Outcomes Data: Master of Arts/Sciences in Folklore Studies
2023-2024
According to our Assessment Plan, reviewed and reestablished in the 2023-2024 academic year, we have four points of assessment. These are:
- All Folklore graduates must complete a minimum of 30 credits from English offerings.
- All Folklore graduate students must write and defend a thesis proposal (Plan A and Plan B)
- All Folklore graduate students must write and defend a thesis (Plan A and Plan B)
- All Folklore graduate students must fulfill a Program of Study for their chosen specialization, which will be reviewed by the department’s Graduate Program Coordinator (GPC) and Director of Graduate Studies (DGS)
1. Coursework
The extent to which our course offerings meet our stated learning objectives (listed in Section A of the Assessment Plan) was reviewed by the Folklore Program committee and was determined to be mostly accurate. The committee decided to revisit the rankings next year, to ensure that our courses, which have changed over time in response to both disciplinary movements and student needs, are represented accurately with regard to how they meet our learning objectives.
2. Thesis Proposals and Proposal Defenses
4 proposal defenses:
- 4 passes
- LO1: 4 H
- LO2: 4 n/a
- LO3: 4 H, 1 M
3. Theses and Thesis Defenses
1 thesis defense:
- 1 pass with minor revisions
- LO1: 1 H
- LO2: 1 H
- LO3: 1 H
4. Programs of Study
The GPC and DGS met with each Folklore student each semester in the 2023-2024 academic year, twice as often as required. All first-year students but one successfully defended their proposals by the end of their second semester.
One student successfully defended their thesis, passing with only minor revisions.
The course offerings to fulfill the program of study for the Folklore Studies MA/MS have remained consistent.
2018-2023
During this time period, the Folklore Studies MA/MS was undergoing a restructuring effort along with the rest of the English Department, and that effort, in combination with the Covid-19 pandemic, meant that assessment data wasn’t being consistently gathered and analyzed. However, the restructuring of the Folklore Studies program was itself a major response to data from the years prior.
The previously combined American Studies and Folklore degree had increasingly been
populated by far more Folklore-oriented students than American Studies students, and both the nature and name of the program were becoming problematic: students were graduating with a degree that said “American Studies” when they had in fact only taken Folklore courses.
Please see the “Data Based Decisions” page for this time period, to learn how this data was addressed.
2014-2018
We have data for the four assessment points below for Fall 2014-2018. Our hard data only extends back to the semester that the Director of Graduate Studies in English took on the appointment. Below are listed the four data points:
- ENGL/HIST 6600, the required “American Studies: Theory and Methods” class.
- Thesis proposal and defense
- Thesis and defense (for both Plan A and Plan B)
- Completed Program of Study
A. Student Mastery of Learning Objectives in ENGL/HIST 6600
AS students have one required class, ENGL/HIST 6600. This course provides students with theory and method of graduate-level research in American Studies. It is offered every two years. The course was offered in Fall 2014 by Dr. Keri Holt; in Fall 2016 it will be offered by Dr. Victoria Grieve.
Below is a table that records the assessment of individual student performance and mastery of the learning objectives in ENGL/HIST 6600. Assessment is described by:
H (high performance/mastery), M (medium performance/mastery), L (low performance/mastery)
L1: Evaluate a range of American “texts” and examine those texts within specific disciplinary frameworks
L2: Express ideas and arguments in well-crafted, convincing forms
L3: Conduct effective research, locating and analyzing primary and secondary sources using appropriate methods dictated by the relevant discipline(s)
| ENGL/HIST 6600: American Studies Theory and Method | L1 | L2 | L3 | Total Enrollment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spring 2018 | 5 H 3 M 0 L |
4 H 4 M 0 L |
3 H 5 M 0 L |
8 |
| Fall 2016 | 3 H 6 M 0 L |
6 H 3 M 0 L |
5 H 4 M 0 L |
9 |
| Fall 2014 | 5 H 4 M 0 L |
5 H 4 M 0 L |
3 H 6 M 0 L |
9 |
B. Thesis Proposal Defense
As described above in the assessment plan portion of this document, the thesis proposal is a written document produced by the student, revised under the guidance of the thesis advisor, and shared with the entire thesis committee. Students may be required by the advisor and/or entire committee to revise their thesis proposal multiple times before they are allowed to go to oral defense. The thesis proposal oral defense results in one of four decisions, which is voted on by the entire thesis committee.
Below is a table that records the results of students’ thesis proposal oral defense. Note that students are evaluated in their proposal and proposal defense on both learning objectives two and three.
Student Thesis Proposal Defense Results
| Year of Event | Passed without revision | Passed with minor revisions | Passed with major revisions | Failed and needed to completely rewrite and re-sit defense | Total Enrollment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017-2018 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 2016-2017 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| 2015-2016 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 5 |
| 2014-2015 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 7 |
| Additional Comments | Demonstrates high mastery of L02 and L03 | Demonstrates high mastery of both L02 and L03, with minor modifications/ corrections necessary | Demonstrates medium mastery of L02 and/or L03 | Demonstrates low mastery or either L02 or L03, or both |
C. Thesis Defense
As described above in the “assessment plan” portion of this document, the thesis is a written document produced by the student and revised under the guidance of the thesis advisor and/or thesis committee. The thesis defense is an oral examination of the thesis. The thesis oral defense results in one of four decisions, which is voted on by the entire thesis committee. Note that thesis committee evaluates the thesis and oral defense on learning objectives two and three.
Student Thesis Proposal Defense Results
| Year of Event | Passed without revision | Passed with minor revisions | Passed with major revisions | Failed and needed to completely rewrite and re-sit defense | Total Enrollment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017-2018 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 2016-2017 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| 2015-2016 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| 2014-2015 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Additional Comments | Demonstrates high mastery of L02 and L03 | Demonstrates high mastery of both L02 and L03, with minor modifications/ corrections necessary | Demonstrates medium mastery of L02 and/or L03 | Demonstrates low mastery or either L02 or L03, or both |
Note that all revisions are reviewed by the major thesis advisor and/or the entire committee. Plan A theses are then reviewed for style by the Graduate School.
Number of students who passed thesis defense but failed to submit final draft within grace period: 2.
D. Data from Completed Programs of Study
As described in the assessment plan portion of this document above, to make sure that American Studies (standard) students are reaching learning objective #1, “Evaluating a range of American “texts” and examining those texts within specific disciplinary frameworks,” the Director of Graduate Studies meets with all enrolled students to discuss their Programs of Study (POS). The interdisciplinary American Studies S program requires that students take (and pass with a B- or higher) courses that are drawn from at least disciplines. For this data, the Director of Graduate Studies uses a matrix as follows. Note that folklore and technical communication, although part of the English Department, are separated as they are considered different fields.
Below is a table that demonstrates the coursework from graduating students’ Programs of Study. It demonstrates that all graduating students meet the minimum of coursework in at least two disciplines, in which they encounter a range of texts.
Coursework for Students Graduating with American Studies (Standard) degree
Graduated 2017-2018 (6 Students)
| Students | A | B | C | D | E | F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| American Studies Courses** | HIST 6600 | HIST 6600 | HIST 6600 | HIST 6600 | HIST 6600 | HIST 6600 |
| English “Lit and Writing” (lit, creative writing, rhetoric, & pedagogy) |
6810* 6890* 6920* 6900* |
6350 6820 6890* |
6350 6820 6890* 6840 |
6890* 6820 6350 6840 |
6350 6820 6820 6890* 6330 |
6330 6820 |
| Folklore (field in English) |
6700 6770 |
6440 6460 |
6770 6760 6750 |
6760 6770 6750 |
6770 | 6760 6770 6700 6740 6720 |
| Tech Comm (field in English) |
- | 6440 6460 |
- | - | 6400 6480 |
- |
| CHaSS (college) disciplines | - | SOC 6100 | - | - | - | - |
| courses outside of CHaSS | - |
SPED 6500 ITLS 6265 |
- | - | - | - |
| Thesis Credits | Plan B 3 credits |
Plan B 3 credits |
Plan A 6 credits |
Plan B 3 credits |
Plan B 3 credits |
Plan A 6 credits |
* English courses did not have an exclusive focus on literature and/or writing (ENGL 6890 = Bennion Teachers’ Workshop; ENGL 6920: Directed Study; ENGL 6900: Internship)
** ENGL/HIST 6600 required
Data based on this table:
- Percentage of graduating students who took required 6600, which is “high priority” in all three objectives: 100%
- Percentage of graduating students who took classes in at least two disciplines (meeting objective 1, a range of texts in at least two disciplines): 1 out of 6 students, or 17%.
Note: The 5 students who only took classes under the “English” rubric did take courses in different areas of emphasis. 3 students took courses in two areas of emphasis (Literature and Folklore) and 1 took courses in three areas of emphasis (Literature, Folkore, Technical Communication). 4 students took ENGL 6890 during the summer, which the course listing for the Bennion Teacher’s Workshop, which is always an interdisciplinary course that does not focus exclusively on the discipline of English, despite it’s course listing. And 1 student, due to extenuating circumstances, also took two independent studies (ENGL 6920) and an internship at the Merrill-Cazier library (ENGL 6900) which both had an interdisciplinary focus, with the internship taking place outside of the English dept. under the direction of a Special Collections librarian (Randy Williams).
- Percentage of graduating students who passed thesis (and, if necessary, revised for high in objectives 2 and 3): 100%
Other data from this table that has been useful to the American Studies Curriculum Committee and may be used for “Data-based Decisions”:
- Most popular discipline: English (for 6 out of 6 students), with “Literature and Writing” (column 4) the most popular (with a total of about 15 classes among the 6 students)
- Second most popular field or discipline: Folklore (14 classes among 6 students)
- Third most popular discipline: History and Tech-Comm (5 classes among 6 students, not including ENGL/HIST 6600)
- There was a very minimal range of disciplines pursued within the Humanities college, including only Sociology. The range of disciplines and courses taken outside of the English dept. was also very low, consisting of two courses, with one course in in Special Education (SPED) and one course in Instructional Technology and Learning Services (ITLS). This shows significant decrease in the range of disciplines for AS graduate students since 2016-17.
Graduated 2014-2015
| Students | A | B | C | D | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| American Studies courses* | 6600 6610 |
6600 6610 |
6600 | 6600 6620 (Native American Lit Seminar, no longer offered) |
6600 6610 (2x) |
| English “Lit and Writing” (lit, creative writing, rhetoric, & pedagogy) |
6820 6330 6360 6880 |
6350 6800 6810 6820 6860 |
6350 2x 6820 6900 6340 |
6890 | 6350 6820 6883 6884 |
| Folklore (field in English) |
6740 6750 |
6770 | 6750 | 6720 6770 (3x) 6750 |
6750 |
| Tech Comm (field in English) |
- | 7000 note that several 6800s are also counted in lit & writing |
- | 6470 note that 6800s are also counted in lit & writing 0 |
- |
| Other CHaSS (college) disciplines | History 6000 | - | - | - | - |
| Courses outside of CHaSS | - | Environment & Society 6300 | Art History 6750 | Psychology 6810 | - |
| Thesis Credits | Plan B 3 credits |
Plan B 3 credits |
Plan A 6 credits |
Student grandfathered into pre-thesis program (Plan C) (Note this student finished after beginning years previously) |
Plan A 6 credits |
*ENGL/HIST 6600 required
Graduated 2015-2016
| Students | A | B | C | D |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| American Studies courses* | 6600 HIST 6610 (Seminar American West—counted under History) |
6600 Plus HIST 6610 counted under History |
6600 | 6600 |
| English “Lit and Writing” (lit, creative writing, rhetoric, & pedagogy) |
6330 6350 (2x) 6820 |
6350 (3x) | 6820 | 6350 6820 6883 |
| Folklore (field in English) |
- | 6770 | 6770 | 6740 6770 |
| Tech Comm (field in English) |
6470 | - | - | 7000 |
| Other CHaSS (college) disciplines | HIST 6900 (Bennion workshop) HIST 6610 thru Hist |
HIST 6420 HIST 6460 HIST 6610 (seminar American West) HIST 6640 Anthr 5800 Anthr 5900 |
History 6900 2x; one Bennion summer workshop HIST 4820 (ok’d by committee) JCOMM 5230 Political Science 5140 |
- |
| Courses outside of CHaSS | Environment & Society 6010 | - | - | Women & Gender 6900 WGS 6910 |
| Thesis Credits | Plan B 3 credits |
Plan B 3 credits |
Plan A 6 credits |
Plan B 3 credits |
*ENGL/HIST 6600 required
Fall 2014 - Summer 2016 Tables Analysis
Note: 3 students not included in these chart are all but thesis; these students will be included in a the table under the year that they finish.
Data based on this table:
- Percentage of graduating students (Fall 2014-present) who took required 6600, which is “high priority” in all three objectives: 100%
- Percentage of graduating students (Fall 2014-present) who took classes in at least two disciplines (meeting objective 1, a range of texts in at least two disciplines): 8 out of 9 students, or 89%. Note that Student E, who only took classes under the “English” rubric, did take ENGL 6610 twice, which is often cross-listed with the History Department.
- Percentage of graduating students who passed thesis (and, if necessary, revised for high in objectives 2 and 3): 100%
Other data from this table that has been useful to the American Studies Curriculum Committee and may be used for “Data-based Decisions”:
- Most popular discipline: English (for 7 out of 9 students), with “Literature and Writing” (column 4) the most popular (with a total of about 30 classes among the 9 students)
- Second most popular field or discipline: Folklore (14 classes among 9 students)
- Third most popular discipline: History (4 out of 8 students took classes in history, not including ENGL/HIST 6600)