Running head: ACADEMIC PLAN REVIEW 1

Academic Plan Review:

The English Major Undergraduate Program in College of Liberal Arts at the Pennsylvania State

University
Didar Zhakanbayev
The Pennsylvania State University
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Academic Plan Review:

The English Major Undergraduate Program in College of Liberal Arts at the Pennsylvania State

University

INTRODUCTION

I chose this program because my undergraduate degree was in teaching English as a

foreign language. I thought that my experience in the field would help me better understand this

particular program and see how this program differ from the one taught in my country. Despite

the lack of some necessary data, the website was a great source of relevant information, and a

friend of mine studying in this program was very helpful by sharing syllabus of some courses she

has taken. That helped much on making the analysis of the program.

1 PURPOSES

Purposes of any curricula are intended outcomes. As program planner develops the plan

for a specific program, he/she must take into account such factors as knowledge, skills, and

attitudes to be acquired by students. That will help to sta1y focused on initial goals. There are

several statements of educational purpose common among college faculty. Here are some of

them: make the world a better place; learn to think effectively; contribute to society; enriching

experience.

Coming to the program I chose, the program offers a diverse and strong English

curriculum and is devoted to develop students skills such as: reading, writing, analysis, and

research which are required by various professions and sought by many different types of

employers.
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Students of the English major will have the opportunity to learn the history of English

language at its best practice. English major program graduates are greatly seen using their skills

and trainings in the field of teaching, public relations, lawyers, entrepreneurs, and professional

writing.

As the English Major website states, the Department of English preserves to be the

longest-running honors program in the College of the Liberal Arts. In addition to that, the

department has one of the largest internship programs. Also, by supervision of department

faculty member, students are able to study abroad, spending summer in London or in Ireland or

even go to some major universities around the world as exchange students. (The English Major

website)

Program Educational Objectives

The website did not have relevant information on educational objectives of the program,

therefore I looked through some syllabus to see what objectives do the courses have. The

objectives below were set by XX instructor of the course APLNG250: Peer Tutoring for

Multilingual Writers. By the end of this course, each learner will be able to:

support multilingual writers through the writing process by understanding their strengths

and weaknesses
assist multilingual writers with various aspects of their writing and at various stages of

their writing process

facilitate one-on-one peer tutoring sessions using effective communicative strategies.
explore and discuss aspects of effective writing and tutoring strategies with

undergraduate students
critically reflect on and self-evaluate the progress of his/her tutees writing development.

As I have read the course description, I can say that these objectives are appropriate and

achievable. This course doesnt have any required textbook, everything is distributed via angel
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site electronically. I dont know whether having or not having a required textbook is necessarily

good or bad. I believe it depends on the course and the instructor. However, to my subjective

view, I would prefer to have one. Because that will help to stay focused, and keep all the material

in one place. In addition to that, I saw some limitations in grading, which I will mention in

assessment part of this paper.

2 CONTENT

As a knowledge, any subject matter can stand on its own. However, when it comes to a

certain area or field some subject matter become less important some become more. We dont

need to teach a specific type of literature to somebody who wants to become an engineer. That is

why content part or subject matter is an important aspect of objectives in learning and plays its

independent role in the development of program. Here is an example course at English Major

program:

ENGL 429 New Media and Literature (Prof. L., Brian., 2016)

This course meets the Bachelor of Arts degree requirements.

Contents: This course is an introduction to new media literary genres. It includes

reflection on the concept of mediation (electronic and otherwise); on genre in both print culture

and electronic publishing; and on literariness itself. It introduces students to critical discussion of

creative works in digital media, including hypertext and hypermedia fiction and nonfiction, code

poetry and codework, cybertext and ergodic literature, net art and Web art, and software and

electronic installation art. Students will learn about major debates in North American and

European new media theory, understood as a distinct current of influence in twentieth century

literary and cultural theory. They will acquire a critical vocabulary and an interpretive

methodology for literary artifacts created and/or published in screen media. Finally, they will
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acquire a basic familiarity with the range of creative works in digital media and the critical

debates animating their reception. Students will write both short written exercises (30 percent)

and longer essays (40 percent), as well as give an in-class presentation (10 percent). 20 percent

of the course grade may be determined by class participation or quizzes. This course is an

advanced-level course, for students who have already acquired the prerequisite basic skills in

interpretive reading and writing. It expands elective and post-1800 offerings at the 400 level for

the English major and minor, and expands the topical range of the English studies curriculum,

which currently includes no course dedicated to new media. Special facilities needed: ITEC

classroom.

From this description we can see the objectives and what is mainly going to be taught

through the semester. The instructor hasnt stated any objectives for this course, which was quiet

surprising for me. For that reason, I cannot say for sure whether the students are aware of

objectives, if so, are they relevant and the students are meeting the objectives. In order to take

this course, student should have successfully finished all basic prerequisite courses such as

ENGL 015, ENGL 030 and other. That means these courses are essential foundation for the

whole program and students ought to take them in their 1st semester. In the next part I will be

mentioning about the foundations and sequence.

3 SEQUENCE

Curricular sequence or curricular arrangement is made with a purpose to facilitate the

learning in the right flow in an academic plan, thus student learn what they need to learn at the

right time. As mentioned before the foundation and introductory courses should be taught first,

before getting into the more complex courses. Seeing prerequisites, and if necessary taking them,

helps a lot at this point. Usually level of courses show their difficulty level. From instructors
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perspective, it is good to identify the students preparedness and his abilities to further in his/her

studies.

The English major consists of twelve courses (36 credits), six of which are either

prescribed or must be drawn from a particular group of courses. In consultation with an

adviser, at least three 400-level credits from either the required or supporting courses must

fulfill a departmental diversity requirement for a course related to race, gender, sexuality,

disability, ethnicity, and/or postcolonial issues.

Here is the recommended academic plan for English Major.

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All major courses must be completed with at least a grade of C or better.

Required Courses of the program (18 credits)

ENGL 200 or ENGL 201 (3 credits) offered in the 3rd semester.

One 400-level course in each of the following areas:

Medieval through Sixteenth Century (3 credits) offered in any of

the last 4 semesters

Sixteenth Century through Eighteenth Century (3 credits) offered

in any of the last 4 semesters

The Nineteenth Century (3 credits) offered in any of the last 4

semesters

Twentieth Century to the Present (3 credits) offered in any of the

last 4 semesters
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ENGL 487W or ENGL 494H (3 credits) offered in the 8th semester.

Supporting Courses and Related Areas (18 credits)

18 credits in literature, writing, or rhetoric, at least 9 of which must be at the 300/400 level.

Mainly what we see is that the 1st 4 semesters offer foundational courses, and only after

that comes the major requirement courses. The rest of the courses offered as electives and

general knowledge courses are spread around the all semesters.

4 LEARNERS

The program website doesnt mention anything about learners characteristics and need, in

terms of their abilities and previous preparations. But I thought studying abroad would definitely

attract learners interest. And the English Major program has a great opportunity for students to

study abroad, spending a month in summer in London and exploring writings from early and

modern authors that capture the comedy and tragedy of that place. Students are also offered a

unique chance to go to Ireland, Italy, South Africa, New Zealand, India and England as exchange

student, get credits for their studies and travel of course. Instructional Resources

The website doesnt mention much about the resources and facilities provided for

students. However, what I found interesting and relevant was an internship course LA (ENGL)

495. This Writing Internship (3-12 credits) is offered to qualified students interested in writing,

editing, or public relations careers. Few experiences are as valuable in helping you choose a

career path and/or secure your first job. English interns learn what it is actually like to write or

edit professionally and complete the internship with a portfolio of published work and potential
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sources of recommendations for future jobs. The Internship may be taken for three to twelve

credits, only three of which may be applied towards the English Major and the Creative Writing

Concentration. The Media, Publishing, and Professional Writing Concentration and the Rhetoric

and Writing Concentration both require three credits of LA (ENGL) 495.

5 INSTRUCTIONAL PROCESSES

The website of the program mentions about Undergraduate student activities, such as Penn

State Adventure Literature Programs, Kalliope Undergraduate Literary Magazine.

It is stated on the program website that Penn State Adventure Literature courses integrate

the study of literature with some outdoor adventures, which helps to increase a students

classroom experience. It offers a unique opportunity to students to read and learn about authors

and their works, at the same time have fun traveling to the mountains, the river, or the seashore,

climb, hike, and kayak, and come up with writing about their experiences, and getting academic

credit that will help satisfy degree requirements. (Penn State Adventure Literature)

The programs in this series consist of innovative combination of work in the humanities

and kinesiology (classroom activity and outdoor experience) to develop both mind and body.

With Penn States Adventure Literature Series, students can:

learn how wild places relate to literature, history, and philosophy

enjoy small, seminar-style classes and individual attention

earn up to 6 credits (which may fulfill GH, US, and GHA requirements)
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Kalliope Undergraduate Literary Magazine is a production of a student staff and is under

the supervision of a faculty adviser Alison Jaenicke. The aim of this project is to establish a

writing community who would advance the ideals of free and open literary expression. Kalliope

also provides a literary edition and publication of student work, public reading and lecture.

(Kalliope: Penn States Student Literary Journal)

6 EVALUATION

Evaluation of the curriculum has become very important in higher education for the past

two decades. Program developers should test the program to see whether it is effective and

meeting the needs of students. Evaluation shows educators goals as measured by student

achievement. The evaluation needs a lot of data from the program. To the extent that dont have

enough information on the program evaluation, I will give an example from syllabus of one

course to see how the instructor assesses his/her students knowledge. And make an assumption

that majority of the program courses are assessed the similar way. In the purposes part of this

paper I mentioned about XX instructor of the course APLNG250: Peer Tutoring for Multilingual

Writers. The overall grading policy in that course is like this:

Attendance and Participation 5%

Homework 5%

Tutoring Practicum 35%

Reflective Critical Analysis Paper 35%

In-class tutoring workshop 5%

Journals 15%

I understand that this is not a hard science, where students get what they get from exam.

To my view, giving 5% to anything done by students is very low. Some students might think that
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it is not worth doing for 5%. For that reason, tutoring practicum and analysis paper scores could

be decreased a bit. Again, these are just my thought. The instructor might have some reasons for

these score which I am not aware of.

Here is another grading scale of the course ENGL 429 New Media and Literature

Individual ANGEL assessments 25%

Cumulative ANGEL assessments 15%

Other assignments 45%

Attendance 10%

Attentiveness 5%

My question here would be, how can an instructor measure attentiveness? Should a student be

sharing his/her opinion all the time to show his attentiveness? Some might be attentive but quit. I

think that this criterion doesnt have any relevance in measuring learning.

7 ADJUSTMENT

Based on the table of academic plans in sociocultural context, adjustment appears after

assessment and evaluation, to make necessary change to improve the academic plan. Relating

this part to the English major program, I noticed that the last change in program plan appeared in

Fall 2015. Prior Fall 2015 The English major consisted of twelve courses (36 credits), seven of

which were either prescribed or must be drawn from a particular group of courses, whereas

starting from Fall 2015 the number prescribed courses decreased from seven to six. Now the

program has only two options for 200 level required courses, four areas with 400 level courses

each and a seminar or capstone. In contrast to that, the previous program had three 200 level

courses plus one more from four options, two 300-400 level courses in two groups called pre

1800 and post 1800 literature, and finally a senior seminar course. No capstone.
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8 OVERALL ANALYSIS

8.1 Overall Strengths and Weaknesses

Relying on the program website and some syllabus, the overall analysis of the English

Major program showed me that this program is really strong, but not in terms of all eight

elements. The website of the program surely provides all current and prospect students with

useful information. However, I had some difficulties in finding necessary data for some of the

elements. Of course, who would expect that somebody outside would ever try to make an

analysis of their program based on objectives, assessment and learning opportunities. They dont

have clear objectives of the program. Most of the program courses lack description in bulletin.

There is no information about the resources they could provide students with. Mentioning about

the outcomes and achievements of the program, what would a graduate of this program gain and

his/her future perspectives would be good, I guess.

8.2 Recommendations for Improvement

I dont feel comfortable with suggesting recommendations for this program, because

what I suggest may already have been done long ago, but just havent been uploaded to their

website. Anyway, here are some of my recommendations that might be helpful in developing

academic plan for English Major program:

Come up with program objectives and try to correlate them with department or

college objectives
Make a little fixed certainty in grading scale, so that instructors can make their

modification but at the same time keep the benchmark

Give brief descriptions of all offered courses
Take into account learners needs
Broaden the resources (by showing your outcomes and achievements)
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References

Kalliope: Penn States Student Literary Journal. (n.d.). Retrieved from

http://sites.psu.edu/kalliope/about-2/

Penn State Adventure Literature. (n.d.) Retrieved from

http://english.la.psu.edu/undergraduate/adventure-literature

Prof. L., Brian. (2016). ENGL 429 New Media and Literature [Syllabus]. University Park, PA:

English Major Program, Penn State.

The English Major website. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://english.la.psu.edu/undergraduate