, educators are likely to be exposed to digital literacies and new literacies they are inexperienced with: an example in using social bookmarking is bookmarking a website with appropriate tags, then sharing it with a list of users. Another is researching a service's preferred syntax for tags, exploring users who have contributed the most in a tag of interest, then searching their contributions to bookmark the most relevant sites.
Through personal use of online services, educators can develop their digital/new literacies, whilst being better able to motivate for, and adopt, online services into new curricula and syllabi.
4. Achieving school management buy-in.
Ideally, the educator should prepare a pedagogical rationale for management and his or her department's staff which provides credible justification for the curricular adoption of new media. Providing sound grounds for securing management support is vital: the initial resourcing required to support these services is likely to be underestimated and management support for additional funding could be essential for sustained adoption. An educator may also need school management to provide additional teaching resources, IT and policy support, plus online publication integration to fully realize any new curriculum's potential.
5. Introduction of online services in a curriculum.
In the complex schooling environment, the successful adoption of online services into a new curriculum depends largely on; school management support, the educator's pedagogical choices and students co-adoption of the service.
My research focuses on the latter's choices with portfolio and social bookmarking services, as their use of these services is likely to have the greatest influence on whether their educator chooses to sustain the curricular adoption, or not. So far, my research has revealed
the importance of educators choosing a grade that is keen to achieve success in the Visual Arts or Design subject in launching the new curriculum. Alternatively, the curriculum can be adopted as an after hours activity with keen volunteers.
Research also highlights the importance of integrating the e-portfolio and social bookmarking curriculums with activities throughout the syllabus (rather than seeing the curriculum as a once-off, add-on). Only through sustained use of online services can students learn how to best use new media and produce showcase work.
It is important that Visual Arts and Design educators understand that there are many Web2.0 services outside the most popular social networking ones. Some of these are particularly useful to contemporary visual creative professionals. My research focuses on two types:
Firstly, the varied online portfolio services that are used by creatives. These can be re-purposed to create free electronic learning portfolios (e-portfolios) in new syllabi at schools {ideally meeting these criteria}.
Secondly, social bookmarking services (such as Delicious and Diigo) make it easy for educators to create an archive of digital learning materials and to share relevant ones with different grades. This is particularly useful for sharing online museums', art magazines' and local galleries' content.
While my research originally promoted the use of online portfolios before social bookmarking's use, I now encourage the latter's use first; it faces fewer technical barriers and can be integrated more easily into educators' existing pedagogical practices. For example, students can be given exercises to search online galleries, track down artists' paintings and bookmark those not accessible in their textbooks or other curricular materials.
3. Personal use of these services.
In using online services for the first time, educators are likely to be exposed to digital literacies and new literacies they are inexperienced with: an example in using social bookmarking is bookmarking a website with appropriate tags, then sharing it with a list of users. Another is researching a service's preferred syntax for tags, exploring users who have contributed the most in a tag of interest, then searching their contributions to bookmark the most relevant sites.
Through personal use of online services, educators can develop their digital/new literacies, whilst being better able to motivate for, and adopt, online services into new curricula and syllabi.
4. Achieving school management buy-in.
Ideally, the educator should prepare a pedagogical rationale for management and his or her department's staff which provides credible justification for the curricular adoption of new media. Providing sound grounds for securing management support is vital: the initial resourcing required to support these services is likely to be underestimated and management support for additional funding could be essential for sustained adoption. An educator may also need school management to provide additional teaching resources, IT and policy support, plus online publication integration to fully realize any new curriculum's potential.
5. Introduction of online services in a curriculum.
In the complex schooling environment, the successful adoption of online services into a new curriculum depends largely on; school management support, the educator's pedagogical choices and students co-adoption of the service.
My research focuses on the latter's choices with portfolio and social bookmarking services, as their use of these services is likely to have the greatest influence on whether their educator chooses to sustain the curricular adoption, or not. So far, my research has revealed
the importance of educators choosing a grade that is keen to achieve success in the Visual Arts or Design subject in launching the new curriculum. Alternatively, the curriculum can be adopted as an after hours activity with keen volunteers.
Research also highlights the importance of integrating the e-portfolio and social bookmarking curriculums with activities throughout the syllabus (rather than seeing the curriculum as a once-off, add-on). Only through sustained use of online services can students learn how to best use new media and produce showcase work.
6. Sustained adoption of these services in the syllabus.
After the initial adoption has proven successful, the educator should take steps to ensure that the use of online services in the Visual Arts or Design syllabi are sustainable. Three examples of these by a private school's Visual Arts department head were: improving his class' resourcing and ensuring his students were given access to digitization equipment in the school's library and computer lab, thereby addressing time constraints with scanning; getting school management approval for his department's new policy that all students from grade 10 to 12 should develop e-portfolios, and documenting how the best examples of previous student work could be linked on the school's Visual Arts website section. The educator has also been active in promoting the use of e-portfolios and social bookmarking to other educators at his school and in Cape Town.
7. Self-publication with other web2.0-based services.
The Department of Education encourages Visual Arts and Design educators to develop their own curricular learning materials. For educators who have visited interesting sites (such as those highlighted in one of my favorite documentaries; "A Country Imagined") and used their own curricular materials {such as descriptions, photographs and drawings} in developing classroom presentations, a site like Slideshare offers a platform to share one's presentations with a global audience. Another option is to share one's teaching via a blog (see the Monni Abbott's Art Class blog for a good example by a local art teacher).
By self-publishing one's educational content, educators not only have the opportunity to meet like-minded people online, they can also can raise the profile of South Africa and its artists online. A real win-win situation :) !
So, do you think these stages are optimal? Please let this blog's readership know by submitting your comment below. We appreciate your feedback.
The Department of Education encourages Visual Arts and Design educators to develop their own curricular learning materials. For educators who have visited interesting sites (such as those highlighted in one of my favorite documentaries; "A Country Imagined") and used their own curricular materials {such as descriptions, photographs and drawings} in developing classroom presentations, a site like Slideshare offers a platform to share one's presentations with a global audience. Another option is to share one's teaching via a blog (see the Monni Abbott's Art Class blog for a good example by a local art teacher).
By self-publishing one's educational content, educators not only have the opportunity to meet like-minded people online, they can also can raise the profile of South Africa and its artists online. A real win-win situation :) !
So, do you think these stages are optimal? Please let this blog's readership know by submitting your comment below. We appreciate your feedback.
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