Unit: Theatre & Dance
Program: Theatre (PhD)
Degree: Doctorate
Date: Fri Oct 09, 2015 - 10:24:16 am

1) Below are your program's student learning outcomes (SLOs). Please update as needed.

1. Student is capable of researching and writing a major book-length original contribution to Western, Asian or Comparative Theatre scholarship

2. Student demonstrates in-depth comprehensive knowledge of chosen area of specialization of Theatre scholarship

3. Student displays broad expertise in Theatre history, theory, and performance practices

4. Student demonstrates teaching competence at the university level.

5. Student demonstrates reading knowledge of, and some spoken fluency in, the foreign language(s) relevant to the area of the dissertation.

1) Institutional Learning Objectives (ILOs) and Program Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs)

2) Your program's SLOs are published as follows. Please update as needed.

Department Website URL: http://hawaii.edu/theatre/graduate/GradTheatreSLOs2009.pdf
Student Handbook. URL, if available online:
Information Sheet, Flyer, or Brochure URL, if available online:
UHM Catalog. Page Number:
Course Syllabi. URL, if available online:
Other:
Other:

3) Please review, add, replace, or delete the existing curriculum map.

Curriculum Map File(s) from 2015:

4) For your program, the percentage of courses that have course SLOs explicitly stated on the syllabus, a website, or other publicly available document is as follows. Please update as needed.

0%
1-50%
51-80%
81-99%
100%

5) Did your program engage in any program learning assessment activities between June 1, 2014 and September 30, 2015?

Yes
No (skip to question 16)

6) What best describes the program-level learning assessment activities that took place for the period June 1, 2014 to September 30, 2015? (Check all that apply.)

Create/modify/discuss program learning assessment procedures (e.g., SLOs, curriculum map, mechanism to collect student work, rubric, survey)
Collect/evaluate student work/performance to determine SLO achievement
Collect/analyze student self-reports of SLO achievement via surveys, interviews, or focus groups
Use assessment results to make programmatic decisions (e.g., change course content or pedagogy, design new course, hiring)
Investigate curriculum coherence. This includes investigating how well courses address the SLOs, course sequencing and adequacy, the effect of pre-requisites on learning achievement.
Investigate other pressing issue related to student learning achievement for the program (explain in question 7)
Other:

7) Briefly explain the assessment activities that took place in the last 18 months.

Student progress is monitored in the PhD program through classes, presentations, papers written, etc.  The final dissertation is used as the primary assessment "tool" to determine the achievement of SLOs.

8) What types of evidence did the program use as part of the assessment activities checked in question 6? (Check all that apply.)

Direct evidence of student learning (student work products)


Artistic exhibition/performance
Assignment/exam/paper completed as part of regular coursework and used for program-level assessment
Capstone work product (e.g., written project or non-thesis paper)
Exam created by an external organization (e.g., professional association for licensure)
Exit exam created by the program
IRB approval of research
Oral performance (oral defense, oral presentation, conference presentation)
Portfolio of student work
Publication or grant proposal
Qualifying exam or comprehensive exam for program-level assessment in addition to individual student evaluation (graduate level only)
Supervisor or employer evaluation of student performance outside the classroom (internship, clinical, practicum)
Thesis or dissertation used for program-level assessment in addition to individual student evaluation
Other 1:
Other 2:

Indirect evidence of student learning


Alumni survey that contains self-reports of SLO achievement
Employer meetings/discussions/survey/interview of student SLO achievement
Interviews or focus groups that contain self-reports of SLO achievement
Student reflective writing assignment (essay, journal entry, self-assessment) on their SLO achievement.
Student surveys that contain self-reports of SLO achievement
Other 1:
Other 2:

Program evidence related to learning and assessment
(more applicable when the program focused on the use of results or assessment procedure/tools in this reporting period instead of data collection)


Assessment-related such as assessment plan, SLOs, curriculum map, etc.
Program or course materials (syllabi, assignments, requirements, etc.)
Other 1:
Other 2:

9) State the number of students (or persons) who submitted evidence that was evaluated. If applicable, please include the sampling technique used.

There are 14 currently enrolled PhD students.

10) Who interpreted or analyzed the evidence that was collected? (Check all that apply.)

Course instructor(s)
Faculty committee
Ad hoc faculty group
Department chairperson
Persons or organization outside the university
Faculty advisor
Advisors (in student support services)
Students (graduate or undergraduate)
Dean/Director
Other:

11) How did they evaluate, analyze, or interpret the evidence? (Check all that apply.)

Used a rubric or scoring guide
Scored exams/tests/quizzes
Used professional judgment (no rubric or scoring guide used)
Compiled survey results
Used qualitative methods on interview, focus group, open-ended response data
External organization/person analyzed data (e.g., external organization administered and scored the nursing licensing exam)
Other:

12) Summarize the results of the assessment activities checked in question 6. For example, report the percent of students who achieved each SLO.

The results (the theoretical basis of the dissertation, the validity of the research methodology, the appropriateness of the writing style, the rigor of the source citation method, and the candidate’s original contribution to scholarship) were discussed at the public defense, as well as in a private meeting of the committee, and these results were communicated to the student.  

13) What best describes how the program used the results? (Check all that apply.)

Assessment procedure changes (SLOs, curriculum map, rubrics, evidence collected, sampling, communications with faculty, etc.)
Course changes (course content, pedagogy, courses offered, new course, pre-requisites, requirements)
Personnel or resource allocation changes
Program policy changes (e.g., admissions requirements, student probation policies, common course evaluation form)
Students' out-of-course experience changes (advising, co-curricular experiences, program website, program handbook, brown-bag lunches, workshops)
Celebration of student success!
Results indicated no action needed because students met expectations
Use is pending (typical reasons: insufficient number of students in population, evidence not evaluated or interpreted yet, faculty discussions continue)
Other:

14) Please briefly describe how the program used the results.

As with last year, an important recent change to the PhD is that all MA (A) and PhD students are now required to present a paper each spring, at the Theatre and Dance Graduate Research Symposium; papers may come from previous class work, but are prepared for presentation through work with each student’s graduate advisor.  The Symposium is run like a professional conference.
 
To help raise their level of scholarly professionalism, the department plans to begin requiring that each doctoral student submit at least one paper per year to an appropriate conference, and that they work with their advisor to develop each paper for submission, and if accepted, to prepare the paper presentation.
 
We have also just started to plan a new PhD program for Performance Studies under the umbrella of Theatre and Dance. Ignoring the disciplinary boundaries and going beyond the traditional genres of the Performing Arts, Performance Studies engages with a broad spectrum of performances not only in the arts but also in politics, economics, religion, society and media culture. Different from our existing PhD programs, which are mostly taught by Theatre and Dance faculty, a large number of required Performance Studies courses will be offered by affiliate faculty from other UHM departments (Political Science, Art, History, Music, Communicology, etc.)
 
We are continuing to work on a general communication issue: Graduate students need to be reminded more regularly about deadlines (such as TW scholarships, applying for graduation, GA-ships, external scholarships). Since regular email and postings in the department do not work sufficiently, we will investigate having a regular time-table on our website that allows students to check for upcoming deadlines.

 

15) Beyond the results, were there additional conclusions or discoveries? This can include insights about assessment procedures, teaching and learning, and great achievements regarding program assessment in this reporting period.

For PhD program our department has made a new Guide for doctoral students clarifying many things about exams, defenses, languages, etc.  It will be posted to our website in the near future.

16) If the program did not engage in assessment activities, please explain.

n/a