Periodisk Emnerapport

JAP 1503  Japanese History

Vår 2009

1. Eventuelle avvik

There were no serious deviations from the course content as described in the emnebekrivelse.

2. Kvantitative gjennomføringsdata

64 students applied for this course, of which often only one third was present at the meetings. 43 students handed in their qualification assignment. 40 of them passed and thus were accredited to do the exam. 39 students participated in the exam, 25 candidates passed, 14 failed. The overall results of the course were not entirely satisfactory, considering that D and F were the most common grades (respectively 10 and 14 students), 5 B’s and E’s, 4 C’s and only 1 student was awarded an A. However, this kind of result is normal in historical school exams and the numbers are actually up from the year before. In 2008 in all 31 students participated in the exam, 18 candidates passed, 13 failed.

3. Indikasjoner på særlig god kvalitet

There was only one student who stood out and received an A-grade. Most students did quite well, but there was also a number of students who did not make a true effort for this course and hardly showed up in class.

4. Indikasjoner på sviktende kvalitet

Up until last year there was a distinctive negative trend in this class. The student numbers increased significantly, turning the element of group presentations problematic. The groups became too big and did not function properly, which resulted in a situation that most presentations did not attain an academic level and hardly provided food for thought. Moreover, the time needed for the group presentations inevitably increased and disturbed the flow of the lectures and the pace of the class. Based also the markedly negative evaluation of the group presentations by the students themselves, this year we deleted these from the course, to the satisfaction of all. However, we may consider reinstating the group presentations when the number of students decreases.

5. Utvikling av studiekvalitet / 6.  Forslag for å forbedre emnet

This year JAP 1503 was conducted as a lecture course. The former group presentations were replaced by a short essay, which functioned as a qualifying assignment. Judging by the survey conducted by the university and the one we conducted by ourselves, this change in structure has proven very beneficial and successful. The lectures in general receive a high evaluation and many students make clear that they do not long for a seminar/group presentation element in this survey history course. They are also satisfied with the new qualification assignment and the school exam. Some remark that the qualification assignment should be distributed and returned at an earlier moment in the course, and we will do so accordingly next year.

Many students have shown their appreciation for the lectures, since they provide the framework and the great lines and trends that are often more difficult to grasp from the textbooks. We also consider the lectures the most important part of this class and are unsatisfied with the situation that half of the students do not attend class and merely do exam on the basis of textbook reading. In class we do not repeat what is in the textbooks but we try to make the students work with – i.e., structure, analyze, compare, AND question – the information provided by the textbooks. This kind of work is a key to a successful exam and an essential preparation for the advanced courses in the BA and MA programs. We therefore intend to implement a rule of obligatory attendance to 80% of the lectures from the Spring 2010 semester onwards.

Dick Stegewerns & Mark Teeuwen