Feedback from GRDSCH 630 Students, Winter 2000

At the end of the quarter we asked students for their feedback on the course. Here are some examples of what they said, and how we have responded:

• Question 1: What parts of the class should we keep?
  • Response to feedback from Question 1

• Question 2: What parts of the class should we change?
  • Response to feedback from Question 2

• Question 3: Other comments
  • Response to students' other comments

• Who takes this class?
• Feedback from Other Quarters

Question 1: What parts of the class should we keep?

The projects were extremely useful because it actually gave a us tangible activities upon which to build the portfolio. Presenting to the class was great, too, because we were able to benefit from each other's experiences

I think all the class activities were useful. I especially liked the direction given through the ten-minute writing assignments at the end of each class. This helped me develop my teaching philosophy piece by piece.

The peer review of the teaching philosophy and annotation was quite useful.

The active learning techniques you used

Response to feedback from Question 1:

We're pleased that the class felt that the projects and the class activities and interactions contributed to the development of the teaching philosophy and portfolio. We plan to repeat these features in the Winter 2001 course.

Question 2: What parts of the class should we change?

I think it might be useful to do a wrap-up comment on ground covered. Or somehow make us (students) explicitly aware of progress of each class. My own development was so seamless and so painless that it sometimes was invisible to me ... I'd sometimes be frustrated that I wasn't getting enough out (or putting enough in), only to realize on reflection that I was getting and producing quite a bit.

I felt like we abandoned reading and theory halfway through the quarter in favor of practical assignments. It would have been nice to integrate them better.

It seems like a lot of the time we were rushing to get through stuff, I don't know if that could be remedied by trying to cover less material or restricting class size (which both seem like bad alternatives)

Can't think of anything except make it more often.

Response to feedback from Question 2:

We appreciate students' suggestions that it would be useful to provide regular, more explicit summaries so that we'll all recognize our progress. We'll also emphasize connections among parts of the course. For example, the connections between theory and practice are important, and we'll be sure to emphasize them. Explicit summaries and connections may also make the progress through the material seem less rushed.

Question 3: Other comments about the class

This was probably one of the most useful classes I have ever taken. I really like the cross-disciplinary make-up of the class. The portfolio that I've come up with is very inspiring!!

Constructive, positive, helpful in bringing up the best of each participant and sharing it with the class.

Really glad to take it. Thanks!

Excellent!

Response to students' other comments:

We're especially pleased that students appreciated the cross-disciplinary make-up of the class and felt that the course fostered communication among everyone attending. Much of the credit for the success of the course goes to the students who were in it, their efforts to integrate the course content with their own teaching goals and questions, and their active participation in each class session.

It was a pleasure for us to meet each week with talented, highly motivated scholars who want to be effective in their teaching. We are definitely looking forward to teaching the course again.

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