Institute:	RMIT
Discipline:	Fine Arts
Title:	Developing graduate attributes in Fine Art (Sculpture)
Year addressed:	1st ­4th year
Phase:	Identifying Attributes, Curriculum, Learning Experiences and Assessment
Generic Attributes:	The attributes listed here are specific to Fine Art (Sculptor) at RMIT. Their relationship to RMIT's generic attributes is explored, in table form, in the body of the report. Knowledge of the field of practices; Practical physical manifestation of the practice; Knowledge of how a practice is made public; Knowledge of the nature of the exchange that a practice is involved with; Knowledge of the value of this practice.

Issues Revealed:

-The Aim: "Challenging and transforming the culture of students in the course and encouraging students to challenge and change the cultures of the communities they enter into"
-Artists need to be able to reflect on how they communicate as an artist . They also need to understand how this communication may be received by different audiences
-Professional artists need to be aware of and understand key fundamental principles.
-Art students need to be able to conceptualise content knowledge with other knowledge bases eg, theoretical, personal, technical, administrative.
-Artists need to value their own work and how they work if they are to successfully challenge the communities they live/work in.
-A teaching approach which recognised and incorporated the above points was needed in order to produce art graduates that could successfully realise the progam's overall aim (cited above).
-Integrating graduate attributes into the core art curriculum, through reflective portfolios, was felt to be a useful medium for drawing the other issues together, and creating a holistic approach to teaching and learning for staff and students alike.

Actions Taken:

-Graduate Attributes were identified by the course team based on the rationale mentioned above.
-Learning Experiences were developed that incorporated some of the different attributes. These included: feedback diaries, written and oral critiques of exhibitions, reviews and artwork, art presentation forums and Reflective Contract sessions.
-First Year. Feedback sessions were a key area of assessment of attributes. They were specifically developed to "give students the opportunity to discuss their work. learn, collaborate with other students and staff and experience their art, others art and being an artist." "staff view these sessions as an important mechanism for evaluating their program and encouraging students to take responsibility for the development of themselves as Artists". They are also crucial to the development and incorporation of reflective learning skills.

Lessons Learned/Reflections:

-Ongoing-students are now being prepared to reflect on who they are as artists and how they learn, through the development of reflective and assessable (although this varies at different stages of the program)portfolios. These portfolios specifically address the various attributes.
-The incorporation and continued planning of this incorporation of graduate attributes into the core art curriculum has allowed the course team to address a number of fundamental issues of concern to them. These issues include: workloads, continuity, student focus and learning practices.
-The importance of observing how students learn so that spaces can be clearly articulated that relate to the development of key attributes (see documents on first year feedback sessions, and third year reflective contract sessions).