Wells College Book Arts Center

DRAFT Assessment Plan

To: Cindy Speaker

From: Terrence Chouinard, Director of the Book Arts Center and

Nancy Gil, Assistant Director

Date: September 6, 2007

The Mission of Wells College

The College’s Mission on page 8 of the 2006-2007 Catalog says that we are to teach our students to:

• Think critically
• Act humanely
• Cultivate meaningful lives
• Learn & practice the ideals of the liberal arts
• Appreciate complexity and difference
• Embrace new ways of knowing
• Be creative
• Respond ethically
• Equip themselves for life-long learning
• Share the privileges of education.

These goals are reiterated on page 30 of the Catalog in the Institutional Goals of Wells College and also in the Academic Program Goals.

The Mission of the Book Arts Center

The Book Arts Center’s Mission is stated in the introductory paragraph about the BAC on page 53 of the same catalog, with additional details in the 2005 Comprehensive Plan Draft by Sarah Roberts , our third Victor Hammer Fellow and for a brief while the Director of Book Arts Initiatives. Our mission is to teach our students:

• The traditional arts & crafts of the book (calligraphy, printing & binding)
• The traditions and history of the book
• To develop a critical and aesthetic eye for printing, binding, calligraphy and other areas of the book arts
• To compare, contrast and appreciate different approaches to design, be they done by hand or at the computer
• To learn experientially
• To use, enjoy and value the processes of reflection & revision
• To strengthen interdisciplinary approaches to study.

How the BAC’s Mission Addresses the College’s Mission

The various components of the BAC’s mission clearly address most of the components of the College’s mission, as outlined below.

• We teach our students to think critically by studying the history of the book, by developing a critical and aesthetic eye in the various arts and crafts of the book, by comparing & contrasting different approaches to design, and by the processes of reflection & revision, and problem solving.
• Meaningful lives are cultivated using these components along with experiential learning and interdisciplinary approaches to problem solving.
• The practice of the liberal arts is evident in all aspects of our curriculum.
• Our students learn to appreciate complexity and difference by studying the history of the book, but also in the practice of the skills they learn in the studio courses.
• Because our students must learn hand skills that accompany a developing aesthetic eye, they are definitely embracing new ways of knowing.
• Our students must think and work creatively as they apply their newly acquired skills to designing and executing bindings, boxes, broadsides, letterhead, French fold printed materials, and hand-lettered broadsides and pamphlets.
• All of our courses are based on the assumption that the students are interested in learning the course content. The development of their critical thinking, problem solving, and hand skills all contribute to equip them for life-long learning.
• Many of our students in the studio-based courses are so enchanted with what they learn that they teach their friends and family members some of the skills they have acquired, thus sharing the privileges of education.

The two areas in the College’s mission that our courses do not specifically address are to act humanely and to respond ethically. Nonetheless, our students help each other in critiques, in proofreading, in trying to remember how to do (or not!) specific things, thus acting humanely and responding ethically, i.e. helpfully. We do not, however, address these two areas in discussion or research, as might happen in other courses.

Faculty

Our Faculty is very limited, and both the Director and Assistant Director serve as staff with many duties outside teaching. Terrence Chouinard, the Director of the Book Arts Center, is contracted to teach one course a year, BKRT 220 Typography II. The Assistant Director, Nancy Gil, oversees internships, BKRT 290/390 and is also the Director of the Summer Institute. The Victor Hammer Fellow is contracted to teach 2 courses per year, currently in book binding. Our other faculty members are adjunct and teach one course each:

Michael Bixler, BKRT 120 Typography I, Introduction to Letterpress Printing

Barbara Griffin Galli, BKRT 105, Introduction to Calligraphy

Herbert Johnson, BKRT 225, History of the Book.

Curriculum

Our entire curriculum includes these courses:

BKRT 105 Introduction to Calligraphy

BKRT 115 Introduction to Bookbinding

BKRT 120 Typography I, Introduction to Letterpress Printing

BKRT 215 Bookbinding II

BKRT 220 Typography II

BKRT 225 History of the Book

BKRT 290 / 390 Internship in the Book Arts

BKRT 285 / 385 Topics in the Book Arts

BKRT 299 / 399 Independent

The Minor in Book Arts

We do not offer a major in Book Arts, although our long-range plans certainly include a major. However, we have offered the minor in Book Arts since 2002 and have graduated the following numbers of minors:

two students in the class of 2003, the first class that could fulfill all the requirements

three in 2005

two in 2006

two in 2007.

Goals, Objectives, Outcomes and Assessments

The specific goals and objectives of the Book Arts Center are indicated below.

goal 1

Students develop skills in the arts & crafts of the book

1. Objectives

a) To learn experientially by acquiring skills in typography, binding, lettering

Outcomes: design and letterpress print letterhead, broadsides, and French folds, with or without ornaments; bind books of varying sizes & shapes, both blank and printed, in several styles; calligraph or design lettering appropriate for specific purposes

b) Study the form and function of the skills listed above

Outcomes: create printed materials, bindings, and/or calligraphed designs that are appropriate for the object and use

2. Curriculum to meet those objectives

a) Introductory courses

BKRT 105 Introduction to Calligraphy

BKRT 115 Hand Bookbinding I

BKRT 120 Typography I: Intro to Letterpress Printing

b) Second-level courses

BKRT 215 Hand Bookbinding II

BKRT 220 Typography II: Design and Production

c) Internships in conservation labs

3. Means of assessment

a) In hand-skills or studio courses, students are assessed according to the skills and aesthetics pertinent to that course.

1. Letterpress printing: no typos or misspellings; well-printed; evenly inked; straight lines; good spacing; type, paper and artwork appropriate for the project; correct use of tools and equipment

2. Hand bookbinding: clean work with no glue spots; paper and/or cloth appropriate to the book or structure; accurate measuring, cutting and gluing; final product resembles models; correct use of tools and equipment

3. Calligraphy: practice sheets, short and long assignments in each of the four hands learned; tidiness; spacing, centering and other aesthetic elements; accuracy of letter forms; appropriateness of text for project in each hand

b) In internships, the on-site supervisor evaluates the student’s overall skills, willingness and ability to learn new techniques, and ability to work both independently and as a team member.

goal 2

Students study the tradition and history of book

1. Objectives

a) Appreciate the role of writing & the book from earliest times to the present

Outcomes: speak and/or write about these and related topics

b) Understand how the book has changed in format and aesthetics from ancient times to the present

Outcomes: speak and/or write about these and related topics

c) Learn how publishing has developed from the Industrial Revolution to the present

Outcomes: speak and/or write about this and related topics

2. Curriculum to meet those objectives

a) BKRT 225 History of the Book as the primary source/course.

b) All other BKRT courses as secondary sources/courses.

3. Means of assessment

In The History of the Book class, students are assessed by tests on factual knowledge and by short and long papers on topics in the field.

goal 3

Students develop an aesthetic awareness in matters of typography, binding, lettering

1. Objectives

a) Acknowledge changes in taste and aesthetics over time

Outcomes: apply this knowledge to other disciplines such as literature, art, music, dance

b) Develop critical skills for successful design

Outcomes: can critique own works, make revisions and move toward aesthetic success; can critique work by others to discern and articulate what is successful and why, or why not

2. Curriculum to meet those objectives

a) All hand-skills or studio courses

b) History of the Book

3. Means of assessment

a) In hand-skills courses, students are assessed according to the aesthetic applica-tions of the skills pertinent to that course.

1. Letterpress printing: good design; type, paper and artwork appropriate for the project; no typos or misspellings; well-printed; evenly inked; straight lines; good spacing

2. Hand bookbinding: good design; paper and/or cloth appropriate to the book or structure; clean work with no glue spots; accurate measuring, cutting and gluing; final product resembles models

3. Calligraphy: good design on projects; accuracy of letterforms; tidiness; spacing, centering and other aesthetic elements; appropriateness of text for project in each hand

b) In hand-skills courses, students learn to critique their own and each other’s work using the vocabulary and methodology appropriate to that course.

c) In the History of the Book course, students apply the aesthetics learned in that and other courses to the book as manifested over the centuries.

goal 4

Students compare, contrast and appreciate different approaches to design, be they done by hand or at the computer

1. Objectives

a) Acquire knowledge about and various skills in the design of printed pieces, different bindings, and calligraphed works

Outcomes: apply that knowledge and those skills to projects in the various studio courses

b) Study book design and the history of the book

Outcomes: discuss and /or write about these and related topics

2. Curriculum to meet those objectives

a) All hand-skills or studio courses

b) BKRT 220 Typography II: Design and Production

c) History of the Book

3. Means of assessment

a) In hand-skills or studio courses, students learn a variety of techniques as means to their goals of printing, binding or calligraphing. In addition, as they evaluate and critique using the vocabulary and methodology of that discipline, they have to compare and contrast the similarities, differences and overall quality of their own and others’ work.

b) In BKRT 220, students learn to use the Adobe Creative Suite to design and print projects leading up to a short book. The same critical skills apply, but work is done at the computer.

c) In History of the Book, students apply their developing visual and aesthetic skills to critique book design.

goal 5

Students learn experientially

1. Objectives

a) Learn by doing rather than by reading about techniques or watching videos

Outcomes: acquire hand and eye skills in the various book arts disciplines taught at Wells

b) Develop the skills required in a given studio course

Outcomes: develop confidence in one’s ability and work

c) Design projects requiring a certain amount typographical, binding or calligraphic skill and expertise

Outcomes: create those projects successfully

d) Apply skills learned in non-academic settings

Outcomes: enjoy successful internship or employment

2. Curriculum to meet those objectives

a) BKRT 105 Introduction to Calligraphy

BKRT 115 Hand Bookbinding I

BKRT 120 Typography I: Intro to Letterpress Printing

BKRT 215 Hand Bookbinding II

BKRT 220 Typography II: Design and Production

BKRT 285/385 Topics in the Book Arts

b) BKRT 290/390 Internships

3. Means of assessment

a) In hand-skills or studio courses, students must learn to use their hands, not just their brains. They are graded on the quality of their projects as outlined in Goals 1 and 3 above.

b) In internships, students are assessed on the skills they take to the internship as well as those they learn on-site. These include not just book arts related skills, but work place etiquette and decorum, time management and interpersonal skills important to a successful internship and to future employment.

goal 6

Students use, enjoy and value the processes of reflection & revision

1. Objectives

a) Learn to reflect, critique and revise

Outcomes: develop ability to proofread & critique objectively; acquire time management and project development skills necessary for this process

b) Make revisions

Outcomes: improve created work through reflection, critique and revision

2. Curriculum to meet those objectives

All Book Arts courses

3. Means of assessment

a) In hand-skills or studio courses, students must show improvement as they develop the skills required for that course.

1. Letterpress printing: good design; type, paper and artwork appropriate for the project; no typos or misspellings; well-printed; evenly inked; straight lines; good spacing

2. Hand bookbinding: good design; paper and/or cloth appropriate to the book or structure; clean work with no glue spots; accurate measuring, cutting and gluing; final product resembles models

3. Calligraphy: good design on projects; accuracy of letterforms; tidiness; spacing, centering and other aesthetic elements; appropriateness of text for project in each hand

4. Design and Production: good design; revisions made at the computer with increasing ease, skill and confidence; mock-ups look more and more like the finished product

goal 7

Students strengthen interdisciplinary approaches to study

1. Objectives

a) Learn both hand-skills and traditions & history of the book and book arts

Outcomes: speak, read or write about what they have learned to do and how it is related to the traditions and history of the book

b) Acknowledge changes in taste, aesthetics over time

Outcomes: discuss and/or write about correlations in other disciplines such as literature, art, music, dance

c) Understand changes in technology in the history of the book

Outcomes: discuss and/or write about those changes

2. Curriculum to meet those objectives

All Book Arts courses

3. Means of assessment

a) In hand-skills or studio courses, students must demonstrate some knowledge of the historical context of the skills they are learning

b) The History of the Book course looks at aesthetics, technological and social history, and the impact of printing on society. Students demonstrate their knowledge of these and other broad areas through class discussion, projects, presentations and tests.

Results of assessment

The Director and Assistant Director meet several times during the academic year, often with the Victor Hammer Fellow and the other faculty members, to evaluate the effectiveness of our courses. Are we teaching what we should? Are the students learning what they should, that is, are they prepared for the second level at the end of the first level, and for the next level after the second? Do they know how to use the tools and equipment properly and safely? If we find unsatisfactory answers, then we address those problems in discussion with the appropriate faculty for more success the next time the course is taught.