EC - Feedback
What did you think of the format of the class?
The overall pacing of the class was reasonable, but I think it would be better to do art activities during class, much like how we have artist conversations on Wednesdays. That way, there is a task-oriented motivation to go to class besides just showing up for the credit.
What did you think of making & presenting your Art Gallery?
Having the Art Gallery be a group project was a great way to get people in the class to talk to each other and explore a theme of art that was more personal to us. I particularly enjoyed the freedom of picking my own topic, something as seemingly random like dragons. It was a great experience getting to share a childhood passion of mine while learning more about how art plays a role in the modern day.
What did you think of visiting the SOA Art Galleries?
I really enjoyed visiting the SOA student art galleries! The proximity to the lecture hall and the walkovers made it a less daunting experience, for the ART 110 students at least. I think many of the gallery hosts would be surprised by the number of people who came to talk to them, so hopefully, they’re being notified about the impending herd in coming semesters.
What did you think of the weekly Art Activities?
They were fun, but it was frustrating to have to do them independently. Like I mentioned earlier, a significant improvement to the class structure would be having activities during class to make it more engaging. Perhaps it would be a good idea to have the students bring the materials to class and encourage them to share with each other in order to split costs.
What did you think of the “7 Ideas about Art”?
I feel like they were very diverse in medium, making the different assignments stand out from each other. The photography one was one of my favorites, being the easiest to access with the phone camera I already have. The most rewarding but the most time-consuming was the zine activity; maybe adding a collage aspect would make the project less focused on drawing and more on content.
How did you feel about using Tumblr for your blog?
Tumblr has been a very convenient platform for both submission and sharing. To encourage interaction, having extra credit points for reblogging with comments to other students’ posts may be a good idea.
How did feel about using Wix for your virtual art gallery?
Wix was very frustrating to use, I feel very lied to by the countless celebrities that have endorsed their services. I think it would be more familiar and accessible for students to make a presentation rather than a website. Many presentation programs like Office or Google have built-in sharing functions that allow multiple users to access the document from different accounts at the same time, whereas Wix was very owner-oriented. This made it frustrating having to share passwords with each other constantly and keeping track of each member’s progress.
What did you think of using the class website, glenn.zucman.com/i2va, plus your own websites, instead of BeachBoard?
I much prefer Beachboard as it makes the academic experience much more centralized, especially since I get automatic notifications when assignments are due. While the /i2va website was fun to look out, it was disorienting having to look for the critical information. Additionally, having regular access to my grades and due dates is essential for my learning style.
What did you think about having a class with no tests? I don’t just mean “was it cool to not have to take any,” but students use tests to guide their study and participation in a class. Students tend to learn what’s on the test, and to not learn anything that isn’t. Did not having exams make it harder to focus or find importance and relevance in the class?
I think for this class, in particular, it was fitting to not have traditional tests. As was discussed during the “scantron midterm”, standardized tests tend to not capture the interpretation that comes with understanding art. Having this course be very project-based felt very natural for the subject and allowed me to focus on actually learning about art instead of memorizing vocabulary for a test.
It seemed like it was hard to get very much Class Participation, especially toward the end of the class. Did I talk too much? Ask the wrong questions? Was it too confusing? Not interesting/relevant enough? Any suggestions for more class participation in the future?
Although I believe you mean well in generating further discussion, I think you prod/refute too much into those who ask questions. There were moments in class in which I was glad to contribute but your questioning of my reasoning rather than an acknowledgement of my comment discouraged me from answering other prompts. I also found myself participating less in class, mostly due to my own tiredness at least. To maintain a trend of moderate class participation, I think more positive reinforcement or incentives (like extra/class credit) at the beginning of the semester would be beneficial. Also, I think the sheer size of the class might have made it difficult for more shy students to participate, being intimidated by the number of people listening. I’m not sure if it’s in your power as a professor, but I think smaller class sizes would also encourage more participation as the group becomes more quickly familiar with each other and thus more confident.
Any other thoughts?
I value a hard schedule for classes, and this one seemed to be lacking an established agenda in the syllabus. I understand that the sequence of projects was available, but it was a bit stressful having to figure out the dates by myself. In the future having all the important dates laid out in a calendar would prevent students like myself from being surprised by them. Thank you very much for taking student opinion into account for your lessons. I think that is a practice plenty of professors lack, much to the detriment of their overall class GPA and learning experience.















