Wednesday, June 6, 2012

EDIM 508 Week 5_Content Creation

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As the year comes to an end, I have personally asked several of my students what they liked, didn’t like, could have been better, and wish they would have done more of within my classes. As a Technology and Engineering department, we have also asked the students to fill out a Google Doc form that asked very similar questions along with some other department questions. It was very interesting to hear what the students had to say. Some of them were blatantly honest and some were scared to critique the class.

My two-second level classes that consist of upper classman were given a survey at the beginning of the year asking what they would like to focus the course content on. Comparing that to what the discussions and end of the year evaluation form they filled out, I was able to reflect myself on topics I need to change for next year. The students informed me that they liked the fact that I gave them a voice within the course’s content. I did find out though that the majority of the students were upset for the first two marking periods of the year with the amount of work they were being held accountable for. They expressed that they enjoyed the first level course and its laid back mentality, so they signed up for a second year of it. Not teaching the first level course of either of the subjects, I have a hard time transitioning the students into a fast paced, large workload, proactive class environment. They did however mention that by the third marking period, they really started to enjoy the course and see a major change in their ability. They loved the use of the technology, the project they created, and most importantly the creative freedom. They loved the fact that they got to take home and use the majority of the projects once they learned the proper background knowledge.

My introductory engineering and design course had a mixture of opinions. The majority of this course is 9th graders. I have found that they are still in that if I don’t 100% like my teacher, than I hate the entire class and all the things we do in it stage. It seems hard to believe students would perceive a class like this, but I have been told directly from a non-opinionated student that he still feels this way at times. A big problem I have in this course is that not everyone is ready or understands the transition from a Middle School Technology Education class (30 days of hands on and fun projects) to a High School Honors Introduction To Engineering and Design course (a lot of lecture and low end manufacturing). You can only imagine the evaluation remarks I got. The most useful comments I got were that they enjoyed the technology used and the ability to research, hand sketch, 3D computer design, and then manufacture their own idea to solve the task at hand. To me this is important that the majority of the students I know are moving on because it is real like application and problem solving. Like Gardner says, “Creativity allows for innovation or meaningful change in how problems are approached in the field” (2007).

Gardner, Howard. (2007). Five minds for the future. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.

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