Apparently many of you can. Just reviewed my evaluations for the summer offerings of 565A. Overall folks are pleased with the course and the work Robert and I did (thanks again Rob, if you’re reading this). I, of course, zoom into the negative parts and think “am I that bad?”
No, I’m not. But there’s room for improvement in the course–and in my practice. Though some folks’ feedback makes it difficult to see the point through the snark. Or veiled homophobia, as it were. What. Ever.
In terms of the former I’ll be looking at the following as possible changes for the January offering:
- A downloadable course syllabus
- Harmonizing the Course Intro section with the learning modules
- Updating the assessment rubrics
- Recalculating the overall course workload
- Developing new cases for the small group task
- Mmmmmaybe developing new cases for some of the weekly discussions. Especially Raj (resource issue)
- Maybe dropping one of the cases near the end of the course, since there are two assignments due
- Revisiting (again) how participation is assessed
As for me the lessons learned are more straightforward: 4 sections is insane, even with a TA. I think I did a good job this summer: I prefer to do an excellent one. Folks don’t seem to believe me when I say I’m harder on myself than anyone else…
Please remember that the overwhelming responses were positive – I know that human nature makes us sensitive to any negative comments – even when they are unprofessional and cloaked in personal issues – but keep re-reading the positives. As for your suggested revisions – I found your format to be very user friendly, and the assignment workload and timeline very manageable (I have the experience of 6 previous courses for comparison). I do believe you are harder on yourself than anyone else…your suggested improvements are not necessary…the course was amazing as it stands.
Thanks Brenda! But if I pushed you folks to aim for os-some, it only seems fair to push myself towards os-some-er. 😉 And Jeff Miller will be helping with the refresh, since he’s co-author of the course.