Dutchess Community College
Course Assessment Report Summary
Course #
Department:
ENG 201
English and
Humanities
Expected Student
Learning Outcome
Select two to four outcomes
Outcome #1: Demonstrate analytical
reading and writing skills such as
supporting a point about a literary work
with evidence from the text.
Course Title
Contact Person:
Methods of
Assessment
Identify the method
for each outcome
Course assessment of English 201was
conducted by Professor Beth Kolp,
instructor of the sole section of the
course taught in the spring semester
2010.
Students were assigned a 1000-word
paper analyzing one of the topics below.
The paper was assigned March 31, 2010,
for submission April 9, the eleventh
week of the semester. It was the fourth
paper in the course, covered
approximately 1/5 of the material in the
course, and was worth 10% of the grade
in the course.
The professor selected criteria for rating
student success, and 100% of the student
essays were selected for evaluation. The
professor of the course assessed the
papers; there was no second reader.
Paper topics:
1. Compare and contrast John Donne’s
“Love’s Alchemy” and “Valediction:
Forbidding Mourning.” Use these bases
of comparison and no other:
 Who is the speaker?
 What is the dramatic situation?
 What view of love is asserted
in the poem? This section
must include an explanation
of the conceits in the poems.
2. Compare and contrast two farewell
poems: Donne’s “Valediction:
Forbidding Mourning” and Lovelace’s
“To Lucasta: Going to the Wars.” Use
English Literature: Pre-Renaissance to the 18th Century
B. Kolp
Measurement Criteria
Identify the criterion for each method.
Rubric with three categories for
“Use of Evidence”
3- Meets Standard: supports a claim
with enough suitable evidence from
a literary text; presents evidence
coherently and grammatically
2-Approaches Standard: presents
little evidence from a literary text in
support of a claim, presents material
that is not very pertinent to the
claim, or presents evidence
incoherently and ungrammatically
1-Does Not Meet Standard: fails to
present evidence from a text in
support of the claim
Date Submitted:
Extension:
Summary and Analysis
of Data
Summary of Results
Possible Explanations
75% Meets Standard
15% Approaches Standard
10% Does Not Meet
Standard
Even considering that nineteen
essays is a small sample on
which to base conclusions, a
success rate of 75% on this
outcome, when all students in
the course have completed two
earlier composition courses, is
not satisfactory. A possible
explanation for these results is
that the poems they were
required to analyze were so
difficult to read that students
were unable to find evidence in
them to support a claim.
January 10, 2010
8433
Use of Results
and Modifications
Action Plan
No modifications in the Extended
Course Outline are indicated by the
results. However, in teaching the
course in the future, the professor
should better prepare students for a
study of the metaphysical conceit. See
Action Plan below for the second
Student Learning Outcome assessed.
Dutchess Community College
Course or Program Assessment Form
these bases of comparison and no others:
 Who is saying good-by, and
why?
 Who is being addressed?
 What argument is asserted in
the poem?
 What is your opinion of the
quality of the argument?
 What images, figures, and
poetic forms does the poet use?
This section must include an
explanation of any conceits in
Donne’s poem.
3. Compare sonnets about two authors’
relationship with God: “Holy Sonnet 14,”
by John Donne, and “When I Consider
How My Light Is Spent,” by John
Milton. Use these bases of comparison
and no others:
 What problem exists in the
speaker’s relationship with
God?
 What has caused the problem?
 What was / would be the
solution to the problem?
 What images and poetic figures
does each poet use? This
section must include an
explanation of any conceits in
“Holy Sonnet 14.”
Outcome #2: Demonstrate a recognition
of those characteristics of a work that
place it in a literary period such as the
Renaissance or the Restoration, or in a
literary tradition such as the sonnet or
the pastoral.
Course assessment of English 201was
conducted by Professor Beth Kolp,
instructor of the sole section of the
course taught in the spring semester
2010.
Students were assigned a 1000-word
paper analyzing one of the topics below.
The paper was assigned March 31, 2010,
for submission April 9, the eleventh
week of the semester. It was the fourth
paper in the course, covered
approximately 1/5 of the material in the
course, and was worth 10% of the grade
in the course.
Rubric with three categories for
“Understanding of Metaphysical
Conceits in Seventeenth-Century
Poetry”
3-Meets Standard: can identify the
conceit in the assigned poem and
trace its development throughout the
poem.
2-Approached Standard: recognizes
that there is a conceit at work in the
poem but cannot trace its
development throughout the poem.
1-Does Not Meet Standard: fails to
recognize a conceit in the poem.
70% Meets Standard
15% Approaches Standard
15% Does Not Meet
Standard
It is reasonably satisfactory that
85% of students assessed could
recognize a conceit in a poem; it
is less satisfactory that only 70%
could trace its development
throughout the poem. These
results can be explained in part
by the difficulty of seventeenthcentury poetry.
No modifications in the Extended
Course Outline are indicated by the
results. However, in teaching the
course in the future, the professor
should more strongly emphasize
metaphor and other poetic figures in
the fourteenth- through sixteenthcentury poems assigned in the course.
Such an emphasis should better
prepare students for the difficult
concept of metaphysical
conceits.
Dutchess Community College
Course or Program Assessment Form
The professor selected criteria for rating
student success, and 100% of the student
essays were selected for evaluation. The
professor of the course assessed the
paper; there was no second reader.
Paper topics:
1. Compare and contrast John Donne’s
“Love’s Alchemy” and “Valediction:
Forbidding Mourning.” Use these bases
of comparison and no other:
 Who is the speaker?
 What is the dramatic situation?
 What view of love is asserted
in the poem? This section
must include an explanation
of the conceits in the poems.
2. Compare and contrast two farewell
poems: Donne’s “Valediction:
Forbidding Mourning” and Lovelace’s
“To Lucasta: Going to the Wars.” Use
these bases of comparison and no others:
 Who is saying good-by, and
why?
 Who is being addressed?
 What argument is asserted in
the poem?
 What is your opinion of the
quality of the argument?
 What images, figures, and
poetic forms does the poet use?
This section must include an
explanation of any conceits in
Donne’s poem.
3. Compare sonnets about two authors’
relationship with God: “Holy Sonnet 14,”
by John Donne, and “When I Consider
How My Light Is Spent,” by John
Milton. Use these bases of comparison
and no others:
 What problem exists in the
speaker’s relationship with
God?
 What has caused the problem?
 What was / would be the
solution to the problem?
 What images and poetic figures
does each poet use? This
Dutchess Community College
Course or Program Assessment Form
section must include an
explanation of any conceits in
“Holy Sonnet 14.”
DCC Academic Objective Assessment: Please attach a narrative that addresses two of the DCC Academic Objectives that are included in your
Extended Course Outline. Describe why these objectives were chosen for inclusion in your course and how they will be assessed in the next assessment
cycle for the course.
Narrative
The DCC Academic Objective Reading and Writing is identified in the ENG 201 Extended Course Outline because the two skills it embodies are central to the objectives of the course. In the next assessment
cycle, reading will be assessed. Students will paraphrase a brief poem, or a passage from a longer poem, as part of an examination question. These paraphrases will be assessed to determine how well students
understand the denotative meaning of poetry from the period covered by the course.
The DCC Academic Objective Thinking, Problem Solving and Decision Making is identified in the ENG 201 Extended Course Outline because critical thinking is a skill that students in the course—and
college graduates in general—must possess. In the next assessment cycle, students will write a paper or an essay-type examination answer in which they apply characteristics of a period or genre of literature to
a work studied during the semester. This will be a deductive analysis.
Faculty Signature: ______Beth Kolp___________________________________________
Department Head Signature: _______Richard Malboeuf___________________________________