Introduction
This spring, most members were pleased with their courses, giving them the top rating of 4 or 5 on the evaluation form. Some had a mixed reaction, giving their courses a 3, and a few expressed their dissatisfaction by rating the courses 2. Likewise, the presenters were generally given top marks, albeit sometimes with some constructive suggestions for improvement. All 226 comments will give the Curriculum Committee information about which courses to repeat, how they can help presenters improve, and which courses didn’t succeed. Here’s a sampling of some of the many interesting responses.
Course Content
The pros
- The participants were treated to a wealth of information.
- I believe I could not have gained more insight.
- The most thought provoking, well researched, informative class LLI has ever offered.
- Excellent content. Beyond my expectations.
- Good use of pre-reading–enough to give a good sense of the topic, but not so much as to take a large amount of time.
- Superb collection of materials sent in advance of each class.
- I’ve talked to several members who took this class before, and would take it again. I would.
- The class exceeded my expectations, beautifully geared towards the participants and usually easy to follow.
- We all suggested he do another class and we will be there.
The reservations
- Wish I understood more
- Not deep enough
- It would be great to have a follow up class with a more in-depth analysis.
- There was a tremendous amount of material to fit into seven sessions.
Presenters
Much good
- The presenter and his support staff worked very hard to prepare very complex and enjoyable class
- Would recommend this or any class taught by this presenter.
- Well researched, very knowledgeable, has a good sense of humor.
- [The presenter] was able to explain complex concepts that require specific and often unfamiliar terminology in such a way that I could visualize and understand.
- For (the presenter] there should be a higher number than 5!
- Loved the use of video clips.
- The class was expertly delivered.
- The instructor never made anyone feel a question was foolish.
Some qualifiers
- Great presenter but I was not up to his level.
- He shuffled his papers a lot and couldn’t find his place
- He was late with his background materials
- The presenter talked too much, not enough interaction with class
- Effective use of slides and other visuals would have helped organize the flow of the course.
- Think about learning objectives: what do you want participants to leave the course with?
- He spoke very softly and sometimes I could not hear him.
- For me, he overexplains.
Zoom
The positives
- I have learned a new skill called Zoom and find it very pleasant.
- Zoom worked wonderfully in this course.
- Zoom was the deal here because without it we would not have had presenters from all over the US.
- Please consider keeping Zoom classes. It is hard for me to walk.
- Outstanding technical support.
- The session managers did a remarkable job in every way. It was a perfect zoom class.
And the reservations
- Zoom is not cutting it for me. Prefer all classes on one day.
- This class must be in person…all the senses are needed.
- I still prefer on-site classes, mainly to meet other people.
- Very poor audio experience I and many of us experienced every week!
Class Participation
Pro
- Excellent class discussions.
- I learned a lot from people’s questions.
And con
- There were an awful lot of unnecessarily long-winded comments from the audience.
- I was distracted by class members scrolling through their phones. Can’t this room full of sophisticated adults on a college campus offer the respect of paying attention for one hour and fifteen minutes?
Thank You
The Curriculum Committee always reads the evaluations carefully so they can improve the class offerings. Comments are always kept anonymous when they are shared with producers and presenters. Thank you to everyone who took the time to share their thoughts about the spring courses.
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