Student comments from EPID600 Spring 2011

(in order by date submitted - click here for random order)

(About student comments)

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2: “I wish there were better weight distribution with grades - doing the optional individual case study questions is very helpful, but each set is only worth 1 percent of our grade AND we never get feedback on them to help inform our test-taking. It would be better if each were worth, say, 3% of our grade and we got some feedback on them, even if this would require them to be mandatory.”
(TAeval1, Classroom course, 2011)
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3: “Please structure the lecture and discussion closer together. Some of the material gets lost in the intermediary time.”
(TAeval1, Classroom course, 2011)
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5: “Sometimes I have a hard time interpreting the case study questions. I do all the readings, go to the lectures, read through my T.As notes and I feel the questions don't really represent the material we're given. Is there a way that the questions could be more related to the readings? Or give us more readings so we know how to answer the questions.

I really like everything else about the class. I just know that I am very dedicated to learning all the material that is presented and assigned and I still have a hard time knowing where to begin on many of the questions. Not all of them-- some of them I know right away but some of them, but some of them I spend hours and still feel like I don't know what I'm doing.”

(TAeval1, Classroom course, 2011)
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8: “It would be nice to get the group case studies back sooner. We just received our first one today, and it would have been nice to see how they were graded in completing the next ones.”
(TAeval1, Classroom course, 2011)
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9: “Nothing personal. It's just not really my thing. And I feel like this course is more complicated than it needs to be.”
(TAeval1, Classroom course, 2011)
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10: “Sometimes I am confused by starting a new topic the same day I am working on last weeks case study/reviewing last week's topic in recitation. I think the recitation on Tuesday not should not exist. I think it would be better to do it Monday before the Tuesday lecture on the new topic.”
(TAeval1, Classroom course, 2011)
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13: “I want Vic to eliminate administrative arrangement to make the course more effective. The lecture is boring because Vic focuses too much on recording. You nearly neglect us. But we the live audience want you to care about us much more. The lecture slides are a little bit long. Can you shorten them? I like the way Vic responses to questions after class.”
(TAeval1, Classroom course, 2011)
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14: “The modules and lay-out are very confusing! There must be a way to simplify the structure of the course material.”
(TAeval1, Classroom course, 2011)
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16: “The organization and low of the course are very difficult to follow and make learning difficult. The blackboard site is overloaded with information.”
(TAeval1, Classroom course, 2011)
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17: “The delayed start (though I understand the reasoning) is a bit confusing sometimes...”
(TAeval1, Classroom course, 2011)
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20: “I would want to know all the definitions of the terminology clearly in class”
(TAeval1, Classroom course, 2011)
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24: “This course has been helpful in tying together a lot of concepts that I have learned in other courses.”
(TAeval1, Classroom course, 2011)
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25: “This is an excellent course. Our Professor is doing extreme efforts and we appreciate his all support and help. Thank you so much Vic.”
(TAeval1, Classroom course, 2011)
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26: “It might be helpful for some students to have recitation Monday or Tuesday (for the previous week's lecture), FOLLOWED by a new lecture on Wednesday.”
(TAeval1, Classroom course, 2011)
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30: “Too much busy work. The amount of work that needs to be put in to get 1 little point for the individual questions doesn't really seem fair.”
(TAeval1, Classroom course, 2011)
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32: “We were warned at the outset of the course that the assignments wouldn't necessarily line up with the lectures because we are supposed to be active learners teach ourselves, but I think it's absurd at the combination of such little overlap and such specific evaluation criteria. If we're expected to teach ourselves, then we're not going to have the same reasoning for every question and shouldn't be counted off for thinking differently yet arriving at the same conclusions (in relation to group case study questions).”
(TAeval1, Classroom course, 2011)
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33: “EPID600 is a very intensive course.”
(TAeval1, Classroom course, 2011)
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36: “The course work is very interesting and relevant to current issues in public health today. I particularly enjoyed learning about natural history of disease and screening biases.”
(TAeval1, Classroom course, 2011)
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37: “The way the TA sessions are organized are not extremely helpful. The session ought to cover the material covered in the class right before the session instead of the one the week before. I find myself thrown off by going over material from the past week when I am trying to grasp the material from this week. It may be better if the TA session were later on in the week so that the same material is covered in the week but on two separate days. I understand that there is a Wednesday TA session as well but perhaps there should also be a Thursday one instead of a Tuesday one.”
(TAeval1, Classroom course, 2011)
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38: “Overall I think the lecture time could only be called interesting, but the discussion and small group activities are very rewarding.”
(TAeval1, Classroom course, 2011)
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39: “The lectures, labs, readings and case studies don't seem to match at all. After going to lecture, reading the readings, I don't feel equipped to answer case study questions. It feels like the case studies are meant for you learn after, which seems like a poor learning model. In last week's lab, the professor sat in on our discussion and heard how much we were struggling with the wording of a question, not the answer, and he simply kept quiet and got up and left. So, is he a teacher or lecturer? The course seems disorganized and absolutely not conducive to learning. I feel like I am retaining some basic concepts but the case study questions are very math oriented and seem unrelated to really understanding comments[concepts?], seems more like, can you do some math and dissect a research article? I feel like I am drowning and there is not help in site from my TA or the professor. I am just hoping to pass.”
(TAeval1, Classroom course, 2011)
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40: “Things have been good so far!”
(TAeval1, Classroom course, 2011)
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41: “If explanations are required on case study questions, please make this very clear as part of the question.”
(TAeval1, Classroom course, 2011)
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43: “Additional comment - It would be VERY beneficial to the students to have the current, up to date PowerPoint slides posted and available prior to the lecture. Fumbling through the slides, while trying to take notes and keep up with the pace of the lecture is really difficult! This is one seemingly very simple fix that would help with one of the many challenges of this course.”
(TAeval1, Classroom course, 2011)
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44: “I'm not enjoying the group component of the course. I much prefer individual work for things that don't involve creativity and are more math related. I think group work is a good thing but should not constitute as large a portion of the course.”
(TAeval1, Classroom course, 2011)
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45: “I am really enjoying the class. The combination of lecture, small group, and independent work is ideal.”
(TAeval1, Classroom course, 2011)
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48: “So far, group assignments seem to be a Catch-22; they take a little of the courseload off the individual, but they also bring down your grade in some cases and force you to stay longer/work harder in others.”
(TAeval1, Classroom course, 2011)
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53: “It would be very helpful if we could save our individual answers for the case studies and come back to complete them. A separate save and submit button would make the process easier.

Further, having the recitation be a week behind the class lecture is kind of confusing. Learning new material in class and then immediately going to recitation and discussing something completely different does not reinforce the material and I end up forgetting it or just getting confused. A new recitation structure could be useful. For example, have the recitation BEFORE class.”

(TAeval1, Classroom course, 2011)
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54: “I appreciate Dr. Schoenbach's genuine concern for students, which to me is a reflection of his concern for the human condition.”
(TAeval1, Classroom course, 2011)
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58: “I like that this course has groupwork component. If that component were to be transferred entirely online, I think the course would lose a great deal of impact on the student's understanding and enthusiasm for the exciting material presented in this course.”
(TAeval1, Classroom course, 2011)
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59: “I think that I could really enjoy epid, I'm just not able to balance my time equally between this course and my other classes because it takes me a long time to understand the concepts. For this reason, the class is a stress to me.”
(TAeval1, Classroom course, 2011)
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60: “I think the group case study answers should be graded by one TA instead of multiple TAs like in case study 2. I feel this way because the grading and comments lacked consistency. Some TAs said that only calculations were needed for some answers while others took off major points for not including explanations along with calculations.”
(TAeval1, Classroom course, 2011)
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62: “I really appreciate the TA's consolidation of the key points from each previous Tuesday afternoon lecture into a neat and tidy powerpoint with practice problems. It helps immensely make sense of the important points.”
(TAeval1, Classroom course, 2011)
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(An additional 29 comments were received but the students did not authorize their dissemination.)

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2011a, compiled 02/13/2011