As mentioned on the previous page, today the visual art world, and what is accepted as art, is now much broader in scope due to modern advancements of technology, and also artists' desire to explore new ways of working, fully embracing these new technologies. In an attempt to reflect (and more importantly - to accept) this change and wider approach to art, educational institutions have included the creative areas of Media (predominantly film, video, sound, photography, animation and multimedia) and Design (generally graphic design, illustration, fashion and textiles) into the fold thus creating a post-modern fusion of the 'High' and 'Low' arts.18 This shift has also come about partly due to the expansion of the Higher Education system in 1991, which allowed Polytechnic colleges to turn into "new" universities, to rival the old Russell Group establishments such as Oxford and Cambridge. This resulted in many vocational courses such as HND's, (which were run by those former colleges), to award degrees courses. In arts based subjects degrees have tended traditionally to be less vocational than their HND equivalents, but are still much more desired by prospective students because of its 'higher' status and perceived benefits.19

This adaptation of the arts curriculum has not only changed the whole nature of arts practice, but also prompted a dramatic shift in student expectation before they even enter those establishments. No longer do art students just want to change the world, they also want to save it, record it, sell to it, buy it, and in this growing commercial world, understandably - make a financial profit from it. When announcing they wish to go to art school, many young people are asked by their anxious parents, "why would you want to do that?", "how are you going to make any money from doing that?", and "what possible job could you get from going to art college?". Now with arts' growing nature, the answers will be wide and varied, and may even satisfy the parents. Confidently, the prospective student can now answer all three of the above questions in one swift go.

20.

CHILD: I want to do an art course at university.

PARENT: Why would you want to do that?

CHILD: Because I want to work in the advertising/film/photography/television/graphic design/fashion industry and makes loads of money. Failing that I could sell my work to a gallery, and still make loads of money!

PARENT: Oh.

QUESTIONS FOR;

Student #1: "Even though your video will look lovely, what's the idea behind it? What's to stop it being all style and no content?"

Student #2: "Although your project has some good creative ideas and may be technically competent, how will you research it and develop your ideas?"

Student #3: "It's an interesting idea, but will the final product actually be any good?"

As you can see from the above diagram, the negotiation for tutors and students is to come to an understanding of what constitutes a successful end project in relation to the assessment criteria. This dialogue can on occasions create an interesting creative tension between tutors and students, especially when the student wants to pursue a particular approach, or thinks they are good at a particular style, but the tutor doesn't necessarily agree.

How do art, media and design educators nurture and respond to the wildly varying approaches to work by their students given these changing expectations, and how do they assess the work to ensure suitable academic standards are being met? There are many strategies educators employ to tackle these questions, which will be explored fuller in the next chapter.