Quadrennial Review II 2-3-16

Assessment Plan for the General Education Quadrennial Review 2016-2019

Please submit the completed electronic copy to l u nnol d @ astate.edu

The General Education Committee will require you to include and address the following information in your quadrennial review assessment report submission. • Data collection methodology • Analysis of data • Sharing of assessment results with faculty teaching course • Creation of action plan to address student learning across all sections offered

Please see the Quadrennial Review Assessment Timetable on page 2 for submission due dates.

For more detailed information about the expectations of the General Education Committee, please click here: h tt p :// www . as t a t e . edu / a / share d -governance / shared-governance-co mm itt ees / general-educa ti on-co mm itt ee - / docu m en t s / P l ann i ng % 20for % 20 QR II . pd f

1. Course Prefix and Number THEA 2503

2. Course Title Fine Arts Theatre

3. Contact Person (Department Chair Name, Department, Email Address, Phone Number) Lisa Bohn (Chair is Bob Simpson, but I am the head of departmental and Gen Ed assessment) Department of Theatre l bohn @ astate . ed u 972.3315

Framework

View the General Education Goals and associated SLOs and courses here: http:// www .astate.edu/a/shared- governance/share d -governanc e -co mm ittees/general-education- co mm ittee-/docu m ents/ G en-ed-goals- w ith-outco m es- and-associated-courses-final- S prin g -2014.pdf 4. Please mark with an X the Student Learning Outcome (SLO) you intend to evaluate.

Quadrennial Review Assessment Timetable

Review Year

5. Connection – Briefly explain how the learning outcome you selected above relates to the discipline of the course being assessed In creating and refining our most current assessment model, we started with an honest, inMdepth discussion about how we would define “the successful Fine Arts Theatre student.” What would that look like? What do we want our students to be able to do after successful completion of our course? When it comes down to it, what we want our students to be able to do it is go see a play and be able to understand and critique the elements that went into its creation, in addition to having the background to more fully appreciate the show as an audience member. We believe that goal directly aligns with the Gen Ed goal of interpreting works of fine arts or literature.

6. Assessment Instrument Description – ( Briefl y describe the instrument, including how the instrument is a valid measure of the outcome. Submit the actual instrument at the end of the document under item number 10. )

Our assessment measure contains 10 survey questions and 10 essential content;based questions. • Based on the College of Fine Arts’ emphasis on fostering conversation about the intrinsic value of the arts, the survey invites personal reflection on the importance of the arts and their role in our community. It is administered both at the beginning and end of the semester in order to provide a measurable way to explore how the Fine Arts Theatre course potentially changes the way individual students view the way art impacts their lives. • The 10 content;based questions (given on the last day of class) represent the baseline, minimum knowledge that a student would need in order to be able to interpret a theatre production. The questions focus on each of the main groups of people who are involved in the creation of theatre (playwright, director, designer, and actor), as well as the core theories of concept, designers’ goals, directors’ functions, elements of acting, creating focus, etc. We adjust the instrument each semester to include photographs and specific references to the AMState Theatre productions the students would have read and seen that semester. This action takes the assessment measure out of the theoretical realm and into the practical.

7. Benchmark – (What is the expected level of student proficiency related to the learning outcome?) Historically we haven’t used a benchmark (as far as I know). With the GenEd committee’s permission, we’d like to get approval of our current measure submitted here, utilize it this semester (spring 2016), and use those results to establish a benchmark for future semesters.

8. Data Collection Process – (Describe the data collection process and any planned sampling strategies. Consider the following items: term/s, section/s, location/s, modalities, and the sampling process. The data collection process should ultimately include all students taking a general education course or give all students taking the general education course an equal probability (i.e. random sampling) of being included in the data sample. This includes the Paragould campus courses, concurrent credit courses, and online, web-assisted, and traditional course formats. ) Fine Arts Theatre instructors on the Jonesboro and Paragould campuses will administer the same assessment measure. Honors sections are also included. We will randomly sample 5 students from each section each semester (minimum # sections per semester = 3).

(Please note that online sections will have slightly different collection needs, as we have some students who are not in the Jonesboro areaMMstudying abroad, internships that are not in the NEA area, etc.MMand would not be able to see the AMState Theatre shows. But there should be enough students in the online section who ARE able to see the AMState Theatre shows to provide an adequate sample from that section.)

The Fine Arts Theatre course committee will meet at the end each semester to share and discuss the results of the measure. Based on investigation of the results, we will establish possible changes to the content and/or delivery for the course to ensure that we are best meeting our students’ needs and fostering successful engagement with the learning outcome.

9. Number of Observations – (To the best of your ability, estimate the number of observations expected from the data collection process for the reporting period. Example: 120 expected observations (30 students per year for 4 years)) Minimum of 120 expected observations (at least 30 students per year for 4 years)

10. Assessment Instrument Enter text...

For further assistance, please contact the Office of Assessment at 870-972-2989, or your General Education Committee Representative. 3 Fine Arts Theatre SAMPLE General Education Course Assessment Fall 2015

Student ID#: Instructor:

Major: Year in school:

For questions 134, please circle Yes or No.

1. Have you seen a play before? Yes No

2. Have you seen a play at ALState? Yes No

3. Have you participated in a play in some capacity (performing, backstage, etc.)? Yes No

4. Are there elements of theatre in your everyday life? Yes No

For the following questions please record your agreement or disagreement with each statement according to the following numbers:

1. Strongly Disagree 2. Disagree 3. Neutral 4. Agree 5. Strongly Agree

5. I consider myself an artist. 1 2 3 4 5

6. Art is important in society. 1 2 3 4 5

7. Art is an important part of a college education. 1 2 3 4 5

8. There should be a Fine Arts requirement at ALState. 1 2 3 4 5

9. I would go see a play outside of a class if it weren’t required. 1 2 3 4 5

10. I appreciate theatre as an art form, even if I don’t like a particular production. 1 2 3 4 5 For the following questions, choose or write the BEST answer.

11. Using The Trojan Women as your model, explain how theatre fulfills the benefits and functions of art by matching the following: Art holds a mirror up to life. a. Audiences learned about the history of the Trojan War and its impact via the experience of watching the play. Art educates. b. Audience members had the opportunity to discuss Trojan Women with other audience members, bonding over the circumstances, how the play affected them, etc. Art connects people. c. Trojan Women reflects our society by showing us the damage war does to both the victor and the defeated. Art is subjective. d. Some audience members enjoyed Trojan Women and were very moved by it; some audience members didn’t like it. But it is still a relevant work of art no matter what one’s personal opinion is.

12. What are the TWO parts of Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s idea of the “willing suspension of disbelief”?

13. Explain how Anton in Show Business displays characteristics of a good play by matching the following to their descriptions: Credibility a. While the story of Anton in Show Business takes place over several weeks, the playwright effectively condensed time and action. Pertinence b. While the world of Anton is largerLthanLlife and theatrical, within that world, the story is convincing and believable. Intrigue c. Anton keeps the audience curious and interested in what is going to happen next when each director gets fired. Compression d. Anton is about the world of theatre, but there is still relevance to a wider audience.

14. How would you best describe the concept of ALState Theatre’s production of The Trojan Women?

15. Using Anton in Show Business as your model, demonstrate your understanding of the following directorial functions by matching them to their descriptions: Play selection a. The director had the actors enter through the audience as a way to establish the breaking of the “4th wall.” Casting b. Anton’s director had to have meetings to discuss what the costumes, set, and lighting would look like, including how the costume changes would work for actors that played multiple roles. Collaboration with designers c. The director would have needed to find an actor to play Holly who was physically believable as a film star. Staging d. Anton is a good choice for a show at ALState because most of the characters can be believably played by college students, and the satire of the theatre world is pedagogically good for the students. Actor coaching e. The director worked with the actor playing Don to help her figure out her objectives and tactics in the scene where he attacks Casey.

16. Place the following stages of the design process in order from first to last, using the numbers 1L4: Representations (research, rough sketches, photos torn from magazines, etc.) Read the play Design meetings (meet with director, talk about concept, etc.) Comprehensive design emerges (renderings, detailed drawings and models, etc.) 17. Demonstrate your understanding of the The Trojan Women’s designers’ goals by matching them to their descriptions: Defining the world of the play a. The costume designer used dresses for the chorus that were based in the costuming traditions of ancient Greece to help support the fact that Trojan Women is a Greek tragedy with a traditional chorus. Evoking mood and atmosphere b. The lighting designer used red gels to help the audience understand the impending violence when the soldiers entered to take the baby. Reinforcing style c. The sound designer used a mix of contemporary and world music and the costume designer used modernLday clothing that had a Greek “feel” to it so the audience understood that although Trojan Women is an ancient Greek play, the ALState production had elements of modernity to reinforce the transcendent nature of war. Supporting movement d. The costume designer made sure that the chorus of women had dresses that allowed them to be able to safely move around on the different levels of the set without fabric getting caught on anything.

18. For the following elements of acting, match the terminology to their use as seen in Anton in Show Business: Objective a. It’s important for the actor playing Holly to know that she has never had a man turn her down so Ben’s rejection can be put in the proper perspective. Tactic b. To convince Ben to sleep with her, Holly boosts his confidence, strokes his ego, and flirts with him. Obstacle c. Getting in the way of Holly’s ability to convince Ben to sleep with her is the fact that Ben is married. World of the play d. Holly wants to convince Ben to sleep with her.

19. Looking at this image from The Trojan Women, who/what is the focus? What are two ways you know that's the focus?

2. 20. For the following periods of theatre, match the period to its characteristics: Greek a. It was taboo for its time because of the tackling of thenLsensitive subject matter such as gender roles, environmental issues, and sexuallyL transmitted diseases. Henrik Ibsen is known as the “father” of this movement. Anton in Show Business is a result of this movement. Roman b. The “birth” of Western theatre; theatre festivals honoring the god Dionysus produced works such as The Trojan Women, by the playwright Euripides. Medieval c. It’s hard to define this period of theatre because we are still in it. But trends include edgy, raw material and much diversity. Renaissance d. Theatre is run exclusively by the church, who use it as a tool to teach the Bible to the largelyLilliterate masses. Modern Realism e. Violence was glorified onstage; performance spaces often shared with popular sports of the time, such as gladiatorial combat and naval battle reenactment. Contemporary f. A “rebirth” of the classical era; began in Italy and spread through Europe. Shakespeare emerges as a leading playwright in this era.