Course Evaluation
Engl 112:H1. Informal evaluation, first term, December 2nd 2008 Report. 30 students completed the questionnaire. I haven't tried to capture every comment that was made, but this collects much of what was said, including how many times a specific text or comment occurred (shown as x 2, etc.). -- David Miall
1. What text did you find most interesting? Why? (a few representative comments)
Twelfth Night x 10; allowed for a lot of character development, and both plays (+ Endgame) very innovative
Gulliver's Travels x 5; liked the commentary on human nature; his fictional characters were a joy to read about
Endgame x 4; the directionless conversations between characters was unusually satisfying
Beowulf x 3; made us venture out of our comfort zone
Horse-Dealer's x 2
Heart of Darkness x 2
Wordsworth x 2 ("We Are Seven" mentioned once)
First romantic texts
Mariner
Woolf
Intersections essays on school system, learning2. What text did you find least interesting? Why?
Heart of Darkness x 8
Endgame x 4; seemed pointless; an interesting idea for a play, but hard to get through
Gulliver's Travels x 4; too long and confusing / too far fetched; interesting, but made me feel terrible about being a human
Beowulf x 3; couldn't get into it
Twelfth Night
Horse-Dealer's Daughter
Wordsworth: left nothing to the imagination
The Intersections essays: too much fact, rather than reading fiction
The short essays
Mariner3. Was the informal writing you did during the term helpful?
Overall: Yes x 19 -- helped explore my own ideas x 6; gets ideas flowing without being evaluated x 2; obliged me to form opinions about the work x 2; not being marked was an incentive to put more into it; helped me improve my writing abilities; enjoyed inkshedding, gave better understanding of text
Sometimes; could be difficult to collect ideas to write about
No x 7; didn't make much use of it; little help; a waste of time; group discussion was what helped develop my ideas; little understanding generated from this
4. How much use did you make of the materials on the course website?
Overall: Yes x 25; -- Helpful in clarifying my ideas x 5; helpful for writing essays x 4; usually print them all out x 3; good to have notes accessible at any time; very helpful: wish there were more; used them all the time; excellent resources; would like Powerpoint shows available as well; used them after every reading, helped further my understanding; very helpful: clarified points for essay writing, what was meant by literariness, etc.
Hints on essay writing would help
5. Were the discussions in student groups useful?
Overall: Yes x 20; -- helped me to come to my own conclusions; provided pressure to complete class work; allowed other perspectives; made the class very interesting; allowed me to develop my ideas by bouncing them off others; good to hear what others were thinking; helped explain parts of texts I hadn't understood; discussions were very good; gained a wider knowledge of the texts;
Mostly, although sometimes inconclusive; less useful than class discussion: groups are too small; yes, provided students had read the text in question; prefer to work on my own; depended on topic and whether students had read the text
6. Did you find the instructor's lectures useful?
Overall: Yes x 25; -- best part of course; showed me things I had missed; provided historical context, why texts took the form they did; very through and well informed; especially those with Powerpoint; provided material for discussion and helped develop my own opinion; helped understand details of texts; a little dry at times: more pizzaz
Yes, although there was more discussion than lecturing; but sometimes seemed too fast; more attention to details of texts; some Powerpoints went by too fast; some very helpful, others boring and useless; often too long, easy to become bored; more on direct meaning of text, why significant, how it relates to life; too much focused on your opinions rather than overall meaning
7. Do you have any other comments about the course so far? e.g., any suggestions for change?
Don't change anything x 2; Pleased with range of texts studied and many choices for essays; Enjoyed watching Twelfth Night; No: best English class I've ever had; Enjoying the class very much; My favourite class; Expected chronological ordering, but the way it is is fine
More videos x 3; Would like more lecture time, less group discussion, as lectures are more interesting; More time discussing Intersections essays; More opportunites to gain marks other than tests and essays; More time studying individual texts; Comments on how to improve essay writing; More explicit expectations for essay writing. Where does Atwood fit into this class?
Document created December 2nd 2008