1. Which program learning outcomes have been assessed for the planned academic year?

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1 Program Assessment Report Name of the program: Fine Arts Department Graduate Program Year Assessment report: fall 2013-spring 2014 Date: June 25, 2014 Faculty Participant: Lynn Pocock 1. Which program learning outcomes have been assessed for the planned academic year? Due to a transition in leadership in the department, the focus of this report is not on an individual program learning outcome. Instead the department focused on evaluating the graduate program as a whole. This included: - Surveying all graduate students. - Re-writing the Fine Arts Department mission statement. - Identifying aspects of our in-department documents which need revision/corrections, including the degree map, prerequisites, and the website. The degree map and website have already been revised. - Updating our admissions portfolio requirements, to now include letters of recommendation, CV, and mission statement. This will present to applicants a more-professional department, and encourage a more-serious applicant to apply. The portfolio submission process is now performed entirely online. The review process now involves the entire full-time faculty. - Beginning/doing the work towards launching the new MFA in Computer Animation in Beijing next fall. This project includes: hiring 1-2 new full-time faculty members; updating all 63 of the Fine Arts syllabi, including their learning outcomes; reviewing applicant portfolios, advising and registering new students, and participating in all of the logistics. - Beginning the work towards launching the new MFA in Graphic Design in Beijing for the Fall Identifying aspects of the Graphics Design track that need updating; the Graphic Design curriculum committee will meet in September to begin the work which will be carried out Fall 2014/Spring This will be our primary activity towards improving student learning. - Identifying aspects of the MFA degree in-general which will be brought to the Senate for change (Fall 2014/Spring 2015). Most of this work is complete; this will be our secondary activity towards improving student learning for 2014/2015.

2 2. What measuring instruments were used for the assessment? (attach the criteria, or rubrics used) - The department distributed an online Qualtrix survey; see attached. - The department held a 9 th floor gallery exhibition and presentation of Graduate thesis work. - A team of experts/faculty reviewed and updated the set of 7 syllabi which will be sent to Beijing. - Finally, the 7 syllabi that are being worked on for the Fall Beijing project will be presented for review (shortly) to Hattie Arnone, et.al. 3. What were the important findings? How well students achieved the targeted learning outcomes? Survey Results, Graduate: Almost every student surveyed preferred in-person classes to online classes. The majority of student preferred afternoon classes to morning/evening classes. 43% of the students want the following course: Design for the Web 36% of the students want the following course: Motion Graphics Design 43% of the students want the following course: Interface Design 36% of the students want the following course: Advanced Character Animation 21% of the students want the following course: Digital Audio 43% of the students want the following course: Digital Compositing and Special Effects 71% of the students want the following course: 2D Computer Animation 29% of the students want the following course: Experimental media/performance/installation 21% of the students want the following course: Digital Sculpture 29% of the students want the following course: Advanced Typography 29% of the students want the following course: Illustration 21% of the students want the following course: Branding 14% of the students want the following course: Information Graphics 21% of the students want the following course: Digital Publishing: ebooks, emagazines With respect to how they learned about NYIT, the biggest percentage (29%) learned about NYIT via word of mouth. Text responses included: Would definitely love to have an Advanced Character Animation course. Currently taking the Character Animation course and it is great to have a class focused solely on animation. As a design student, I suggest we extend the time of computer labs during our midterm and final weeks. 2. As a grad computer graphic student, we are supposed to finish 64 credits (2.5 years) which is too long for us. I suggest we should add some courses into winter and summer section. Should put more student works to any competitions and don't give student get any grade easy. Grade depends their works It would be nice to have printers that we could use as the architects have plotters downstairs. I hope we will have more than 6 elective class choices. Let us choose what we want to learn, and why don't you add some drawing or painting courses.

3 The survey influenced the courses we offered in the spring, in particular, Motion Graphics and Advanced Character Animation. The survey will influence the new Graphic Design curriculum, in particular, we will add more webbased design classes. The survey will influence the courses we offer in the future: Digital Compositing and Special Effects 2D Computer Animation Unfortunately, the graduate survey did not reflect many of the students opinions which are spoken by the graduate students regularly. While the students were strongly encouraged to use the survey as an anonymous way to express their opinions, many of the students did not express some of the issues that they are typically very vocal and passionate about. 9 th floor gallery exhibition and presentation of Graduate thesis work: This year s graduating class was very small, and the range of quality was broad. There was one excellent Thesis project; two very poor projects; 2 projects which had potential, but were not yet resolved. The review of the syllabi: The faculty identified outdated textbooks, incorrect learning outcomes, and missing information. The syllabi are being updated. The faculty also identified areas in the curriculum, in general, that will be corrected during 2014/ Select action items the faculty believes may enhance student learning. Decide who will be responsible for the action, and establish a timeline for completion. For next year, the Fine Arts Department will - Launch the Beijing Animation Track project. (Lynn and Terry); see details below. The work towards the Beijing project (syllabi improvement, etc) will also improve student learning in NY. - Enhance the flow of information to our Graduate students; see details below. (Lynn and Patty) - Revise the graduate program s Learning Outcomes to reflect the new mission statement as well as NASAD policies and procedures, with a specific emphasis on the Graphic Design track. (Lynn, Terry, Rozina, and Patty); see details below. - Implement a formal review of 1 st year student work. (Thesis Orientation Professors) 5. What s the assessment plan for next academic year?

4 Fall Semester Summer Launch the Beijing project. Identify, interview, hire Beijing faculty (Lynn and Terry) Update all of the Fine Arts MFA Animation syllabi, including their learning outcomes (mostly Lynn, with Terry). This will enhance learning for our new Beijing students, as well as our NY students. Manage the logistics, including applications, portfolio reviews, scheduling classes, hiring adjuncts, advise and register new students. Sept 2, New Graduate Student Orientation (Patty and Lynn) This first-time ever orientation will cover: An introduction of the faculty, either in person or via photos. An introduction to the hardware/software/facilities available for student use, via a list. An overview of the degree map, and how advisement will work. Hand out sample degree maps and talk about them as we do at undergrad open house. An introduction to the school's plagiarism policy. We are currently having notable plagiarism issues with the students, especially the graphic design students. Perhaps we take their photos and post them with their names in the hallway so that we can be more familiar with our own students (as is often done in other schools An overview of any other processes, procedures, policies, etc that they will need to know in order to succeed and to enjoy their time at nyit. Q&A A simple document summary of the information can also be provided to the students. September Graphic Design Curriculum Committee to begin working on the Graphic Design Curriculum (Lynn, Terry, Rozina, and Patty) 1. Create a vision narrative for the graphic design graduate program that guides curricular decisions, is competitive among other academic institutions, and is relevant to the current graphic design industry. 2. Write learning outcomes for this program. 3. Write the learning outcomes for each course.

5 4. Review existing syllabi and identify areas for revision. 5. Generate a list of courses (includes revisions to existing courses and proposed new courses) 6. Identify any curricular revisions (including degree map revision, distribution of credits, prerequisites, and catalogue descriptions) 7. Create the schedule for moving this forward for full approval by the Curriculum Committee and the Academic Senate. September 2014 May Make written changes to all the Graphic Design documents, as identified by steps 1-7 above. 2. Have all the changes officially approved by May September Begin work towards launching the Graphic Design track in Beijing. This project includes: hiring 1-2 new full-time faculty members; reviewing applicant portfolios, advising and registering new students, and participating in all of the logistics. (Lynn and Terry) Assessment Day, Aug The work on Assessment Day will probably be dedicated to the undergraduate program. - The Graphic Design Curriculum Committee (as descried above) will serve as the Assessment Committee for the MFA Program for the 2014/2015 academic year. May An exhibition and presentation of 1 st year graduate student work; the work being presented will be their thesis preproduction work (Thesis Orientation/Proposal professors). The details will be worked out by the Thesis Orientation/Proposal professors.