History Department Response to Student Feedback
HSTY 2672 Britain and the World (2009)

Unit Coordinator: Dr Cindy McCreery

This 2nd/3rd year lecture unit was taught for the second time in 2009. Student responses, as in 2008, were very positive, with the statistics once again reflecting this. I think this reflects student satisfaction with the assessments and the opportunity to engage deeply with online primary sources (although I am considering giving students the option to choose essay topics which focus more on secondary sources/historiography next time), as well as the wonderful work of Ellen Gill who served as tutor. Concerns about large tutorial sizes remain and I will continue to address this through further re-shaping the tutorial program.

2009: 169 enrolled (according to ITL statistics, though this seems overly large to me), 97 (or 57%) completed the survey.

Key Statistics:

Learning Outcomes and expected standards were clear to me (87% Agree and Strongly Agree)

This unit helped me develop valuable graduate attributes (89% Agree and Strongly Agree)

It was clear that staff were responsive to student feedback (90% Agree and Strongly Agree)

Overall I was satisfied with the quality of this unit of study (85% Agree and Strongly Agree)

General:

‘This was a fascinating subject. I was extremely satisfied with the quality of teaching and the choice of subjects presented’.

‘A new way of looking at the British Empire. In-depth. Culturally sensitive.’

‘Very enjoyable. Excellent sources and subject matter. Very comprehensive.’

‘This was my last semester at uni – This course was a great way to end – I learnt so much!! Thank you.’

‘Favourite unit of study throughout my entire degree. Both surprisingly interesting and engaging. Thank you Dr. McCreery and Ellen.’

‘I felt comfortable asking questions and giving my opinion in both the lectures and tutorial. Thank you : ) ’




Lecturer:

‘was particularly impressed by the lecturer’s breadth of knowledge’.

‘the lecturer posed interesting thoughtful questions and provided pertinent information. The lectures were conveniently topically structured.’

Tutor:

‘Tutorials were run very well by Ellen; discussion was very productive & engaging.’

‘Ellen always very prepared for tutorials. – Extra sources helped.’


Re: teaching helped me to learn effectively:

‘idea of draft essay and feedback – no other unit of study does this (as far as I know)

Re: developing valuable graduate attributes:

‘The lectures and tutorials were very good in reinforcing the learning outcomes.’

‘The essays and tutorial work was very good in developing my skills.’

Staff Feedback:

‘Both lecturer and tutor should be commended for their willingness to render assistance to students. Queries were consistently met with swift responses.’

‘Emailed both Cindy/Ellen, and both were helpful and cleared up anything I had questions about.’

‘Stop, Start, Continue’ survey:

‘I also liked the idea of the ‘stop, start, continue’ survey as it directly took into account students needs.’

‘Cindy held a survey in the middle of the course and responded immediately to feedback.’

‘very receptive – did constant surveys of students throughout the semester – very well done’


Lectures:

‘engaging lectures broken up nicely with images & maps’

‘I loved the lectures. Lecturer was great’

Tutorials:

‘Great tute discussion topics!’

‘Yes, group work helped me learn how other people interpreted things.’

‘Well planned tutorials.’


Readings:

‘Readings – interesting & insightful’.

‘Great readings. Good mix of different types of sources.’

‘Readings always clearly relevant’.

Assessments:

‘Essay flexible, good amount of time to develop ideas.’

‘I felt the essay was an interesting and different way to demonstrate my learning and skills.’

‘Essay marking was thorough and helpful.’

‘Essay tested a variety of skills by requiring us to write our own question.’

‘Essay draft was a REALLY good idea. Please tell other lecturers about it!’

‘3 separate assessments & tute mark is perfect amount’.


Databases/Research Skills Tutorial:

‘Data tutorial helped – I never really used those sources before this semester. I was always an avid fan of Fisher Library.’


Things to work on:

‘Reduce content of lecture slides’. I have been working on this and will continue to!

‘Put more books on reserve’. In addition to more books, I plan to put make more items available via PDF files on the WebCT site.

‘Possibly more time could be allowed between receiving final essay and the take-home exam.’ Difficult to arrange this due to time needed for marking and submission of results, but will work on this.