OVERVIEW:
The Performance and Communication Arts (PCA) Department at St. Lawrence University in Canton, NY, strives to give learners the tools they need "to better communicate with others personally, professionally, and socially." One of the requirements for the PCA major is PCA 125: Intro to Theatre, a theatre appreciation course that provides learners with an overview of theatre from the perspective of the individual artists who make it happen.
The final project for the course requires learners to collaborate in small groups to come up with a "production concept" for Caryl Churchill's play A Number, support that concept with specific details from the text and outside research, and pitch their idea - with specific examples of how their concept would look and sound on stage - to a room full of potential funders or employers (i.e. their classmates and instructor).
INSTRUCTIONAL PROBLEM:
Learners enrolled in the course consistently fail to define and/or provide support for their production concepts. Sometimes they do not adequately describe how they would stage a specific moment from the play within their concept's parameters. Often they choose similar sources of inspiration from pop culture - films and YA novels about dystopian futures - and fail to articulate what makes their concept distinct, resulting in an overuse of the words "futuristic" and "dystopian." A few still can't even define the term "production concept" in their own words by the end of the semester. As a result, the grades for this project have decreased over time. Since this project essentially synthesizes everything we've covered, a failure to grasp this assignment is a failure to understand most of the course material.
INSTRUCTIONAL SOLUTIONS:
As the Instructional Designer AND primary Instructor for the course, I aim to solve this problem by...
finding multiple ways of introducing the concept of a "production concept" to learners
providing clearer examples of production concepts, as well as sources of inspiration and adequate supporting research for said concepts
facilitating more and varied opportunities for learners to practice defining the term and creating their own production concepts before beginning work on the final project
scaffolding the final project and giving students a clearer "road map" with the necessary steps to arrive at a clear, descriptive, detailed, and well-supported concept presentation
LEARNER CHARACTERISTICS:
PCA 125 students are full-time undergraduate students at St. Lawrence University, ranging in age from 17 to mid 20s. Below are some other significant characteristics about the learner population:
Class Size:
The course is currently capped at 32 learners, though in the past, enrollment has reached 48.
Gender:
52.9% male, 46.6% female, 0.5% non-binary
(based on enrollment Fall 2022 to Fall 2024)
Year of Study:
14.4% first-year, 43.1% sophomore, 28.7% junior, 13.8% senior
(based on enrollment Fall 2022 to Fall 2024)
Major Course of Study:
Based on informal polling, a significant majority of PCA 125 students are PCA majors, many of whom are on the rhetoric and communications track (as opposed to the performing arts track). Other popular majors include BUSLA (Business in the Liberal Arts) and Economics.
Cultural Characteristics:
Much like the entire university population, most PCA 125 students consider English their first language. Historically very few international students have enrolled in the course. In addition, the racial makeup of the course is overwhelmingly White.
Technical Competencies:
All students in the class have access to personal electronic devices and have been trained in the Canvas Learning Management System. They have adequate experience using Microsoft and Google products.
Motivation:
Based on course evaluations and informal observation, a majority of PCA 125 students are taking the course to fulfill a requirement and have little to no interest in theatre. (See note above about being on the rhetoric and communications track.) Very few learners will apply their course knowledge, work on a mainstage production, and/or take elective theatre classes while they attend St. Lawrence University. Faculty members who advise PCA majors have reported that students dread enrolling in the course and don't understand why they are required to take it to complete the major.
DELIVERY METHOD:
The primary delivery method will be face-to-face instruction in a small lecture hall. The course is offered face-to-face each semester, though it has been offered as an accelerated asynchronous online course over the summer, so it would be ideal to have instructional methods and assessments that could easily translate to an online setting.