The problematic issues related to standardized assessment of the nonstandard and to multiple ways of knowing in the visual arts motivated the research and first phase development of eLASTIC: electronic learning and assessment tool for interdisciplinary connections. In this article, the author describes the evolution and implications associated with this research centering upon the edifying nature of student-initiated links and connections. Using experiences from a 3-year study in Doha, Qatar, this eLASTIC research promises to inform the development of tools that compel students to learn beyond the curriculum while at the same time offering embedded assessments that yield ample data for demonstrating what art students know and are able to do.