1. In this course I have tried to shift the locus of learning to the students, by creating situations in which people read each other's writing, and write in the awareness that others are reading that writing. Did this help, or change, your learning?

I found that reading the work of other students in the class was beneficial insofar as it provided me with a bench mark as to what I should strive for, or what I needed to improve on, or where my strengths were in relation to the rest of the class. I think the process of reading each other's work allowed everyone to have a voice in the class. Normally, some students stay silent for a whole term even though they may have some thoughts to contribute to the class conversation or discussion.
It was difficult to know what to write or/and what to look for in the assignments. For example, the last set of plays we suggested, I had no idea that I was to look for a voice of authority, or if I should summarize the plot. This time around felt different from the other times we suggested plays, and I think i liked the former method we used to decide on which plays to read because it initiated class discussion and other people could make connection to the other plays. I felt like it facilitated our learning process better in that we had to vocally defend our plays.[Thanks for this; I'll try to make it clearer what we're looking for. It is true, though, that this second time we were doing something rather different]

Knowing that someone else would always be reading my writing made me a more conscientious writer and a more thoughtful writer. More time went into things that I was posting because I wanted the things had to say to be insightful and relevant to everyone who was reading it. [Not everyone has this experience; I'm glad you did]

Made it more conscious of it's purpose.

It has changed my writing in the way that I am not always so focused on what a professor will be looking for in regards to a good mark. Every assignment I have written outside this class is solely for the professor and they always want specific ideas, thoughts, formats, etc. I find that being able to write for many other people gives us a lot more freedom and we are not confined to writing a specific way.

I think it was very helpful and a great way to learn things. When you read other peoples work you sometimes gain a new perspective on things that you did see before. I honestly believe the only real way to understand something is to see it from different angles, even those that appear completely opposite to your own interpretations. Also since people are reading my work I find myself trying to be more specific and coherent, but also make sure I'm getting my point across effectively. This of course makes me go through a process of personal analysis, which actually at times makes me see things or ask questions about things that I hadn’t thought of before. [This is something I hope happens, and I'm happy to hear it did for you.] Either way this style of learning puts me in a position were I can’t help but develop my personal skills.

2. I have tried to create situations in which student discussion promotes learning. Was there significantly more discussion than in most of your other classes, or not? Did you find the discussion promoted your own learning?

There was a significant amount of discussion in this class. Most of my classes are discussion based, however, so I wouldn't say that the amount exceeded my other classes.
I liked the round-the-room discussion. Usually one person would say what a few of us were also thinking and that would spark a discussion. The discussion made me realize what I thought about certain plays and what I was most interested in, because I kept returning to a certain subject of interest. It's hard to have a group discussion when only a limited number of people have read a play. For the end of term I would like for the whole class to read one play at the same time and report on a certain thing that sparked their curiosity and bring it to class. I find it hard to engage in discussion with plays I am unfamiliar with, and I feel it stunts my learning, because I'm forced to believe what is told to me rather than engaging in my own critical thinking. Whereas, if I had read the play I could site evidence to support my own belief or question. [This is a complicated issue. I think part of the difficulty is that it isn't always clear what we are -- or ought to be -- discussing: sometimes it's the play, but sometimes it's larger patterns, where the details of the play itself aren't the main consideration. I'd argue, I think, that applying your own critical thinking is always possible, even where you haven't (yet) read the play.]

At times the discussion was forced, but that was because people had different things they focused on and to different degrees, and sometimes that meant it didn't fit together. [Yes. That seems okay to me; when things fit together too neatly I'm often suspicious that it's because the teacher's got too much control, and hasn't left room for exploration or disagreement about fundamental questions.]

I have had more class discussions in this class than any other in all my years of university. It is one of the better aspects of this class in my opinion, since everyone learns differently, finds different material, and brings new ideas to discussions. Especially with such a small class the discussions are useful.

I have yet to be in a class that focuses so much on discussions but I rally enjoy it. I have learned so much from the discussions we have been having about the last four plays and I find that it allows for different perspectives to be explored and brings so much more to the table than if we were just to read the wiki pages and be done with it.

There is defiantly more discussion in this class then in most of the classes I've taken. What I like about this factor is that sometimes while you're listening to someone talk about something they noticed in a play you fist are given a new look on something, but also sometimes after hearing a certain point i think back to the play and can pick out other aspects of the play that have the same elements or perhaps opposite elements. For instance with All For Love someone mentioned that they thought Anthony's wife was the more sympathetic character in the play and the one who truly loves him. When i heard that i started to think about Cleopatra and her character. Now I could see were the person was coming from but after looking at Cleopatra in a similar way I realized that she could easy be just as much a sympathetic character and in my opinion is the one who really love Anthony genuinely. What these discussions do is spark a thought process that greatens your understanding of certain things. Therefore they are very effective.

[I'm pleased that so many people find the discussions engaging; I hope that they actually are deepening learning because of the way people have to formulate their own ideas in a social context. They need to be more than just enjoyable -- though, obviously, I'm glad they are that for at least some people.]

3. A focus of this course has been to give students opportunities to make informed choices about their own reading, and thus to become more used to making such choices. Do you think this happened, and do you think it helped your learning about the drama of this period and its contexts?

I believe it happened in the context of literary histories and anthologies, but in the cases of plays for the most part other people determined what others would read. However, choosing what sections were important was a big part of this effect.
I hope that it didn't leave anything out that is necessary to know about the drama, as we aren't totally informed ourselves- but based on our background learning and where it went, I believe it could be considered at least partially successful. [I'm as interested in what people learn by making choices -- even if they're not the best ones, as they probably won't be -- as they do from what they've chosen. See the next response.]

It seems like a long process to learn what we should know about this period by looking for texts ourselves, but overall probably a better idea for us to get used to searching for what we need rather than being told. Of course we're always going to make mistakes of what we think is going to be important, and turns out not to be of much importance at all, but that is how many decisions we're faced with are going to turn out, so at least it is teaching us that we can learn from our mistakes.

Well one thing I know for sure is that until this class I had never been past the front lobby of the Library. I had never checked out a book in the past two years i had been here. What this class did was show me just how helpful the library really is. When I'm researching for a paper or a project I now go to the library and find books to help me. I know this sound ridicules, like the idea that a book could give me information of a topic of interest never occurred to me, but until this class I never knew how much easier it is to find out information just by finding a certain section of the library with books that refer to my topic of interest. The way I read texts has also changed too. Usually when I would read something i would take everything at face value and move on. Now i ask questions about certain things within the texts and then look them up in other texts. This of course gives me a much deeper understanding of a specific topic. So what this class has done is made me a better reader and researcher. [As you might guess, this is what I have in mind, or a large part of it.  I'm really happy to hear about people discovering the library -- but discovering the powerful resources available electronically is important, too -- and, in the long run, maybe even more important.]

I'm honestly unsure of the answer to this question. I would like to say that I think we have made an informed choice about our reading, because as a class we research individually and report on the plays that authorities have deemed to be significant to Restoration and 18th C. drama. Conversely, however, I feel that a lot of the time our choices are rushed and uncertain. The process of elimination seems arbitrary, because someone may have chosen a really great play, but failed to research it thoroughly enough to present it in an appealing way and prove its greatness. [This is part of what I'm interested in having happen. Having people frustrated because they weren't able to persuade others to read something is, I think, really important to their own learning -- maybe even more important than reading the right things.]

4. Would you say that the workload in this course was heavier or lighter than average? Did the structure of having regular assignments and class discussions about them help you to stay engaged?

I would say the workload was heavier than average, especially since the schedule was inflexible and demanded more thought and effort than sometimes we were able to give it, such as group projects scheduled over inopportune weekends. Instead of being engaged, it became overwhelming at times.

I would say that the workload in this course was average. We were given a reasonable amount of time to finish most tasks/assignments. I would, however, say that the group work required more time and structure.

The workload in this class is not heavier than a usual class. I think it just feels that way sometimes because it is a different kind of work than I am used to and I had to learn to manage my time in a way that allowed me to get everything done.

The course load was definitely heavier than other classes I am in. I do, however, like having regular small assignments rather than one or two papers or assignments for an entire semester. I feel like doing the smaller assignments helped me to further my understanding much more than courses that I was only expected to do a paper and an exam for example. The hard thing about having regular assignments like this is to do them on time, mostly to remember to do so.

5. I've tried to create a course that helps people take responsibility for their own learning, and for assessing for themselves the quality of their own work. Has this worked? Has it helped your learning in general?

I honestly don't like evaluating myself. It makes me feel uncomfortable and stressed. I feel like the instructor already has an idea of what kind of student I am, and that the self-evaluation is a test to see if I'm deluded in my own abilities or not. In addition, because this is a different kind of approach to learning than most classes take, I'm new to the process and feel uncertain as to how to judge the quality of my work. [This concerns me, because I think I haven't been able to make it clear that when you evaluate yourself you're not being put in a position to anticipate what the "real" evaluation -- the instructor's -- is. But I can see how it feels like that. Maybe it helps to think of it this way: can the instructor be wrong? How would you know? I'd like people to feel confident of their own self-evaluation, so if the mark isn't what you'd think just, you'd feel pretty confident that you were right.]

I definitely feel responsible for my own learning in this class and I also feel like I am responsible for other people's learning as well which is an interesting experience. I think that being responsible for my own learning has helped because it makes me want to learn and be engaged. It forces me to remember that if I don't do well and if I don't learn, there is no one to blame but myself. I have never been very good at assessing my own work I don't feel as though I have gotten any better at it so far through this course.[I hope this will change; see the preceding comment.]

It is hard to get used to this way of learning. Going back and constantly updating and fixing parts of our work is a useful way for us to realize what we have done wrong and right. It is a long process at times, when you feel you are done with something and then realize it is not the quality you would have liked to see produced in your work. Again, it's just something new compared to other courses. [Some of what I want to do is give people that sense that something you thought was finished can be re-shaped, re-focused, maybe improved. I think that's a stronger learning situation than having the instructor say what she thinks is good and bad and then leaving the whole thing sitting there.]

Now I wouldn't say that this class had a heavier work load than any other class, it's about the same really, and I love the class discussions. Like i said before they are a great way to analyse things and develop a deeper understanding of them, and having regular assignments help keeps me in a good frame of mind for learning things. It's almost like I never fall out of learning mode, it keeps my mind sharp.

In general it has helped by keeping focus, but with trying to keep up with the workload, sometimes what might have been good to remember would get lost in the necessity of the readings, and especially since having to choose new plays requires going back to those anthologies and histories again to find what else there is, and the time needed to do that wasn't there. [I'm aware that sometimes things go faster than they should (and sometimes slower). I'm trying to keep that focused.]

6. This course has tried to help people attend to how literary forms and literary history come to be seen by scholars and authorities, and how ideas about them are constructed by people discussing and writing about them -- and how we can find out about that sort of thing in the library and on line. Has this affected the way you think about such matters? How?

No.[sorry. I'll keep trying.]

I have learned that literary histories and scholars are more of a collaborative group to determine what is important- as in, no one can singularly say what is the most important aspect from a period, so it is a gathering of ideas. I hadn't considered the significance of how sources are to be called authorities, and now I do- so that I say, is the biggest change yet.[It's an important one, I think, and I'm happy to have it mentioned.]

I'm not sure how to answer this one.....? The literary histories and such are considered works of authority due to the fact that they are in a way a combined presentation of what other authorities have pointed out. I guess what they are literary works of authority that have been developed by someone analysing works of other literary authorities. This of course is a process of intellectual development. Since they are a credible source intellectually, by us reading them we develop intellectually and of course the more of them we read and analysis the greater we grow intellectually. I hope that answers some part of this question. [Yes, it does; what I'd be interested in having people think further about is how those "authorities" come to be such, and how that affects what we decide to read. For example some plays and writers always come up; some never do, and I think someone alive in, say 1735, wouldn't have been able to predict very many of them. Further, some literary historians and critics are more likely to be read and considered than others, and some -- for example, Thomas Rymer or Sir Walter Scott -- are likely to be read as examples of what was once believed.]

7. What do you think it's important for me to know about how this course is working (or isn't) that the questions I've asked above didn't provide for you to answer?

Prompts become too much of a habit sometimes, and just outlining what is necessary to do for next class clearly at the top of the page would be a big help when class is over until next week, and I tend to forget exactly was necessary to do, if it wasn't a group assignment.[I often get this comment, and I'm aware that I tend to explain more than I need to in the prompts (they're partly for me, which is why that happens). I try to remember to keep it straightforward. It doesn't help that they're on line and can be easily re-read?]

I can't think of anything else to add. Have a happy holiday!

I think everything is working great personally. There isn't anything I would change about this course and I can't think of any questions that haven't already been answered at some point.

There should be some sort of way to see who has done what in group assignments, e.g. the wiki pages, so the people who do a significantly larger amount of work on something can be recognized as doing more than those who have hardly contributed. Perhaps the end of a project we could do a group assessment, or even at the end of the semester... or to write on a wiki (if we're doing more of these) our names on pages that we have worked on and produced. [I felt badly that I didn't ask to have people's names at the tops of the wikis -- and I'll remember to go back and ask people to add them when we revise them. But the business about individual work, and tracking who did more and better -- and less and worse -- isn't so easy. And really we all know, don't we?  It's also a problem  partly because what I'd like to be happening -- I know it isn't easy -- is for people to be taking joint responsibility for the text on the wikis, so that by the time it's done it's really not clear whose work which section is. In a way that's why I use wikis along with forums and blogs: the wikis tend to mix up responsibility. When I collaborate with someone I always feel badly if part of the final product is really clearly the product of one or the other of us.]

http://www.stu.ca/~hunt/32361011/3236eval.htm