1. During the spring semester faculty meeting, the faculty in a committee of the whole discuss curricular matters and suggest changes necessary to realize the learning outcomes associated with each degree program. These discussions are informed by a careful reading of student course evaluations, feedback from both students and professors regarding course sequencing, pre-requisites, and rigor, and the results of portfolio evaluations and exit interviews, which are required of all graduating seniors in our degree programs. These discussions may lead to changes in our curriculum such as the revision of Photojournalism (Comm 4403) to include the use of digital photography, the addition of Writing and Reporting for Newspapers II (Comm 3302) as an additional pre-requisite for Editing and Makeup for Print Publications (Comm 3303), and the addition of Television Production II (Comm 3353) as an additional pre-requisite for Advanced Television Production (Comm 4452).

2. The portfolio review committees meet yearly to determine which of our degree program learning outcomes do not seem to be fully met by our students, based upon the portfolio material submitted by our seniors. The committees issue a report outlining areas of weakness in the curriculum when patterns indicate opportunities for improvement in course content or methodology. New courses may be instituted in this manner, and other courses, deemed unnecessary, peripheral, or obsolete, may be deleted.

3. Faculty and students meet and interact with media professionals in the spring during the annual Media Conference (formerly Media Day), and with theatre professionals in the field during the annual Georgia Theatre Conference. During these events, the faculty listen to what current practitioners in theatre, radio, TV, public relations, and journalism are doing and saying about trends, opportunities, and entry-level qualifications and preparation characteristics. From these conversations, we have put an increased emphasis upon practical courses involving radio and TV production skills, copy editing, computer literacy, acting, directing, playwriting, lighting and internships. Similarly, theatre professionals have indicated the importance of offering classes in costume design and scenography within our Theatre B.A. program. Theatre alumni have supported this statement after graduating, and have asserted that such a course would have been highly beneficial and relevant to them. In the Fall of 2001 we hired a full-time tenure-track faculty member in Costume Design/Scenography to fill this void. Such a hire is a clear example of informal but professional assessment, which improves our curriculum and positions our Theatre program favorably for future NAST accreditation.

4. Evaluations of field experiences and credit internships involving our students are used as guidelines for our faculty in planning new courses, revising existing ones, and ordering new equipment to support our curriculum. These results are in the form of official evaluations done for each internship by both the student and the on-site professional supervising the student intern. Professionals have repeatedly cited the importance of solid writing skills for students entering the Mass Communications field, for example, and we have added several courses into the Writing Across the Curriculum series of courses to require students to do more writing and more revision of writing.

5. Alumni in Theatre and Mass Communications will be tracked after they graduate and a pool of 60 students will be mailed surveys asking them to reflect upon the courses they took while in their degree programs at UWG. These reflections will seek to address what the students were taught compared to what their current employers feel they need or should have learned. With results gathered after 3, 6, and 9 years of graduation, the department will be able to gather enough data on an on-going basis to selectively modify the curriculum to keep it more closely attuned with the real worlds of mass communications and theatre. Every three years, a new pool of 60 recent graduates will join the study to ensure its longevity.

6. Our faculty are encouraged to participate in broadcasting, journalism, and theatre workshops and seminars so that they will stay current with the practices and procedures in their fields. By doing so, faculty are able to offer a valid first-hand assessment of our curriculum and determine its validity to the professions wherein their students will soon be seeking employment. Faculty engaged in such activity are expected to provide feedback to the curriculum committees for the purpose of evaluating the “fit” between what we are doing in the classrooms with our students and what prospective employers will want those students to know and be able to do after they have received their degrees.