Film Studies
Assessment Plan
Approved 3-21-05  

Overview
The department is comprised of three majors, Communication Studies, Film Studies, and Theatre Arts. Each has its own set of student learning outcomes. Each graduating senior—in all three majors—will complete the Student Assessment of the Department [PDF].

Student Learning Outcomes

1. Students will utilize three phases (preproduction/production/postproduction) of production preparation in the creation of film and video projects.    

2. Students will demonstrate knowledge of film history, production aesthetics and theory. 

3. Students will demonstrate knowledge of basic filmmaking practices and techniques. These include: specialized language use, cinematography principles, lighting and sound elements, editing and directing concepts. 

4. Students will examine, analyze, and articulate conclusions as to the historical/critical values inherent in film text materials.

5. Students will integrate evaluation, theory and production/research skills in the creation of a capstone project for public presentation.

Four assessment measures are used to evaluate our effectiveness in achieving the student learning outcomes and institutional effectiveness goals. The attached grid [PDF] indicates how each learning outcome and goal are assessed and what we expect to achieve.

Assessment measures include:

1. Portfolio creation and review: Each Film Studies course syllabus will contain specifications about the portfolio and identify the appropriate materials from that course that should be included.  A formal review of the contents of each major’s portfolio will take place twice during their tenure in the major. The preliminary portfolio review will take place at the beginning of the semester immediately after completing a minimum of 20 credits in film studies. The final review will take place during the Senior Seminar course  2^nd semester of the student’s senior year. 

2. Content based examination: This examination would be administered in a pretest/posttest format.  The pretest would be administered as a part of the Film 270: Introduction to Film and Telecommunications studies course. The posttest would be administered as a part of the Film 496: Senior Seminar course. The test design would identify and code specific learning objectives of the course content areas in the Film Studies major. Individual questions could be coded to reflect specific course objects and also be identified to correlate with the specifics of the two emphases, History/Criticism and Film Production. 

3. Senior Thesis project: The senior thesis project will be evaluated as to the merits of it fundamental design and the skill with which it has been executed. Process staged assignments carried out during the Film 402 Practicum (fall term, senior year) will focus the scope of each student’s thesis assignment. Public presentation of the goals and concept for each project will take place during the fall semester. Approval of project concept and design will take place during fall semester. Research/Production process will commence as soon as the approval phase has been completed. The final projects will be presented in a public forum to a group of their peers and faculty near the end of the Film 496: Senior Seminar course. Evaluation of the projects will be based on merits of the students ability to integrate evaluation, theory and production/research skills in the creation of their project. The effectiveness of the public presentation will also be included in the evaluation criteria.  

4. Student evaluation of Department/Program effectiveness [PDF]: The existing eight question instrument would be used to gather data on the overall effectiveness of the department/program.

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