I am delighted to share that, based on feedback collected anonymously via an online form, decisive majority of students find this module intellectually stimulating and challenging, with ALL considering that the class is interactive and encourages participation.
What do students enjoy most? Here are some unredacted comments:
‘Interactive Sessions and I feel really motivated and involved in class. Also, some intellectual humour to the module works absolutely perfect. I think I have made the best decision to be a part of this class and may even consider taking it up for my dissertation.’
‘Interactivity and diversity of materials used (videos, graphs, stats, articles)’
‘Class very well-prepared, amazing motivation of the Professor, pleasant atmosphere where everyone can participate’
‘The activities where you have to research subjects in the class and answer them on OneNote to share them with everyone’
‘Group interaction and challenging discussions’
What are some of the basic take home lessons from this for staff? Students appreciate opportunities to engage. They seek to and benefit from contributing and interacting, both in class and outside the classroom. Diverse teaching methods and aids, as well as technology can facilitate it. Althought all this requires considerable upfront planning and preparing for diverse outcomes, it can positively impact on students engagement with the module content, develop their interest and curiosity—leading, hopefully, to better educational outcomes.
PS: I enocurage all colleagues to run in-semester anonymous evaluations to seek students’ feedback.