Koninklijke
Academie van
Beeldende
Kunsten
Royal
Academy of Art
Protocol for KABK IST
Interior Architecture and Furniture Design
Hogeschool der Kunsten
Den Haag
University of the Arts
The Hague
Individual Study Track
The Individual Study Track (IST) has been established to help students further develop
a personal artistic attitude by discovering their specific preferences and the areas that
particularly fascinate them.
IST involves independent study and exploring the individual track in greater depth. The
student develops methods, techniques, strategies and approaches that will play a key role
in his or her development as a designer. In doing so, he or she observes and makes a
note of thought processes, key considerations and strategies, important and enlightening
experiences, as well as any sidetracks explored or solutions uncovered.
It is important that the student discovers what his or her personal capabilities and ambitions are. As a part of competence-based education, students are expected to set their
own learning objectives. The IST therefore offers students an excellent opportunity to
differentiate their study programme in more depth.
The opportunities offered by the Individual Study Track include:
—— Participating in an Academy-wide lab;
—— Completing one or more electives at Leiden University;
—— Completing an elective at the Academy of Creative and Performing Arts (ACPA);
—— Participating in external projects;
—— Conducting personal practical or theoretical research;
—— Research or Material tussen Academy-wide lab.
Across the Royal Academy, Wednesdays are reserved for the IST.
Procedure
The Individual Study Track takes place in the second year and the first half of the third
year. At the start of each year, each student compiles an IST plan, which is submitted to
the IST coach together with the student’s portfolio. The IST plan presents the planned
activities, motivations and learning objectives based on a student’s personal vision. In a
meeting with the IST coach, an assessment is made as to whether the IST will be effective
as a means of broadening or deepening the student’s programme.
When the plan has been approved, the student completes the digital IST form (available
from the IST coach, via the IST website www.kabk.nl/ist or via the KABK student portal)
and submits this form to the IST coach by email. After formal approval, the IST coach processes the IST form by entering a note in the Osiris system. Students are able to view this
note by logging in via http://www.kabk.nl/studentportal.php and navigating to ‘Check your
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study progress in Osiris’.​​​Check your progress via ‘Supervision’. Students may also log
into Osiris to check how many IST EC they have earned to date. The IST programme can
then begin. If applicable, the IST coach will offer an explanation of why certain activities
have been rejected. The student will subsequently be required to make alternative choices.
EC are awarded for the IST, with 28 hours being set as a guideline for each EC. A minimum of 12 IST EC must be earned each year, and they can be spread across the whole
year as the student sees fit. This means that the IST will account for a total of 24 EC by
the end of the third year. The remaining 12 EC will be obtained in the fourth year.
Students who redo an academic year do not have to redo their IST, accredited EC remain
valid. It is recommended to spend the free time on in-depth study activities.
Activities undertaken as part of the IST must be recorded by means of documentation
and presented as part of the Collective Assessment. During the Collective Assessment,
the IST will be assessed on the basis of the documentation (see ‘Procedure and documentation’) and will count towards the collective mark and competences. If insufficient EC
are obtained, the academic year will be deemed not to have been completed and will be
considered a fail.
Supervision
The IST coach supervises the entire IST by arranging regular meetings with each student
during the weekly consultation session. During this meeting, the plans for the IST, the progress made and any problems encountered are presented and discussed individually with the
coach. These discussions must be prepared by the student and presented to the IST coach.
The IST is supervised by lecturers who teach IST courses or labs and lecturers from the
KABK, the KC and Leiden University. For activities initiated by students themselves, the
student and IST coach will decide who will act as supervisor.
NB: The collective and individual meetings with the IST coach are more frequent in the
first semester than in the second.
Procedure and documentation
If the IST involves an independent project, the student will primarily work independently on
the IST and must have regular consultations with the IST coach.
The student will carefully document the IST, recording the various activities, progress (by
means of text and/or image), and a record of hours spent.
After completing an independent activity, the student must ensure that the supervisor
signs the ‘Statement of Accomplishment of IST form’, which can be downloaded from the
IST website (www.kabk.nl/ist). The student gives this form to the coach during an evaluation meeting. The IST coach will ensure that the IST EC are recorded in the Osiris system.
The student is personally responsible for assessing the learning outcome and current
status in the self-evaluation section of the digital IST form and must include the activity
in his or her portfolio. The coordinator of Academy-wide Education communicates results
from labs to the IST coach.
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Tips
When formulating your IST, carefully determine what your objectives are. Be concrete and avoid being vague. Include in your description of your IST how you intend
to assess the end result. It helps if you ask yourself when you will consider your
project to be successful. Ensure that the plan is realistic and feasible. Draw up a
realistic schedule.
The IST plan must include the following activities:
—— formulation of a mission: the overall aim of everything you will do,
—— setting of long-term goals,
—— division of the long-term goals into smaller subsidiary goals,
—— drawing up of an implementation plan: what you will do, when and why.
When you evaluate your IST on the IST website, make sure you include the documentation.
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