Student Feedback for PY 101

Introduction to Psychology; Fall 2013-2017

IDEA rating (averaged over 3 semesters at UAB):  3.5/5

Post course evaluation (averaged over 3 semesters at Samford):  3.9/5

Selected student Comments:

• I have nothing but positive comments for Meredith Henry. I think she is professional, well-spoken, incredibly knowledgeable, and passionate about his course of study.  I have never taken a course so well planned and developed from the ground up to leave a student with more information than this one.  I am very pleased with the format and results of this course.  I would highly recommend this professor and course.
• Re: the Mythbsuters video project:
  • Great project! It’s original, makes you think and challenges you in a different manner than a standard paper would.  It also challenges you to learn to work well with others.
  • I did not enjoy this project because it was very herd (sic) to get in contact with my group members in order to get work done.
  • The Mythbuster project should of (sic) had a rubric, that way their (sic) is no confusion.
  • Personally, I prefer doing things such as a paper or powerpoint solely because it was really hard to get all of the group to meet at once. If it had been a paper or a powerpoint, we may have been able to do that through google docs/slides.
  • Maybe with the group projects, you could schedule a one on one with groups during the project to assure that everything is coming along and make sure everyone is on the same page and understanding.
• Incorporate more class activities
• Not so many chapters should be covered in a test
• Be more organized and don’t give one deadline for multiple assignments.
• I think Meredith is AHH-MAZING! So, my only suggestion to her is to keep being awesome and keep inspiring students with her passion and knowledge.
• Send out some of her notes with her power points, they were so bare-bone most of the time it was really hard to tell what I needed to know for the test when I would look back
• I believe Professor Henry did a really good job on teaching this large body of students and did an especially well job of expanding the hands on projects that helped students, like myself, who aren’t just auditory learners.

Reflection:

Every subsequent semester that I teach Psych 101, I succeed a little more at incorporating more active learning and in-class activities, as opposed to relying on lecture.  However, there is always room to improve.  Part of that active learning is to limit students’ access to excessive PowerPoint materials.  This encourages them to rediscover the art of notetaking.  As some of these comments show, they may not enjoy this aspect of the course, but that does nothing to lessen the pedagogical soundness of that decision.  The final project in this course has evolved the most over the years, and I am glad to see that the overall impression of the Mythbusters video project seems to be positive.  Since last semester was the first time I assigned it, I was not quite sure what I was looking for to provide students with a detailed rubric.  I can see how that would make completing the project more difficult, and I will be sure to rectify this in the future.  I am certainly sympathetic to the challenges of arranging group meetings.  However, group assignments take place on the first day of class, and I make frequent reminders for students to contact their groups, in addition to provided chances in class at the beginning of the semester to spend a few minutes exchanging contact information.  I feel this gives students ample time to make arrangements.  In addition, with the exception of a few elements of the project, other components can be completed via google docs, etc.  Dealing with these types of group dynamics, then, is yet another instance of my real world skills instruction.  Students will have to accommodate the schedules of many others as they move forward with research projects and employment.  Related to that, setting multiple assignments to be due the day of an exam is not a question of organization.  It is my way of prompting students to learn time management.