Part III: Suggestions for Improving Class
2. Where there any activities you feel should be eliminated
from this class?
At first I felt the lectures we too much however
by the end of the class I realized they were important for some
of the students that may not have had the same background as I
have had.
There was nothing in the class that was unenjoyable or seemed
superficial. I thought that it was well structured.
I don't feel that anything should be eliminated, however emphasis
on certain activities could have been limited. The personal writing
assignments were important because it allowed for you to express
you individual level of understanding so that you didn't become
lost without your own expression, but I think they could have
been limited somewhat. Only because of time constraints, but even
then they weren't that bad. The first lab was felt like a run
around and I think it could have been structured better. I think
that lab time did improve because we started more time for research
and more time to discuss with other countries.
No. I thought they were all useful and informative.
I thought this class was great and would recommend Catherine again
to modify each time to the specific classes needs and wants.
Some of the labs in the first week were pretty tedious. Once this
was brought up in class, they seemed to be eliminated. The day
before the summit also didn't flow very well with the context
of the class.
The labs might need to be changed a little. It seemed like they
were more along the lines of busy work, rather than being beneficial.
Not exactly because I felt all the activities had its relevance
and importance for the class.
Most of the activities were very well implemented. The daily assignments
were very helpful in organizing thoughts, but some of the questions
were a little vague and repetitive. Group writing were perfect,
presentations were great. Also, one more comment on the daily
writing assignments. GIVE MORE FEEDBACK! I considered it almost
insulting to receive a blank paper 50% of the time. Draw a star
or make a check that lets me know you even took the time to read
it.
The daily writing assignments were vital to our understanding
of course material, but I feel that some of them could be eliminated
in order to allow more time for intensive research and group work.
The computer lab activities were also vital to the understanding
of the course, but perhaps they could be more structured toward
specific countries and information, so that all the work process
in this class leads to a final product.