The following feedback comes from anonymous course evaluation surveys sent directly to students by the university. Ratings are based on a 5-point scale.
DHD 555 Consideration, Assessment and Documentation of AT in PK-12 Educational Settings
| DHD 555 Evaluation Questions | Spring 2019 | Spring 2020 |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Rate the instructor’s overall teaching effectiveness. | 4.95 | 4.46 |
| 2. Rate the overall quality of the course. | 4.95 | 4.39 |
| 3. How well did the course assignments reflect the content of the course? | 4.86 | 4.54 |
| 4. The instructor communicated in a clear way. | 4.91 | 4.46 |
| 5. The instructor made students feel welcome in seeking help/advice in or outside of class | 5 | 4.61 |
| 6. Feedback on graded material was valuable. | 4.95 | 4.54 |
| 7. Assignments contributed to an appreciation and understanding of the subject. | 4.95 | 4.54 |
| 8. Course pace was appropriate. | 4.45 | 3.71 |
| 9. Course materials were well prepared. | 4.95 | 4.89 |
| 10. The course adequately followed stated course objectives (i.e. course syllabus). | 4.91 | 4.89 |
DHD 555 Strengths
- Dan always had excellent videos to teach the content for the week. He is very approachable and makes you feel comfortable to ask questions. He is quick to respond to questions asked. He also understands that most of us work full time on top of taking classes so he offers some flexibility in the course which is greatly appreciated. He is extremely knowledgable and I have learned a lot from him. I have really enjoyed his classes.
- Dan is phenomenal. He does online courses the way they should be done. He was quick to provide very helpful feedback. I have learned more in this course than any other I have taken.
- He was very approachable via email and – he used Zoom conferencing which really enhanced the course.
- The instructor is extremely knowledgeable on the subject. I appreciated how organized the course was and that the format was the same every week. It helped know the expectations of the course.
- One of the major strengths of the course is the content and the learning objective of the course. The content was challenging and motivated me to learn more about the topics addressed in class.
- The knowledge of the instructor is incredible. He is able to explain complex concepts very clearly.
DHD 555 Suggestions for Improvement
- Make assignment directions and lectures a bit less wordy.
- At times I felt like the lectures were going over my head. It was a lot of information to take in.
- I would like to have seen a rubric for each step of our case study project. The directions were very clear, but I was not sure on what I was graded on until I actually say the rubric in the comments section of the grade book.
- The homework passes were helpful but at times the blog posts, lectures, quizzes, and quotes assignments were quite a bit of work on a weekly basis. Having a rotation of quizzes, posts, and quotes would have helped so each was not required weekly.
- To be able to complete the assignments, at the end, earlier in the course. At the end the students were rushed to complete the assignments (which we were given fair warning about) but the opportunity to give and apply feedback was limited with the restricted time schedule.
- Challenging and robust amount of work for full time employees.
- Course pace is very rigorous. Cutting material and creating two courses from this one would help relieve anxieties and help retain and synthesize information more effectively.
- Quizzes could be embedded during the lecture not always at the end.
- The amount of work required in this class is extremely overwhelming. While I understand this is a graduate level course, the amount of readings and expected work is far too much. I do believe the instructor has the best interest in the students however, I think there could be a much better balance.
- The quiz on the legal mandates regarding AT was too long. I think that with less questions the same result could be achieved. Maybe incorporate some of those questions into the weekly quizzes, that way at the end the final quiz can be less stressful.
DHD 548 AT Tools in Education
This course is co-taught with 2 adjunct instructors whose professional backgrounds provide an important trans-disciplinary perspective.
| DHD 548 Evaluation Questions | Fall 2018 | Fall 2019 |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Rate the instructor’s overall teaching effectiveness. | 4.72 | 4.8 |
| 2. Rate the overall quality of the course. | 4.72 | 4.73 |
| 3. How well did the course assignments reflect the content of the course? | 4.67 | 4.93 |
| 4. The instructor communicated in a clear way. | 4.94 | 4.93 |
| 5. The instructor made students feel welcome in seeking help/advice in or outside of class | 4.88 | 4.93 |
| 6. Feedback on graded material was valuable. | 4.78 | 4.73 |
| 7. Assignments contributed to an appreciation and understanding of the subject. | 4.61 | 4.6 |
| 8. Course pace was appropriate. | 4.28 | 4.33 |
| 9. Course materials were well prepared. | 4.78 | 5 |
| 10. The course adequately followed stated course objectives (i.e. course syllabus). | 4.89 | 5 |
DHD 548 Strengths
- Presentation of information, types of assignments catered to deep understanding of course material.
- The instructors for this course were very knowledgable in the content area. That provided content that was engaging and informative. I truly feel that I learned a lot from this course.
- The instructors were very well informed on the topics they presented and offered a great number of resources to use in a work setting.
- Well organized, presented well and was presented in multiple means to accommodate many different styles of learners.
DHD 548 Suggestions for Improvement
- Decrease weekly homework assignments
- I definitely find every assignment and review beneficial for my practice, however the research time it took was incredibly time consuming for just one class. I don’t recommend getting rid of anything but I do think it would’ve been more helpful if the weekly training videos or product reviews had some set items to review.
- I feel like this class should be blended (online/face to face). I think a lot of good dialogue could be had with face to face interactions. I also think there should be a component that requires students to read/respond to discussion board posts. I think the product reviews were okay, but I don’t know if we needed one for each week as it started to seem very redundant. I feel like we could have done a product review every other week and a training post on the opposite weeks.
- The AT training blog posts (in particular the number) were an element that did not seem to be necessary. Requiring a smaller number of trainings to be attended and written up about would have achieved the same results/learning experience.
- The assignments were overwhelming and repetitive, creating busy work rather than learning. I would have learned more if the assignments were rotated (one week training and blog, one week product review, one week web page or create training) with more in depth expectations.