Thanks to the COM352 students for contributing a bunch of new pages! I'll be moving these pages into the main area of the wiki soon.

From UMassWiki

Anonymous Feedback on the Progress of Class

Organized by the teacher in categories of perceived similarity. steph (COM) 12:41, 4 March 2007 (EST)

What is not working

• “I almost can’t wait for the class to start….we’ve done nothing to really improve my writing yet…” “I sometimes feel bored in class…much of the reading for homework is not really helpful and sometimes discourages me from reading more.”
• “Taking pop quizzes.” “Quiz material, although relevant, does not help in improving my knowledge of the material.”
• “Most of my other classes have a lighter workload.” “I have more homework in this class than any other.” “I thought we were only supposed to write four major writing assignments…(80 pages [in the journal] is just too much).”
• “[I] could use a bit more direction.” “Some of the homework assignments are unclear.” “…the assignments…are rarely clearly defined and outlined (I’m not sure if this is on purpose or not).”
• “We should talk more about [the readings] in class.” “…we should have more group things and less notes.” “… a little more discussion.” “Class would be more entertaining if students spoke up more…”
• “…doing an analysis of someone’s analysis…and spending more time writing/reading on a website is a waste of time.” “The wiki is still a little confusing.” “The wiki can be a pain sometimes because there are so many links to follow and it can get pretty confusing.” “…the wiki [has] way too much info to try and chew through.” “The whole treasure hunt for identity definitions was a little bit unnecessary.” “I’m not a big fan of the wiki…you’re too reliant on it. I find it really hard to navigate with the links….I think the class is a little too focused on how to navigate a webpage instead of focusing on how to write better essays…the wiki should continue to be part of the class, just less so.”
• “I don’t like being a scribe of any sort.” “Peer feedback has not been too helpful in editing and reconstructing my paper.” “I really would have liked some concrete feedback from you rather than from a peer.”
• “We should watch more movies.”
• “I don’t know any names in this class.”
• “There seems nothing really to be not working…I am getting a positive outcome from everything we do here.”

What is working

• “Multiple drafts…eases writing woes.” “I do like the idea of re-writing papers.” “Peer editing.” “In general, the writing assignments have been effective in sharpening and improving my skills.” “I enjoyed writing the personal narrative as a whole…a good assignment.”
• “Important sections of the wiki (homework, title page) are clear and work well.” “The wiki is a great resource.” “I like it for homework.”
• “I like the discussion.” “…discussions and talk about what is good writing and what grades we would give a specific writing.” “…hands on, like when you pair us up or put us in groups.” *“Discussions of topics and our work…helps for the next time.” “I…like working in groups every so often…people are more honest and will say, ‘I don’t get this,’ which makes me feel better because I don’t a lot of the times either.”
• “You as a teacher work very well.” “The grading system seems fair.”
• “I wish we could read interesting short stories and then debate them.”
• “Seeing [student writing] examples helps.”
• “I like how you ask our opinions.” “…the suggestion thing (this [feedback process]).” “I like that you treat us fairly with decision-making.”
• “The class is laid back.”
• “There is a lot of ‘individual learning' and not as much ‘in-class,’ however, what we do learn in class is useful.” {Note: This may have been intended as a critique but the teacher (!) thinks it is awesome if the learning is 'individual' because writing is individual.}
• “This…class…gives me a chance to write and express my feelings through writing.” “The writer’s notebook is fine because the teacher will never read what we write, its personal.”
• “In The Text-Wrestling Book there are many pieces…that people in our generation can relate to which makes it fun.”
• “I do think we are improving as a class. So far, so good.”

a conversation takes shape

Remember, the point is development of skill. How can we use the lists above to understand something about learning and teaching? The first step must be making sense of all those comments. Are there any patterns? If we can figure out what the patterns are, then we can come up with a summary of major pros and cons that captures and explains the patterns we recognize. The homework assignment for Day 11 (the class session following the day anonymous feedbak was elicited) asks students to

Read the page of anonymous feedback assigned to you. Summarize the issues involved (the topics), characterize the student's point-of-view (author's context), and also the point-of-view of the teacher (reader's context). What is the conversation happening between the teacher and the author?

Some students are posting their analyses here for extra credit. steph (COM) 13:40, 4 March 2007 (EST)

Opinions Of Our Classmates

Anonymously, we were asked our opinions about how the class is going. We then passed the papers in, and in turn, received another peer’s paper. The paper I received, was very clear with their thoughts. They do like the class in general, but there were some things he thought needed work. This person had a few likes, including the individual learning. They liked the fact that most of the readings were done at home, rather than in class. He thought the grading system was fair and liked how we had the opportunity to rewrite our papers. Also, he states that the material learned in class was very useful. On the other hand, there were a few things that the writer thought could use improvement. First, he talks about the homework assignments. He thought they were not well explained, and were sometimes confusing. Also, he was not too happy with the Wikki website. Steph suggested that once he gets more familiar with it, the website will be much easier to navigate through. Overall, it seemed like this person had both good and bad feelings towards the class. I think if we work together with Steph, we can come to an agreement of what works for this class, and what doesn’t. Jessica 22:52, 7 March 2007 (EST)

A very positive perspective on the class

The feedback for the class which I read was very pleased with the class thus far. The anonymous person was happy that, both through relatable stories in the text wrestling handbook and in class discussions designed to improve our writing, they could see how they could drastically improve their own writing. The student also felt that every aspect of the class was working well and had nothing he or she could complain about.

As for me, I feel that the class is too much work. I'm sure its just me because I've had some grossly easy classes and also very little time to do my classwork. I feel that any writing course would be tough for me just because I am a logical thinker. I'm sure I will learn a lot from this class, but I also prefer to learn in a more technical, hands on manner. The identity paper we are working on now it about as "free" a paper as I have ever had to write, my last semester in high school I had an independent study course which consisted of reading a Shakespearian play and writing an essay on it every two weeks, it was a concrete system, very analytical, and much easier for me to come up with a logical point to argue. It seems that I may feel overwhelmed because our assignments are more abstract than the logical, straightforward work I am used to. John? 02:25, 8 March 2007 (EST)

MY OPINION

Although I was not in class the past few days since I was sick, I was was reading what everyone wrote. It seems to me that a common complaint is the work load is a bit much. I agree with this however, writing as a class will naturally be more involoved and require more work. Unlike math or science there is no right or wrong. Thus you do not ever really finish a writing assignment because it always can be changed and manipulated. My personal opinion is I enjoy the class but have been very confused with WIKI. I think today's class will help me. Ksweets 11:57, 8 March 2007 (EST)

TheFlyingScotsman 22:27, 7 March 2007 (EST)

Everyone's main complaint seems to be that we have way too much busy work and that the work we have to do has no connection to what we need work on. Also there should be more movies in the class. Everyone seems to like when discuss as a class, whether it be the whole class or smaller groups, the class sees this as a fair way to interact with you instead of you being a dictator and just telling us whats right and wrong all day. People seem like the wiki for some of its features and enjoy your methods of teaching, saying that they are fair.

class perspective

The major issue encountered by my writer was the wiki. The author likes the wiki for posting homework assignments, but as it grows and changes, there is too much information to keep up with. They also would have liked to have received feedback from the teacher on their major class works as opposed to just from students. It doesn’t discuss why they want this change and the teacher asks why this is. The conversation centers around the teachers inquiry into why the student would like teacher feedback. Dan 12:51, 8 March 2007 (EST)

response to course feedback

This writer briefly overviewed her main criticisms and and praises of this college writing class thus far in the semester. She begins with the things that she thinks could be better about the class. Her main concern is the confusion of the class wiki, and she states that it is confusing. She also finds some of the assignments unclear, but does not elaborate on how they are unclear.

She enjoys the hands-on aspects of the class, specifically when she is able to work with other students in the class. She enjoys when the teacher asks the students questions, but wishes more students would participate. She does not state if she participates, but she probably does if she's criticizing others for not doing it. I would summarize her point of view as someone who enjoys participating in class and interacting with others, and is hoping that others will join her in this to make the class better for herself personally.

The teacher states that she is not alone when she states that the wiki is confusing. Steph asks the writer to ask if she has questions on assignments that she finds confusing, which makes sense, since the writer doesnt elaborate on why or how she finds the assignments confusing. Steph underlines certain words on the writers explanation on why she likes more hands-on experiences, which merely seem to re-emphasize the point that what the writer enjoys is a more interactive classroom. Steph states that the class is working on discussion, and that the writer shouldn't simply state that she wants more class discussion without contributing to it herself. Steph's point of view seems to be one of mild frustration with the class of participation, since it seems from the tone of her reply that many people wrote about how they wanted more class discussions, yet they remain to be very interactive, with only a few people participating. She also seems to be trying to learn from the feedback with her statement that many find the wiki confusing, perhaps she will change something about it due to the feedback.

Andy

Class Perspectives

The author of the anonymous feedback given to Steph last week has two main points in her analysis. First off, she believes that Steph is a great teacher and enjoys the class. However, from his/her point of view, there is an overload of homework which makes college life more difficult due to the fact that next year they are taking off from college and the effort put into the class is not as high as it could/would be if college was actually enjoyable for him/her. More concerns include the issue of individual-group activities. Instead of knowing the class as a whole, he/she only knows certain people (and rarely names) because they work together in small clusters, rather than as a whole- as a class. If this was the case he/she would know people more, and (guessing) would be prone to be more opinionated in class discussions, waiving the fear of shyness/anonymity. To add to the “wish list” of sorts, he/she also regrets that we don’t read short stories or interesting topics and debate them as was done extensively in most high schools.

What this person does enjoy about the class is, first off, the wiki. He/she considers it to be a great resource and once again notes her appreciation for Steph being such a great teacher. The concept of a conversation between these two people, the anonymous author and Steph, is, however, perplexing. How can it be such when one doesn’t get the chance to see what the other said? In any case, Steph’s response to this feedback mainly revolved around the question of how she can get the author to eventually enjoy/become more involved in the class with time and enthusiasm, seemingly pointlessly for the author will never find out what Steph said back. Tom 10:48, 8 March 2007 (EST)