katho new media course evaluation oct10_ana adi

AnaADIDoctoralResearcher–UniversityoftheWestofScotland,UK

PRConsultanthttp://anaadi.wordpress.com

NewMedia‐thechallengefortraditionalmedia,advertisersandcommunicators‐

ErasmusCourseEvaluation

Lecturer:AnaADI

Session2010/2011

Semester1–October2010



At theendof theNewMedia course, the17participating studentswereasked totakeasurveyinordertoevaluatetheNewMediacoursetogetherwiththelecturer’smethod, approach and enthusiasm. The evaluation survey was accessible onlineleavingstudentswiththeoptionoftakingitattheirownpaceandintheabsenceofthelecturer.Toavoidbias,studentswereaskedtosubmittheiranswersbeforetheirfinalgradesweredelivered.All17studentstookthesurvey,offeringresponsesfrom100%ofthecourseparticipants.

Thesurvey’sstructureoftheprevioussemestershasbeenmaintained.

Alloverall categories indicated forevaluationweremarkedby studentswith “verygood”and“excellent”qualifiers.Morethanthirdoftheclassdeemedtheteachingeffectivenesstobeexcellent,whilemorethanahalfofthestudentsfoundtheclasstobeverygoodcontentandexperiencewise.

1.Overallcourseevaluationresults

Asked to evaluate specific aspects of the course or the teaching process, thestudentsresponsesconfirmthehighevaluationsoftheoverallcourse.Whiletherearesomecategorieswerestudentsevaluationrestswithinthe“good”category,themajority of the evaluations are to be found within the “excellent range”. Thelecturer’sorganizationof thecourse, the lecturer’suseofexamples, the lecturer’suseoftechnologyandthelecturer’savailabilitytoofferextrahelparejustsomeofthe categories that obtained the “excellent” mark from more than 60% of thestudents.



2.Specificcourseelementsevaluation

Aswithprevioussessions,twoonlinelivevideoguestlecturersweresetup.Similarwiththeprevioussessions,theonlinelivevideolectureswereregardedasanoveltyaswell asagreatway to integratenewmedia in theclass.Theguest lectures thissemesterwere from threedifferentareasofexpertiseaswell as2 countries: JohnCosterfromLeicester,UKmanagingacommunityjournalismproject,JamesO’MalleyrepresentingIpadio,aphonecastrecording/sharingplatformbasedintheUKandDrMic Adam of Vanguard Leadership, a social networking policy specialist fromBelgium(presentintheclassroom)

3.Onlinevideoguestlectureevaluation



Amongotheraspectsofthecourseevaluatedweretheuseoftheclasstime(47.06%good), the relevance and usefulness of the course content (41.06% excellent and41.18%verygood)andthereasonablenessoftheassignedwork(52.94%verygood).Taking intoaccountthatthecourse isan intensiveoneandthatmorethan60%ofthe students grade relies on daily, in class work and projects that need to bedelivered within very strict deadlines, the very good mark is a reflection of abalancedorganizationofthecourse.

4.Othercoursedimensionsevaluated

With regards to presence, most students attended all classes and their expectedgradesrangebetween70‐100%.Threequalitativequestionswerepartofthesurveyaswell.Theyaimedtodeterminethe areas that students most liked or disliked as well as identify elements thatstudentswouldhavewantedthecoursetocover.Evenwiththecoursecovering8sessionsandtherefore24hoursofcontact,somestudentssuggestedthecoursetotakeevenlonger.



Suggestions for design andwebdesign programsweremade, showing a potentialinterestthatKATHOcouldcoverbyofferingsuchcoursesinthefollowingsemesters.

5.Newcourseelementswanted

Amongtheimprovementssuggested,anextendedclasstimeandfurtherdetailsintoblog publishing were made. An interest in publication strategy and increasingvisibilityofblogscouldindicatethatstudentsassimilatedthe101lesson(howtosetup blogs andwrite for the internet) and started thinking strategically about theironlinewritings.Thiswould indicatethatoneofthemain learningobjectivesofthecoursehasbeenattained.



6.Suggestedimprovements

Among the things the students liked the most were the team project, the classinteractionthatthecoursefacilitatedandtheveryappliednatureofthecourse.Theentirelistofresponsesisincludedbelow.



7.“Whatdidyoulikemoreaboutthiscourse”answers



ObservationsandConclusions:Alltheanswersgiventothequestionsaskedareinthehigherpositiverange–fromgoodtoexcellent.Theareasmarkedthestudentsasbeingexcellent(obtainingalsothemajorityvote)were:

• Thelecturer’suseoftechnology(76.47%)• Thelecturer’suseofexamplesandillustrations(70.59%)• Therelevanceandusefulnessofthecoursecontent(52.94%)

Thepracticalaspectsofthecoursewerementionedasstrongpointsofthecourseandgood learningexperiences. Itshouldbenotedthatthissemester featuredtwoindividualassignmentsandtwoteam‐workassignments,apartfromthefinalteam‐project all other projects having as deadline the end of the day’s class time. Toshowcasethestudent’sassignmentsthefollowingplatformswereused:http://kathonewmedia.wordpress.comhttp://kathonewmedia.posterous.comhttp://kathonewmedia.pbworks.comThesespaceswerealsousedtoshowcasethestudent’sfinalpracticalprojects.Itisnotablethatmanyofthestudentsindicateasanimportantfactorthelecturer’senthusiasm and support. As with previous semesters, this shows reiterates thepotential, if not the need, for courses to be delivered in a more interactive waywherestudentsareconstantlygivenchallengestosolvetogetherwiththelecturer.Whenitcomestotheuseoftechnology,eventhreeyearssincethecoursewasfirstoffered,theonline livevideoguestlecturesobtainedstillaverypositiveevaluationevenfromagroupwhoisaccustomedtousingonlinelivevideostreamingplatformsforpersonaluses.Theresponsesindicatethatthetransferofknowledge,dialogueaswellas learningobjectivescouldbeachievedregardlessofthepresence inclassofthe lecturer. Furthermore, the good evaluation the online live video lecturesreceived show that students appreciate contact with industry experts. It alsopresents a potential for application in other courses and other environments as ashort‐termyetcost‐effectivesolution.Recommendationsandsuggestions:



Takingintoaccountthestudents’observationsandinanattempttomakealinktotheareasdeterminedinthecourseevaluationashavingapotentialforimprovementitissuggested:

• An expansion and diversification of the social media curriculum fromgeneral topics such as the one suggested by this course to moreplatform/useorientedonessuchasdesignorbranding.

• An expansion of the New Media course to local students as well (notnecessarilyinthesameclassroom).

• Toattemptselectingstudentspriortobeggingofclass(submissionofonlineresumeandSkype interviewwouldallow the lecturer to interact firsthandwiththestudentsandensureinterest,motivationandpreparationarehigh).This will enable the visiting lecturer to search and negotiate short‐termprojectswithsmallandmediumcompaniesthatwouldbenefitfromtheworkand feedback of the students. Moreover, it will ensure that the contentdeliveredmeetsthestudentsspecializationneeds.

• Tocontinueemphasizingonthepracticalaspectsofnewmedia.• Toliaisewithcommercialclientsandthusofferthestudentstheopportunity

toworkonprojectswithrealimpactonbusinessactors.• To liaisewith other educational institutionswithin and outside of Belgium

enablingstudentstocollaborateand interactwiththeirpeers inshort‐termprojects.

• To continue to have guest lecturers from different universities joining viaonlinelivevideo.

• To continue emphasizing on short‐deadline assignments as a means ofpreparingstudentstothriveintheirfutureworkingenvironments.

• Toofferthecoursetoreturningstudents(iftheywantto),theirassignmentbeing to develop an online communication strategy or campaign for aproduct/companyoftheirchoiceortoworkonnewmediaaspectsthatcouldrelatetotheirhonour’sdegreesfortheirhomeinstitutions.

katho new media course evaluation oct10_ana adi

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