Example of OSL Assessment
Drama, Performance and Identity post 1955
This module has been offered to second and third year undergraduates in the Department of English at the University of Warwick since 2008. The module was devised and taught by Dr Nicholas Monk. This module was deliberately designed to enable the kinds of assessment we have detailed here.
Assessment is by 1 X 3,500-5,000 word essay (40%), and a performance piece, viva and reflective journal (60%). The performance piece, viva and reflective journal constitute an exam for the purposes of weighting.
The following are the aims for the module:
- The module is designed to engage students fully with ‘active’ learning. It will be faithful to the notion that participation and performance foster a fuller understanding of the depth and complexity of the course materials.
- It will allow students the opportunity to begin exploring the interplay of performance, text, and theory, and to confront the challenges of exploring the gap between the literary (textual) and the theatrical (performance).
- It will require students to question the relationship between drama, performance, and identity.
- It seeks to stimulate vigorous enquiry, and requires students to examine areas such as the moment of postmodernism in dramatic work, the relationship between the mind and body in the formation of identity, and the ability of performance to be political.
- It requires students to investigate in detail the means by which identities are formed, changed, or imposed.
- It is designed to enhance and consolidate the students’ academic and research abilities, while also stimulating team-work and collaboration, thus creating a pool of transferable skills that the students can acquire and practise.
The proposed learning outcomes for the module are
| LEARNING OUTCOMES By the end of the module the student should, in specific relation to the performance and reception of the texts, be able to... | Which teaching and learning methods enable students to achieve this learning outcome? | Which assessment methods will measure the achievement of this learning outcome? |
| (a) SUBJECT KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING 1. Understand and use elements of theatre language 2. Express complex ideas in ways other than through writing 3. Reflect on their own and others’ creative processes 4. Critically evaluate a theatre text with an understanding of a creative process in mind 5. Reflect on their own and others’ experience as an audience member 6. Understand the relationship between history, culture and theatrical performance in a selection of dramatic texts post-1955. 7. To recognise the complexity of notions of identity 8. Address the uses of evidence and documentation in their study 9. Acquire an understanding of the various manifestations of identity/identities on stage 10. Through selected readings to arrive at an understanding of how gender, race, postmodern, national, and border/transgressive identities are formed | Seminars; viewing; analytical discourse; creative exercises; independent creative process; independent performances; independent research and reflection; exposure to theatre practitioners. Weekly preparation of response papers prior to each seminar, based on set readings. | Formative Tasks - Unassessed response papers - Peer review - Workshop activities Summative assessment - Essay - Videoed performance - Viva |
| (b) KEY SKILLS 1. Communicate with their peers and with professionals 2. Work within teams and successfully collaborate on short- and long-term projects 3. Use research tools and resources, including specialist archives, and reference material correctly 4. Articulate arguments orally and through well-argued essay supported by wide reading and research. 5. Manage time to meet a series of deadlines as an individual and team member 6. Nurture and develop collaborative skills of listening, feedback, and resolution 7. Acquire a thorough understanding of practical performance | As articulated above. |
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| (c) COGNITIVE SKILLS 1. Weigh evidence from historical sources 2. Reflect on and contrast different models of pedagogy 3. Identify issues, formulate questions and engage in problem-solving 4. Make informed but independent judgements. 5. Undertake independent research 6. Imaginatively respond to dramatic literature as prompt for performance 7. Make productive links between theoretical ideas and practical applications | Seminars, practical exercises and discussion, performances. Essay, presentation and journal | 1) - 7) Journal; performance; essay; viva; essay; response papers; performance |
| (d) SUBJECT-SPECIFIC/ PROFESSIONAL SKILLS 1. Know how they might publish their reviews in academic and journalistic contexts, and present their work to a wider audience | Seminars, office hours advice | 1) N/a |