Assessment Details
Academic Year: 2020-2021 Level: Undergraduate
Campus Department: Morrissey College of Arts & Sciences [UG and Grad]
Program Type: Core [UG]
Program Name: English Literature Core (Link)
Description of Data Collection:
The Literature Core Canvas site holds all guidelines and philosophies, as well as the formal learning outcomes created by the Department and approved by the EPC. This website is a deep resource of pedagogical materials and program practices. It is added to and kept up-to-date by the current director and graduate assistant. The Literature Core Program is guided by the Literature Core Director who joins two other appointed faculty members on the Literature Core Steering Committee. The Lit Core Steering discusses program directions and new initiatives, and looks over syllabi, assignments and outcomes.
AY 2021: Eileen Donovan-Kranz served as Literature Core Director in Fall 2020. Due to Eileen Donovan-Kranz’s Spring 2021 medical leave, the two members of the Lit Core Steering Committee, Christina Klein and Andrew Sofer, took over in her absence, with Christina Klein performing as Acting Director and Andrew Sofer assisting with mentorship of PhD students teaching the Literature Core, as well as with pedagogy labs for faculty. Tina ran two Lit Core pedagogy labs in the spring semester:
• March 19, 4 – 5:30. Topic: “Using Teaching Technologies Effectively.” Presenter: Lori Harrison-Kahan
•April 28, 2021. Topic: “What did we learn this semester/year? What do we want to take forward into next year?” Presenters: Teddy Lehre, Deanna Danforth, Rebekah Mitsein, Dayton Haskin Due to the nature of the ongoing pandemic, the stressors on students and faculty, and the changeover of directors, original plans for further assessments have been postponed. The outgoing director, Eileen Donovan-Kranz, recommends that in the next academic year we might gather two types of academic writing from all of our Lit Core faculty in the fall semester: one formal essay and one informal piece of writing (Canvas discussion response or creative response) at the end of the Fall 2021 semester, from a randomized sample of students. Practices established by the Core Committee, and used for Enduring Questions courses, influence this model. In the Spring 2022 semester, the three member Lit Core Steering Committee could then evaluate ways that the samples do or do not fulfill the stated learning outcomes. Notably, one valuable resource that year after year (beginning in 1993) provides insight into our Core programs in English is the website Fresh Ink: Essays from BC’s First-Year Writers, http://www.bcfreshink.com/current-issue/ Because Fresh Ink is produced as a result of call for papers from students enrolled in all Core English programs, it therefore reflects those programs: Lit Core, FWS, ELL, Complex Problems, Enduring Questions. Additionally, Fresh Ink is also put to use in those programs as an assigned text, offering examples of writing approaches and/or providing texts for class discussion. It is a researcher’s dream: it provides a yearly and longitudinal look at first-year writing across courses and academic genres in English. Many publishers and other universities draw from this resource as well.
Review Process:
Christina Klein and Andrew Sofer, as well as Eileen Donovan-Kranz.
Resulting Program Changes:
Faculty and student support have been the major emphasis of this year for the Literature Core rather than assessment. The ongoing constraints of the pandemic have led to creativity in the face of many limitations. Discussions and strategizing have been both formal and informal in AY2021. Triage remains a need in this pandemic. For Lit Core, the component parts of that triage in AY2021 have been: technology aids, faculty support, increased support and meetings for PhD students, the discussion of classroom strategies amid remote teaching and/or amid in-class pandemic protocols, attention to student burnout and mental health challenges. Additionally, the March 2021 visit (Zoom) from writer/director/BC alumnus Lulu Wang provided a welcome inspirational and celebratory event for the program.
Date of Most Recent Program Review:
Faculty and student support have been the major emphasis of this year for the Literature Core rather than assessment. The ongoing constraints of the pandemic have led to creativity in the face of many limitations. Discussions and strategizing have been both formal and informal in AY2021. Triage remains a need in this pandemic. For Lit Core, the component parts of that triage in AY2021 have been: technology aids, faculty support, increased support and meetings for PhD students, the discussion of classroom strategies amid remote teaching and/or amid in-class pandemic protocols, attention to student burnout and mental health challenges. Additionally, the March 2021 visit (Zoom) from writer/director/BC alumnus Lulu Wang provided a welcome inspirational and celebratory event for the program.
Attachments (if available)