Thoughts About SummerFest

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by Deborah Lanser

Introduction

SummerFest was generally a hit. Of the 82 members who answered the survey, 90% rated the course content as good or excellent and 94% had a favorable impression of the presenter. Of course, there was some constructive criticism and disappointment mixed in with the praise. Here’s a sampling of the comments.

Course Content

Most comments indicated that members appreciated the course content.

  • The program is well thought and planned, yet proceeds naturally and with humor.
  • It was fascinating and made me think.
  • A great survey–much of which is little known today.
  • Exceeded expectations.
  • It encouraged creativity in a fun and non judgemental way.
  • Really liked this class despite the difficult material.

Although some had reservations.

  • Perhaps too limited a topic for four 90 minute classes.
  • Some of the material was tangential–but overall it was very interesting. 
  • I enjoyed it less than I thought I would.
  • A little too much content was being presented in a 4-week class.

Presenter

Members appreciated the presenters’ expertise and efforts.

  • The presenter was well prepared and each week there was more interesting information. 
  • [The presenters] made sense of an astounding amount of data.
  • Extremely knowledgeable and yet showing his strong interest in continuing to learn more–which encouraged me!
  • The presenter is a gifted teacher with a very lively intelligence and a deep knowledge. 
  • I loved listening to the presenter and was very challenged by his questions and his remarks.
  • The presenter is smart, funny, overly organized, willing to engage with the audience and looking forward to what is still left to learn on the subject.
  • Obvious that he spent a lot of time creating the visuals to accompany his lecture. 
  • I”ll sign up for anything he presents.
  • [The presenter] handled some of our more annoying members most graciously. 
  • [The presenter] always provides excellent sources. 

There were some caveats.

  • I loved the presenter, but she didn’t teach me anything.
  • Knowledgeable but not that engaging or instructive. 

Repeat Course

Members often supported repeating a course.

  • Will take again and highly recommend.
  • Absolutely it was such a fun class. 
  • Another great one, bring on the next!

Sometimes with changes.

  • I don’t know how much interest there is despite how informative I found it.
  • Fine to repeat, but I would prefer same presenter, new material.
  • I am the producer and would like to offer this class again with some changes to the conditions. 
  • Not for me but yes for a group of folks it may have resonated with more.
  • The course should be firmly capped at 15 and repeated.
  • If the topic is repeated, there should be more substance.

Member Participation

There were mixed comments about member interactions.

  • This was an intimate but highly engaged group, with interesting and on-topic discussion.
  • I appreciated the involvement of the class members and how the presenters used the relatively small size of the class to make it more like a college seminar.
  • The most interesting part of the class was the discussions and the class was just too big for this to really work well.
  • There was often background “chatter” from groups of students which impeded learning. 
  • Many of the students had not read the materials and were still commenting–at length–about the material.

Audiovisual Issues

  • Sometimes the textual illustrations were presented too fast for the slow-poke readers in the crowd. 
  • Why can’t all lecturers use a mic? 
  • Please encourage lecturers to REPEAT questions. 
  • Sometimes hard to follow because of the meeting room acoustics.

General Comments and Suggestions

  • The course descriptions may not be strictly accurate. 
  • The only thing I miss in June is a convenient place to gather afterwards for lunch. 
  • I think the class enrollment (25 plus 2 extra) was too large, given the conditions.
  • I would hope that other instructors, especially those who use a densely packed lecture format, figure out a way to integrate breakout groups. 

Thanks to the Curriculum Committee for once again developing such excellent courses on a wide variety of topics.


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