Silje Nes Skrede

Engelsk - årsstudium

Anne Dahl

NTNU:TIA:REST

Det humanistiske fakultet

Faculty of Humanities

Rhonna J. Robbins-Sponaas

Periodisk evaluering av engelsk dekker ÅENG, BENG, MENG, og MPhil programene. Rapporten legges ved.

NB.&nbsp;The evaluation combines all the programs into one report. The previous report noted a need for better or more appropriate digital teaching tools, tools for data collection for student assignments, and better scheduling (timeplan) for teaching and exams.&nbsp;In all practicality, these are ongoing issues which are addressed on an equally ongoing basis, and it is not realistically possible to mark them as finished or completed.

The English programs at all levels (ÅENG, BENG, MENG, MLSPRÅK) have historically enjoyed solid recruitment numbers.&nbsp;We’ve noted that there’s been a slight drop in numbers over the past few years, but the reason for the drop has not been identified and there are several possibilities—including the general trend toward reduced numbers, the continued influence of the pandemic, and so on.&nbsp;While the reduction does not threaten the viability of the programs, however, it does suggest that increased measures for retention as well as recruitment should be put into place.&nbsp;The semester-start program in H2022 was deemed largely a success, despite the logistical challenges connected with planning and scheduling between multiple organizations, including the linjeforening groups.&nbsp;Those issues were addressed for H2023’s start, and while considerably better, there is still room for improvement, such as organizing the schedule in such a way that students who are members of two programs can participate in all their relevant activities or meetings, rather than having to choose one and miss the other.&nbsp;However, feedback from students was generally very positive, they felt as if they had been acknowledged and received, and they were able to gain an early jump on creating their own networks and social/academic connections.&nbsp;&nbsp;While the oppstart for the bachelor-level programs was emphasized, the master-level programs had two smaller elements:&nbsp;an official orientation meeting which was held in the first few weeks of the semester and a master-student poster session which was held in November.&nbsp;As a result of student interest in increased contact, the first was modified in H2023 to include an opportunity to meet the different potential supervisors and have a more social chat between themselves as well as staff.&nbsp;Feedback suggests that even more interaction for that group of students is desirable and is a consideration for H2024.&nbsp;The poster session in H2022 was deemed a success by the participants, of which there were 13 presenters and 33 audience students present, in addition to supervisory staff and other members of ISL who chose to pop in for observation. &nbsp;The students found that they enjoyed the opportunity to talk about their individual projects—even if they had not yet entirely figured out what that project was—and the audience students found it helpful to see the variety of possible topics on the eve of choosing their own focus for their own upcoming theses.&nbsp;Student feedback was overwhelmingly positive, including suggesting that the event be made mandatory, or commenting that “this is what being in academia should feel like.”&nbsp;Based on that feedback, the session was scheduled to repeat in H2023, and looks to become a semi-permanent arrangement in the schedule of events for master students in English.&nbsp;Students still report slightly mixed feedback in terms of the environment.&nbsp;They’ve reported positively on all socio-academic measures, but there is a discrepancy concerning where they feel disconnected.&nbsp;While focus has been on the lektor students and their sense of connectedness, that observation may need to be more nuanced.&nbsp;For a percentage of lektor students, it is not connection with the other lektor students that they feel they lack, but connection to other students in their &nbsp;discipline.&nbsp;The oppstartsuke program seems to be helping with that issue, along with the master’s poster session, but this is an area we can improve upon.&nbsp;While H2023 seems to be reporting an improvement to some extent and may thus be reaping cumulative rewards from H2022’s measures, there are still students who feel isolated and report that they are struggling with serious issues.&nbsp;However, they typically also report that they feel that they have been able to approach their instructors or program coordinators. Nevertheless, emotional and mental health is an area which NTNU as a whole needs to consider more carefully, and for which there need to be solid routines and support networks do not currently seem to exist.&nbsp;The concern has recently (H2023) been raised and pushed forward to Faculty but should be kept visible.&nbsp;In general, the program’s courses work well together, but there are areas which the section sees can be more carefully tuned.&nbsp;The potential overlap between ENG1001, -1101, and -1201 is one of these, and the language courses will be more carefully evaluated specifically for organization and progression in the coming semester.&nbsp;The literature courses will undergo a similar review.&nbsp;The cultural history courses have now completed their revision work with these goals in mind, and those changes were submitted in H2023.&nbsp;In line with this, we have requested that ENG2455 and ENG2303 swap semesters, moving ENG2455 (History &amp; politics) to the Spring term in order to allow the lektor students to complete a BA thesis in a cultural history topic rather than limiting them to only literature or linguistics.&nbsp;That change will also more actively support those students who want to develop their master’s theses in the discipline. The literature course (ENG2303) will be moved to the Fall term in order to make room. &nbsp;At the same time, ENG3450 will move to the Fall while ENG3317 will move to the Spring.&nbsp;That change will allow a better progression within the cultural history topics and moving ENG3317 avoids creating a gap for students who wish to focus on literature within the discipline.&nbsp;These changes should take effect in H2024/V2025.&nbsp;Exam scheduling has remained a logistical problem, and the current review has addressed many of those concerns by suggesting that most 7-day home exams be shortened to 3-day home exams, a school exam be converted to a portfolio exam, and so on.&nbsp;The collision between exams seems to be most challenging during the Fall semester’s shorter exam period, and these changes should alleviate some of that pressure.&nbsp;This is also an area which will need to be considered on an ongoing basis.&nbsp;Similarly, scheduling of teaching in general faces the usual challenges concerning rooms (specifically rooms appropriate to the type of teaching) and time slots in order to avoid collisions, and this is an area which must be addressed continuously.&nbsp;The scheduling issues with ENG2153 are well recorded, without seeing significant improvement thus far.&nbsp;&nbsp;An issue which has been a recurring problem for all the English programs at all levels, and which does not seem to be limited to English, is the question of attendance. &nbsp;Campus courses are reporting reduced numbers across the board; one-third seems to be the average number of registered students who are also attending lectures and seminars.&nbsp;Similarly, it has been increasingly difficult to recruit students to reference groups, for instance, and there have been multiple cases where there were no volunteers.&nbsp;Obtaining feedback via other means such as surveys has also been problematic, and surveys which ask students why they do not attend or what could be done to help them do so seem to generate even fewer responses.&nbsp;It has, quite frankly, been extraordinarily difficult to obtain answers on this front, and we are unable to identify reasons for the absence.&nbsp;Lingering effects of the pandemic might be responsible for some of the phenomena but cannot be sole cause.&nbsp;As a result, however, the section has begun discussing the option of making attendance mandatory for some of the courses in the program, or part or a percentage of a particular course.&nbsp;This decision will be made in V2024 and, if adopted in any form, applied to the relevant course description changes at the start of H2024.&nbsp;&nbsp;Courses and instructors are working toward increasing the visibility of professional relevance for students, helping make those connections via the use of guest speakers (e.g., ENG1001, ENG2123, ENG2153, and ENG3430), clarifying relevance during the first lecture and course descriptions, and via discussion during lectures and seminars.&nbsp;Study abroad is still encouraged via the very successful York trip every Spring semester.&nbsp;Students receive information about the trip through orientation meetings, departmental web pages, course Blackboard sites, and the now unfortunately defunct pensumhefte. Likewise, information about other study abroad opportunities are included in other program pages and general information.&nbsp;However, the idea of internationalization is not problematic for English given the nature of the study and its global applications; virtually every aspect of the program has some international application or relevance, and students are continually reminded of this.&nbsp;The MPhil program is the exception to the English program offerings as of this point.&nbsp;The number of students who have applied to the program remains at or close to the norm, but the number which accept and then actually begin their studies has dropped drastically.&nbsp;Part of the reason for this is naturally the recent changes in funding for international students, but research needs to be conducted in order to identify any other causes.&nbsp;As of H2023, however, and based on the trend over the previous academic year as well as the current one, the suggestion is that the program be “put on ice” for the immediate future.&nbsp;The section is in discussion about how to handle this for the future.&nbsp;If there is no way to provide a competitive program which would draw the necessary student numbers and meet an existing need, then the section will suggest dropping the program.&nbsp;However, a proper evaluation needs to be done before that stage can be reached.

&nbsp;The English program as a whole is fortunate to have a wealth of knowledgeable and dedicated staff members who are focused on their own research or development as well as on the development of their students, and who involve their research in their supervision and teaching.&nbsp;That said and given the size of the student population for the program, there will always be a desire for more resources to support those students and give them an offering which provides more than a token skeleton but actually provides both breadth and depth.&nbsp;The section understands, however, that the likelihood of increases in manpower resources is virtually nonexistent, and is evaluating to see how the existing portfolio can be run while at the same time making certain that it falls within available resources.&nbsp;&nbsp;One issue which must be noted under this category is that the English section provides a considerable number of hours in support to the entire Department, and that the shift in those resources to administrative focus also means a reduction in resources for the program itself.&nbsp;Currently, it supplies the Deputy Head of Education, Deputy Head of Research, and Head of program for lektor program.&nbsp;While these are the three primary deductions, there are other administrative tasks which are naturally part of the English staff load, making these three losses only part of the picture. &nbsp;However, it does mean that the program is constantly operating with fewer resources than are actually on the books.&nbsp;As an aside, H2022 and V2023 were two semesters which made heavy use of temporary teaching staff in order to cover a number of staff members who were out with research leave, sick leave, maternity leave, or elimination of overtime.&nbsp;While the students were able to gain additional perspectives and topics from sources they would normally not have interaction with, it did lead to a certain degree of inconsistency in terms of who would be part of their program in the future, how they could connect with that staff, and so on.&nbsp;It was, however, a singular academic year and H2023 marks the start of a return to normalcy.&nbsp;Despite the changes, students were generally positive in their feedback, with only a few organizational critiques which would be addressed in H2023 (e.g., digital format of ENG1201).

Engelsk - årsstudium - ÅENG