Course evaluation

Practicum CCT 698

Fall 2001

Instructor Peter Taylor

Part II

Write out neatly a synthetic statement (1 or 2 paragraphs) evaluating this course. (You might build on/build in your comments from the other side.) Please make comments both to help me develop the course in the future and to enable some third party appreciate the course’s strengths and weaknesses. (Imagine a reader who may not be willing to wade through all the notes on the other side, but is willing to do more than look at numerical averages.) Among other things you might comment on the overall content and progression of classes, the phases of research & engagament, and the in-class activities.

1.The average course allows one to learn and then demonstrate one’s learning. The Practicum adds a second layer: providing one with alternative tools and methods for learning and demonstrating. And a third layer: The bringing of ones conscious and responsive awareness to one’s process. The course proceeds in cycles of personal inventory/exploration/research/synthesis/presentation — with critical and creative faculties called upon throughout. There is also a rhythm of alternating one’s attention between personal intent and audience response. Repeated opportunities for reflection throughout guarantee that each chosen project is ignited and informed by that flame which can only come from deep personal investment.

2. The valuable and personalized attention from PT greatly helped me develop, refine and focus my controlling question. I was able to place myself in the course regarding what it offered and what I hoped to achieve. The pacing was fast (for me) but definitely appreciated to get me aware of realistic short-term goals and how I could use tools and personal direction negotiated to keep me motivated. The in-class activities created a great peer review environment for generating presentation and peer feedback later on.

3. The "Revise and Resubmit" approach to class work was new to me but is an excellent process — it gives you a chance to actually learn. There were times I felt little enthusiasm for doing the exercises, but once done they turned out to be very helpful. This should be greatly emphasized. Give students more time to choose subject.

4. This class allows you to undertake a research project that means something to you. You can learn how to conduct a research project and understand how to thoroughly undertake such a project. It is not meant just to do a project and be over with it, but to do and get meaning out of it. Reflection and constant change is a must. We must be willing to accept learning things in a different way and manner. By doing that we can to become a better critical and creative thinker.

5. I enjoyed coming to every class in this course. I sometimes felt I was not on track as well as I should have been To help with this you answered all my questions clearly. I feel I progressed well in engaging and sharing with others in a productive way through the supportive environment.

6. I enjoyed this class very much. In my experience I do my assignments when they are due, whether or not I agree with them. I will try something new in hopes of learning something. Most of what we did I had done before in previous classes but I did learn something new from each assuagement. I especially liked working with my peers and sharing our thoughts, feelings. I think there were many students who stressed out about this course. This to me was unnecessary. I think all of the assignments were reasonable along with the timeline. I would stress to new students to welcome a challenge because there is so much flexibility in this course. I enjoyed this class and hop my classmates did.

7. The process in this course is absolutely essential in reaching a goal — a somewhat unified product — probably still requiring more work in a later course. The difficult part of the process is comments that are necessary, but sometimes set you back unexpectedly. At times, it is a bit discouraging, but needless to say, a required part of the process. It can be difficult if you are trying to do too much.

8. I feel this course benefited me a great deal in revisiting my own process of past use of research and engagement issues form my other educational experiences. I made use of the skill taught such as mapping and teasing out arguments or clarification of my own project goals by utilizing new approaches when giving a narrative presentation about my work. I learned to put myself into my work and to utilize peer comment to improve and restructure my presentation of my research. The feedback is always a challenge but I feel when its made clear that the first reaction of feeling upset is OK, them you can get past it and continue to utilize it in a way that helps your process instead of hindering. This is also something that I want to work on more. The course helped me see what I want to accomplish in my future work and the directions of possibilities that my vision can now be inclusive of. This process also introduces me to gaining insight into more using of data organization using the computer. The only suggestion I have to add is that possibly there should be a pre-class forum where the syllabus is given out and there is instruction that the course requires a guiding question for it to begin. This may help facilitate better time management and reduce the amount of time spent on this the first two lessons.

9. This course is a wonderful way to develop a large area of inquiry in a somewhat systematic manner. The tools of peer review and reflective practitioner are introduced. These tools are very powerful, but quite different from how much of us are taught how to approach work and learning. It can be very challenging to even begin to master either of these techniques, but if you can take a risk your work research will unfold and develop in new and remarkable ways — and it will be your work.

10. This course was organized smoothly. Sometimes I didn’t understand the assignments and how they connected to the project. I think that they would have been more helpful if they would have all been done in class, together. Perhaps this course should be offered as a semester + winter term — lengthened or as an independent study with weekly meetings with a group of 4 or so. I didn’t gain that much from being with the class. I think I would have been more accountable if I knew that I have to answer to my peers on a weekly basis.