Centre for Academic Practice, Trinity Teaching & Learning

Visual Artefact

There are many different types of visual artefacts including posters, illustrated presentations, infographics mindmaps and
photographic essays. A visual artefact may be produced as a standalone assessment or it may be combined with an essay or project or as part of a group project. A visual artefact is often considered a ‘real world’ or ‘authentic’ assessment as it can be made available to an audience wider than just the assessor.

Typically used to….

assess your capacity to develop an appropriate visual representation of a response to a problem or concept.
assess your ability to critique and synthesise information to produce a final artefact.
assess your creativity and design skills
develop your digital capabilities (JISC 2021).

Some of the learning outcomes being assessed through visual artefacts may refer to content and others to visual presentation. Always check the assessment criteria or rubric to establish what is being assessed.

Key considerations when developing a visual artefact for assessment

When developing a visual artefact for an assessment, always refer to the guidelines and requirements provided by your lecturer, keeping the following points in mind:

What is the purpose of the artefact? Is it being used or formative or summative assessment purposes (or both!)
If your artefact contributes to your final grade (i.e. are being used for summative assessment), how much is it worth?
What criteria is being used to assess your artefact? What percentage of your grade is allocated to design/presentation versus content and analysis? Has a rubric been provided?
What are the key points you want to cover in your artefact? What message do you want to get across?
What tools will you use to create your artefact? (See relevant tools and technologies listed below.)
What references, if any, do you need to include?
Have you been given any examples of similar assessments for reference?