Course Wrapup and Evaluation

[jamesw]

Hi Gang, back from a long holiday and just started my new job yesterday. SO...things are hectic as usual.

Now that the course is wrapping up, I would like to get everyone together for a "review and evaluation session" where you can give myself and Eric feedback on the course. Could we do this this coming sunday during Chat time?

Cheers
James

 

[Eric Borneman]

Hi james and all:

No, I didn't do the chat this past Sunday for severla reasons - not enough feedback on the board prior to the event, and because of several late finals and I am still waiting on Ms. Sandy to send me one answer. I have the final and the course scores all wrapped up save for this one thing. As soon as I get it, i will send in all the reports.

I will also request prior to assigning the high score that everyone check their scores which i will email individually to each of you to make sure I am notmissing grades and that our scores correlate. i have put in all apropriate scales,e tc.

Also, in order to graduate and receive the certificate of completion, i decided that at least 50% of the assigments had to be completed. Thus far, it looks like we have 11 graduates. Congratualtions to each of you.

I am starting to compile the labs and projects today and will have those available for reefs.org by weeks end, maybe by tomorrow barring unforeseen things cropping up.

So yes, let's have the wrap up talk this Sunday at the normal time. Regardless of the feedback of the board. Also, James, perhaps we could email the students and let them know in case they aren't checking the board?

As for those "extra special" class projects that might be publsihable elsewhere, i will contact each of you that presented such a paper, and we can talk about where to submit them, ok?

eric

 

[ATJ]

What will you be discussing and can us Aussies put in a proxy?

The chat is at 3am AEST, is there any possibility in making this 3 hours later? I know this affects the UK people, but it would make it 9pm for them.

 

[jamesw]

Well...

Now that Eric has finished up grading y'all, the idea is for all of you to get together and grade US.

So, I'd like as many of you as possible to turn out and let us know your feedback about the course, what to improve next time, etc.

Cheers
James

 

[desertreefer]

I would really like to attend the final chat on Sunday. It's normally at 1:00pm EST, correct? That makes it 10:00am here in Phoenix and I will still be at skating practice (I qualified for Nationals and only have three weeks to get ready. My coach won't let me skip practice). If it could be moved a few hours later, I could attend (in addition to the Aussies!)

Sandy

 

[ATJ]

Sandy,
Skating? Summer? Arizona?

Are we talking Ice Skating here?

Good luck in the nationals! (in case we don't get to chat before then - well, good luck anyway, even if we do get to chat

).

 

[Alice]

My social secretaries (ages 11, 10 and 8

) have informed me that I have no appointments on Sunday, so I'm open for any time you decide upon!

 

[desertreefer]

Andrew,

We're talking ROLLER skating nationals here! Thanks, I'll need all the luck I can get!

 

[ATJ]

Seeing as I can't make the chat at 3am, here is my feedback:

Good points

* Content The content of the course was excellent and very relevant. I don't think there was anything we learned that wasn't interesting or useful. I now have a lot more confidence in caring for my corals.

* References The required reading, Eric's book and the other references in the course were very good. Given that most of these references were scientific and based on peer-reviewed studies, there is much more confidence in the validity of these as references than the typical aquarium based "opinions".

Not so good points

* Quizzes I thought the quizzes were a good idea and generally enjoyed them, however, I had to spend a lot of time trying to understand the intent of the question. I don't mean from a technical perspective, I mean from an English grammar perspective.

* Feedback I would have liked more feedback (i.e. where I went wrong) on the quizzes, labs and final exam. The quiz answers certainly helped in understanding the correct answers, but it wasn't always obvious where we went wrong. For the final exam, I can't be sure which questions I scored which points on. All I have is the exam analysis and as I scored the same mark as someone else it is not obvious which line is mine.

* Availability Eric's and James' availability at some times during the course was lacking. Both went away on longish trips during the course. When James went away the administration of the course - posting of lectures, texts, quizzes, etc. - almost stopped. This resulted in a lot of frustration and time wasted downloading files that could not be used. While Eric was away, the course all but stopped. This meant a 11 week course ended up lasting around 15 weeks.

* Required texts Eric's book was not originally listed as being required (still isn't on the curriculum page) and yet it would have been impossible to complete the course without it. Given the difficulty in obtaining copies, it would have been of more value had we known its importance earlier and better arrangements could have been made to obtain a copy. I ended up spending AU$115 on the book because I needed to rush a copy for Microcosm. I can now buy the book for AU$70 including delivery.

Overall rating for the course: 8.5/10

 

[Lock]

I found the overall course excellant.....It was both challanging and rewarding.

My feed back would be not to change too much....It worked very well, and I think the technical difficulties have been overcome.

I would recommend Lab 2 start at the beginning of the course, and complete towards the end. This would give a couple of months in which to experience growth, and more accurate readings taken to determine growth rates.

Thanks

Lock

 

[desertreefer]

I agree with Andrew on many of his points. The material presented was EXCELLENT. Some of the wording on questions on quizzes and the final left much room for interpretation, and therefore, misunderstanding. The technical difficulties, while frustrating for both students and teacher/administrator, were handled with good grace on both sides.

Now that the bugs have been worked out, I hope that Eric will take the opportunity to teach this course again. There are many who could benefit...the most important of which are living in aquariums around the world.

Thank you Eric and James for all your time and effort.

Sandy