MIAS students must undertake a combined Comprehensive Examination and Portfolio assessment.  Together, these evaluations demonstrate the students' accomplishments in the program and their satisfaction of requirements for the M.A. degree. The process is designed to evaluate both the students' basic knowledge and competencies, and their ability to synthesize and apply what they know in depth – that is, both the breadth and depth of student learning in the Program.  It is not intended to test specific course content for which students have already been evaluated and graded.  Each culminating requirement is meant to be a distinct element and should not cover essentially the same material. For example, the presentation of the Portfolio Assessment should not serve as an oral defense of the Comprehensive Examination.  Together, the two sections comprise a single evaluation that is appropriate in scale and scope as a terminal requirement for the Master of Arts.

Comprehensive Exam

A formal written Comprehensive Examination covering all major aspects of contemporary moving image archiving is required. The Exam is also designed to test the student's knowledge of basic issues of film, television, digital media studies and the fundamental principles of professional library practice.   The Exam is given once a year at the end of fourth week, Spring Quarter, and takes place over two full days.  Exam questions are delivered to students by 5 pm on Friday of fourth week, Spring Quarter.  Students must return their answers by 9 am the following Monday, fifth week, Spring Quarter. 

Exam Format:  The Examination is open-book format: that is, students may use any background materials they wish to help them answer the questions.  Students may work on the Examination away from campus.  While the Exam is in progress, students may not discuss the Exam or show their work to others.  Answers should be written clearly and concisely, double-spaced with a 12-point font and one inch margins.  Including notes and text, they should not exceed 2,500 words each.  Students are advised that a literature review does not take the place of a well-organized and supported case or argument.

The Comprehensive Examination consists of five general categories. In the first four categories, students will be given a choice between two questions to answer. The Preservation category will instead feature a single question which all students must answer.

• Collections: acquisition, evaluation, access, exhibition.
• Media History: cinema, television, new media.
• Information Structures: cataloging, metadata, documentation.
• Administration: policy, cost models, legal issues, organizational structure.
• Preservation: repair, reconstruction, conservation, storage, duplication.

Exam Evaluation: Student answers to the Exam are evaluated by a review panel of three ladder faculty members: one each from the Departments of Information Studies (IS) and Film, Television & Digital Media (FTVD), and the MIAS Program Director.  Evaluation is conducted as a double-blind review: members of the Faculty Review Panel are not identified, and student Examinations are assigned codes to prevent disclosure of students' identities.   The following are the possible grading results: Pass with Distinction, Pass, and Fail.  A "Pass" grade requires at least two "Pass" evaluations from the Faculty Review Panel; a "Pass with Distinction" requires at least two "Pass with Dinstinction" grades from the Faculty Review Panel. 

The Faculty Review Panel recommends its grades to to the MIAS Committee to Administer the Interdepartmental Program (CAIDP).  The MIAS CAIDP makes the final grading decision for the Comprehensive Exam and reports Exam grades to students in the eighth week of Spring term.  The CAIDP combines a student's final Comprehensive Examination grade with the student's final Portfolio Assessment grade in order to make a single evaluation that is appropriate in scale and scope to recommend the conferral of the Master of Arts degree in MIAS.  Students must pass both sections (Comprehensive Examination and Portfolio Assessment) to pass the final evaluation as a whole.  An overall grade of "Pass with Distinction" is awarded only when students achieve distinction in both portions. Students who receive a "Fail" grade are permitted one additional opportunity to retake the Comprehensive Exam, typically in the following Spring Quarter. Students who fail the Comprehensive Examination twice may not graduate from the Program. 

Portfolio Assessment

The Portfolio is a presentation of its author's professional self, as developed in the MIAS Program.  Its specific goals are to present one's cumulative accomplishments in the MIAS Program; to reflect on one's significant learning in the Program; and to reflect on one's career goals and how the work in the Program has moved one toward that end.

Preparation: Students work closely with their advisors throughout their academic programs to prepare and present a body of work that demonstrates the students' mastery of moving image archive studies, their ability to synthesize and apply that knowledge in depth in a chosen area of interest or specialty within MIAS, and their sense of competence, identity, leadership skills, and future development as professionals.  In the second week of the spring quarter in which a student submits a Portfolio, his/her faculty advisor must submit a form certifying that the student has consulted with them on the form and content of the Portfolio.

Schedule:  Students must submit their completed Portfolios no later than the end of the second week of the Spring Quarter of their final year in the program, at the same time as they submit their Advancement to Candidacy forms.  Portfolio presentations are scheduled during the sixth and seventh weeks of the Spring Quarter.    

Format: Students both submit a Portfolio of their work and present the work in a face-to-face meeting with a Portfolio Committee of two ladder faculty members and one representative from the professional community. The Portfolio itself may comprise of a collection of the student's work or of a single major project, either written or authored in another media format.  In either case the Portfolio, taken as a whole, must constitute a coherent, critical and focused treatment of a substantive problem area or issue in moving image archiving.

The Portfolio must include an introductory statement or overview in which students:

• articulate a substantive problem or focus of study,
  
• explain how they developed interest in this problem or focus over the course of the MIAS program,
• make the case for the focus or problem's significance to MIAS,
• provide the background and rationale for their particular approach to the problem or focus, and discuss their main empirical or critical findings and outcomes.

Both archival projects (e.g., media preservations, restorations or preparatory dossiers; finding aids; database designs/implementations; case studies; media products), research projects (e.g., historical studies, surveys, literature reviews/bibliographies, observational or field studies), and other relevant and appropriate materials may be included in the portfolio along with the introductory overview/statement. Past examples of student portfolios are available in the MIAS Coordinator office.

Portfolio Evaluation/Grading: Student Portfolios and presentations are evaluated by a panel composed of one ladder faculty from each of the Departments of Information Studies (IS) and Film, Television and Digital Media (FTVD) and an invited archive professional.  Grading includes the following categories: Pass with Distinction, Pass, and Fail.  A "Pass" grade for the Portfolio requires at least two "Pass" evaluations from the Portfolio Committee; a Pass with Distinction requires a unanimous vote of the Portfolio Committee. 

The Portfolio Committee recommends its evaluations to the MIAS Committee to Administer the Interdepartmental Program (CAIDP) which makes the final grading decision for the Portfolio and reports Portfolio grades to students in the eighth week of Spring Quarter. MIAS CAIDP combines a student's Comprehensive Examination grade with the student's Portfolio Assessment grade in order to make a final evaluation that is appropriate in scale and scope to recommend the conferral of the Master of Arts degree in MIAS.  Students must pass both sections (Comprehensive Examination and Portfolio Assessment) to pass the final evaluation as a whole.  An overall grade of "Pass with Distinction" is awarded only when students achieve distinction in both portions.
Students who receive a "Fail" grade are permitted one additional opportunity to submit and present their Portfolio.  Students who fail the Portfolio Assessment twice may not graduate from the Program.