Evaluation Summary – Fall 2014 – Development of Sociological Thought

Evaluation Summary – Fall 2014 – Development of Sociological Thought

10 evaluations out of 19 students

Quantitative Feedback

Item 1: I (the student) came well prepared for class.	3.5	Decline from 4.5 in Fall 2011.
Item 2: The instructor clearly explained the educational objectives of this course.	4.7	Decline from 4.9 in Fall 2011.
Item 3: The instructor was well organized and prepared for class.	4.9	Same score as 2014.
Item 4: The instructor was conscientious in meeting class and office hour responsibilities.	4.8	Decline from 4.9 in Fall 2011.
Item 5: The instructor promoted a classroom atmosphere in which I felt free to ask questions.	4.7	Decline from 5.0 in Fall 2011.
Item 6: The instructor provided useful feedback about exams, projects, and assignments.	4.6	Decline from 4.6 in Fall 2011.
Item 7: So far, the instructor has applied grading policies fairly.	4.6	Decline from 4.9 in Fall 2011.
Item 8: The instructor taught this course well.	4.7	Decline from 4.9 in Fall 2011.
Item 9: The course content was consistent with the educational objectives of this course.	4.7	Decline from 4.9 in Fall 2011.
Item 10: The course increased my ability to analyze and critically evaluate ideas, arguments, and points of view.	4.7	Decline from 4.9 in Fall 2011.
Item 11: I learned a great deal in this course.	4.3	Decline from 4.9 in Fall 2011.

Qualitative Feedback

Professor

·      Flexible professor 2

·      Knowledgeable 1

·      Passionate professor 1

Class Meetings

·      Discussion was helpful 4

·      Too little discussion of the readings 2

·      Videos are helpful 1

·      Good class atmosphere 1

·      Good use of board 1

·      More use of board 1

·      Good discussion of readings 1

·      Too much writing instruction 1

Assignments

·      Liked the iterative writing assignments 3

·      Fewer readings 1

·      Readings are good 1

·      Too many writing assignments 1

·      Read summaries were helpful 1

Class Design

·      Good range of topics and authors 1

Suggestions

·      Find updated media/documentaries 1

Sensitivity to Diversity

·      7 comments about this, all positive

Selected quotes

·      Breaking down the big research paper throughout the semester was extremely helpful and made the final paper less scary. I feel very prepared for it.

·      His knowledge on the readings was rather impressive. Had a way of opening my eyes to a more sociological point of view. Made very difficult readings understandable. Really made me realize the amount sociologists differ, and the way you have to think in order to interpret them and their theories. Both reading and writing memos were very very helpful. Writing memos gave you more reason to try to understand the sociologist, and sitting there writing out the summary sometimes helped you catch more insight you missed from just reading it a few times. The writing memos were an awesome way to keep you on track for the final. The setup for this class was set for hard work and success, which he accomplished very well.

·      Awesome professor!!!

Reflection

While the scores and comments are generally very good, they do show a definite decline from the last time I taught the course. I took three years off from this class, so I attribute some of the decline to being out of practice with the material. I also attribute some of the decline to some adjustments I made in the design of the research paper and related iterative assignments. In the previous version of the course, students were given a short list of possible topics. This made for a much more structured paper because I knew those topics very well. This past semester, I tried to give my students more opportunities to be creative, and to pursue topics beyond my own areas of expertise. But it also created more risk for students and I think they were very concerned about those risks. They struggled with their papers more this semester than my students in previous semesters. I am working to find a balance between structure and creativity for the next version of the course.