In week 9, I conducted my mid-term course evaluation. I am
very excited to see all my students’ ratings about the course and the
instructor as outstanding are either agree or strongly agree. My students have
given me many good and useful suggestions. The following is the summary of the
strength and areas of improvement for me as instructor, as well as the course
curriculum.
|
Most
meaningful activity/topic
|
Least
meaningful activity/topic
|
My
strength as the instructor
|
My
areas of improvements
|
|
Teacher website (n= 5) and e-portfolio (n=2)
|
Digital story because I already know
how to use movie maker (n=1), time-consuming (n=1 )
Too hard
for elementary kids (n=1)
Not sure
about my subject area (n=1)
|
Explains things clearly (n= 2)
Explain how to do projects in class (n=1)
Communicating expectations
clearly (n=1)
|
Long lectures (n= 2)
Class time too long (n= 1)
Too many examples provided (n= 1)
More
organized with time (n=3) and finish the class on time
|
|
Webquest (n= 3)
|
Case analysis (n=1)
|
Giving feedback quickly (n= 2)
Giving feedback by using videos (n=1)
|
Too many assignments (n= 4)
|
|
Different websites (as resources) (n=2 )
|
Teacher website (n= 1)
|
Modeling of technology use in
various kinds of activities (n=2)
|
More guidance on how to do the
project (n= 1)
|
|
Use of Diigo (n=2)
|
The importance of technology (n=1)
because I already know about it
|
Enthusiastic and interactive
(n=1)
|
Too much group work (n= 1)
|
|
Case analysis because it is for a real teacher
(n=1)
|
Kidspiration
(concerns about it not available in future classrooms) (n= 1)
|
Using weekly announcements as
guidance (n=2)
|
|
|
Digital story (n=1)
|
|
|
|
The evaluation is very informative. I pay special attention
to the constructive ones as indicated by the red font. Here is a brief
reflection on these feedbacks.
·
Students may feel digital story project
challenging because of the topic. If they have not decided on their subject
areas, they would struggle with topic 1 and 3. In addition to WeVideo, we
should offer other options so that the project can be customized for students’
grade levels. For example, offering iPad movie production tasks can be one
option.
·
When we introduce a tool that is not free, we
need to make it clear to students how likely they would have access to the
tool.
·
I need to treat my students more like adults. I
will share with them my pedagogical beliefs and analyze why we have some of the
problems. I created a prezi to address my students’ concerns. The prezi will be
presented in week 10 at the beginning.
