Duke of Edinburgh Creative Arts skills activity

[AlexR!]

A friend of mine has asked if I would act as the Assessor for the Creative Arts section of her son's Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award, as he has chosen photography as one of his Skill Activities. I have researched the requirements of the award and am fairly comfortable that I have sufficient knowledge to help him devise a development programme, mentor where required, and then give him a meaningful assessment of the resultant portfolio. Of course I have been very clear that I am not qualified in any way, nor am I a professional photographer, but I don't believe that this is required.
He has a newly acquired DSLR and access to Photoshop so he needs to demonstrate improvement over a 6 to 12 month period.
I have said that as an Assessor I would want to see evidence of research into what makes a good image (composition, subject matter etc) and maybe a critique of other images. I would then expect to see examples of a range of subjects (landscape, portrait, action, nature etc) and techniques and post-processing with a reason for the settings used in each final image.
I was wondering, however, if anyone on the Forum has acted as such an Assessor before? I'd be grateful for any help and guidance that you may be able to give, particularly to ensure that I pitch the level about right.

[rcarca]

Re: Duke of Edinburgh Creative Arts skills activity

Alex, I am a great fan of the DofE awards. Both my daughters have worked their way through bronze, silver and gold. One of the things that used to wind me up was fiends of friends who would do "cake decorating" for an hour and a friend would then "appraise" them for the award. I always felt that was fraudulent! Of course cake decorating could be a great thing to do - it was just the lackadaisical approach to assessment and learning! However, if you have set up a programme as outlined, and it takes then requisite number of hours over the months it should take for him to complete, then I really think that you are doing an excellent job for an important initiative. And with any luck your friend's son will end up with a portfolio that he can keep with pride!

Good luck

Richard

[AlexR!]

Re: Duke of Edinburgh Creative Arts skills activity

Thanks Richard, appreciated. I have now spoken to someone who oversees the DofE process locally and am more comfortable with what to do. My friend knows me through work, where I have a reputation as somewhat of a stickler for 'doing things right'. And, yes, she has said that she is expecting me to be rigorous in agreeing what is required, and then my assessing of it.