Download Theatre Major Assessment Process

Theatre Major Assessment Process
Draft: January 25, 2012
The natural point at which to measure the learning outcomes for students in the Theatre major is
in their comps projects. As a culminating experience for students, it is the point at which they
can display the amalgamation of their intellectual and personal development as theatre majors.
Theatre comps involves arts practice that in itself reveals the skills, knowledge, and demeanor
that students have acquired during their curricular and performance preparation. Because of the
nature of the major itself, the comps project is a creative one. In particular, all Theatre comps
involve the development of a production-based project in one or more of the following creative
areas: directing, acting, play writing and design.
Learning Outcomes
The following statements describe our goals for graduates in the theatre major regardless of
which creative area they have chosen for their comps project.
Regarding: The student and the work itself
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Demonstrates an understanding of the creative principles in the chosen areas of
production.
Responds thoughtfully to feedback
Demonstrates an openness to changing their creative approach.
Demonstrates originality and innovation in translating concepts into creative form.
Creates work that demonstrates potential for graduate-level or professional success.
Regarding: Collaboration
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Demonstrates effective communication and problem-solving with all parties involved in
production, including other students, faculty, staff, and any collaborative partners from
outside the department or the college.
Exhibits rehearsal and production etiquette: on time, prepared, focused and
communicative.
Regarding: Production
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Demonstrates organizational skills of production, including scheduling, production
meetings, publicity, and coordination of the various elements of the production.
Demonstrates an understanding of and effectively integrates all technical production
elements, including lighting, audio, properties, costumes, sets, and other technological
elements—lobby displays, post show discussions, etc.
Theatre Major Assessment Process
Regarding: Creative skills
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Demonstrates a critical understanding of the creative areas involved in the project and
their interrelationship.
Demonstrates a fundamental grasp of the concepts and skills in the particular focus of the
comps project.
Demonstrates artistic growth throughout the development and presentation of the project.
Regarding: Articulation and Reflection
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Demonstrates the ability to justify the project clearly and thoughtfully.
Demonstrates the ability to discuss the ongoing creative process as the project develops.
Demonstrates the ability to discuss in detail the pros and cons of the creative process and
presentation of the project following its completing.
Demonstrates the ability to critically reflect on the creative choices that they made and
the resulting process.
A Three Year Assessment Process
Winter and spring terms of 2012: Theatre faculty will be using the newly developed comps
rubric as an assessment of student learning beginning with the students who are doing their
comps in the winter term and also with those in the spring. Two faculty members (advisor and
another theatre faculty member) and one external evaluator will independently rate each comps
project performance using the draft comps rubric. The three evaluators will come together to
discuss their findings and reflect on the utility of the rubric, the quality of the projects and the
adequacy of the dimensions on which students are evaluated.
This pilot will provide an opportunity for the department faculty to consider what the results tell
us about how well theatre majors have accomplished the desired skills, knowledge, abilities and
attitudes. Discussion will deliberate on whether the list of outcomes sufficiently describes what
we as theatre faculty intend for our theatre majors. We will also critique the rubric and revise as
needed to make it more useful and potentially provide meaningful results for faculty to consider.
We will come to a better agreement of what the scale of 1, 2, 3, and 4 mean to the rating process;
e.g., What are the key indicators that a student should be rated in each particular category? We
will document these discussions and decisions.
The annual report due in the summer of 2012 will include a description of the rating process for
comps, the conversations that ensued, and the decisions that are made as we move forward with
the next phases of our assessment process. This is a particularly critical point in time for us to
utilize these methods as we approach the addition of a new faculty member.
Theatre Major Assessment Process
Fall 2013: Revise the rubric as needed and focus the language of the outcomes as needed.
Winter and Spring 2013: Evaluators individually apply the rubric to comps — 2 faculty
members and one external evaluator for each project. Discussions will focus on the utility of the
results and a critique of the rubric and the outcomes. Faculty will consider all recommendations
to for revision.
Fall 2013: Revise (tweak) the rubric and outcomes as needed. We foresee that the comps rubric
will be an ongoing assessment, however, once we have had a couple rounds of discussions, we
will consider how we can increase the curricular scaffolding for these outcomes and look for
places that provide early indications that students are on target for acquiring the skills,
knowledge, and abilities that are important outcomes of the major.
Winter and Spring 2014: Evaluators individually apply the rubric to comps — 2 faculty
members and one external evaluator for each project. Revisit the scale definitions in the rubric.
Discuss the differences between each and the indicators that point to a particular rating.
Discussions will focus on the utility of the results and a critique of the rubric and the outcomes.
Faculty will consider all recommendations to for revision. These discussions and decisions will
be documented.
Fall 2014: Discuss the ratings and outcomes of three years of data based on the rubric ratings
and the discussions that they generated. We will consider these questions:
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What trends do we see across multiple classes of senior work?
What are the collective strengths and weaknesses of our seniors across time?
Do our major courses provide sufficient opportunities for student to develop these skills
and knowledge?
Do the data point to particular outcomes that need attention?
What are our next steps
We will also use fall term to determine any additional assessment initiatives during the next 3
years. Our goal as a department is to make this reflective assessment a part of the comps culture.
Among the initiatives, we will aim to develop places and ways to identify early indications of
development for our majors.