Abstract:

One of the most difficult aspects of teaching an art or design course online is replicating critique. Critique is the culmination of hours, days, or weeks of work on a specified task; it is an opportunity for students to share the reasons behind their creations and also secure feedback from the instructor and peers. Learning to talk about one’s work as well as take constructive criticism is an extremely important skill and should not be overlooked when developing an online section of a design/art course. Several different options have been tried to replicate critique in the online environment; the researcher would like to propose a comparison study of these techniques to determine which option offers the most benefit to students. The study would compare a live synchronous session, an asynchronous discussion forum, and an interactive media space discussion tool for class critique in a foundation graphic design course. The areas of study will include student satisfaction, the ability of students to understand the comments in order to redesign their work for resubmission, and ease of use and support of each of the instructional tools as indicated by the faculty.

The benefit of critique is that students can work through their mistakes and use the suggestions of both the instructor and fellow classmates to redesign a final piece that becomes a valuable learning experience. The online environment should offer an option for critique that can mirror the face-to-face environment as closely as possible. This study will help to determine if there is an option for simulating critique in the online environment that is acceptable to both faculty and students.

Keywords:

Critique, Online, Art, Design.