The concept of a critique week is a well-known and well-respected tradition at many design schools, and while the UCO School of Design has long had a sophomore portfolio review for admission into upper-division courses, critique of work by the entire faculty had never taken place for students of other levels.
In 2012 the Department of Design launched our first critique week for freshman, junior, and senior design students. As a graduate of the School of the Art Institute, whose critique week involves every student and the entire faculty of the university, I was pleased to create the format for both graphic and interior design programs.
The Goal: The goal of critique week is to provide students with feedback from the entire design faculty in a SWOT Analysis format: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats to Success. Students should take this feedback very seriously and use it to improve their work as they progress through the design program during the upcoming year.
Consequences of Non-participation: Because critique week is vital to the department, faculty, and student learning outcomes, significant consequences for non-participation were deemed necessary. The results of critique week are required for application to the Graphic and Interior Design Programs and must be presented before enrolling into DES 4862 and DES 4873. Failure to participate in critique week has serious negative consequences and may delay graduation.
We are not entirely without mercy, so students seeking an emergency exemption from critique week participation must submit their request in writing and provide supporting documentation to the department chair.
How the results are used:
Design Foundations: The numerical/grade results of the SWOT Analysis performed in the Spring constitute the course's Design Foundations IV Portfolio grade.
Junior Graphic Design Students: for admission to DES 4862 Graphic Design Practice, students must provide the completed and original SWOT analysis form provided during Critique Week during the Spring of 2013 to the instructor of record before enrollment in this course. Students seeking admission to this course must show evidence of a C or better on this analysis.
Junior Interior Design Students: for admission to DES 4873 Interior Design Practice, students must provide the completed and original SWOT analysis form provided during Critique Week during the Spring of 2013 to the instructor of record before enrollment in this course. Students seeking admission to this course must show evidence of a C or better on this analysis.
MFA Design Students: The graduate faculty in Design expect students to revise projects based on feedback received during all prior critiques. The goal is for students to develop a stellar and complete portfolio ready for internships and job interviews at the time of graduation. Students should be prepared to answer questions from the faculty as well as show process work if necessary.
The Process
Students sign up for a date and time via Eventbrite.
Students must arrive 15 minutes before their critique time at the assigned room and set up. They must be ready for the critique to begin promptly at the start of their critique time. If the student is not prepared at the start time of their critique, they will receive a zero.
At the start of the critique time, faculty will enter the room and critique the work. Students may speak when questioned but should otherwise remain silent, taking notes on the Critique Week SWOT Analysis Form we provide.
Toward the end of the critique, the faculty will ask the student to step out of the room while they complete their final deliberations. They will then ask the student to step back in; this will likely be towards the end of the critique time. Then, one faculty member, chosen by the faculty critiquing the work, will stay behind to explain the results of the SWOT. This is done to allow the faculty to keep the critiques on schedule.
Immediately following the critique, the student must copy their notes on the Critique Week SWOT Analysis Form and take it to the Design Office.
Results
After Critique Week, an open round table discussion that includes all graphic and interior design faculty is held. Minor problems are identified, and solutions are proposed for implementation in the following year's critique week.
Overall, the faculty enjoyed seeing all students' work, and they felt that in addition to assessing the quality of student work, it was also helpful to see the types of work coming out of each program.
The critique week process is also a handy tool on the departmental level. It allows for an overview of student learning outcomes, pedagogical innovations, and curricular alignments from course to course and class to level.
Critique Week has also served to provide valuable data that can be used for recruitment, retention, and curriculum development. We have also been able to track individual student progress over multiple years, which was before only possible if you had the student in your course for three years running.
Finally, this comprehensive review of work allows faculty to observe the work created in other sections of the course they teach. This has resulted in ongoing discussions about projects, outcomes, processes, pedagogy, and experimentation for the School of Design faculty. By making the results of each project in every course visible to all, we can have a free and open dialogue about what works, what doesn't, and what we might try next.
Curriculum Mapping:
Then, in May of each year, we use what we observed in Critique Week (in April) to map the curriculum for the following year. We start at the top; 'what do seniors need to know?' and work our way down to foundations. Every faculty member is free to throw out ideas and provide feedback; then, we go through the year's existing curriculum project by project, keeping what works and improving what doesn't.
The primary benefit of this process is that we all know what students are learning in pre or co-requisite courses. So I can say to a junior who is struggling to create a focal point, "Remember in Foundations when you did the five black squares project, or in GD1 when you worked on 'Get Festive' this is the same idea." Knowledge is extrapolated from class to class and level to level. Students learn how to learn.
We are also very upfront in telling students that they will not leave us, having learned everything they will need to know. I have been in practice for 25 years; it is impossible to pour 25 years of experience into their heads in four years.
Three things I've learned in this process:
Give up control, let colleagues help you with projects, pedagogy, and feedback.
Be honest; no one wants to keep doing something that doesn't work, so even if it seems like you should be politely silent, it's much better to let them know.
Tell students why things matter and be honest with them about what they will and won't learn with you.