Assessment Details
Academic Year: 2020-2021 Level: Graduate
Campus Department: Morrissey College of Arts & Sciences [UG and Grad]
Program Type: Major [UG] / Program [Grad]
Program Name: Classics PhD (Link)
Description of Data Collection:
• A translation proficiency test in Latin and Greek is administered at the beginning of the program. (This provides a benchmark against which to measure outcomes at the completion of the MA.)
• A graduate committee evaluates comprehensive written translation exams and a comprehensive written essay exam to determine whether students demonstrate successful mastery of the goals listed above.
• The faculty of classics conducts an hour long oral exam with the candidate to explore the degree of facility and competency with the listed goals.
• There is a written translation exam with dictionary for the modern language. Placement data for graduate students are recorded annually.
Review Process:
The graduate MA exam committee meets each year following the completion of MA exams in the spring to review the overall levels of performance measured against the stated goals. The committee considers the aggregate exam performance in relation to each of the learning goals. This collected information is used to evaluate our program’s performance in the area of each stated learning goal. This committee (in consultation with the graduate program director) makes recommendations to the department for improvement and proposes any changes to the examinations or program requirements.
Resulting Program Changes:
In light of the pandemic this past year, we largely opted for stability and paused further program changes. Even with the majority of our graduate courses online, we were able to maintain our core pedagogical practices via zoom with an emphasis on collaborative learning, discussion-driven seminars, and student presentations (learning goals 1, 3, 6).
We continue to reimagine our proseminars, introducing students to field-specific methodologies and historical and literary frameworks which contextualize their coursework (learning goals 2 and 3). This year, for instance, we paired a literary-historical survey of early Greek poetry with a Homer seminar and an integrated proseminar focused on classical Greek history through both secondary scholarship and primary sources in the original language with a course on Herodotus.
We have largely settled into the new exam structure that we have implemented over the past few years, while continuing to reconceptualize the oral component of the comprehensive exam. The new exam structure includes a diagnostic translation exam taken by all entering students and the separation of the Greek and Latin translation exam from the comprehensive MA exam in order to allow students to focus on each skill set sequentially. This year we held our hour-long oral exams on zoom, largely following the format we’ve used in the past of a wide-ranging conversation about classical literature and history, but adding a section for conversation about pedagogy since our two graduating students are both going on to secondary teaching. We anticipate continued rethinking of the oral component for next year.
In order to provide career guidance and invite our students into the departments’ alumni network we invited multiple alumni to give virtual talks and answer our students’ questions. We look forward to resuming in-person events next year, but will continue to be aware of the possibilities opened up by these virtual visits.
In order to mentor our students and maintain open lines of communication we have emphasized formal meetings between graduate students and the GPD at the beginning of each semester to discuss progress in the program and future goals. We also took care to foster an environment in which regular informal check-ins with the GPD and other faculty are expected and frequent.
Date of Most Recent Program Review:
In light of the pandemic this past year, we largely opted for stability and paused further program changes. Even with the majority of our graduate courses online, we were able to maintain our core pedagogical practices via zoom with an emphasis on collaborative learning, discussion-driven seminars, and student presentations (learning goals 1, 3, 6).
We continue to reimagine our proseminars, introducing students to field-specific methodologies and historical and literary frameworks which contextualize their coursework (learning goals 2 and 3). This year, for instance, we paired a literary-historical survey of early Greek poetry with a Homer seminar and an integrated proseminar focused on classical Greek history through both secondary scholarship and primary sources in the original language with a course on Herodotus.
We have largely settled into the new exam structure that we have implemented over the past few years, while continuing to reconceptualize the oral component of the comprehensive exam. The new exam structure includes a diagnostic translation exam taken by all entering students and the separation of the Greek and Latin translation exam from the comprehensive MA exam in order to allow students to focus on each skill set sequentially. This year we held our hour-long oral exams on zoom, largely following the format we’ve used in the past of a wide-ranging conversation about classical literature and history, but adding a section for conversation about pedagogy since our two graduating students are both going on to secondary teaching. We anticipate continued rethinking of the oral component for next year.
In order to provide career guidance and invite our students into the departments’ alumni network we invited multiple alumni to give virtual talks and answer our students’ questions. We look forward to resuming in-person events next year, but will continue to be aware of the possibilities opened up by these virtual visits.
In order to mentor our students and maintain open lines of communication we have emphasized formal meetings between graduate students and the GPD at the beginning of each semester to discuss progress in the program and future goals. We also took care to foster an environment in which regular informal check-ins with the GPD and other faculty are expected and frequent.
Attachments (if available)