Assessment

As you know, BYU is anxiously engaged in the process of assessment.  To that end, each course that you take will have COURSE-LEVEL LEARNING OUTCOMES which are directly tied to PROGRAM-LEVEL LEARNING OUTCOMES which are directly tied to THE AIMS OF A BYU EDUCATION.  In other words, our hope is that the things you learn in class will help you achieve a some goals we have set for you before you graduate.  These goals will in turn further the University's objectives.

                                                                                                                                  
For example:

In this class, TMA 115, the COURSE LEVEL LEARNING OUTCOMES are:

1. Critical Tools: To equip students with a set of critical tools that will aid them in their practical work.
2. Solid Foundation: To establish a solid foundation for students as they prepare to take higher-level critical studies course, particularly Dramatic Literature (TMA 395-396-397) and Contemporary Performance Practices (TMA 401).
3. Participation in Society: To provide students a stronger understanding of how the world around them is constructed and how they might better participate in, resist, and/or affect that world.

Taken together, these CLLOs support one primary PROGRAM-LEVEL LEARNING OUTCOME:

1. Core Concepts: Students will demonstarte a comprehension of the core concepts, processes, history, and theory of performance.

Finally, this core concept is linked directly to the BYU AIMS of:

1. Human Knowledge
2. Thinking Soundly
3. Life-long Learning

                                                                                                             

In order to know if we have met these goals, TMA faculty annually reviews work drawn from a variety of classes in the program and discusses how well we think we are doing.  From this assessment process, we identify areas where we can improve and we make concrete plans for change.

This is the basic process behind new classes that you see on the books, the selection of particular plays for our season, forum topics, new assignments in existing classes, and more.

We are asking for you help in providing the work that we can review.  The artifacts that you post in this ePortfolio will be used by the faculty in our annual assessment cycle.  It can also be the first posts of the digital portfolio that you use for the rest of your career.