North Seattle Community College
Embracing a Complex Future, Winter 2011
SGID: 33 responses
What’s Working:
Real Life Application
 Being able to apply a lot of what I’m learning to my regular life; The work has a purpose
 Valuable ideas and skills much needed
Small Groups; Seminars; and Seminar Preps
 Staying in our small groups (2); Conversations in class are great; I learn a lot from my
peers ; love the student to student interactions (3)
 Seminars, small group discussions and interactions and dialogue in groups (15) –
enlightening; respectful; helps create a sense of accountability; keep groups bigger than
8 to represent diversity
 Seminar papers (3)
 Love it when seminars become less structured and more fluid
 Seminar preps have built in depth
Class Structure
 Examples of well done assignments; Good handouts
 Dialogue between instructors and students
 Reading Interesting and different kinds of books; good progression (6)
 Working on seminar papers in groups
Teachers helping/ providing explanations if I have questions; Understanding
instructors
 Alternating modes of instruction; Plenty of resources
 Great lectures; (video – “Frozen River” helpful to explain rank system)
 Workload heavy but appropriate
 Laid back drinking tea atmosphere; comfortable environment
 New ideas and points of view coming from other peers/so much to think about
 Coordinated coursework
 Workload adjusted as necessary
 Texts are current and relevant
 Reading, writing, discussing
 Flow, speed & openness of class
 Classmates are awesome (5) – freedom to bring up anything without being judged
 Case-in-point (2)
 Peer reviews
What’s Not Working:
For Teachers: Seminars, Small Groups and Fishbowls
 Don’t like fishbowl seminars (not everyone has a chance to talk; feels forced) (4)
 Don’t like group discussions at all
 Whole class discussions – awkward; people afraid to step up (yet I need to learn to step
up)
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Introduction of a lot of new concepts can be overwhelming. Need time to explore
deeper; feel rushed to complete readings and assignments with not enough time to
absorb
Sometimes too much explaining, prepping, preparing for assignments; as college
students, we should be expected to interpret assignments based on the handout; if not,
ask instructor
Not enough icebreaking and ground rule setting to make group discussions comfortable
enough to be productive with quieter participants
For Teachers: Class Format
 Long classes – need two long breaks; tired; how about stretching; yoga?
 Don’t put Lectures in the middle of the class (tired)
 Work load heavy; Too much reading (8); reading assignments are done in too short of a
time (2); want more time to discuss and digest (2); multiple tasks running at same time
(2)
 Assignments that ask us to read whole books between Monday and Wednesday (2)
 More creative freedom in writing essays
 Not enough time for quality peer review of papers
 Number of “procedural” books – good direction but tougher to read – put in lectures
instead
 Lectures move too fast
 Putting what we’re learning into action—more doing! A lot to be learned -- is there a
way to more deeply tap into our actions and responses to situations?
For Teachers: Online
 Assignment not written on updated schedule
 Don’t get value from online component – doesn’t foster group communication – need a
discussion board (3)
 Paperwork – too much to carry around; how about making copies of those things we
need in class and leave the rest online; create folders online for different things (essays,
seminar preps, readings, etc.)
 More time to write during lectures -- moves too fast to write
For Students: Behavior Expectations
 Attendance – when people don’t show up or come late it detracts from the class
 Students who “tube suck” - discouraging
Student Confusion and Concern
 Don’t understand the ranking system – seems like we’re putting people in boxes
 dialogue could be condensed into principles
Suggestions for Change:
Class Format
 Put lectures at beginning of the class (2)
 Another break later in class
 Rotating seating assignments and groups -- might help class coalesce
Reading and Writing
 Focus on fewer books; more time to read and digest concepts (3) – cut down at least
two books (2)
 Less reading; more time for writing
 Instead of essays, some sort of group seminar or other group activity especially when
others have views and opinions that can change how I feel
How Teachers Could Help Students
 Brief us on the assignments for the following week at the beginning of the class; by the
end of the class we’re fried so looking at another assignment seems overwhelming
 Instructors could give an overview of what the main idea of the texts after papers are
turned in.
 Tell students the class begins at 5:30 – being late is disrespectful; showing up on time is
an important skill to learn
 Explain the RANK system and its relevance (2)
 More refocusing on the dense concepts
 Clearer writing on homework feedback – how to improve would beneficial (4)
 Give more time on assignments before moving to a totally different one that’s different
 Keep people in same small groups throughout or at least halfway through quarter.
 Space out assignments; need more time; breathing space in between assignments
Online Format
 Change website: Layout of due dates on website is confusing
 Use message board rather than blog
 Post PowerPoints online to be read later
 Confusing website
 Don’t like blog; confusing; clearer explanation of what you want from us re the blog (3);
Would be great if we could start our own thread on the blog
Seminars
 Less seminars
 Make fishbowl seminars optional or change into small groups;
 Larger seminars sometimes
 Change seminar groups each time