Theatre Design & Technology - Winter 2007 - 21

and Gill 1991) For some this schedule is in the middle of the syllabus
and others at the end. In either case it should be included because "this
helps students budget their time." (Davis 1993) The format of the schedule is up to the individual instructor but it should include "the sequence
of course topics, the preparations or readings, and the assignments due."
(Davis 1993) Along with these items it is also a good idea to include ﬁrm
exam dates, theatre performance dates (especially if reviews or critiques
are required), special occasions, and important dates such as the last
day to drop the course. While exam dates should be held ﬁrm it might be
your desire to keep all other schedule items ﬂexible as long as you have a
clearly deﬁned method of informing your students about the changes.
8. Course Requirements
Your students know what is expected of them in order to successfully complete your course because...you "state the nature and format
of the assignments, the expected length of essays, and their deadlines."
(Davis 1993) Not only essays, but for theatre design courses the size and
scope of non-realized design projects, models, drafting, renderings, shop
hours, lab assignments, etc. "Students should be informed about the expectations for each course assignment and project." (Grunert 1997) You
do not need to supply the student with everything about the assignments.
Simply provide an overview of the assignment with the details in a separate document. "The amount of student time required for each activity
may be estimated." (Gappa and Gill 1991) It is helpful to explain how
each assignment will help the student meet the course objectives. This will
provide the student with a feeling of importance to the assignment and not
look at it as "busy work." This section of your syllabus will help students

understand, at a glance, the size and scope of work that is expected for
your course. Students will have a better idea of how to budget time and
resources if they are aware of this information.
9. Evaluation
Your students understand how they will be evaluated on their projects because...you explain the methods and procedures used to evaluate
student work. This section is not where you claim a "range of points" will
constitute a grade. Judith Grunert points out the difference between evaluation and grading:
"Evaluation or assessment is a great deal more than giving a grade.
The major part of evaluation, whether ongoing or ﬁnal, should be in the
form of comments on projects and papers, responses to student presentations, conversations, and other means of helping students to understand
how they can do better." (Grunert 1997)
It helps if a student can understand how their work will be evaluated;
or what your intentions are when providing feedback on projects such
as models or renderings, commenting on oral presentations, and written responses on papers. Our "criticism" of a design project may appear
hurtful to a student when your real intention is to push him or her to go
further the next time. This hurtful feeling may be lessened if the student
understands what you are attempting to do.
Make it clear that evaluation does not necessarily mean a grade and
a grade does not necessarily mean evaluation. It is possible that a student's
work may be technically proﬁcient, but may be lacking creativity. When we
evaluate a student's work we are not necessarily determining what score
to record in the grade book. We are, instead, thinking critically about the
student's work and how it may relate to his or her approach to a design.
Judith Grunert adds to her deﬁnition of evaluating by saying that, "Evaluation can be done by both instructors and students." (Grunert 1997)
Inform the student what will be evaluated (analysis, projects, assignments, etc.) and how it will be evaluated (written feedback, oral comments, peer review, etc.). Evaluation of a student's work can, and will, be
used to determine a ﬁnal grade.
10. Grading Procedures
Your students will understand the grade they receive because... you
"provide students with speciﬁc information about the weighting of attendance, homework, major assignments, examinations, etc." (Royse 2001)
"As well as being told about the purpose of course requirements, students
should be told how their progress will be assessed, how grades will be assigned, and how you will use those grades to determine their ﬁnal course
grade." (Grunert 1997) Similar to the evaluation section, the grading
procedures are more speciﬁc toward the actual grade. Some teaching
sources place evaluation and grading procedures together. Typically this
is where a student will ﬁnd how his or her ﬁnal grade is established and
what procedures will be used to determine the ﬁnal outcome.
Miscellaneous Information
The ten sections outlined above are signiﬁcant for a student to understand
what is important to you, your beliefs, how he or she will be evaluated,
what is expected, and more. Just as important are the miscellaneous bits of
information. Quite often they can be the items that a student will focus on
the ﬁrst day of class. "This section may contain a statement about plagiarism, the University's Honor Code, your policy on missed tests, class rules
regarding such matters as talking or eating in class, computer or e-mail

THEATRE

DESIGN

TECHNOLOGY
WINTER

2007

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Winter 2007