Sculpture courses Guidelines for submission for formal assessment Applying for assessment The assessment application process is now integrated into the student website. Please click here www.oca-student.com/node/109435 to go to the relevant web page. The top section contains the application and submission dates. You may wish to make note of the dates that relate to your chosen assessment event. If you scroll down the page you will come to the Assessment Application form. Please complete the required information and click continue to move to the next section. Once completed please click the submit button. Look at OCA s Student Support Guide Assessments and how to get qualified, available to download from, OCA s student website: www.oca-student.com/study-guides/assessment-and-how-get-qualified When presenting your work for formal assessment there are two helpful videos below; www.oca-student.com/node/66695 www.oca-student.com/node/66697 For advice on packaging your work for assessment watch the following; https://vimeo.com/55602639 View videos of other student s assessment submissions on our blog weareoca.com here; http://weareoca.com/category/sw/
Assessment Criteria for theoretical courses The Assessment Criteria can be found on the student website here: www.oca-student.com/resource-type/assessment-criteria The emphasis for your assessment feedback will be different at each level. At Level 4, for example, assessors will comment on your skills acquisition and awareness of artists and artwork. At Level 5, you will be beginning to find your own artistic voice, be able to contextualise your work and assessors will also be looking at your ability to keep sketchbooks and learning logs. Level 4 is about laying the foundations. The emphasis is on the acquisition of skills and good working habits, such as the keeping of sketchbooks and learning logs. You should inform yourself about others work by reading and viewing exhibitions, etc. At this level, you are not expected to have developed a great deal of autonomy or have found a strong personal (visual) language -- if you have already done so, this is a bonus. Feedback at Level 4 should focus on your success in acquiring the necessary skills and working habits, at the same time encouraging you to push your limits. At Level 5 you will continue to improve your skills and the quality of your work. At this level, you should be starting to develop a personal visual language or voice and to choose the direction of your work in consultation with your tutor. This means that in addition to skills, your tutors feedback should reflect back to you whether you re taking enough responsibility for the shaping of your own work, whether you re doing enough reading and or viewing of other artists work and whether you re clearly articulating your own views and backing them up with reasoned arguments. Level 6 is about the transition from being a self-motivated student to becoming a selfmotivated and independent artist (or photographer, textile artist, designer maker, writer or musician). The expectation is that the quality of work will continue to improve, and you can demonstrate evidence of inventiveness, aesthetic judgement, as well as originality and independence. You should be developing your understanding of the professional arena you aspire to move into and developing you re intellectual understanding of the theory and concepts underpinning your discipline.
Presenting your work The following are presentation tips for your work and will be predominately most relevant to Level 1 (HE4) students. Use judgement to decide what is relevant to your own work and present it appropriately. Include a clear contents list and overall evaluation document with your assessment submission. Remember that careful presentation of your work is important, this includes the colour of the backing card, the weight of the card, and the position and scale of the work in relation to the backing and presentation materials. If you can imagine people will be handling your work so it is best to have it properly supported and that it looks like a uniformed submission. Remember you don t want the piece to look lost on a piece of card either so mount works appropriate to size. Please indicate how you wish the work to be seen and present the work in as close a way to this as possible within the size, weight and other OCA guidelines. If necessary each work should be accompanied by specific instructions. Lay everything out on the floor and look at your work objectively, you will be able to ascertain if the presentation looks good. Ensure to label everything with your name, course and student number - on the back of the pieces is fine. Try and make things easy to find by organising the work around each part of the course - label your work with what Project, Exercise or Assignment where possible. It may be necessary to rework pieces prior to assessment, especially if tutor feedback picks up on things you can improve. Submit both the original and reworked pieces alongside a short evaluation that highlights the changes and what you think of them. Where you have separate original and reworked pieces ensure you have clearly marked each work accordingly. Make it as straightforward as possible to access the work. Submit using A1 plastic portfolio where possible Where possible never roll your work and avoid folding works on paper. Do not use plastic wallets as it is fiddly trying to get your work back in, when OCA photograph your work or if assessors want to see the surface of a painting, drawing or textile piece. Pack sketchbooks/learning logs and 3D work securely in an additional box, using bubble wrap for fragile items. Small 3D work must not exceed 40cm in any one direction. If your work is delicate and fragile, you are sending this at your own risk, please make sure to document this work. All packages must be clearly labelled and 3D work should also carry clear Health and Safety labels, detailing the contents, and warning the handler if there are any sharp or otherwise fragile contents. Large 3D work should be represented in a series of photographs either physically or digitally showing a distance view, close ups to describe texture and material quality and context of presentation. If possible please include a short video of max 3 minutes in length, which offers a 360 degree view of the work. If you have any queries please refer to your tutor for advice. The recommended file format is MOV or MP4.
Ensure that there is some indication of the scale of the work evident within the visual images. If some of your work needs protecting, please don t use tissue in between your work, a normal piece of paper is better as tissue easily gets damaged when handling and unpacking your work. If there is digital work which needs to be seen please indicate clearly on your contents page and instruct on how it should be viewed Essays and critical reviews All sustained written work submitted for assessment (such as an essay or critical review) MUST be submitted digitally and printed out and submitted on paper along with the rest of your submission. This work should be submitted to assessment@oca.ac.uk, clearly stating your name, student number, the course name and the type of digital work attached (e.g. critical review, essay). This is to enable OCA to carry out plagiarism checks on work, and a requirement of our validation with the University for the Creative Arts. Please ensure you only send the essay / critical review. Tutor reports are not required for plagiarism checks. Blogs and other digital work Please ensure you include your blog URL and password for your blog or any other digital work, on your assessment application form. Your blogs should not be edited or amended after the assessment submission date. Part hard copy / Part electronic submissions Once the assessment application deadline has been reached all students will be sent an invitation to their own new shared folder which will be held within the assessment@oca.ac.uk GDrive. Guidance on how to copy your electronic submission items to this will be provided. It is expected that this shared folder will have sub folders to determine where you place individual aspects e.g. tutor reports, assignments, essays etc. and students will be required to show discernment in what they add. It will be the student s responsibility to ensure the items are added by the submission deadline. Only the student who is invited, the assessment team and the assessors will have access to your shared folder no other student can access this. Even for Sculpture submissions it is vital that some physical work is submitted for review. Discuss this with your tutor or OCA if you are unsure. Tutor reports All your tutor reports must be uploaded to your GDrive folder. If your tutor has annotated your written work, then you must submit the annotated version of the written work as well as the final version.
What to submit for Assessment Requirements at each level Level one course (HE Level 4) A minimum of 8 works and a maximum of 12. Carefully selected supporting work: comprising sketches, notes, maquettes or models which is clearly differentiated from your Portfolio Submission. Your sketchbooks, learning log or blog url. All your tutor reports must be uploaded to your GDrive folder. Overall Evaluation* Level two course (HE Level 5) Refer to your Assignmnet 6 feedback, in this pre-assessment tutorial you will have discussed your ideas and how best to select and present your body of work. Carefully selected supporting work: comprising sketches, notes, maquettes or models which is clearly differentiated from your Portfolio Submission. Your sketchbooks, learning log or blog url. A 2,000 word critical review (send both physical and digital copies). All your tutor reports must be uploaded to your GDrive folder. Overall Evaluation* Level three course (HE Level 6) You must submit the first two courses ( Contextual Studies and Body of Work) for formal assessment at the same time. Submit the final course (Sustaining your Practice) at the next suitable event. A comprehensive body of work. Carefully selected supporting work which is clearly differentiated from your Portfolio Submission. Your sketchbooks, learning log or blog url A 5,000 word extended essay (send both physical and digital copies). All your tutor reports must be uploaded to your GDrive folder. Overall Evaluation* *Overall Evaluation It s a good idea to write an overall evaluation that reflects on your learning journey as a whole, picks up on tutor feedback and highlights where your strengths lie or what you d like to develop further. This evaluation only needs to be one side of A4 but try and give a sense of how you ve felt about your experiences. Here you can assess, reflect on and select your best work. Discern why you have chosen to submit what you have submitted.
Terms and Conditions It is a requirement that you purchase maximum an A1 lightweight plastic portfolio. The best are polylite portfolios made of lightweight sturdy corrugated plastic. These portfolios are spacious and boxlike with plastic catches that can be taped up. These are generally robust and spacious enough for all student requirements as well as cheaper to post. They are also cheaper than other portfolios. We do not recommend using leather or leatherette portfolios which are heavy, nor the use of plastic sleeves which create reflection on work. Transporting any work that is too big to go in a plastic portfolio, either because it s too thick, too long or wide, or 3D in nature, should be boxed separately and securely, labelled and added to your contents list. Please consult OCA about delivering anything bulky and large for assessment first. Please do not wrap up work in your own makeshift portfolios, since this often involves OCA having to re-wrap and repair them, and they are often heavier to post. Students may consult with their tutor if they feel unsure about what to include in their submission based on their strengths and weaknesses and also consult your tutor for guidance on presentation methods. Your overall submission may not weigh more than 20 kg in total. Any submission in excess of 20kg will incur a surcharge for additional postage and admin. Assessment packages should not exceed A1 in size. If your work is bulky please consult OCA on the best way to deliver it. Clarification on presentation of work when studying multiple courses If you are studying more than one OCA course at the same time, you must ensure that your work on the courses you are studying do not overlap in any way. You must keep separate learning logs, demonstrating that the research you do is specifically for each of the courses. It is essential that when you present your work for assessment that it is clear which work relates to which course. There must be a discrete set of work for each course so that the assessors are clear what they are assessing. However, if a student is studying two units at the same time and doing general sketchbook work for example, to support both units, this person can submit the sketchbooks for both units as evidence of background research. If you are submitting multiple sketchbooks, please annotate them with markers or post it notes to indicate and direct assessors to ten key sections or pages.
About assessment at OCA The assessment process involves your work being marked by one assessor and then moderated by another assessor. The average amount of time spent reviewing each submission at assessment is 45 minutes, but this may increase at level 3 (HE6). The assessment process is validated by an external examiner who observes the assessment and reviews a sample of the submissions. The resulting marks are provisional. The marks are then confirmed by an exam board convened by the validating university, UCA. When are results released? Results are emailed to the student s OCA email address following the undergraduate exam board which is held at the end of every assessment month. Appeals For details of making a formal appeal please see the section 3.6, Section B in the Student Regulations which can be accessed at: www.oca.ac.uk/wp-content/ uploads/2015/05/student- Regulations_2015_16_Final.pdf When do I get my work back? We aim to return all assessment work within 8 weeks of the end of the assessment month. Please note these guidelines were current at the time of printing, for the most up to date versions refer to the student website.