On March 14 and 16, after observing that not everybody was necessarily watching the lectures (or watching them in their entirety), I asked students at the beginning of class to get into groups of three and come up with three comments or observations on the lectures and what was working for them and what not. At least one of these comments had to be positive, and one negative.
I’m interested in getting such feedback in part because it can help guide the second half of the semester: if necessary we can make changes or follow up on the feedback given. It can also help me think about how to approach lectures in other courses.
| Positive | Negative | Other |
|---|---|---|
| Slides for quotes or more dense comments. [I think this was a positive observation rather than a suggestion for improvement, but am not quite sure.] Nice voice–makes good podcast. Favourites: One Hundred Years of Solitude I, Madwomen |
Less dense or less length [I think this was a suggestion for improvement, but am not quite sure.] Least favourite: The Hour of the Star |
Conflicted about pauses. |
| Lecture prompts are great for generating blog ideas and getting more out of the books. | Speed! Lectures are a bit slow and we often watch them at 1.5x speed. Maybe for ESL folk you speak slower?. . . but it’s still too slow. | Drink pairings aren’t indicative of whether you’ve watch the lecture. I have a terrible memory and honestly the drink pairings don’t seem like the most important part of the lecture. |
| Can be listened to like a podcast. Appreciate the script annotated on the video. Audio format would be helpful. |
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| Really liked the lecture on Pedro Páramo. We admit that our favourite part is the drinks pairing (we encourage more alcoholic drinks). |
Sometimes we genuinely forget to watch them. | |
| Really like that they are super articulate. Really helps comprehension for the difficult reads. |
Two of us missed it this week for the first time because we totally forgot until you brought it up in class. Not sure why we forgot this week, but perhaps a reminder would help at the beginning of the weekend? Focussed on powering through the book and then thinking of all our own ideas for the blog. | |
| Option to have it read or watch it is super beneficial. Great option for commuters because we can listen to it like a podcast. Discussion videos are very interesting and super engaging. More please, with other professors. |
At times it can be quite monotone. | Usually watch lecture after reading the book, as it can cloud our judgement. |
| Helps understand context of book, makes it less confusing. The questions are very thought-provoking and can help structure and give you ideas for blog post. Make it fun! Love the drinks, music, and hard work. |
Takes away own thought/perspective, makes us want to have same opinion–however, this can be prevented by watching lecture after reading. | |
| Pre-recorder–variable speed Author background Learn a lot of vocab–provides depth, kind of like an article |
Could be more visually engaging Would like to try the obscure drinks (or suggest good places to get the drinks) Different music for lectures. |
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| Contextulization: historical background, etc. We like the drinks pairings, especially the drink ASMR part. Provides unique perspectives on the book. |
Lack of visual cues. | |
| Good to listen to on the bus… would be nice to have it on Spotify; would listen to it if it were a podcast. Some people prefer to read the transcript. “Helps that prof has a cool accent.” |
Having to watch it between reading the book and writing the blog post sometimes makes you put it off. Sometimes the historical context doesn’t connect. Have to put it on 1.5x speed. |
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| In-depth analysis of themes supplemented with quotations: really helpful, especially post-read! We like that you ask questions! Keeps us engaged, rather than talking at us. |
A suggestion: mini Spanish lesson! 🙂 | |
| Provides context, history, and information on the author and time period. Adds pictures and sometimes videos. |
Some more drink commentary and a description of the drink or a rating? |
