FINAL COURSE EVALUATION - SPRING 2002 Summary of Student Responses |
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Quantiative Responses:
Skills and Behaviors important for success. Time Requirements for the course Attitudes about various aspects of the course |
Narrative Responses:
Describe this course to someone else. What does Dr. White do well? What could Dr. White do better? Does the syllabus describe the course? How could the course be improved? |
1. Consider
the following items and rate them with respect to how important they are
for success in CHEM-342.
Item |
Important |
Important |
Important |
Important |
Important |
±S.D. |
to Q #2 |
a. Personal Initiative |
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±0.45 |
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b. Library Research Skills |
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±0.57 |
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c. Taking Notes in Class |
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±0.94 |
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d. Writing Skills |
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±0.71 |
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e. Collaboration with Classmates |
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±0.75 |
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f. Oral Communication Skills |
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±0.74 |
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g. Prior Knowledge |
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±0.59 |
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h. Memorization |
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±0.74 |
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i. Learning New Information |
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±1.05 |
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j. Problem Solving Skills |
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±0.65 |
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k. Conceptualization |
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±0.60 |
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l. Attendance |
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±0.59 |
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2. Reconsider the items a
through l in relation to other science courses you have had. Circle
those items which, in your experience, are more important in CHEM-342 than
in those other courses. (Circle as many as are appropriate.)
[Summary above in column at right.]
3. On average, I spent ___ hours a week on work related to CHEM-342.
Average and Standard Deviation: 5.75 ± 2.39 hours/weekFor statements 4 through 36, put a check in the box that best reflects how strongly you agree or disagree with each.Range: 2 to 10 hours/week
Statement |
Strongly Agree |
Agree |
No Opinion/ Undecided |
Disagree |
Strongly Disagree | Mean
± SD |
4. It would be a good idea to form new groups after midterm. |
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5. I found the demonstrations helped my understanding of the articles we read. |
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6. Peer evaluation of student performance within groups was a worthwhile activity. |
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7. My group would have done fine without a tutor. |
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8. Instead of group work, I think Dr. White should lecture more |
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9. I think examinations in CHEM-342 should focus more on content. |
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10. The assignments I turned in were graded and returned promptly. |
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11. A considerable amount of the material in CHEM-342 reviewed material I had studied in other courses. |
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12. It was a bad idea to change tutors after Spring Break. |
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13. My group’s concept map reflected mostly the efforts of one or two group members. |
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14. I think grades in CHEM-342 should be based solely on individual performance. |
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15. I frequently talked about subjects and issues arising in this course with people not enrolled in the course. |
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±1.03 |
16. I feel that I can apply the general principles I learned in CHEM-342 to problems in other courses. |
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17. I found the hemoglobinopathy assignment worthwhile. |
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18. As a result of this class my ability to find, read, and analyze information has improved. |
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19. I feel confident that I can read and understand research articles. |
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20. I am comfortable working in groups. |
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21. I feel comfortable sharing information. |
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22. I feel comfortable asking help from others. |
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23. I feel comfortable in relying on information obtained from others. |
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24. Given the opportunity, I would like to take another class designed like this one. |
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25. Discussion of the mystery molecules each class helped me make connections to things I had learned in other chemistry courses. |
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26. I found the course web-site to be a useful resource. |
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27. I found the quotations on the board thought provoking. |
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28. I enjoyed working in the jigsaw group for one week. |
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Statement | 1-Excellent |
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5-Very Poor |
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28. Overall, I would rate this class: |
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1.89±0.74 |
29. Overall, I would rate this instructor: |
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1.72±0.65 |
Rate each of the articles you
studied with respect to its overall contribution to your learning and the
goals of the course.
Article |
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Very Important | Reasonably Important | Slightly Important | Not Important | Mean ± S. D. |
31. Stokes (1864) |
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1.77± 0.64 |
32. Zinoffsky (1886) |
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2.29 ± 0.66 |
33a. Conant (1923) |
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2.25 ± 0.92 |
33b. Svedberg and Fåhraeus (1926) |
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2.31 ± 0.72 |
34. Herrick (1910) |
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2.33 ± 0.79 |
35. Pauling et al. (1949) |
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1.47 ± 0.61 |
36. Ingram (1957 & 1958) |
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1.59 ± 0.69 |
37. Allison (1954) |
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3.13 ± 0.96 |
Narrative Responses. [The transcribed narrative comments of the 18 respondents follow. Capital letters designate the different students.]
38. In an informative sentence or two, describe or characterize CHEM-342 to someone who might consider taking the course.
A. CHEM-342 is different from any science class I have taken
before b/c you combine prior science knowledge w/ researching new learning
issues. Sometimes the course can be frustrating but you learn a lot
in the end. The research skills you learn will be beneficial when
doing research or in upper level science classes.
B. [No response]
C. A group based learning class where you must take initiative
to learn.
D. You need to not be afraid to feel stupid.
E. A highly interactive course designed to promote understanding
through asking questions, research and discussion.
F. CHEM 342 is a problem based learning course centered around
articles that present a progression of knowledge about hemoglobin.
The course is different from most in that in a group format, we have to
read the articles and research topics we don’t understand on our own to
understand the material.
G. Hemoglobin is Life. Chem-342 will teach you how hemoglobin’s
ability to bind oxygen is vital for human life. Hemoglobin is also
prone to many viral infections called hemoglobinopathys.
H. Chem 342 is a group-based course that requires you to apply
the learned material rather than reproduce memorized information.
I. This course mandates that the student takes the initiative
to discover what he or she doesn’t know and create the means by which to
obtain the answer to those questions.
J. This class is all about problem based learning and group
work. Instead of a textbook or lectures we read old journal articles
and have to research ourselves and in our group the aspects we don’t understand.
K. This was an excellent course. It went beyond the teaching
of Hemoglobin & taught fundamentals of Biochemistry and chemistry.
In addition we learned a lot of different skills that will be useful anywhere.
L. It requires good writing skills and understanding of broad
concepts.
M. Chem 342 is a problem based learning course that spends the
semester reading and discussing scientific articles that paved the understanding
of hemoglobin and Sickle cell anemia.
N. In order for one to succeed, and by that I mean do good in
this class and learn the info you have to have the desire to constantly
do work b/c no one is going to spoon feed you the info like in other classes
O. CHEM342 is a course which requires the use of other skills
than studying and memorizing information. Information learned from
previous courses and new information from the articles are related and
understood better through individual research and group communication.
P. Be prepared to spend a lot of time researching information
by yourself in the library. This class is unlike any other class
I have taken in the past.
Q. CHEM 342 is a problem-based biochemistry course in which
articles relating to hemoglobin and sickle cell anemia are read and analyzed
in a group setting.
R. A problem-based course designed to give students the chance
to apply chemistry & biology to an evolving history of scientific research.
A. going over remaining learning issues overseeing that groups
stay on track. Very approachable & knows students.
Good job w/ webpage. Thanks for all of practice tests!
B. [No response]
C. 1. very, very prepared 2. takes suggestions
D. --Sums up the topics --Explains the topics --Answers questions
E. Helps us to construct answers to questions from what we already
know
F. Dr. White does a very good job at selecting articles that
are not too far at of the grasp of most students, but still have a substantial
amount of material that needs be researched to gain an understanding.
He emphasizes the concepts learned instead of trivial details, forms good
groups, tests fairly, and uses different techniques to keep the class interesting
enough for most everyone to attend at 8am.
G. Makes the student think about the subject matter in depth.
Incorporates other
information that connects to things I had learned in other chemistry
courses.
H. Professor White guided us well in class with that he wrote
on the board and
talked about at the beginning of class into finding relevant learning
issues to each article.
I. --Rearranged tutors for 2nd half of semester. --Took learning
issues at the “wrap-up” of each article.
J. Forces you to probe for deeper understanding
K. This class could not have been so beneficial if it was not
so incredibly organized & well thought out. Everything fit perfectly
into the course. Prof. White had a way of getting us to learn a lot
without giving us the answers.
L. Comes up with interesting mystery molecules.
M. Professor White did a nice job connected the mystery molecules
to the articles. He also asks thought provoking questions.
N. Goes by the schedule mapped out. Good demonstrations. Grades
reasonably
O. Professor White does a particularly good job at explaining
difficulty material that everyone is having problems understanding.
P. Encourage thought-provoking questions and answers.
Q. Dr. White is a friendly teacher who knows how to present
the course material in an interesting way. He is easy to approach
and answers questions clearly.
R. Hold back information that can be easily obtained by students.
A. more direction in where to find info. on learning issues a
little more lecture review session before test
B. [No response]
C. I honestly feel he has done whatever we suggested and tried
it, this makes him one of the best professors I have ever has
D. Have more class discussions
E. With mystery molecules: try to explain more how molecules
are grouped together.
F. I feel that the use of mystery molecules and demonstrations
are particularly good to reinforce and extend learning. More use
of these and other things that relate what was done in the article to more
general concepts would definitely help me learn better.
G. Professor White could have lectured for the first day of
each new article started, giving brief but informative background information
prior to each group starting to examine their learning issues.
H. An introduction and summary to each article could be helpful.
I. Have 1 or 2 classes without the tutors—either whole class
discussion or lecture.
J. I think the class needed more direction and summarization
by Professor White. I never knew what he expected of us.
K. I think that every article should have some wrap-up time.
The in class experiments were really helpful, there should be more.
L. He could lecture more. Make sure that we all understand
the important learning issues since some groups do not function as well
as others.
M. I found some explanation a bit hard to follow, and I wish
wrap-up days gave more an idea what we should have learned from the article.
N. [No response]
O. Sometimes the “learning issues” we study about are left unresolved
and we are never informed of their answers. When an issue has not
been figured out for sometime, Prof. White should explain to us the answers.
P. Lecture more. Possibly provide summaries to the learning
issues presented in
class (type the answers and hand them out to wrap up the article, in
addition to having a class discussion.) Sometimes when questions
were answered it was in a “roundabout” manner and I couldn’t remember them
later.
Q. [No response]
R. Focus more on student thought processes & learning results
& not as much on specific “learning issues.”
A. Between the webpage and the syllabus, I feel everything is
adequately covered.
B. [No response]
C. I feel the syllabus is very straight forward.
D. I thought the syllabus was well organized
E. The syllabus describe the course pretty well.
F. I feel that the syllabus really does a good job describing
the course, especially now that I look back at it. At the beginning
of the year I read the syllabus and was a little confused, but not mislead.
I think Chem 342 is something that needs to be experienced and writing
a syllabus that would give someone a perfect sense of what the course is
like before they have taken it is impossible.
G. I thought that the syllabus adequately described the course
content very clearly.
H. The syllabus described the course well. The links on
the website proved to be very helpful.
I. --Grading %’s were clear, although it would be nice to know
how much each individual assignment (ie concept map) was worth. --Garret
& Grisham textbook should be required for class/reference
J. Under Reading Assignments it says each group will be provided
a spiral notebook for learning issues—I think this would have helped a
lot.
K. The course syllabus was very informative. I just don’t
remember seeing anything that broke down the point values of all the exams
& assignments.
L. The syllabus does a good job in describing the class.
The only part I feel that should be improved is on grading. I think
it should be more specific to how much each assignment is worth.
Also, since the class is not on a curve, a grading scale should be listed
since it should be standard.
M. I thought the syllabus clearly stated the expectations of
the class. Having it on the web made it easily accessible and it
had a lot of very helpful links.
N. [No response]
O. Yes the syllabus adequately described the course. I
thought it was a very well rounded syllabus that I could actively refer
to. One thing missing that would be helpful, would be a description
of each HW assignment on the syllabus itself. This would help in
looking up directions for HW assignments easily.
P. I cannot think of any revisions that need to be made to the
syllabus.
Q. I feel that the syllabus accurately described the course.
R. The breakdown into group “roles” (i.e. skeptic, recorder,
etc.) proved to be not very useful or applicable, but the rest is quite
good.
A. I felt the class is too early for such difficult content:
9 or 10 or later time slot would be good.
B. [No response]
C. I feel this course was probably not very relevant to my major,
engineering.
However, it has been one of my favorite classes because of the way
it was taught. It made me take initiative and I think I got so much more
out of it than if it were a lecture/textbook class. Maybe made a
biochem textbook required
D. More class discussions to sum up and connect articles
E. [No response]
F. I really enjoyed Chem 342 and think it is one of the top
3, if not the best course, I have taken here. It was really nice
not to have to hear lectures for the first Biochem course I have taken.
One thing that might improve the course for next year is if enough tutors
sign up, groups might be made a little smaller with a max of 3 students.
I don’t know if this is feasible, but it might solve the problem I feel
our group had of having one member who doesn’t do much because they don’t
want to and there are enough other members to carry the load. Other
than that, keep the mystery molecules and demos coming, they really helped
me learn and extend what I’ve learned to a more general learning.
G. The groups and tutors should change after the midterm to
let different people work together in a diverse environment.
H. More full class discussions would be helpful to get other
points of view. After a few days on the same article, the groups
tend to get stuck in the same learning issues.
I. Do some in-class work that is not group work. We get
so comfortable
working in groups that suddenly, if need to take a test alone, we feel
inadequate with just our own opinions and not others’.
J. Please do not have class at 8 am
K. This may sound stupid, but 8 am is really hard for me to
function & I think members of my group had the same problem.
Overall this was an excellent course—I would (& have) recommend it
to anyone. Although there was nothing specific to my area of interest
(environmental engineering), I still feel it was definitely a worthwhile
course. It goes beyond the specific topic of Hemoglobin & I really
learned a lot about Biochemistry. Perhaps the best was learning other
skills like, library skill communication skills & problem solving.
L. I think Dr. White should lecture more and take more time
to make sure that we understand the article. Maybe eliminate one
article to spend more time on the others. Introduce the hemoglobinopathy
assignment earlier to we could spend more time on it.
M. This class required a large amount of participation and preparation
which helped me learn a great deal. I thought too much emphasis was
put onto learning issues and some of the tutors were not very well prepared.
N. [No response]
O. I thoroughly enjoyed any demonstrations done in class as
they provided a little needed excitement. More demonstrations would
help the class from becoming routine and boring. Also, some weeks
would consist of three days of “group discussion.” Although these
sessions are beneficial, they became repetitive after a while. A
new type of group learning activity could add more fun to the class while
still being beneficial.
P. I believe issues need to be shared with the entire class
somehow. One group may approach a problem differently than another,
making them more or less well-prepared for an exam, or just giving them
the opportunity to better retain the knowledge through those different
methods.
Q. An inherent problem with group-based learning is that different
members of a group will have differing abilities and paces. Perhaps
no group part to the final. Difficult to interact enthusiastically during
an 8am class . . . later time would mean more student enthusiasm.
R. It was often frustrating to limit a search for information
to an acceptable “learning issue.” I enjoy identifying a problem
& solving it, but the format of learning issues felt a bit restrictive.
I have no complaints about this course. It was truly one of the most beneficial I have taken & the professor was excellent. It really stressed understanding & not memorization. Not only did I learn a lot about Biochemistry, but also problem solving skills, communication skills, library skills & group learning. I would recommend this class to anyone.
I really did not like this class. I don’t like problem based learning
and was frustrated throughout this course. I think sophomore Biochem
majors should not be require to take this class. I prefer a lecture
based class to one set up like CHEM 342. I was really frustrated
with how assignments were graded—it didn’t seem to follow any logic.
It was hard to understand what Dr. White wanted on his assignments.
I felt the hemoglobinopathy paper needed more direction. I will never
take another PBL course because of this one. I did however learn
a lot about journal articles and how to write a research paper from journal
articles from this course. Dr. White knows a lot about Biochemistry
and I think would be a great lecturer. Class would be much better
if it were NOT at 8 am.