In short: repetition. I have found it very useful to have multiple assignments addressing the same topics: reading, videos, responses/quizzes, and other misc. online assignments. If it were just a matter of each week consisting of an assigned reading and then a quiz on that reading (as has been the case for a few other online classes I've taken), I would not be learning the material. It is, in my opinion, pretty tough material to parse through text alone.
Previous knowledge from my high school classes that is very applicable to this class. My notes from those courses, too.
I think that the short videos on course material is helping me learn in this course. I am a visual learner, being able to take notes on videos is easier for me to learn versus reading exerpts and chapters in a book.
I am finding the videos that are explaining the reading material to be very helpful. Sometimes, some of the concepts within the assigned readings tend to be wordy and a little confusing. The videos offer me some clarification and put the main topics in a little perspective that allows me to catch up with what is going on. I also find the checklists at the top of each module to be very helpful and help me ensure that I got every assignment done.
The videos. While I can learn from just reading, having lesson videos help me get a greater understanding.
The content quizzes are not to hard but they force you to engage in the content in order to do well. Forcing students to give effort in the readings and videos. I like this, I feel as if i am devoting good time to the content.
- the collaborative activities with other students, such as the FlipGrid videos and the Hypothesis Case annotation where we ask and answer questions
- the animated lecture videos and other videos from Prof. Roberts
- the clarity of the layout in the "Read, Watch, Do" sections of the Modules
- the ability to use notes and materials on the Content Checks
- the interactive nature of the course
- the way the grading system with tokens empowers us to succeed
The modules are well laid out and are easier to see what I need to do. Also having dedicated day to different classes to get different homework done is also ready to help.
The lecture videos do a great job at clarifying because the book can be hard to understand at times.
Things laid out in the order they should be completed in the weekly modules. Suggested time estimated to finish work, to set a pace. Professor answering questions quickly and fast. Encouragements of tokens to complete work early.
I do like the content checks however they do stress me out every single week. I think this really helps me know if I am understanding the information or not.
I think the structure is very intentional. I greatly appreciate how things are broken up in the "Read, Watch, Do" folders. Sometimes I've worked through it in a slightly different order due to circumstances, e.g. can't watch a video while substitute teaching but could read, so I've found that the way things are broken up make for a better experience. That said, going out of order is not going to harm the learning experience. Additionally, I like the mixture of activities. Videos can be great for learning because I can watch them while doing something (making dinner) and then go back and rewatch it if there was something I didn't understand or something requiring greater engagement, and I will probably wind up learning more after watching it twice. I'm currently in an online class that is almost entirely self-directed reading and writing responses, and not so coincidentally, it's my least favorite class this semester.
While the textbook is a great resource, I am finding that the activities we are doing to expand on that knowledge and further discuss specifics are helping me the most. It also really helps that the content is incredibly interesting and relevent to many of the social issues we are seeing today. Connecting these issues to the laws of our country helps bring greater understanding to these situations.
I consider myself more of a visual learner in terms of information being able to stick with me over a longer period of time, so the various videos we've had has been great for me. The readings themselves have been good as well, but when we've used video and audio recordings to reinforce or expand upon the various things the readings brush upon, that has helped signficantly.
The videos are the best format for me because sometimes the reading can become overwhelming and complicated, the videos are a really good way to break down information for me.
Videos!!! videos engage me and help me learn better than reading, so I love the youtube videos and most importantly love video lectures made by the professor.
your videos, especially the analogy one in this week's module it helped me create a better more realistic understanding of the Marbury case.
Dedicating specific time for the readings, then lectures, then the assignments. Not doing everything at once. Also frequently using the internet to look up definitions and things that I don't know.
Your lecture videos help a lot.
Watching the lecture videos and taking notes.
I would say the reading from the chapters is the hardest part of this course for me. They are lengthy, and some of the vocabulary used in the chapters or additional readings is challenging for me to get through, and I feel as though I don't get the best grasp on the material itself.
Nothing is making the class too difficult, as I mentioned above, reading long capters is tough for me to do but it is generally manageable work. Online format is always tricky but so far modules have been fairly clear and questions that I have had have been quickly answered which I appreciate!
Nothing in particular. I guess my only concern is the quiz due at the end of the two weeks (for the case module), I don't know if it is more based on your videos or the reading. Or a combination of both. I also can never gauge if it will be more based on our book or include any information from the additional text in the module. Only because I'm not sure if I should be marking up my text or taking specific notes on chapters and such.
Not having enough videos made by the professor to watch and learn some key concepts. Reading is great, but in my other online class, the professor has us read then watch her video which explains the reading and briefly summarizes key concepts from the reading and this helps me immensely.
Currently nothing.
I am not loving the text annotations, I find those very overwhelming, but I understand what we need to do them.
Not being able to have a regular lecture where I'm F2F with the instructure and classmates. I think I learn better this way.
I have learned to space this class out, otherwise, it was difficult trying to complete a week's worth of material all at once. The workload can be much, but it's understandable.
Once I found to use the content checks as study guides things have gotten a LOT easier/ more manageable for me to do.
- the format of the textbook (it could just be my VitalSource Ebook) being just plain text on white space with only the rare occurance of images. It's definitely doable, and I've taken notes on all the Epstein readings so far, but it's made it a bit monotonous, or maye tedious is the right word. I've managed to get through the reading by taking very short breaks to listen to a song or have a snack, giving my eyes a chance to rest.
Not being able to see what I completed in the modules after I did them does make it hard to see what I have finished. Also, I should pry start keeping a weekly list of my tasks so I can check them off.
Nothing particular in this class is interfering with learning the weekly courses. The biggest obstacles have been various classes, for example this week in my History of Democracy class, we had our big group project due which included a paper and 50-minute teach-in. The hair pulling it took to get group communication going and ensuring the work was done and good to go took a lot of concentration, but it's done and for that class- the biggest project of the year is already out of the way. On a normal week, it's gelled well enough to where I can effectively balance my various work loads.
Time. I'm just busy and can't always spend as much time as I might like to work on thing.
Honestly, I havent found anything in this class not doable. You have made this class easy to follow and the content is engaging.
Online setting.
Learning is made a little difficult when there is TOO many assignments to do within the time frame. I expect to recieve many fufilling assignments, readings, and videos to complete, but sometimes, when the average time to give to this class reaches the seven hour mark, I find myself to not be fully invested in learning the material, and I am just focused on getting it done. Sometimes, this can leave gaps in my education, and not a full understanding of what I am to learn.
All of the folders can be confusing, I think things can be very wordy. I wish there was a comprehensive list of every thing that I need to do because I always feel like I am missing things. Also, the due dates for this weeks folder is different when it's in the content module folder vs. when you click on it and that was a little stressful as well.
At first, the amount of work was incredibly overwhelming. However, as I have gotten used to the workload and come to appreciate the content, those overwhelmed feelings have turned into curiousity. The only other factor that comes to mind is the unfamiliar nature of political jargon, which becomes clearer the more we discuss the terms and come across them in our readings.
My ADHD. It probably takes me at least twice as long to do the textbook readings (in this or any other class) than it would take the average neurotypical person. I constantly find myself having to re-read things multiple times because even though my eyes were looking at the words, my brain was off somewhere else. There's no fix for this, unfortunately; I just have to take the extra time into account when planning out my work.
Yes: 57.894%
No: 42.105%
As stated above, the videos. Additionally, I have noticed that in this online course there is a lot more engagement with the professor; the professor does well in attempting to get to know the students one by one despite it being an online course and the assignments have clear instructions. The course is well organized with module folders as well. I like how it is week by week as some courses I have taken are not.
Most of the classes I took before had content checks every week that involved discussion boards and flip grids more than text annotations.
This course is the most intentionally designed and has the clearest expectations, although HST 230 is a close second. Additionally, while I feel a bit disconnected from people in this class, it's nothing compared to most of my other online classes where I did not even know how many people were in the class at a given time. At best, people were tiny avatars on Blackboard in half of my online classes. I also appreciate that this class has greater expectations for what can and will be covered than most of the online classes that I've taken. Nearly all the classes that I've taken warn that "students may take online classes because they think online classes are easier, but this is not the case with this class," but this is one of a couple that have actually lived up to that statement.
Out of all my online classes, you engage with us the most through emails and weekly videos. I had some professors who would rarely address the class. One of my past professors never posted his own lectures or videos so I never saw what he looked like. I felt like the computer was my teacher.
N/A
This course utilizes far more functions and integration than any previous course. For the most part, my previous online class experience could be summed up as simply as doing reading/watching and discussion boards. One class previously has used flipgrid but that was about the most variety I've experienced up until this class.
I would say there are not many differences between the online classes I have taken before and this one. This online class is probably the most time consuming online class that I have taken, but not necessarily in a bad way!
All of the other classes were a lot of reading and learning on your own. This class is more interactive and has videos to get a better understanding.
I have taken online classes before. A few differences I notice between this class and my other classes are all primarily in good of this class. In my other classes last semester, most of my professors would just put their students through the same mindless cycle every week of extremely long and dull lecutre videos and assignments due by Sunday. Some of my professors were hard to reach, and I frequently found myself sitting at my desk all day, teaching myself the material. This class however, I have found it easy to absorb the material, and I love the the Flipgrid videos. This way, I can see some of the faces in the class and get to know them a little better.
They are pretty similar.
Invasive, class is no longer specific day(s). It lasts all week and I feel like I'm in school 7 days a week. This can get a bit overwhelming. Also, the amount of coursework we are expected to teach ourselves is overwhelming too. But I do appreciate when Profs give us videos and actually interact with the class and give commentary about the material.
There is more of a laid out / specific time line for work to be done and what order to do it in
This class was really different. First, off the way, we were meant to learn the material was strictly different. My professor gave us lectures that were any wear between 30 to 60 minutes long and we had to fill in the notes in the booklet in order to take notes. we only met in person a few days before the exam. It was hard to learn and she didn't proved many other ways to learn the information besides her lectures.
The online, asynchronous courses I have taken have varied pretty widely in quality. The first one I took was of very poor quality in my opinion and made me think I would probably hate all future online, asynchronous courses. That has not turned out to be the case, fortunately, but this is the first asynchronous class I've taken that has somehow made me forget that it's asynchronous. I had one class where the professor did an introductory video but then was never seen nor heard from again. It was all preplanned assignments and the occasional pirated documentary video on YouTube. The weekly quizzes obviously had their questions and answers copied and pasted from somewhere else, and overall I got the sense that the professor was just not engaged with that particular class. I have appreciated the regular communications and recently-recorded videos in this class, though, which have not only proven useful but have also proven that the class isn't just happening on autopilot mode.
PLS 206 is much more structured and easier to follow than my previous courses. I don't feel like I might miss something because I didn't look at the right tab or whatever.
The main difference between this course and my other online courses is the level of interaction between both my professor and my classmates. In my other classes, I had hardly any interaction with others - apart from discussion posts - and that was incredibly isolating. I'm really enjoying the use of FlipGrid for discussions and the weekly videos by our professor.
N/A.
- the format of the grading system
- the "how are you feeling?" emoji choice function
- the extra effort put into lectures such as the images and animation
- the clarity of how the modules are laid out
At least an optional zoom call once a week to talk to each other, ask questions, and discuss with the professor anything we want related to class. I think it'd make the class feel a bit more "real" and some people may benefit from having real discussions with each other.
None.
In order to improve my learning, I would enjoy to continue learning more from short Youtube videos. I also like the Flipgrid discussion videos versus the annotated dsicussions, because I feel like in annotated discussions you're missing certain aspects from face-to-face discussions that are important.
I would recommend for the professor to keep the reading assignments but add a small lecture (approximately 10 to 15 minutes) discussing material from the reading just so us students can get a similar learning experience roughly as if we had in-person lectures. My professor for bus 201 (online course) gives us an outline for the reading so we know what the key concepts are and then has us watch her lecture video where she goes over solely big concepts so that we are still accountable to read in order to find information.
Absolutely appreciate the video explanations, it helps me understand in your words what were learning- instead of reading text which is very cut and dry and sometimes hard to understand. basically when you explain and interpret the meaning of things/ break it down (like the analogy and videos where you draw on the screen) so we can have a better understanding visually and audibly.
I feel like it's too early in the semester for me to really answer this question yet. I will probably have a better idea of how to answer it once it is completed and I have a more complete picture of its structure. I do worry about the volume of work to come later in the semester based on the comments in the Flipgrid videos from past students, but I will reserve my judgment for when I've actually done that work.
Nothing that comes to mind
Honestly like I said before this has been my best expirience with an online course. It is set up well and easy to follow. I am not having any issues regarding to the layout of this course.
Specific changes I would make to this class are few, if any. I guess the only thing I wouldn't change, but modify, would be the time needed to do the homework on the week's with a lot of material to do. I would suggest just eliminating a couple of the additonal readings or videos to make the time a little more reasonable for full time students to get work done for other classes, as well. But, that would be the only thing I can think of. I love the format and organization of this online class, and the material is very interesting to me too.
Something that would further facilitate communication and discussion in this course would be a zoom or skype call once a week with the whole class. This is something one of my other online classes this semester is utilizing, and the discussions from those sessions are invaluable to interest and engagement.
I will admit, in the first week of class, the different format of the grading system made me feel very stressed. I felt like I had an entire week-long module for a 5th class I was unprepared to fit into my schedule, which was the module/class that taught me how this class operates. That is not to say that I don't love the grading system! I do! I really do think this grading system is amazing and I'm grateful that Prof. Roberts has taken the opportunity to move away from simple points-off-based, punitive, ABC grading. I very much appreciated the grading system as soon as I understood it, and it's exciting to me to be able to possibly use something like it in a class I teach myself. However, when the first week started and things were due, but I was confused on what it meant that they were due and how I would be graded, I panicked and spent a lot of my time that I could've been working on other classes studying how the grading system works. I was also stressed by my own misunderstanding that I couldn't get an A in the class if I said I was shooting for a B in my Learning Blueprint, so that could be stated more clearly. My main suggestion: I would consider sending the students an email two or three weeks prior to the class beginning, explaining that there will be a new, innovative grading system being used that will take a bit of time to understand. Then we would be mentally prepared, and not thrown off on that first day of online classes when we are also trying to take in all the details of all of our other classes. Not a huge deal, and may not have been a struggle for others, but I thought I would be 100% honest about my experience so that first week could be easier on folks in the future.
I think going over some legal terminology could be helpful. I know many of my classmates are political science majors and they may already be familiar with certain things, but I am not. In the oral arguments, for example, I didn't know what certain things were, such as the Free Exercise Clause. However, thank you for going over it in the weekly video and I can always use Google.
Nothing comes to mind to actually improve my learning. The only thing that I might change is to try to provoke earlier responses to flipgrid, annotations, etc. so that way there could be engagement after an initial comment or answer. Right now, there's no incentive beyond my curiosity to go back and look at things if I've met the requirement to pass the module early in the week while many are commenting or making a video on Friday/Saturday.
I feel like having easier access to our grades would be useful in order to keep track of what you still need to finish.
I would like a solid list of things in one place. I feel like I have to search for things and I always feel like I am missing out.
Not much. Perhaps more (perhaps optional?) videos for people who are more auditory/visual learners?
It is tricky because it would be just as easy for me to become disengaged if all the content was ourely videos because then it is essentially just a lecture. But I would say videos are a clearer way to learn for me, and I think flipgrid is a better alternative to a substitute for class discussioncthat the hypothesis annotation, but that is just my personal opinion.
One thing I'd like to see added, and I'm guessing it's not a function offered by BB so it's not really a criticism of the class itself, is to have a kind of checklist for each week's course work. I'm a horribly anxious person and, even in the couple weeks I've gotten work done early, I've had to keep coming back every day to review and ensure I didn't miss something and get a miss for the week's work. Having a built-in check system that I could checkmark off as I progress through the work would be really nice I think... unless there already is that function and I'm somehow missing it.
Make the first week more about basic principles to the constitution and courts so that as I'm learning more things I have a better basic understanding of things