Student comments from EPID600 Spring 2011
(in order by date submitted -
click here for random order)
(About student comments)
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______________________________
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2:
“I wish there were better weight distribution with grades -
doing the optional individual case study questions is very
helpful, but each set is only worth 1 percent of our grade
AND we never get feedback on them to help inform our test-taking.
It would be better if each were worth, say, 3% of our grade
and we got some feedback on them, even if this would require
them to be mandatory.”
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(TAeval1,
Classroom course,
2011)
Show comments in random order.
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______________________________
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3:
“Please structure the lecture and discussion closer together.
Some of the material gets lost in the intermediary time.”
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(TAeval1,
Classroom course,
2011)
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______________________________
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5:
“Sometimes I have a hard time interpreting the case study questions.
I do all the readings, go to the lectures, read through my
T.As notes and I feel the questions don't really represent
the material we're given. Is there a way that the questions
could be more related to the readings? Or give us more readings
so we know how to answer the questions.
I really like everything
else about the class. I just know that I am very dedicated
to learning all the material that is presented and assigned
and I still have a hard time knowing where to begin on many
of the questions. Not all of them-- some of them I know right
away but some of them, but some of them I spend hours and still
feel like I don't know what I'm doing.”
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(TAeval1,
Classroom course,
2011)
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______________________________
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8:
“It would be nice to get the group case studies back sooner.
We just received our first one today, and it would have been
nice to see how they were graded in completing the next ones.”
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(TAeval1,
Classroom course,
2011)
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______________________________
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9:
“Nothing personal. It's just not really my thing. And I feel
like this course is more complicated than it needs to be.”
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(TAeval1,
Classroom course,
2011)
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______________________________
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10:
“Sometimes I am confused by starting a new topic the same day
I am working on last weeks case study/reviewing last week's
topic in recitation. I think the recitation on Tuesday not
should not exist. I think it would be better to do it Monday
before the Tuesday lecture on the new topic.”
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(TAeval1,
Classroom course,
2011)
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______________________________
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13:
“I want Vic to eliminate administrative arrangement to make
the course more effective. The lecture is boring because
Vic focuses too much on recording. You nearly neglect us. But
we the live audience want you to care about us much more.
The lecture slides are a little bit long. Can you shorten them?
I like the way Vic responses to questions after class.”
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(TAeval1,
Classroom course,
2011)
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______________________________
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14:
“The modules and lay-out are very confusing! There must be a
way to simplify the structure of the course material.”
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(TAeval1,
Classroom course,
2011)
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______________________________
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16:
“The organization and low of the course are very difficult to
follow and make learning difficult. The blackboard site is
overloaded with information.”
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(TAeval1,
Classroom course,
2011)
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______________________________
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17:
“The delayed start (though I understand the reasoning) is a
bit confusing sometimes...”
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(TAeval1,
Classroom course,
2011)
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______________________________
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20:
“I would want to know all the definitions of the terminology
clearly in class”
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(TAeval1,
Classroom course,
2011)
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______________________________
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24:
“This course has been helpful in tying together a lot of concepts
that I have learned in other courses.”
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(TAeval1,
Classroom course,
2011)
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______________________________
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25:
“This is an excellent course. Our Professor is doing extreme
efforts and we appreciate his all support and help. Thank you
so much Vic.”
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(TAeval1,
Classroom course,
2011)
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______________________________
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26:
“It might be helpful for some students to have recitation Monday
or Tuesday (for the previous week's lecture), FOLLOWED by a
new lecture on Wednesday.”
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(TAeval1,
Classroom course,
2011)
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______________________________
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30:
“Too much busy work. The amount of work that needs to be put
in to get 1 little point for the individual questions doesn't
really seem fair.”
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(TAeval1,
Classroom course,
2011)
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______________________________
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32:
“We were warned at the outset of the course that the assignments
wouldn't necessarily line up with the lectures because we are
supposed to be active learners teach ourselves, but I think
it's absurd at the combination of such little overlap and such
specific evaluation criteria. If we're expected to teach ourselves,
then we're not going to have the same reasoning for every question
and shouldn't be counted off for thinking differently yet arriving
at the same conclusions (in relation to group case study questions).”
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(TAeval1,
Classroom course,
2011)
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______________________________
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36:
“The course work is very interesting and relevant to current
issues in public health today. I particularly enjoyed learning
about natural history of disease and screening biases.”
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(TAeval1,
Classroom course,
2011)
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______________________________
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37:
“The way the TA sessions are organized are not extremely helpful.
The session ought to cover the material covered in the class
right before the session instead of the one the week before.
I find myself thrown off by going over material from the past
week when I am trying to grasp the material from this week.
It may be better if the TA session were later on in the week
so that the same material is covered in the week but on two
separate days. I understand that there is a Wednesday TA session
as well but perhaps there should also be a Thursday one instead
of a Tuesday one.”
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(TAeval1,
Classroom course,
2011)
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______________________________
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38:
“Overall I think the lecture time could only be called interesting,
but the discussion and small group activities are very rewarding.”
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(TAeval1,
Classroom course,
2011)
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______________________________
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39:
“The lectures, labs, readings and case studies don't seem to
match at all. After going to lecture, reading the readings,
I don't feel equipped to answer case study questions. It feels
like the case studies are meant for you learn after, which
seems like a poor learning model. In last week's lab, the professor
sat in on our discussion and heard how much we were struggling
with the wording of a question, not the answer, and he simply
kept quiet and got up and left. So, is he a teacher or lecturer?
The course seems disorganized and absolutely not conducive
to learning. I feel like I am retaining some basic concepts
but the case study questions are very math oriented and seem
unrelated to really understanding comments[concepts?], seems more like,
can you do some math and dissect a research article? I feel
like I am drowning and there is not help in site from my TA
or the professor. I am just hoping to pass.”
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(TAeval1,
Classroom course,
2011)
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______________________________
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41:
“If explanations are required on case study questions, please
make this very clear as part of the question.”
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(TAeval1,
Classroom course,
2011)
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______________________________
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43:
“Additional comment - It would be VERY beneficial to the students
to have the current, up to date PowerPoint slides posted and
available prior to the lecture. Fumbling through the slides,
while trying to take notes and keep up with the pace of the
lecture is really difficult! This is one seemingly very simple
fix that would help with one of the many challenges of this
course.”
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(TAeval1,
Classroom course,
2011)
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______________________________
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44:
“I'm not enjoying the group component of the course. I much prefer
individual work for things that don't involve creativity and
are more math related. I think group work is a good thing but
should not constitute as large a portion of the course.”
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(TAeval1,
Classroom course,
2011)
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______________________________
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45:
“I am really enjoying the class. The combination of lecture,
small group, and independent work is ideal.”
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(TAeval1,
Classroom course,
2011)
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______________________________
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48:
“So far, group assignments seem to be a Catch-22; they take
a little of the courseload off the individual, but they also
bring down your grade in some cases and force you to stay longer/work
harder in others.”
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(TAeval1,
Classroom course,
2011)
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______________________________
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53:
“It would be very helpful if we could save our individual answers
for the case studies and come back to complete them. A separate
save and submit button would make the process easier.
Further,
having the recitation be a week behind the class lecture is
kind of confusing. Learning new material in class and then
immediately going to recitation and discussing something completely
different does not reinforce the material and I end up forgetting
it or just getting confused. A new recitation structure could
be useful. For example, have the recitation BEFORE class.”
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(TAeval1,
Classroom course,
2011)
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______________________________
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54:
“I appreciate Dr. Schoenbach's genuine concern for students,
which to me is a reflection of his concern for the human condition.”
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(TAeval1,
Classroom course,
2011)
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______________________________
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58:
“I like that this course has groupwork component. If that component
were to be transferred entirely online, I think the course
would lose a great deal of impact on the student's understanding
and enthusiasm for the exciting material presented in this
course.”
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(TAeval1,
Classroom course,
2011)
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______________________________
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59:
“I think that I could really enjoy epid, I'm just not able to
balance my time equally between this course and my other classes
because it takes me a long time to understand the concepts.
For this reason, the class is a stress to me.”
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(TAeval1,
Classroom course,
2011)
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______________________________
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60:
“I think the group case study answers should be graded by one
TA instead of multiple TAs like in case study 2. I feel this
way because the grading and comments lacked consistency. Some
TAs said that only calculations were needed for some answers
while others took off major points for not including explanations
along with calculations.”
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(TAeval1,
Classroom course,
2011)
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______________________________
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62:
“I really appreciate the TA's consolidation of the key points
from each previous Tuesday afternoon lecture into a neat and
tidy powerpoint with practice problems. It helps immensely
make sense of the important points.”
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(TAeval1,
Classroom course,
2011)
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(An additional 29 comments were received but the students did not
authorize their dissemination.)
2011a,
compiled 02/13/2011 |