Program Assessment

Contact Information

World Literature Program
Hitchcock Communication Arts Building, Room 304
TEL: 402.280.2822
FAX: 402.280.2143

Program Assessment

Assessment Procedures

I. Based on a rubric for each one of them, the World Literature Program assesses the following areas of student performance:

1) Writing

2) Reading

3) Literary history and terminology (works, authors, dates, forms/genres and other terms for analysis of lit)

4) Texts and their historical and cultural contexts

5) Values and ideas in literary works

6) Cultural, ethnic, gender diversity

7) Comparative and interdisciplinary thinking (how literature is connected to other aspects of culture and practical life, cross-cultural connections and other links, influences, continuities)

8) Analytical, interpretive and critical thinking skills

II. Two areas are assessed per semester in a rotation so that all areas are covered over a two-year cycle. The rubrics for the two areas are distributed randomly among the faculty, with one of the rubrics going to one half of the instructors and the other rubric to the other half-each instructor thus assesses only one area per semester.

III. After reading the rubric, instructors choose the instrument (paper, in-class essay, exam, journal, etc.) they find most appropriate to the assessment of the area covered by that rubric.

IV. Based on the specific criteria stated in the rubric and using the scores "More than adequate" (Score = 3), "Adequate" (Score = 2), or "Less than adequate" (Score = 1), each instructor fills out a one-page summary report including a rating of each student for accomplishment in the given area. The instructor calculates the average of the scores, specifies the instrument used, and attaches comments, suggestions or recommendations.

V. The one-page reports and attached comments are collected at the end of the semester. The world literature committee reviews these materials and produces a report with recommendations for specific actions.

VI. This assessment procedure was approved and put into effect during the Spring 2006 semester with the assessment of the areas "Writing" and "Reading." This assessment mechanism replaced the procedures that had been in effect since 1993 (see old assessment)