In examining the 17 evaluations received from COM3085 Fall 2018, below is a summary of ten questions applicable to my teaching.

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88% of students reported being an “active participant in the class.” 47% often, 41% sometimes, 12% rarely, 0% never.
82% of students favorably reported “gaining knowledge and skills in the course.” 29% strongly agree, 53% agree, 18% neutral, 0% disagree.
68% of students agreed the “assignments facilitated learning.” 29% strongly agree, 47% agree, 24% neutral, 0% disagree.
69% of students reported agreement they perceived the “grading criteria clear.” 19% strongly agree, 50% agree, 25% neutral, 6% disagree.
89% of students reported very favorably to “opportunities for participate.” 65% strongly agree, 24% agree, 12% neutral, 0% disagree.
82% of students reported very favorably to a “positive environment.” 53% strongly agree, 29% agree, 12% neutral, 6% disagree.
88% of students reported favorably to “helpful teaching techniques.” 53% strongly agree, 35% agree, 6% neutral, 6% disagree.
71% of students reported favorable to “effective communication.” 53% strongly agree, 18% agree, 24% neutral, 6% disagree.
94% of students reported favorably on “useful feedback.” 59% strongly agree, 35% agree, 6% neutral, 17% disagree.
100% of students reported excellent or good "overall ratings of this course." 53% excellent, 47% good, 0% fair, 0% poor.

 

Student Comments:

• Positive Aspects of Course:

• “Eric gave great instructions during class that I did not feel the need to meet for office hours.”

• “In class practice of speeches, putting what we learned into effect.”

• “This whole class was valuable. I learned how to skim read the material. I learned how to give a great presentation and good feedback to other students. Our class had amazing discussions I enjoyed a lot.”

• “Overall I loved this class and was sad we didn't get to have class discussions online like we did in class on campus.”

• “To understand the book I read, and try to write my book review in my own words.”

• “Learning the aspects of persuasion. Because you could use these skills sometime in the future.”

• “Subliminally speaking, the books we were assigned to read for reports were about self- improvement, and I thought that was cool.”

• “I would say to keep doing the hard work that Eric is doing. I think it was helpful when he broke up our book review at the end and that he should break up big assignments like that again.”

• “I cannot think of any suggestions for improving the course. I really enjoyed professor Matte, everyday he was engaging and very well presented himself to an open professor that is great to talk to. I really enjoyed it and I’m sad to see this class go but I believe this class gave me the tools and skills to get up into a classroom and give a presentation.”

• “I liked the final exam option and I liked the combination of all the speakers. They all had really nice things to say, all in different ways!”

• “the discussions. because we spent some time talking about some topics I was able to gain a better understanding about how to apply the information in a real setting.”

• “You learned more about persuasion, and the right way to communicate. Also, the presentations really helped me be more comfortable with presenting.”

• “The class discourse and discussions”

• “The professor was very unbiased, objective and open.”

• “planning presentations”

• “This class introduced me to new ways of thinking and engaging, Eric pushed us to work our hardest and had to much hope for our achievement, We got the opportunity to have various guest speakers that were influential”

• “exercising my writing and presenting skills. Helps refine them”

 
Improvements:

• “Understanding the discussion the teacher bring in to the class and looking at it from all views.”

• “more presentations to strengthen speaking to a greater extent”

• “It’s the way it should be, the only thing I suggest is some different books for the book review”

 

Overall Takeaways from student comments:​

For the first time ever teaching a 3000 level class, overall the student comments demonstrate this course went well.  Most noticeable is the high volume and quality of student comments.  Most interesting is the feedback on the book review assignment, a reading and writing intensive assignment.  In true UDL spirit, students were offered choices from a reading list of about 25 books on persuasion within communication. Additionally, this assignment required a very specific format for the writing and I enjoyed focusing on supporting students more with their writing process more so than any other previous class I've taught.  As this course goes forward I will continue to improve and adapt how I teach writing, continue to incorporate UDL, and overall challenge these upper level, motivated students.