Motivation and emotion/Evaluation/2017

Motivation and emotion - Evaluation - 2017

Student feedback about this unit in 2017 was generally very positive.

Student feedback

Start of semester:

Rating (n = 35 / 105):
1. 94% (33/35) agreed or strongly agreed:
  "I have a clear idea of what I need to do to learn successfully in this unit"
Comments (n = 8):
1. "This is the most organised, exciting course I've taken so far. James has gone out of his way to make it easy to access information, to get going on assignments early and for us to collaborate with other students in a real-world type way. Thanks!"
2. "I find it arduous to learn how to use Wikiversity but am keen on experiencing a new way to do assignments. As much as I am hesitant to receive criticism on my publicly available book chapter I am also looking forward to the input and suggestions. Most of my university learning has been solo so far and I feel more connected with the other students of motivation and emotion using Wikiversity in this way."
3. "This looks like it's going to be a great learning experience. Fascinating content, happy to be doing self-paced quizzes instead of exams, and looking forward to gaining new skills via the wiki chapter and presentation. Feeling a little overwhelmed and unsure right now about these, but am confident James will provide us with support and resources we need to do well in this unit."
4. "James is very helpful :)"
5. "Very interesting, challenging unit. Good support in tutes, particularly given that the assignment requirements are very different from what we have done until now. The huge amount of instruction and resources about assignments on wikiversity makes a big difference."
6. "So far, I am really enjoying the content of this course. I like the idea of the assessment items and the practicality as well as the relevence they have to what I assume we will be doing in our futures and careers. I am however, finding the multimedia assessment item extremely challanging. This is not due to the contact but the media that it is presented on. I do not like that I now have to spend hours just leaning how to use the media/ "tool"/ application to create the presentation. I would much rather create a power point and add my voice to it as I go through it- as I would in an inclass setting. And I understand that that is an option I can use, however I will lose marks on the presentation itself. But aside from that, I am really excited for this unit. It is by far the most thought out and applicable unit I have done so far. Thank you for that"
7. "I do not understand why we are expected to learn and utilise a new platform to complete the assessment. The task would be just as effective, with the same content if it were to be completed in a word document, than if we complete it on wikiversity. It makes things complicated and just adds unnecessarily to the workload."
8. "The assignment is big and a bit scary however in past units James has provided really clear instructions and helped along the way. I am sure it will be the same this semester"

Mid-semester:

Ratings (n = 33 / 105)
1. 91% agreed or strongly agreed:
  "I am making the most of my opportunities to learn in this unit"
2. 82% agreed or strongly agreed:
  "Overall I am satisfied with my experience of this unit so far"
Comments (n = 12):
1. "Very well managed unit."
2. "This is a great, well organised unit. I am only a bit behind due to my own reasons. James is a good lecturer that explains things well.
3. "The lectures sometimes feel very long, dull and all over the place. I feel as though as some lecture slides are rushed through. I have to usually watch the lecture a few times before I understand the content. However, tutorials are very engaging and fun"
4. "Wikiversity is not a functioning, cohesive site"
5. Bit overwhelmed with the amount of textbook chapters to read each week!"
6. "Good textbook, collaborative, high levels of support available if needed. High challenge, independent learning opportunities, opportunities for introspection and self-discovery (however uncomfortable)"
#"I love the structure of the unit and how informative and applicable the tutorials are. I find that in a lot of my previous units the tutorials were boring, uninformative, and irrelevant- so I left them feeling as though it was a waste of my time and I could have learnt it better myself. I am still dislinking the multimedia aspect of it and finding it difficult to complete that part of the assessment."
1. "I find the estimates on how long items should take somewhat amusing... it probably takes that long if you're used to the Wikiversity system but for those of us who are learning it, it takes much longer! I don't hate the format but it is frustrating to spend more time on learning how to *present* the information than it does to learn the information. I am also not fond of the idea of having part of the grade depend on "interacting" with others. It seems kind of artificial - like back when I used to do a lot of digital scrapbooking and you were encouraged to comment on others' work so you could publish your own. People there commented for the sake of it, not in a meaningful way."
2. "It often feels as though the lecturer goes over time on some topics and has to rush through the last half an hour with of slides. Additionally I feel many of us would retain information better if provided a short break midway through the lecture."
3. "Your lectures are pretty boring but your tutes are really good. Maybe watch how some other people present like Disa Smee. I love that there is no final exam thankyou."
4. "Great learning experience so far. Fascinating content presented in an engaging way through lectures, tutorials, and links to additional resources. Text is easy to read and well set out. The opportunity to learn about new technologies (wikiversity, twitter, presentation software) is a highlight of this unit, though perhaps some more time in tutes or teach yourself resources would help build our skills and confidence and encourage greater engagement. The collaborative nature of the unit is another highlight - hope to see this increase in the second half of the semester."
5. "Would be useful if lectures were broken up a bit, or a little more interactive, as it's difficult to concentrate for two hours. Tutes, resources and assessment format are all great."

End of semester (n = 38 / 105):

Rating
1. 74% agreed or strongly agreed:
  "My learning in this unit will help me achieve my personal, professional or educational goals"
2. 79% agreed or strongly agreed:
  "I made the most of my opportunities to learn in this unit"
3. 63% agreed or strongly agreed:
  "Overall I am satisfied with how the staff in the unit supported my learning"
4. 66% agreed or strongly agreed:
  "Overall I am satisfied with the quality of this unit"
Comments (n = 17):
1. "our topic development for the book chapter was due in week 4, whilst i understand marking can be time consuming. it is unfair that we are yet to receive feedback and out major assignments are due in a week. how are we suppose to know if we are off track?"
2. "I do not like how everything is on wikiversity, I find it very difficult to navigate. I also feel the amount of quizzes is excessive."
3. "Wikiversity is the WORST creation in the world"
4. "The only part I really didn't like much is having to learn how Wikiversity works. It was cute how James said certain parts should take a particular amount of time but it took me so much longer because I was learning HOW to use Wikiversity. Plus it's frustrating to have an assessment with a "checkpoint" but you don't get feedback at the checkpoint so you still don't know how you're going. On the plus side, the unit is actually quite interesting."
5. "It's been 6 weeks for the return of marks on an assignment worth 5%, which directly relates to the assignment due in 1 week, worth 45%."
6. "I love James as a teacher because he makes an effort to answer emails in a timely manner and communicate with his students."
7. "Feedback I found was an issue - it was a topic development and was delayed by almost 4 weeks (7 weeks from submission - 4 weeks from when it was expected to be released) Some people got feedback a week prior to everyone else and they received a head start causing an unfair advantage to other students. 45% is a heavily weighted assignment and to receive feedback if it is being written properly a week prior to submission is frustrating - especially because we have never done a wiki page before. Feels like there are favourites in the class with some people being given significant help on book chapters."
8. "Marking of an assignment that was due in week 5 took 7+ weeks to mark! marking was done systematically which gave a lot of students an advantage over others which made it highly unfair. The assignment at the end of semester was a major assignment worth 45% and something that a lot of students have never done before so it was really hard to know if what was being done was the proper way to do it. On top of that there were 17 in-depth quizzes to complete which was quite overwhelming to think about. I found this unit to be interesting in content, however, I have strong concerns about how the marking of this assignment will be processed and the quality of the feedback received.
9. "The lack of break between lectures personally made it hard for me to concentrate for the entire two hours. I would have liked to get feedback on my Topic Development earlier so I could use it to shape my final assessment. Wikiversity seems like a practical tool to gain knowledge on however and I encourage future use of it."
10. "i found that the quizzes were too difficult considering they were only worth about 1% each. i also think having 17 of them was ridiculous. i also am a little confused about the 5% topic development. i think the idea is good but we havent received our marks back in two months so its almost pointless having it i don't mind the book chapter. Its always stressful having a 45% assignment but i definitely prefer that method with this class. I don't hate the use of wikiversity but it is really frustrating trying to learn a new program while just trying to get the assignment done"
11. "I enjoy the information presented in the lectures however I am not a fan of how heavily based on technology this unit is. I would much prefer simply writing a 4000 word report for the "chapter" than to create an overly convoluted wikiversity page. In addition, i don't like that the unit outline, lecture notes and tute notes are all posted in the form of wikiversity pages. Again , this is just overly convoluted and makes printing the notes off so much harder."
12. "Chronically difficult - large blocked assessment items will inherently be difficult to follow through and be confident with. Fascinating content, arguably the best in the degree - some great Ted talks, theories (hey there self determination), and good jokes cracked from the otherwise comatose James ;) If there was some way of spreading the chapter across a longer time, or making the cooperative and independent components of it separate - e.g. have a group assignment where we all have to do our edits via the wiki page, or something along that tangent. The chapter is a great opportunity, but inordinately daunting, and thus, if there was a more stringent set of marking criteria, or suggested paths to take outside of the "how we can improve our lives", it would be far easier for us to collect separate studies/theories, and mesh them into a powerful hypothetical discussion on personal, social and societal lives."
13. "I was disappointed that the topic development marks were not handed out 3 weeks after submission and they were given out 5 days before the book chapter is due. I understand that things happen and there are delayes but would have preferred getting notification after the 3 weeks if marks were not yet ready so there was more understanding into what was happening."
14. "I would have hoped to get the topic development feedback earlier"
15. "Would be good to have another small assessment item early in the semester (eg. use multimedia presentation as a topic development exercise, rather like some subjects present a research proposal or outline before completing a project), or receive feedback on topic development earlier. The end of semester has been very assessment heavy, with little to go off in terms of where we stand in the unit. Content is interesting, assessment tasks are challenging, but highlight gaps in skills that are taught in university. Collaboration aspect is also very challenging, but in a good way!"
16. "I love this unit as a whole. I really enjoy the content and the lecturer. I think the content is both engaging and interesting, the way the semester is planned was great. The only thing that really annoyed me is our chapter topic feedback. It took over 6 weeks to receive feedback, leaving 4 days to send in the finished chapter. Now I started my chapter way before the feedback was received, but I fail to understand how we were supposed to use this constructive feedback to shape our chapter. Suppose someone was heading in the complete opposite direction with their chapter, and continued to work on it throughout the semester, only to receive feedback saying that they were doing it wrong this whole time, and have now got 4 days left to change their entire 4000 word chapter. I think the wait for the feedback was absolutely atrocious, and by general standards 4 weeks is usually how long it takes. It is unfair that we had to wait extra for feedback that would shape the way we write our chapter"
17. "At first i wasn't a fan of having a public web page as an assignment but I have come to enjoy it and you are extremely helpful with everything!!! I also like that there is no exam for this topic, I like that you expect different things from students and show their capabilities in different ways rather than on an exam! With your tutorials I liked that you had screen captures, however, as sometimes i wanted to go back and view some editing methods for the wikiversity page, if these were separated it would be easier to find, but that's my only issue. Great Subject!!!"