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I did not come to this course expecting the personal growth I experienced. By following the processes the instructor facilitated, I was led to very interesting topics of research for which names existed that I had only thought about as shots in the dark. The course and my success in it unfolded very naturally, though my motivation to be successful with myself and the course facilitated that exciting flow of learning. By staying on top of assignments, group work, and personal research, I was able to contribute to class in positive ways. There’s so much to gain from the course content if you think how you can apply it in your own way. I changed over the semester in a way where I am now more comfortable with my future. Possibilities explored can be further enhanced with time and energy (time and energy being my only constraint on further success right now). The best advice I can give students taking this course is to take the advice the instructor offers in helping you with your research. It really works and that’s really what his purpose is–he fulfills the role extremely well and continues to demonstrated interest in further improvement, which benefits all.

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The course Evaluation of Educational Change, is part of a grander learning process. The activities and tools used in class gave me insight into group processing and thinking about thinking. In addition, although we discussed evaluating educational change, there were opportunities to focus on our own personal goals as well as focus on broader issues. The personal nature of the class also gave me the flexibility to apply what we learned to my own goals. Our individual projects served as a culmination of the class, where we chose a topic that interested us to evaluate. I appreciated the constant feedback from the professor–it allowed me to reflect on my ideas to strengthen my project. In addition, Professor Taylor encouraged me to choose a project that was a bit outside my "comfort zone." With his (and the class’) feedback, I felt supported to try something different.

My advice to students…make the course personal to you and come to class and complete the assignments on time. The class activities, feedback on assignments and readings are all part of a learning process that extends beyond the timeframe of the course itself.

Thank you!

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There were lots of opportunities to dialogue about my work. It was useful dialogue but initially was disconcerting–really just the introduction of revise/review/dialogue. The doing dialogue was a good model for me to use with fellow teachers/students. The structure of the work (tools and techniques) enabled me to think about and apply my new information to my own work. That is very important to me. I should be able to do coursework according to my needs and use it to fill in gaps in my knowledge. The emphasis on reflection is good.

I prefer a textbook. Given my busy life–and similarly busy lives of my classmates–it is important for me to be able to plan my work. A textbook enables that more easily. That being said, the different viewpoints from the articles are valuable and contributed to my learning.

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I feel this course attempted to cram too much into a short period of time. May want to consider doing this course as an action research class specifically and then later on, do evaluation of educational change course. Course would have been more valuable had we seen the various methods that educational institutions have used, how they have changed, and the post-evaluation. Would have also been nice to explore trends in education with a focus on specific areas such as diversity, special education, critical thinking, etc. so we could develop ways to evaluate how we are doing things now overall. I feel the course should have taught us more about different methods of evaluation. The development of an evaluation for the final project was extremely difficult because there was little context to develop it in–not enough evaluation tools presented to allow for this new kind of thinking to emerge through a final project.

Loved your commitment to evaluating written work. Resubmit process extremely helpful and time put into this much appreciated.

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Please elaborate more on class activities and their expected outcomes.

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I didn’t read carefully the course description before I took it because it is a CCT requirement that I have to take for the degree. Because of that, I was ill-prepared for what to expect, and not having worked in a traditional education system for a long time, I didn’t initially understand the ‘language’ of this kind of learning. The assigned readings were a big help here and the class discussions and activities were very beneficial to my grasping finally the essence of what we were doing.

I didn’t like the re-writing/resubmitting so much because it was a new technique for me and made me feel pressured for time. Overall I got full experience here and satisfaction in accomplishing my work as I had hoped to.

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Course description excellent! (The only change I would advise is letting students know the prior semester that their first group project will not be of their own choosing. Or let people find group projects which really thrill them.) Peter’s courses allow, encourage deep personal ‘paradigm shifts.’

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Overall, I would recommend this course to both the practical and visionary among us. It provides a comfortable forum for questioning the way things have been done. Work for this course is easily adapted to practical application in a diversity of work settings. The flexibility to approach AR from your own motivation is wonderful.

One of the things I appreciate most is the dialogue around written work. It is inherently respectful of our intellects and very helpful in developing as a writer and educator.

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I think the course did a great job of illustrating how creating and executing interact. It was sometimes difficult just to figure out what work needed to be accomplished.

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This course was well planned out. Readings and assignments worked well with what was being discussed. Tools and practice were well thought out. I enjoyed working in groups and the group projects; I wish there was more of that. Overall, this class was put together well and I did get a lot of useful tools out of it.

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I really enjoyed and appreciated this course in that I could own the major projects. I was given the privilege to work on what interested me most. But what I believe is the most important part of the course, which also makes this particular course special, is that everyone focused on my progress and what I could share with others as well as how I might improved, rather than level of excellence based on a rubric. One regret I have is that because of the nature and the focus of the course, a lot of the in-class activities seemed to be those that needed a lot of time; however, often times I felt that there was not enough time for me to really get involved in and process my thoughts for the activities to be really meaningful for my own growth.