Culture Shift in Assessment
“I was always told that big classes cannot handle [creative] assignments. I’ve found that it’s not true…You just need to have the right approach.” –Dr. Ben Whaley
Background
Dr. Ben Whaley is an Assistant Professor in the School of Languages, Linguistics, Literatures and Cultures. He teaches a variety of courses in Japanese language and culture, including JPNS 323: Critical Approaches to Manga and Anime. This is a unique undergraduate course where students get to analyze manga (print comics), anime (animation), and videogames from Japan. They explore how these pieces of media fit into and represent Japanese culture. Most of the students in the course take it as an elective because they are interested in the subject matter. Reading manga and watching anime are popular hobbies for many students, so it is exciting for them to get a chance to dive deeper into the type of content they enjoy. There are usually about 100 students in the class, but Dr. Whaley believes he will be able to expand it in the future, as he taught a similar course with considerably more students at another Canadian university.
There are various assessments in the course, including short quizzes, analytical papers, and a creative assignment. Since students are studying creative works, Dr. Whaley believes they should have some understanding of the process behind them. Students are assigned to create a comic, animate a short scene, or develop a level for a video game.
Strategies
Dr. Whaley uses inspiration from some of his own educational experiences when designing courses and assessments. When studying manga in Japan, he took a course where he was asked to draw his own comic and then an expert evaluated it. While it was intimidating and difficult for him, as he does not consider himself a gifted artist, he found the experience incredibly valuable. It affects how he approaches the media, even today, and he wants to give his classes a similar experience, albeit on a smaller scale. Dr. Whaley notes that the intention is not for students to learn how to draw, animate, or create games, but for them to learn about what it takes to develop the kind of content they are responding to in class.
The comics, animations, and games that students create are evaluated just on completion. Dr. Whaley understands that the appreciation of an art form does not always translate into artistic abilities. There are many creative and talented artists in the class, but he does not want to give them an unfair advantage, since it is not an art class. The specific evaluation of the project comes from a reflection and peer review. For the reflection, students are asked to write a short piece about what they liked, disliked, and learned. They have to think about the creative process and the act of turning an idea into a piece of media. This is where they demonstrate the value they got from the project.
Student projects are posted on D2L so that others can respond to them. Peer responses can be challenging. Sometimes students are afraid to be critical of their peers and their overly positive comments do not provide any ideas for improvement. Others are overly critical and do not take into account that students are not all artists. However, grading the response based on a rubric helps mitigate some of these issues. Dr. Whaley spends some time providing examples of good reviews and reminding students that this is not an art class. When students focus on the course concepts and approaches, they can connect pieces created by their peers to history, themes in literature, and other works in the genre. Not only does the peer review help students get some specific comments about what they have done, it also helps them practice their analytical approaches. Most students are happy to display their work for the class and celebrate their hard work. However, Dr. Whaley makes accommodations for the few students with anxiety about others seeing their work. Overall, the process works well and most of the feedback given is fair and insightful.
In earlier courses, Dr. Whaley evenly divided the mediums among students so that an equal number would create a comic, animation, or video game. However, he found this was stress inducing because they do require different skills and levels of commitment. He now allows students to choose their own medium. The most popular option is drawing the comic, since it does not require learning to use a new software or technology. Many students who choose the other two options have some experience with creating animations or games. Giving students the choice means that everyone has a fair chance of being successful and using their strengths.
Outcomes
Some of Dr. Whaley’s colleagues told him that there is no room for creative projects in large classes. However, he has found that with proper design and implementation, they can fit in and work well. He notes that there is less time and opportunities for personalized instructor feedback, but he remedies this by including the peer review component. He also mentions that students who do not regularly do creative pieces have some initial apprehension about the project, but when they learn that the quality of the art is not being evaluated, they get more comfortable and focus on the process. Based on the reflections and in-class discussions, Dr. Whaley has found that most students get the purpose of the assignment and have a better idea about what goes into manga, anime, and video games after doing it.
Most students enjoy the opportunity to do a creative project in the course. It is refreshing in the midst of constant papers, exams, and presentations to get to do something different. Even those that are not fond of the assignment itself understand the purpose and get something out of it. Most can easily come up with ideas of inspiration for their project, since they spend so much time interacting with manga, anime, and video games. Even students who admit to not being the most creative or artistically talented have fun and do well because they get to do a unique assignment and think differently about the types of media they enjoy. Dr. Whaley encourages other instructors to experiment with creative assessments and to try to find new ways for students to explore the content they are studying.
-Ashley Weleschuk
