Feedback
The following is a selection of direct quotes from survey data collected from course questionnaires and personal email correspondence regarding my teaching performance.
Selected comments from the RUCOHL-administered survey of Web-Based Multimedia Design for Educators (15:255:504):
Erica was always quick to respond to questions and concerns. She had a positive attitude and was a fabulous teacher!
I felt that the organization of the course and its materials were extremely effective. The weekly emails were helpful as well.
The professor was encouraging, approachable, and communicated well through technological means.
Erica has a great deal of knowledge and has great ideas!
Erica is very supportive of each student’s project ideas. Her constant encouragement helped me pursue technology tools that in the past I might have given up on. She stressed that the most important part of the class is that we are learning things (not perfection) and sharing information with our peers.
[What did you like best about the course?] The professor and online interactions with other students.
Erica has been just so nice to me. I couldn’t have pushed ahead with many of the assignments without her guidance and patience. I am struggling with class but learning a lot.
I loved when she responded to our work individually in the screencasts.
She has sparked my interest in how we evaluate multimedia projects. She has also made me think about how I design my website and how much my design can influence whether or not the students understand the material.
She wrong encouraging comments on blog and Thinkfinity posts and individual emails to students.
She taught me how to incorporate technology into my future classroom. I now know how to do podcasts/screencasts/ etc.
I have grown so much through the semester in terms of being able to incorporate design elements into the work I create for my students, to utilize technology within the classroom in effective ways and to avoid oversaturation by implementing technology in meaningful ways (not just using technological tools just to use them, rather to enhance my instruction with them). The most important thing Professor Holan did was to have me use a different website than my school districts for the MMP. I was able to make my website a much richer experience for class and for my instruction then my district’s would have ever been capable of.
[What were some of the positives of taking this course online?] Nice Professor!
I was nervous about contacting the Professor when I didn’t understand something or needed help, but she quickly put me at ease and made it very clear that I could contact her at any point with questions and she was eager to help.
I love Professor Holan. Her positive attitude and cheerful demeanor made me look forward to hearing her comments and enjoy the class more in general. I love the assignments, especially the mini-art school ones. I also like that there were lots of varied tasks. I appreciated her detailed feedback as well. Overall, great class.
I really liked this course, one of the best online course I’ve taken at Rutgers.
This is a great course and I have learned so much from it. Professor Holan has done an excellent job in teaching and preparing us for implementing technology in a 21st century classroom.
Feedback via personal correspondence with students:
Dear Professor Holan,
Thank you very much for a wonderful semester. I learned so much from you and about how to better my usage of technology of the classroom. I loved your teaching and how knowledgeable you are in this field. Thank again and have a wonderful summer!
Sincerely,
M. T.Erica,I want to share that I found this to be VERY helpful! I’ve taken a handful of online classes during my program. While I have a pretty good grasp on this one because it’s straightforward, it would have been wonderful if other professors would have done the same thing you did. So thanks!
S. T.
Professor Holan that was probably the nicest thing that any professor has taken the time to do and I thank you for your encouragement! None of my future classes will compare to this one, but I am glad that we had so much fun! Thanks for a great class
D. V.Gosh, you know, I really wanted to start talking in class like everyone else, but for me, its a hard shell to crack. I guess that made me thoroughly enjoy my leading discussion on Media Literacy and presenting my e-portfolio. Obviously, I enjoy expressing myself through works that I’ve done and pictures I’ve created. There were a few classes I didn’t attend, but the ones that I was present, I enjoyed the comedy and random topics the class ended up talking about. In classes conducted like yours, it really makes students want to attend and do the assignments and projects, despite half the class recommending you end class early or pass up on some stuff that we did. I truly believe that. I’m sure that through all the frustration some of us had on doing the wiki, hypertext and google/wix site, everyone enjoyed what we have gone through in the class and as a class.
I do thank you for your feedback upon the creativity invested in me and the positive feed back on my hypertext and website. I do indeed plan on keeping the site and reworking both the hypertext and site as needed and as new things are available for me to update it with.
I very much did enjoy the class, and if I could, I would love to have the same classmates and professor for every class I will be taking in the future. I hope everyone does well in their future endeavors and succeed in life (I don’t think I really need to say this, I know everyone will end up successful seeing how everyone worked well in the class). I’ll miss this class, but it will definitely be shelved in my mind and heart as one of the most enjoyable classes I’ve had.
J.