EVOC 501 Course Evaluation - Spring Quarter 2006
TO: Dr. Ron Pendleton
FROM: David Lee
DATE: June 3, 2006
RE: EVOC 501 Course Evaluation
1. How much experience have you had with online courses? -
I had taken about ten online courses prior to EVOC 501.
2. How did EVOC 501 compare to other courses you have had? -
Aside from the two Systems Analysis classes, this was the most personally challenging. The Systems Analysis classes were challenging because some of the topics were mind-boggingly difficult. EVOC 501 helped me explore and in a sense question my motivations for becoming a teacher and it helped me understand the qualities that separate an acceptable teacher from an exceptional one. Also the "7 Habits" and "Verbal Judo" helped me readjust some of the paradigms that make up my daily work (and to a smaller extent, home) routines.
3. How would you describe the directions for course assignments? -
Assignment descriptions are helpful and informative.
4. How would you describe the examples of course assignments? -
The samples are a great help to understand the general nature of the work expected of me. Also, the humor elements help adjust the Level of Concern prior to tackling the assignment.
5. How would you describe the organization of the E-TEXT? -
It is numbered sequentially, which helps facilitate order of completion in the absence of due dates. Each has descriptive sub-text informing the scholar which (or both) submission method is acceptable.
6. How would you describe feedback provided by the instructor? -
The feedback has all been positive and affirming. I imagine I would have received more verbose feedback if I had done worse on the assignments. When I did make a mistake, the problem and how to remedy it were clearly explained.
7. What did you like best about the online EVOC 501 course? -
I love the fact that I learned not just about the course subjects, but about myself. I’ve picked up skills for teaching while at the same time more fully understood why I wish to teach.
8. Which of the assignment(s) did you find to be of most value? -
Hmmmm ...
That would definitely be the LP1 & LP2 assignments. They were culmination of some of the nuts&bolts aspects, such as preparing a lesson and thinking how an assignment will be evaluated, with the less black&white concept of how to successfully convey knowledge to an audience. I was able to think critically about how I should prepare lessons while at the same dime discovering my faults in extemporaneous speech. (More reinforcement for the Drama/Public Speaking ideas from FA9 – Related Studies)
9. Which of the assignment(s) did you find to be of least value? -
This is a tough one. I would have to say Culture and Video, but only because I could not think of a movie which had a culture or moral lesson in direct correlation to the subject I teach. I enjoyed the assignment, however.
10. What is your overall impression of the value of EVOC 501? -
In a meeting about a month back, one of the counselors brought up the fact that many RCC teachers do not have a teaching credential. Does performing these exercises and completing the requirements for the credential make for a better teacher? I've had the educational pleasure of meeting and being taught by some truly exceptional instructors. However
I've also had to endure a few online classes taught by other instructors who treat the class like an absentee landlord treats a tenement in a slum. I've had some teachers whose knowledge of the subject seems only a chapter ahead of the students. I've taken some quizzes simply cut-and-pasted from textbook homework (and in one instance, from an outdated edition of the book which had data not taught with the new edition). I've sat through lectures by teachers who might have meant well, but looking back I'm not convinced they were thinking of how best to impart the information when they planned the lesson. Thank you for making EVOC 501 a truly valuabel course that clearly conveys what good teaching is really