Feedback About Fall Courses

Posted on November 27, 2022 by by

Introduction

This year’s evaluation form yielded hundreds of opinions about the courses we took, the presenters, and our overall enjoyment of the experience. The most common ratings were 4 or 5. However, opinions about a few courses were widely split, with one garnering three 2s and five 5s. And one member rated a class 0, while nine others awarded it a 4 or 5. Members appreciated the presenters, often granting ratings of 4 or 5 while sometimes offering constructive comments on how they could improve. And the general comments section offered some interesting insights into other issues, such as technology, classrooms, reading materials, and class discussions. Here is a brief overview of some of the opinions expressed.

Course Comments

Most comments showed that members were engaged with the material:

Could have gone on for several more weeks.
The class was very lively and thought-provoking with many comparisons in our readings to today’s world.
I learned more from this class than I have learned in any class since college.
I was amazed at how much we the public are so ignorant of what went on or goes on behind the scenes.
I found myself discussing (class) content with friends not in the course.
I found myself going home after class and looking things up.
A big subject for seven short classes.
Knowing the material but seeing it in a new light is always exciting.
It doesn’t get any better than this at Bard.

A few were more nuanced or negative.

- I liked the class but not the topic
- The subject matter was often upsetting but the class was presented well.
- I dropped out of the class rather early–because I was not learning anything new–little analysis and what there was not really understood by the class.
- I question whether the concept and learning goals were appropriate for an essentially lay student audience.
- I’ve begun to put together some comments on how it might be more comprehensively delivered.
- This was way beyond …my capacity to learn this subject matter.
- The topic was presented in a fairly superficial way.

Presenters

Members generally appreciated the presenters:

(The presenter) is a fabulous instructor, laying out the big picture and general themes while inserting the smaller, most interesting nuggets in a way that really helped me to understand the whole.
He enjoyed teaching and eagerly welcomed all participants to share their ideas.
He has a huge fund of knowledge, which makes the class very interesting.
Wish there was a tad more video but he was excellent at involving the membership.
He dealt with the many AV problems with equanimity.
He is able to add contextual material off the top of his head to add to the richness and complexity of the presentations.
The presenter assembled excellent visual materials.
Knew her audience, did not overcomplicate information, knew her limits of knowledge.

Although some reactions were mixed.

I would take a class by this presenter again…but not the same topic.
He told too many sideline stories which tended to diffuse the class content.
It would be helpful if the presenter explained or defined some of the words in the presentation.
The presenter tended to speak softly near the end of some sentences.
Knew her material but was not able to present it clearly and coherently.

Technology

The technology was sometimes helpful:

I live more than an hour away. Zoom lets me be part of a larger group of friends.
Zoom is wonderful because I can always clearly see the material.
I am very grateful to those volunteers … who make the technology work.

And sometimes not.

The hybrid format was distracting.
There were issues with sound (reverb) but each session got better.
The weekly problems with audio/screen sharing etc grew VERY TEDIOUS.
Live and zoom combined presentation is difficult at best and did not work for this class.
Occasional problem with the microphone.
It was often very difficult to hear the presenter on Zoom.

Class Discussion

Class discussions can be an important part of our learning:

The way (the presenters) lead the discussions builds a sense of community within a very safe space.
There was not much class discussion as a lot of material was to be presented in the timeframe of the class.
The instructor provided an atmosphere where dissenting views could be brought up and discussed in a cordial manner.
We not only learned from (the presenter) but from fellow classmates.

With some caveats.

I think it works better to save questions to the end.
Some student “takeover” of discussion was not handled well by the presenter.
(The presenter) allowed for class discussion perhaps a bit too much.
I was often frustrated by the lack of focus and direction of weekly discussions.
I rather lost interest when the classes became more centered around class participation based on the extensive readings.
The presenter’s ideas were more important than the participants.

Classrooms

This year, members had some concerns about where the classes were held:

We should try for larger rooms.
We were jammed into a very small space, not everyone wore masks, and there was quite a bit of coughing.
Presenter perhaps could have opened all the windows (ventilation is improved and the responsibility of the presenter) and lowered blackout shades so visuals would have been easier to see.

Videos and Readings

I liked that he included short videos.
Fine except that visuals were often too small to read.
Once I pay my $175 I don’t intend to spend more money (to obtain class materials).
It would be helpful if there were some readings suggested prior to each class.
My only regret with this class is that he did not suggest reading materials.

Thank You

The Curriculum Committee always reads your comments carefully and shares them individually with presenters so they can improve their offerings. Comments are always kept anonymous when they are shared with producers and presenters. Thank you to everyone who provided such thoughtful feedback about their fall LLI experience.