Student comments from EPID600 Spring 2009

(in order by date submitted - click here for random order)

(About student comments)

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1: “I am enjoying our group but think the case studies are too long and that the groups are too big. I think the set-up lends itself to frustration over inefficient use of time and conflict within the group with so many people answering so many different questions. I have not worked in EPID long enough to know if this is good practice for a real life setting. I find the reading and class generally quite provocative and well-organized but struggle with my feelings [about] the case studies and feel like the groups shares that negative energy a bit.”
(1st peer evaluation, Classroom course, 2009/02/15)
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4: “This class is pretty exceptional. Except for the fact that the case studies and the lectures are misaligned, it's structured very well. Having everything online is a plus.”
Abhinav, BACH student, BIOS, TA: Adamson (1st peer evaluation, Classroom course, 2009/02/15)
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5: “We've got a fantastic lab group and work really well together. I actually look forward to EPID lab! Thanks for all of your work to help us understand and work through these concepts.”
(1st peer evaluation, Classroom course, 2009/02/14)
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6: “Group 14 rocks!”
(1st peer evaluation, Classroom course, 2009/02/12)
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7: “Despite the large number of people enrolled in this course, I really appreciate Vic and the TAs' efforts to make our interactions as personal as possible and to teach in an engaging manner! This is one of a select few courses where the professor has clearly gone above and beyond in order to communicate the course material with a focus on student learning.”
(1st peer evaluation, Classroom course, 2009/02/13)
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8: “Ahinee is the best TA ever.”
(1st peer evaluation, Classroom course, 2009/02/14)
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10: “Thank you for extending the due dates for the group case studies. It was a bit of a challenge to get everything done and make sure that everyone contributed to the online discussions. Please keep the names of the case studies and lectures consistent between the documents and the schedules.”
(1st peer evaluation, Classroom course, 2009/02/12)
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11: “I think our group works very well together. We all talk each week and we all have different strengths and weaknesses.”
(1st peer evaluation, Classroom course, 2009/02/11)
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12: “Group 16 is full of very smart, collaborative individuals. I have learned a lot from them!”
(1st peer evaluation, Classroom course, 2009/02/11)
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14: “My T.A., Ahinee, is awesome. Her short lectures before group discussions are very beneficial.”
(1st peer evaluation, Classroom course, 2009/02/15)
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15: “I feel like my group works together really well, we all come prepared, and we are able to work together to reach a consensus on our answers and learn from each other.”
(1st peer evaluation, Classroom course, 2009/02/13)
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16: “We should also be mindful of the fact that some students are prone to contribute more effectively online through the discussion board than in the class.”
(1st peer evaluation, Classroom course, 2009/02/14)
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17: “I'm not sure where the TA eval form is located. Nikki is a wonderful TA. Her lectures are very informative. She is also helpful with clarifying the case study quesitions.”
(1st peer evaluation, Classroom course, 2009/02/12)
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18: “Please work with your case study questions to ensure that they are as unambiguous as possible. Nothing is worse than being penalized for not interpreting a hazy question "correctly."”
(1st peer evaluation, Classroom course, 2009/02/12)
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19: “The class is interesting and the presentations that my TA does each week are very helpful.”
(1st peer evaluation, Classroom course, 2009/02/12)
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22: “My group has been great! We've developed a great way to organize our thoughts and really work well together.”
(2nd peer evaluation, Classroom course, 2009/04/05)
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24: “Adamson has been a fantastic help this semester -- very supportive, but not overbearing. I'm really glad that he was our TA.”
(2nd peer evaluation, Classroom course, 2009/04/11)
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25: “Thank you for a great class! The last lecture convinced me that I have to pursue an MPH; your passion is very palpable and you showed us how the subject is relevant to so many global issues of our time.”
Joe, NOND student, INTI, TA: Adamson (2nd peer evaluation, Classroom course, 2009/04/23)
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26: “Ahinee, thank you for your excellent review of the material and thoughtful questions to point us in the right direction on the case studies. Good luck in all your future endeavors! Vic, I enjoyed your lectures and case study assignments but found the course format to be an administrative nightmare that invariably made things about three times more complicated than they needed to be.”
(2nd peer evaluation, Classroom course, 2009/04/28)
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28: “It's obvious how much Vic cares about the subject and public health. I really liked the last lecture. Also, I like the jokes you incorporate into lectures. Ahinee was also a really caring and helpful TA.”
(2nd peer evaluation, Classroom course, 2009/04/24)
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30: “Ahinee was an AMAZING instructor. I sure hope that she becomes a teacher at the college level because she is extremely adept at conveying complex concepts in a clear and concise manner. Her teaching greatly improved my experience of this challenging course!”
(2nd peer evaluation, Classroom course, 2009/04/26)
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31: “Great group! Worked very well and efficiently together most sessions.”
(2nd peer evaluation, Classroom course, 2009/04/11)
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32: “Ahinee is seriously amazing. She is so supportive and really brings epi down to a level where anyone can understand it. She keeps sections light and full of humor while also being professional and extremely instructive. She really is just great. And thanks for a great semester and introduction to epid, Vic!”
(2nd peer evaluation, Classroom course, 2009/04/24)
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33: “Team ##16 was an excellent group to work with and our TA was extremely helpful! Thank you Ahinee for making epi understandable.”
(2nd peer evaluation, Classroom course, 2009/04/18)
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34: “My recitation group was absolutely awesome! The group really made the epid experience much better!”
(2nd peer evaluation, Classroom course, 2009/04/23)
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35: “We had a very good mix of people in our group. Some were a lot more confident than others, I use the word 'confident' as I feel that those who did not speak that often were not comfortable with the subject matter, but did however come to class prepared. It was an enjoyable experience because of the mix of people that were present. Comments for Vic, some of this stuff could be worded more simply. We often take a lot more time in our class session just interpreting a question than just answering it, maybe that is part of the teaching I don't know, but as the student it can be frustrating when you are not familiar with some of these topics. Comments for Ahinee, you have been a great help, very supportive and always available. Thank you.”
(2nd peer evaluation, Classroom course, 2009/04/29)
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36: “Overall, I thought our group was great. We worked well together and everyone came prepared. When we were stuck, Nick was good about providing guidance without giving away the answer.”
(2nd peer evaluation, Classroom course, 2009/04/24)
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37: “Nicholas was an excellent teacher and made the sessions fun and informative. Thanks!”
(2nd peer evaluation, Classroom course, 2009/04/26)
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38: “Thanks for a great semester!”
(2nd peer evaluation, Classroom course, 2009/04/24)
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39: “Thanks Nicholas, I appreciate all of the help you have provided this semester!”
(2nd peer evaluation, Classroom course, 2009/04/12)
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41: “Our group had a good balance - I feel like although there were some weeks when some people couldn't contribute as much due to heavy work load in other courses, overall, everyone participated and was engaged in the course.”
(2nd peer evaluation, Classroom course, 2009/04/18)
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42: “I think that our group was great! For a collection of people from all different backgrounds, I feel like we all complemented each others knowledge. By the time we got back from spring break, we had really clicked as a group and our discussions were great! I highly recommend keeping the class a class and not an online class because I feel like I learn a lot from interacting with my group.”
(2nd peer evaluation, Classroom course, 2009/04/05)
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43: “Nikki was one of the best TA's I have ever had. Thanks Nikki”
(2nd peer evaluation, Classroom course, 2009/04/23)
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45: “I enjoyed the setup of this class. Working with my peers was an enjoyable way to learn epi material.”
(2nd peer evaluation, Classroom course, 2009/04/23)
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46: “Although helpful at times to have so many resources (BB, website) and materials posted in multiple places, it was often confusing to locate materials and sometimes some of the locations were not up-to-date (ie. the correct case studies linked from the class schedule). Perhaps try to limit the number of places something is posted so it is clear where we find the materials and so it is easier for you to maintain. Overall, it is clear that the professor is passionate about what he teaches and is very knowledgeable about the subject matter.”
(courseeval, Classroom course, 2009/04/30)
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47: “As this semester closes, I have to say that Epidemiology has grown on me. I do not believe that I have the mindset for Epidemiology because my basic science background keeps rearing its ugly head every time a study is done, but that being said, I believe that this course is extremely important and should be taken by students in the basic sciences. In terms of the course, the website has entirely too much information on it. It is wonderful that information is so available in this technological age, but when there is too much information presented, students get overwhelmed and uninspired by the daunting task. I believe the website can be cleaned up to only include required material and information for the course. Lastly, the small groups are a very crucial part of the course, but I think we should start immediately on the case studies when the group meets and not meet as a larger group. I find that is is useless and wastes time. Overall, I am very glad that I took Epidemiology.”
(courseeval, Classroom course, 2009/04/30)
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48: “Consider the class size, I think that Vic did a very good job in teaching. The students are from a variety of background. As an entrance level class, the teacher did a good job in interpreting the basic concepts and guiding the students in reading paper.

Thanks”
(courseeval, Classroom course, 2009/04/30)
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49: “Course materials were interesting, but expectations were a little much for this courst - mentioned 12 hours per week should be spent. I appreciate all of the online resources, but too much of that made it less user friendly. I think going slower during class, giving students time to think about questions, instead of 80 descriptive slides per class, would be helpful.”
(courseeval, Classroom course, 2009/04/30)
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50: “felt that i wasted a lot of time just sorting through the material.

too much frustration and WAY TOO MUCH time went into this for a non-major.”
(courseeval, Classroom course, 2009/04/30)
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51: “I am very interested in the concepts and subject matter covered in EPID 600, and I thought Vic's knowledge and presentation of the material was great. I am just disappointed that this course has to be a large lecture course, because the size of the course and the fact that it is held in an auditorium discourages attendance and participation. I wish the course could be broken up into smaller sections. To some extent, the labs help with this. Still, these big courses are never as effective as small ones.

My other criticism is the time needed to complete the exams. I took six courses this semester, and having to spend 10-12 hours on exams three different weeks in the semester was very difficult when I also had five other classes to prepare for. The last exam did not take quite as long, but we still had a case study due at the same time. This is a little too much.”
(courseeval, Classroom course, 2009/04/30)
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52: “I believe that the professor and TA were great at knowing the content of the course but I felt the overall presentation and assignments were unclear.”
(courseeval, Classroom course, 2009/04/30)
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53: “I consider this course as being extremely well organized, all instructors having good knowledge and understanding of the subject matter. The instructors were also available outside the classroom or when they were needed, answering promptly to any questions they were asked by email or during the help sessions. The only issue I encountered completing the exams was to keep track of the number of words I could use to answer. I considered it to be challenging to know exactly what to include or exclude from my answer, have a complete answer at the end, and be sure that nothing was omitted.”
(courseeval, Classroom course, 2009/04/30)
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54: “I did not find this course helpful or useful to my overall learning objectives. Vic's teaching method was very one-sided (students who learn well from rote memorization would do well); he would benefit himself from some pedagogical development. In addition, my TA was not prepared for his role in enhancing our learning of the material and was not prepared to answer questions or clarify what was covered in the lecture.

I learned best from working through each case study with my recitation group. I was lucky that my groupmates were very knowledgeable when it came to epidemiology or perhaps I would not have learned anything.”
(courseeval, Classroom course, 2009/04/30)
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55: “I enjoyed this course and learned a lot about epidemiology. I thought the exams were fair, and the case studies were helpful in learning the material. However, sometimes it was hard to work on a group submission because not everyone in the group always agrees on the same answer. That got frustrating because everyone wanted to submit the answer that they thought was correct, and then people would get upset when they lost points when they knew the correct answer all along. The only recommendation I have about improving this course is making sure everything is clear and succinct. Lecture notes and everything like that were generally fine...I mainly mean making the website and Blackboard page a little less cluttered. But that is truly insignificant when it comes down to it. All and all, the course was still great.”
(courseeval, Classroom course, 2009/04/30)
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56: “I feel sometimes it was confusing as to what was due when (especially here at the end), since there were a few discrepencies between the online schedule and modules on Blackboard, so perhaps just having everything in one place (website or blackboard, not both) would be less confusing. Also, having no idea about your grades since blackboard was strange all year was concerning. Other than that the course was really informative and organized.

Thanks!”
(courseeval, Classroom course, 2009/04/30)
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57: “I found that there were too many questions for each case study. We had trouble getting through them in the allotted time so our group would rush through them sometimes. It was also a lot of work individually, more than was worth what I got out of it.”
(courseeval, Classroom course, 2009/04/30)
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58: “I found the course subject - problem set lag to be difficult to follow from week to week.”
(courseeval, Classroom course, 2009/04/30)
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59: “1. Vic may be a good professor in the past, but not now and never for the future. He is so lazy that keep all the old stuff in the classroom as well as online. As we all know epid is still developing, how can we keep the knowledge un-updated and pass them to the next generation.

2. This course is a fundamental course in epid, but it also uses other knowledge in math or stat. However the instructor didn't understand statistics at all. We can take 95%CI for example, in his second exam there is a selection problem. But from the four choices he made for student, we see he needed to learn more. Especially in the classroom, when the girl asked the question, his answer is un-clear and confused lots of students.

3. Anybody (even students) can teach this Epid 600 course if the notes, case study and lectures are old. And I am sure some TAs are better than him.

4. Some young professors paid lots of energy and time in preparing the classes with smaller group. It is not fair for them compared with Vic. / Young and full of idea-------Old lazy but with big 'network'

He should retire soon. We need to make Epid developing and UNC young!”
(courseeval, Classroom course, 2009/04/30)
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60: “I learned a lot from this course, mostly by doing the case studies thoroughly and reading through all the slides. I did not go to class so I can not speak on that. I can say that most of my lab-mates and I had a lot of trouble navigating the syllabus and the volumes of instructions/info out there on how to get through each week. There was one week where I prepared for the wrong case study and I heard others did the same thing. The TA's often had different answers than their answer keys for the case studies. There were many questions that were confusing, misleading, ambiguous, etc. The TA's said they were unlikely to pick those to be graded as they understood the difficulty, but surely these case study questions can be reviewed before next semester so future students don't waste time on poorly worded questions (like I did).”
(courseeval, Classroom course, 2009/04/30)
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61: “I really expected to get more out of this course. It's not that the content wasn't there - it's that it was too difficult to find. There are all of these systems in place that are supposed to make things easier, and for me - it made everything more difficult. There are too many places to have to hunt things down. And it made me not want to work or learn.

When it comes to instruction by the professor, I felt like lectures were storytime and not instruction. I felt like it always took too long in lecture to get to the actual learning part. I did all of my learning with my TA in lab lectures, and outside of class through the textbook and gleaning through the lecture slides for the actual material needed.

There were too many things going on in this course- it would be helpful if all the resources were in one place, and were straight forward and simple.”
(courseeval, Classroom course, 2009/04/30)
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62: “I really like Vic and appreciate his passion for the subject, but I think the class is very poorly organized. The lectures do not match up with the weekly case studies - we are always a week behind in recitation which makes the class even more confusing than it already is. Also, the course website with all the assignments is rather confusing as well. It's hard to tell what is due on which day, especially since the lectures and case studies don't match up.

I also don't think the class is taught effectively. The big lecture hall does not facilitate learning and only SOME of the TAs do what they are supposed to do (i.e. mini-lectures with slides), which puts much more responsibility on the student and the groups to learn information that they probably don't fully understand.

Unfortunately, I really don't feel like I learned Epidemiology this semester even though I put forth the effort, especially in the beginning of the course.”
(courseeval, Classroom course, 2009/04/30)
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63: “I started the course by attending all the lectures and recitations, but halfway through I stopped going to either and treated the course as if it were an on-line one. The lectures provided some background material, but they were not helpful in doing the case studies. I think that Vic is very knowledgeable, but transferring that knowledge to us is a bit of a challenge.

The recitations were a long waste of time, since you end up doing the questions 3 times - the first on my own, the second with the group, and the third when we get the answers back and I'd check my work. I'd much rather do the questions on my own and be able to check my work as I go along to see if I'm getting it. Mike Bowling, HBHE biostats professor, provides students with the answers and how to calculate them the same time he assigns homework. He trusts us that we will do the work, and if we don't, that's our problem. Adamson was not helpful at all as a TA. When he did try to explain something, it was not understood. When we were struggling with a question, he would often let us struggle with it and not offer to help us think through it.

Also, the organization of the course website could be much, much better. Almost every time I went to print something off, I printed the wrong materials because I was on the wrong date. The website should be much simpler and clearer.

Vic could also benefit from keeping his communication simpler. His lectures and emails are very long and long-winded - we don't need to know every little small detail, just communicate what we NEED to know. Then, if there is time for details, include them.”
(courseeval, Classroom course, 2009/04/30)
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64: “I think Epidemiology is a really interesting subject, and I was really looking forward to the class. I think Vic was highly knowledgeable; he also seemed approachable the few times I had extra questions. I think this class had way too much work, though. Actually, strike that. The work itself - assignments and tests - wasn't excessive. It just so difficult to figure out how to get to the sites we needed to, to keep straight all the little hoops we had to jump through... I found that I had to put a lot of time and effort into staying on the ball, time and effort that didn't translate to helping me master the course material.”
(courseeval, Classroom course, 2009/04/30)
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65: “I think that the materials in this class are important. However, I have a couple issues with the class in terms of structure and content that might be helpful.

1) much of the material covered in this class in terms of statistical inference is covered in-depth by other classes, and in a much more intuitive way. The prevalence/incidence and types of studies material were the only unique aspect for me as an HPM masters student.

2) The grading in this class was excessively hard. I spent about 25 hours on the first exam and only received a grade in the 70's, and i had been keeping up with readings and assignments until that point. The fact that a ""65"" is considered a "P" should indicate that perhaps the grading is too hard, and also that hard work may go unrewarded.

3) I would strongly recommend taking this course over the summer or online, and got very little out of having a lecture to come to.

4) The TA lectures were much easier to understand, and without them I would not have survived this class.”
(courseeval, Classroom course, 2009/04/30)
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66: “I think the class has great intentions, however, it is executed in a confusing way. The course schedule is organized in a confusing way that is hard to follow. Many students in my lab sessions completed the wrong case studies because of the way the studies were labeled on the course schedule. I think this could be improved by setting up the schedule by week (Monday to Sunday), with the case studies that will be completed in lab available for that lab day. To alleviate the issue of individual case studies, the individual case studies could be due the day of lab/class.

I found the lectures to be more confusing and distal to the subject matter than helpful. I think Vic is incredibly intelligent and truly knows the subject matter, but as a result, may not be able to break it done in a simplistic, understandable way. Also, instead of spending most of the time talking about a study, I would prefer the time to spent on concepts and specific examples (less background about the actual study completed). I also think more interactive techniques could be incorporated into the lecture - more questions/answers/discussions. Encouraging students to engage with the material during class time may result in a deeper understanding of the concepts. During the few times that questions were asked in lecture, I felt like I did not understand enough to even ask a question to clarify a concept. Including more interactive features to the lecture will also introduce more variation between the online and face-to-face classes.

The mini-lectures that my TA did with my lab group were incredibly helpful. They helped focus in on the skills we needed to learn and distinguish between similar concepts.”
(courseeval, Classroom course, 2009/04/30)
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67: “I think Vic is very committed to his classes and is extremely knowledgable about epi. He was always helpful when I asked questions and was usually pretty available. However, I think the class structure is extremely confusing and I found myself spending more time in this class just trying to figure out when things were due then spending time on the material which I would have prefreed.”
(courseeval, Classroom course, 2009/04/30)
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68: “I thought this was an excellent course. I feel like it has helped be to better my skills at conducting and evaluating research because I gained a greater understanding for types of studies, their advantages and disadvantages, and how to interpret epidemiological data and results. I plan to take some upper-level epi courses, and I feel like this course has given me a good foundation to do well in those classes.”
(courseeval, Classroom course, 2009/04/30)
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69: “I took this class as an elective, because I am interested in health policy. While it was time intensive, it was a manageable work load and, overall, I'm really glad that I took it. It's interesting material, no matter what discipline you are studying, and the case studies really helped to absorb the material and be able to apply it in reality, not just know it in theory. The enthusiasm of the Professor Schoenbach was also an impressive change from a lot of the more passive teachers at UNC.”
(courseeval, Classroom course, 2009/04/30)
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70: “I was really excited to take epidemiology because I feel the course content is really interesting, but I felt the delivery of the information was confusing. Vic went above and beyond to provide as much information as possible in an effort to help all students feel comfortable, but the overload of information was confusing and overwhelming. For example, I would prefer that Vic determine THE best way to calculate a certain ratio and teach about that instead of giving 10 different methods that overlap and can be confusing if a student were to accidentally combine pieces of different methods. I also feel that the course, in an effort to be an introductory survey of many epidemiological concepts, actually covered too much information in not enough depth. I'd rather have covered fewer concepts but learned more methodology around each. I did feel that there were a good number of "real world" examples. Finally, the group method for case study submission was challenging. Many weeks, we only had 4 or 5 members, myself included, at lab. The same 4 people were consistently responsible for discussing and submitting answers, and I don't think the peer evaluations accurately help represent how much some students depended on others to do all of the work.”
(courseeval, Classroom course, 2009/04/30)
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71: “I would support a restructuring of this class. As a graduate student who has taken a research methods course, I did not feel there was much for me to take away from this course. The case studies were extremely tedious and not particularly enlightening. I had no incentive to attend lectures. However, I blame these problems not on Vic's teaching, but on the structuring of the course.”
(courseeval, Classroom course, 2009/04/30)
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72: “In entering the BSPH program, I will say that I was most excited about taking epidemiology as a non-HPM core elective, particularly when compared to ENVR and BIOS. Therefore, it is perhaps my fault for setting the standards and expectations of the course far too high. I felt as though the course certainly had a lot of resources available for students, but I am not quite sure that all of them were necessary or relevant to the weekly case studies. My largest complaint of the course is that considering the objectives of each week, I do not think that reading of the text, the online text, the lecture, in addition the case study were all necessary. I believe that, considering all students are quite busy, the most important texts to achieve a firm understanding of concepts and successfully completing case study questions should be noted for that week. I also feel as though I learned more from my recitation section and teaching myself (in preparation and the process of taking exams) than lecture. The examples used within recitation slides were more understandable and concise.”
(courseeval, Classroom course, 2009/04/30)
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73: “Initially, I felt like I had a steep learning curve in the class. The material and though processes associated with it were completely foreign to me. However, the case studies, diagrams used in lecture, the small group discussions, and exams really helped me to understand the material (even when it was a struggle). I feel more confident in my understanding epidemiology and my abilities to critique epidemiological articles and methods. I also feel more aware of what we know (or don't know) and how we know it as it relates to epidemiology.”
(courseeval, Classroom course, 2009/04/30)
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74: “it is pretty good. Clear instruction”
(courseeval, Classroom course, 2009/04/30)
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75: “Nikki was an incredible TA. She did a great job explaining the material and offering to help in any way we needed it. The layout of the syllabus was very confusing and is my biggest complaint.”
(courseeval, Classroom course, 2009/04/30)
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76: “Organization of the course needs overhaul. Outdated online instructions need to be coordinated with the Blackboard instructions and resources. Schedules, naming of articles and case studies need to be coordinated. Ask students what is awkward and confusing in navigating the complexity.

Recitations are minimally useful. Developing consensus answers is not a viable fruitful discussion of the principles of epidemiology, allows a stronger voice to dominate a group and lead to the wrong answer. The format is awkward, delayed and out of phase with the lectures, and the answers come too late to be helpful because students have moved on to the next topics. Too many meaningless calculations.

Aschengrau's book is very good, very readable and useful supportive material. The most useful and satisfying exercise was the final project, analyzing the last study according to epid principles.”
(courseeval, Classroom course, 2009/04/30)
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77: “Please have take-home exams due after recitation for any given week because it is very stressful and time consuming to have an exam due on Monday and then case study questions to discuss on Tuesday.

Tuesday lecture then Tuesday recitation lecture then group discussion is a lot to do in one day, so a shortened recitation lecture is required if students are going to still be paying attention after 2 hrs.”
(courseeval, Classroom course, 2009/04/30)
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78: “Small group recitation was the most valuable part of this class. Nick was a fantastic TA. It was very difficult for me to pay attention in the big lecture hall due to space-dynamics/ number of people in the room. I wonder if this could be broken down into small groups to be more conversational.”
(courseeval, Classroom course, 2009/04/30)
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79: “Somehow, the recitation topic and the same lecture topic should occur in the same week.”
(courseeval, Classroom course, 2009/04/30)
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80: “The course outline online was a bit confusing. I think the case studies can be arranged in a better way to avoid confusion. Also, there should be a clear standard that all the TAs ought to meet. I felt at a disadvantage given the higher quality of mini-lectures that other TAs were giving.”
(courseeval, Classroom course, 2009/04/30)
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81: “The course structure was much more difficult and confusing than it needed to be. The syllabus/schedule was extremely confusing and resulted in members of my group doing the wrong case study on several occasions. The submission forms are also bulky - there must be a better way of having students submit answers. That being said, the book is great and the overall class structure, with the case studies and small groups, is wonderfully helpful!”
(courseeval, Classroom course, 2009/04/30)
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82: “The course was informative, but its organization was confusing and hard to follow. The questions in case studies and midterm were confusing and they didn't always match the topic of the lecture. The text book material wasn't challenging. The pr? [cut-off in original]"”
(courseeval, Classroom course, 2009/04/30)
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83: “The course was not well organized at all. The website was confusing to follow, Vic's lectures didn't make sense, and the layout of the course (timing of lectures and case studies) was also confusing.”
(courseeval, Classroom course, 2009/04/30)
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84: “The course was successful in teaching study designs and BASIC analysis; however, I really did not like the group work concept and that the people who are in your group are responsible for determining how much of the points you get for group work. I also thought that questions on exams and case studies often times could have been stated more clearly. Sometimes there were multiple interpretations for a question which all could have been the right way to do the problem. Also, sometimes the word limit on some of the test questions was really hard to adhere to, even if you were very succinct in your answer. On the one hand you'll lose points for not covering something in your anser, but on the other you will lose points for going over the word limit.”
(courseeval, Classroom course, 2009/04/30)
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85: “The course was very challenging and educative though occasionally appeared as if epidemiology is the most important aspect of public health.”
(courseeval, Classroom course, 2009/04/30)
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86: “The hardest part about this course was the overabundance of material, and the complicated websites that contained it. Our information was coming from too many sources, and I sometimes found opposing information on the same website. For example, there were two grading scales available on the public website, one which said 92-100 was an A, one that said 94-100 was an A. [Thanks to this comment I've removed the reference to "94". - Vic] The lectures were unclear and not worthwhile.”
(courseeval, Classroom course, 2009/04/30)
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87: “The instructor and TA's know the material very well, but many of the lectures seemed overly complicated. Some of the TA slides did a good job of simplifying the material, but the instructor slides were sometimes very complicated. Summaries of important points like formulas, etc, would be helpful. Also, some exam and homework questions also seemed more complicated than need be, and it often seemed like the instructor was trying to ""trick"" us by asking a really hard question that you would have to scour an article searching for the answer for. That didn't seem really necessary - it seems more important to have a good understanding of the basic concepts.

I liked the format of the class - with the lecture (that was for the most part optional), slides and notes available, and labs to work through problems.”
(courseeval, Classroom course, 2009/04/30)
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88: “The professor was fantastic! It was very evident that he knows the material extremely well. It would be helpful during lecture if he didn't go so in-depth into one case-study and focused more on demonstrating the topic at hand. For example, when learning about something like selection bias, it would be more important to see how the case-study during lecture (for example heart disease study) relates to selection bias rather than going so far in-depth into the intricacies of heart disease. It would also be helpful to get grades back sooner. Finally, I loved that the syllabus and assignments were online; however, it was a bit confusing that they were divided by module - everyone I have talked to in the course has read the wrong readings or done the wrong case study at least one week. That said, Vic is fantastic! He cares deeply about the course and material and it extremely helpful in answering student questions. He is very knowledgeable and dedicated to the subject matter.”
(courseeval, Classroom course, 2009/04/30)
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89: “The scedule was confusing but other than that, great course.”
(courseeval, Classroom course, 2009/04/30)
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90: “This class was great, but all of the web related instructions were pretty complicated. I realize that the web helps keep everything organized for the TA's and for Dr. Schoenbach, but it was a little overboard at times.

Learned a lot in the class... Dr. Schoenbach and Ahinee were great.”
(courseeval, Classroom course, 2009/04/30)
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91: “This class was really a disappointment. This was by far the most logistically confusing class I have taken in my academic career. While I applaud Vic for the extensive website and Blackboard, they are extremely confusing to navigate. Don't even get me started on the grading system - it almost requires a mathematics degree to understand. While I understand the point of the weekly group meetings where we discuss the case studies, they take up 90% of the effort in the course, but are worth only 10% of the grade. As a result, half of my group quit coming to the group session and doing the case studies, but it is my understanding that they will still receive the group grade, which they have done no work for. I honestly dread Tuesdays. I really wish that this class had been better organized and more useful - I feel like I can calculate birth rates 10 different ways, but I learned very little about actual epidemiology. I feel that this will be a real disadvantage in my future career.”
(courseeval, Classroom course, 2009/04/30)
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92: “This course should only be available online. All course lectures are available on the EPID600 web site and there is no use in going to class. I stopped going to lecture after the first exam and I actually did quite better on the 2nd exam than I did on the first one. My TA was the only reason that I enjoyed going to this class.”
(courseeval, Classroom course, 2009/04/30)
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93: “This course stimulated my thinking but there are ways that it can be improved. There is so much information on the various sites (Blackboard, the website, etc) that it got really confusing. It would help to have all of the sites organized to match each other. The timeliness of the case study returns was frustrating. We did not get our case studies back before the exams which totally stinks because we don't have any feedback to go on. Also, I did not learn very much from the recitation. I definitely liked the quirky bits and quotes in the lectures.”
(courseeval, Classroom course, 2009/04/30)
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94: “This course was important for my overall understanding of public health, but it was often frustrating. I found the organization of the course materials and assignments to be overwhelming and it was often difficult to keep track of which case study was actually being discussed in lab each week.

Also - I didn't gain much from attending the lectures. Most of my understanding of the course concepts came from attending small group sessions with Ahinee. Ahinee articulated the concepts extremely well and helped walk us through pertinent examples that built upon the concepts learned each week.

The grading system was also set up in such a way that it was difficult to track my progress in the course until I received a grade for my second exam. Only then did I know I was actually in good standing (based on the grade calculator).

All that said, as a non-epidemiology major, the most useful concepts I learned pertained to epid terminology (incidence, prevalence, sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV).

Thank you.”
(courseeval, Classroom course, 2009/04/30)
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95: “This course was interesting but could have been presented in a more organized way. The lectures were not very helpful and I found it more beneficial to not attend the lecture and review the power point slides on my own after reading the text book. My TA was more helpful and she provided my recitation with a comprehensive review of key facts. This course was poorly organized. The point of using Blackboard is to avoid having to learn to navigate several different websites in order to find and submit assignments. The course schedule was confusing and several people in my recitation would show up having completed the wrong case study. Overall, I have a better understanding of epidemiology but I relied on teaching myself instead of learning the information through case studies or the lecture materials.”
(courseeval, Classroom course, 2009/04/30)
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96: “This course was really helpful to understand the concepts of prevalence, incidence which was confusing to me all the time. I liked the discussion after reading the articles and that was really a good exercise to understand the concepts of epidemiology. The TA was really helpful and she was very responsive whenever we needed anything.”
(courseeval, Classroom course, 2009/04/30)
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97: “This course was very interesting. The professor was thorough in the presentation of material and used cases that were both relevent and intellectually stimulating. However, this course may have prevented TOO much information, especially being an introductory course. I understand that it was supposed to be a comprehensive introduction, but the multiple names for topics got confusing at times. In addition, it would be helpful perhaps to have math problems on the rates, incidences, confidence intervals, and p values in order to better understand their derivation.

Finally, this course was a little too organized. It got confusing with all the different webpages and schedules one had to look at in order to stay on top of the class. Perhaps limiting the course to either the course website OR blackboard would increase the synergy of its presentation.”
(courseeval, Classroom course, 2009/04/30)
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98: “Very good instructor and T.A. Despite all the whining by other students on the "confusing format", I found nothing confusing about the course schedule, and I appreciated knowing how to plan for future work loads ahead of time. I gained a lot out of this class. Thank you for your efforts!!!”
(courseeval, Classroom course, 2009/04/30)
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99: “Vic was very available to his students. There was a lot of material covered in the course. Don't know how this could be solved reasoning that this is a core course and inherently there are marks to make.”
(courseeval, Classroom course, 2009/04/30)
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100: “Vic's lectures were very helpful and informative but oftentimes there was WAY too much information included. While his attempts at making instructions, questions, and slides clear and detailed is very much appreciated, it was often very hard to sift through and find the most pertinent and important information. Instructions were often so detailed they became confusing and ended up providing less direction than more concise instructions would have provided.

Typed-up lecture notes along with slides for all lectures was very helpful. He has put in a lot of effort into making sure that all students have access to all necessary information, which is appreciated!

Grading on exams was fair, but strict word limits often made writing comprehensive and correct answers very difficult. I spent more time trying to parse down words in order to not exceed the word limit, than actually trying to answer the exam questions (which I thought was a waste of time). Vic may want to consider lengthening some limits. / / Labs were very helpful. The mini-lectures provided during lab helped clarify and make more concise the hefty lectures Vic presented during class. "”
(courseeval, Classroom course, 2009/04/30)
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(An additional 11 comments were received but the students did not authorize their dissemination.)

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2009a, compiled 01/04/2010