Presentation: Improving a Digital Art Presentation

Slide 1 of 7 · Settling starter · Art · Year 11

4 minutes

Improving a digital art presentation

Nia’s practical work is good, but her digital presentation hides it. A moderator who has never met her will only see the 6 slides. Today you evaluate the layout and content of her presentation, check her image files, redesign one slide and justify your changes to a critical reader.

While the register is called: write your name, class and date on your worksheet, then read sections 1 and 4 of the stimulus, the brief and the feedback Nia received.

Starter question: What is Nia’s intention, and on which of her slides does it appear?

DCF: Producing → Evaluating and improving digital content Practice only, not NEA work · no computers needed

Supply teacher script (no subject knowledge needed)

Hand out: one worksheet per pupil and one stimulus sheet (Nia’s practice presentation: Cynefin) between two. Pupils need a pen, a ruler and a calculator. Nia, her school, her work and the comments are invented; Ernest Zobole is a real Welsh painter. Pupils must not open, edit or add to their own portfolio or assignment work in this lesson.

Say aloud: “Write your name, class and date at the top of your worksheet. While I take the register, read section 1, the brief, and section 4, the feedback, on the stimulus sheet. Answer the starter question in rough.”

Starter answer: “To show my town from the mountain road above it, the place I always come back to. I want the rows of houses to look like they are holding on to the sides of the valley.” It appears on none of the slides; it is only in her notebook.

Slide 2 of 7 · Today’s brief and key words · Art · Year 11

6 minutes

Step 1: read all 5 sections of the stimulus

Underline every problem and circle every strength. You will produce an evaluation grid for all 6 slides, 4 scale factor calculations, a sketched redesign of slide 4 with a 50 to 70 word annotation, and a 120 to 150 word note to Nia’s teacher.

Layout and hierarchy

Where things go on the slide, how big they are and what is seen first. Hierarchy makes the most important thing the most noticeable.

Annotation

Writing that records ideas, decisions and next steps (AO3). It explains, it does not just describe.

Resolution and aspect ratio

Resolution is how many pixels an image has. Aspect ratio is its shape, width compared with height.

Step 1 on your worksheet · 10 minutes in pairs Section 5 lists the 4 assessment objectives, you will need them in Step 2

Slide 3 of 7 · Step 2: evaluate each slide · Art · Year 11

12 minutes

Step 2: one strength, the biggest problem, the AO it hides

For each of Nia’s 6 slides, find one strength (or write “none”) and the biggest problem. Say whether the problem is about layout or content, and which assessment objective it hides. Then rank the 3 slides that most need fixing: 1 is the most urgent.

Slide	Strength	Biggest problem (layout or content?)	AO it hides	Rank
1	None.	Layout and content. Pale yellow on white cannot be read, and there is no big idea or intention, so the moderator starts with no idea what Nia is trying to do.	AO4	1

Step 2 on your worksheet · 12 minutes Tie each problem to what a moderator who has never met Nia would miss

Supply teacher script (no subject knowledge needed)

Say aloud: “Slide 1 is done on the board as a model. Fill in slides 2 to 6, then put a rank of 1, 2 and 3 against the three slides that most need fixing. Use the feedback in section 4 and the assessment objectives in section 5.”

Quick check: Slide 2, strength a relevant Welsh artist who painted the Rhondda valleys; problem content, a pasted biography with no source and no analysis, image with no title, date or credit and blurred; hides AO1. Slide 3, strength lots of first-hand photographs; problem layout, 14 equal thumbnails with no captions so her selection is invisible, photograph 9 squashed; hides AO2 and AO3. Slide 4, strength 3 different digital experiments; problem content, “It looks cool” describes a feeling not a decision, all 3 edits the same size; hides AO2 and AO3. Slide 5, strength the best annotation, it explains a technique, links to Zobole and sets a next step; problem layout, the drawing is sideways; hides AO3. Slide 6, strength a finished outcome exists; problem layout and content, photographed at an angle with glare, blurred, no title, media, size or evaluation; hides AO4.

Ranking: the worked example ranks slide 1 first, slide 4 second and slide 2 third. Other rankings are fine if justified, but slides 1 and 4 should be near the top: they hide the intention and the experiments.

Slide 4 of 7 · Step 3: check the image files · Art · Year 11

8 minutes

Step 3: scale factors, blur and distortion

Use the table in section 3 of the stimulus. Scale factor = size shown ÷ file size, for the width and for the height, to 2 decimal places. Above 1 means the image has been enlarged, so it blurs. Two different scale factors mean it has been distorted.

Image	Width scale factor	Height scale factor	Blurred?	Distorted?	How to fix it
1 (Zobole painting)	1200 ÷ 300 = 4.00	900 ÷ 225 = 4.00	Yes	No	Find a larger image from a reliable source, such as a museum website, and credit it. Do not stretch a small file.

Then: photograph 9 should keep the 4000 by 3000 shape. If it stays 240 pixels wide, how tall should it be? Show your working.

Step 3 on your worksheet · 8 minutes An image can be distorted even when it has been made smaller

Supply teacher script (no subject knowledge needed)

Say aloud: “8 minutes for Step 3. Image 1 is done on the board: divide the size shown by the file size for the width, then for the height. Do images 2, 3 and 4, then work out the correct height for photograph 9.”

Quick check: Image 2 (photograph 9): 240 ÷ 4000 = 0.06, 150 ÷ 3000 = 0.05, not blurred, distorted; fix by locking the aspect ratio so the height becomes 180. Image 3 (scanned drawing): 540 ÷ 1240 = 0.44, 764 ÷ 1754 = 0.44, not blurred, not distorted; nothing wrong with the file, rotate it 90 degrees so it is upright. Image 4 (final piece): 1440 ÷ 640 = 2.25, 1080 ÷ 480 = 2.25, blurred, not distorted; re-photograph the painting straight on in even light with no glare, and move the full-size file by email, cloud storage or cable, not a messaging app.

Photograph 9: height = 240 × 3000 ÷ 4000 = 180 pixels, the same as the other 13 photographs.

Slide 5 of 7 · Step 4: redesign slide 4 · Art · Year 11

15 minutes

Step 4: sketch a new slide 4 and rewrite its annotation, on your own

(a) Sketch a new layout for slide 4 in the frame. Label where each image goes, its size, the heading and the annotation. Show which experiment Nia chose to take forward, and make sure the eye goes to it first.

(b) Rewrite Nia’s annotation, 50 to 70 words. Keep it true to what is on the slide: a panorama stitched from 5 photographs, a blue colour overlay, a mirror filter. Say what each edit did, which one best fits her intention and why, and what she will do next.

Nia’s current annotation: “I did a filter on these. It looks cool. The blue one is my favourite.”

Her intention: “I want the rows of houses to look like they are holding on to the sides of the valley.”

Step 4 on your worksheet · 15 minutes, alone Hierarchy: the chosen edit large, the rejected ones small

Supply teacher script (no subject knowledge needed)

Say aloud: “15 minutes, on your own. Sketch the new slide 4 in the frame with a ruler, label every image with its size, and show which edit Nia takes forward so the eye lands on it first. Then rewrite the annotation in 50 to 70 words, judging each of the 3 edits against her intention. Count your words.”

Quick check (a): a secure layout shows the chosen edit large (the worked example uses the mirror edit at 760 by 760 pixels, smaller than its 1080 by 1080 file so it stays sharp) with a border, the 2 rejected edits small in a column numbered in the order made, a heading that asks the question the slide answers, and the annotation at 24 point so it can be read on a board. Any edit may be chosen if the annotation justifies it against the intention.

Quick check (b), model annotation: “The panorama keeps the true colours but spreads the town too thin. The blue overlay adds a cold mood that does not suit a place I love. The mirror filter works best: the valley sides meet in the middle, so the terraces seem to hold on to each other, which is my intention. Next, I will draw the mirrored version in 4B pencil.” (63 words.)

Slide 6 of 7 · Step 5 and self check · Art · Year 11

7 minutes

Step 5: justify your 3 most important changes, then check against the criteria

In silence, write a note of 120 to 150 words to Nia’s teacher explaining your 3 most important changes across the whole presentation. For each: what you changed, why it matters to someone who has never met Nia, and which assessment objective it helps. Include 1 change about crediting a source. Then tick the criteria you have met and correct 1 thing.

I judge both the layout and the content of each slide against its purpose and its audience, a moderator who has never met the pupil.
I use the feedback and my own evaluation to make detailed, specific changes, not general ones like “make it better”.
I can check image resolution and aspect ratio with correct calculations, and explain what the viewer would see.
I refer correctly to the sources of images and information used in the presentation.
I justify my changes to a critical reader, linking each one to an assessment objective.

Step 5 on your worksheet · 10 minutes, in silence Finished early? Write the credit line for the Zobole painting

Supply teacher script (no subject knowledge needed)

Say aloud: “The note is written in silence. 120 to 150 words to Nia’s teacher, 3 changes, each linked to an assessment objective, and one of them must be about crediting a source. When you finish, tick the success criteria on the board and correct 1 thing. For example, the model pupil checked that every change named an AO.”

Quick check: the worked example’s 3 changes are: slide 1 rewritten with a readable title, the big idea and the intention (AO4); slide 3 cut to 5 captioned photographs with the squashed one fixed and slide 4 rebuilt around the mirror edit with an annotation that explains a decision (AO2 and AO3); slide 2 biography replaced with Nia’s own analysis of one painting and a full credit line, artist, title, date, medium, collection and website (AO1). It is 144 words. Accept any 3 specific changes that each name an AO and include a source credit.

Extension answers: Slide 3: keep only the 5 photographs stitched into the panorama, best one first and larger, each with a short caption. Credit line: artist, title, date, medium, the collection that owns it, then the website and the date accessed; a museum or gallery’s own collection website is more reliable than an image search. Title slide: “Cynefin: holding on to the valley. I want the rows of houses in my town to look as if they are holding on to the valley sides.”

Slide 7 of 7 · Plenary review · Art · Year 11

3 minutes

Quick-check answers before handing in

Check your main answers before your worksheets are collected.

Question	Correct answer
What are the scale factors for the final piece on slide 6, and what does the viewer see?	2.25 by 2.25: enlarged, so it is blurred but not distorted.
How tall should photograph 9 be at 240 pixels wide?	240 × 3000 ÷ 4000 = 180 pixels.
Why is “It looks cool. The blue one is my favourite.” a weak annotation?	It describes a feeling, not a decision, and does not link to the intention, so it hides AO2 and AO3.

Check your name and class are on your worksheet Leave stimulus sheets neat on the desk