History Department Response to Student Feedback
HSTY2055 - Race Relations and Australian Frontiers (2003)

Unit Coordinator: Dr Kirsten Mckenzie

This course was taught for the first time in 2003 and received a 95% “agree and strongly agree” rating on overall student satisfaction. Students were particularly pleased with the range of topics covered by the course and the use of guest speakers to present diverse views and to keep them abreast with the cutting edge of research on race relations in Australian history.

Some of the comments made by participants about the course:

• “The lecturer was knowledgeable and put in a lot of work. Lots of support given to students.”
• “I think the most important think I gained was the ability to express an idea clearly and concisely in response to someone else’s argument.”
• “I really liked the discussion of the link between history & the present.”
• “I really liked the general vibe about the students in the tutes – it felt like there were some really intelligent & passionate people in there – who it was really good to engage with.”

Some of the ways in which the course will be improved in 2004:

• A website will be constructed to improve remote access to course materials.
• The use of guest speakers will be continued as this was particularly popular.
• Every effort will be made to cover the large number of possible topics in Australian race relations history so as to have an even spread between Indigenous issues, Anglo Australia and emigration issues.