Category: Report

Class Report: ENGL/THRE 3333.01: Shakespeare: Comedies & Sonnets–26 October 2016

geoffreybelliott1 Comment

After addressing concerns from and questions about the previous class meeting, discussion asked after progress on the AnnBib–including assigning homework. It then moved back to the week’s assigned reading, Twelfth Night.

Students are reminded of the following due dates:

  • AnnBib Preliminary Introduction (in hard copy at the beginning of class time on 31 October 2016)
  • Discus 8 (to be completed online before the beginning of class time on 2 November 2016)
  • Discus 9 (to be completed online before the beginning of class time on 9 November 2016)

Information about and samples of later assignments are forthcoming.

Class met as scheduled, at 1435 in Weir 109. The class roster listed four students enrolled, unchanged since the last class meeting. All attended, verified informally. Student participation was good. No students from the class attended office hours since the previous class meeting.

Class Report: ENGL 2340.01: World Literature through the Renaissance–26 October 2016

geoffreybelliott1 Comment

After addressing concerns from and questions about the previous class meeting, discussion asked after progress on Ppr 2 and treated assigned readings–which remain the Thousand and One Nights.

Students are reminded of the following due dates:

  • Discus 6 (to be completed online before the beginning of class time on 28 October 2016)
  • Discus 7 (to be completed online before the beginning of class time on 4 November 2016)
  • Discus 8 (to be completed online before the beginning of class time on 11 November 2016)

Please note that instructional materials are still being developed for the course.

Class met as scheduled, at 1100 in Weir 202. The class roster listed 12 students enrolled, unchanged since the last class meeting. Ten attended, verified informally. Student participation was a bit subdued. One student from the class attended office hours since the previous class meeting.

Class Report: ENGL 1301.03: Rhetoric & Composition–26 October 2016

geoffreybelliott1 Comment

After treating comments about and questions from earlier class meetings, discussion asked after continued progress on and concerns about the IllDef. A riddle quiz (not from the Exeter Book, although mimicking it in style) concluded class.

Students are reminded of the following due dates:

  • IllDef RV (online before the beginning of class time on 28 October 2016)
  • IllDef FV (online before the beginning of class time on 4 November 2016)
  • C/C PV (in typed hard copy at the beginning of class time on 16 November 2016)

Please note that instructional materials are still being developed for the course.

Class met as scheduled, at 1000 in Weir 110. The class roster listed 20 students enrolled, unchanged since the last class meeting. Nineteen attended, verified through the quiz. Student participation was somewhat subdued. Two students from the class attended office hours since the previous class meeting.

Class Report: ENGL/THRE 3333.01: Shakespeare: Comedies & Sonnets–24 October 2016

geoffreybelliott1 Comment

After addressing concerns from and questions about the previous class meeting, discussion asked after progress on the AnnBib–including collecting the homework assigned. It then moved to the week’s assigned reading, Twelfth Night.

Students are reminded of the following due dates:

  • Discus 7 (to be completed online before the beginning of class time on 26 October 2016)
  • Discus 8 (to be completed online before the beginning of class time on 2 November 2016)
  • Discus 9 (to be completed online before the beginning of class time on 9 November 2016)

Information about and samples of later assignments are forthcoming.

Class met as scheduled, at 1435 in Weir 109. The class roster listed four students enrolled, unchanged since the last class meeting. Three attended, verified informally. Student participation was good. No students from the class attended office hours since the previous class meeting.

Class Report: ENGL 2340.01: World Literature through the Renaissance–24 October 2016

geoffreybelliott1 Comment

After addressing concerns from and questions about the previous class meeting, including the quiz, discussion asked after progress on Ppr 2 and treated assigned readings.

Students are reminded of the following due dates:

  • Discus 6 (to be completed online before the beginning of class time on 28 October 2016)
  • Discus 7 (to be completed online before the beginning of class time on 4 November 2016)
  • Discus 8 (to be completed online before the beginning of class time on 11 November 2016)

Please note that instructional materials are still being developed for the course.

Class met as scheduled, at 1100 in Weir 202. The class roster listed 12 students enrolled, unchanged since the last class meeting. Eleven attended, verified informally. Student participation was somewhat restrained. Two students from the class attended office hours since the previous class meeting.

Class Report: ENGL 1301.03: Rhetoric & Composition–24 October 2016

geoffreybelliott1 Comment

Class today was taken up by peer review of the IllDef. As is usual for peer reviews, a quiz was taken from the presence and overall quality  of student work.

Students are reminded of the following due dates:

  • IllDef RV (online before the beginning of class time on 28 October 2016)
  • IllDef FV (online before the beginning of class time on 4 November 2016)
  • C/C PV (in typed hard copy at the beginning of class time on 16 November 2016)

Please note that instructional materials are still being developed for the course.

Class met as scheduled, at 1000 in Weir 110. The class roster listed 20 students enrolled, unchanged since the last class meeting. Sixteen attended, verified through the quiz. Two students from the class attended office hours since the previous class meeting.

Reflective Comments about the September 2016 Session at DeVry University in San Antonio

geoffreybelliott1 Comment

Continuing a practice iterated at the end of the July 2016 instructional session at DeVry University in San Antonio, Texas, comments below offer impressions of class performance among students enrolled in ENGL 227: Professional Writing, Section 11439, at that institution during its September 2016 session. Overall impressions and implications for instruction are also discussed.

Class Performance

As before, assessment in the eight-week session moved at a rapid pace. It centered around the completion of a single project, a proposal for reducing the carbon footprint of a fictional company, having students through a series of unevenly-weighted assignments leading to the generation of such a project:

  • Routine Message, 90/1000 points
  • Informal Analytical Report, 180/1000 points
  • Negative Message, 100/1000 points
  • Preliminary Course Project, 100/1000 points
  • Final Course Project, 150/1000 points

Other assignments–a resume (80/1000 points), a quiz (60/1000 points), and weeks of online discussions (240/1000 points in total)–supplemented work on the project, offering student practice in finding and parsing information and in writing to audiences mimetic of what they can expect to face in professional life.

As before, most assignments were assessed by means of rubrics provided by the institution. Other assignments were assessed by rubrics of similar form, announced to students in advance of assignments being due and returned to students with comments once assessment was completed.

The section was scheduled to meet on Tuesdays from 1800-2150 in Room 111 of the San Antonio campus of DeVry University. Its overall data includes

  • End-of-term enrollment: 6
  • Average class score: 790.5/1000 (C)
    • Standard deviation: 103.131
  • Students earning a grade of A (900/1000 points or more): 2
  • Students earning a grade of F (below 600/1000 points): 0
  • Total student absences: 5
  • Average student absences: 0.833
    • Standard deviation: 1.067

End-of-term enrollment represents a small numerical decline from a peak of seven students enrolled at the first class meeting. Absence rates were relatively low; while one student missed three of the eight meetings, half the students attended each class, and two missed only one meeting each. Completion rates were also good; one student missed one assignment and two missed two assignments each, but all other required coursework was submitted. (Indeed, some students made discussion posts far in excess of requirements; they were rewarded accordingly as the session progressed.)

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Impressions and Implications

Some of the problems noted at the end of the July 2016 session did not emerge from the current class. A combination of smaller initial enrollment and the higher level of the course likely account for the better attendance and submission rates and the greater in-class participation. The small class size, coupled with the fact of group submission of several items, continued to ease grading burdens, which were further reduced by a continued emphasis on framing comments in terms of gratitude.

The issue of tangents common to my lectures persists. In the current class, however, many of the tangents took the forms of discourses on changes to prevailing popular rhetorics and standards of usage, issues of some concern for the students; they came off as more relevant than is usual, and students expressed (verbally and in online discussion) greater appreciation for them than is commonly the case.

I continue to be grateful for the opportunity to work with students, generally, and with the for-profit students, specifically. This class has helped me grow as an instructor; I hope that I was as helpful to the students I taught.

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Class Report: ENGL 2340.01: World Literature through the Renaissance–21 October 2016

geoffreybelliott1 Comment

After addressing concerns from and questions about the previous class meeting, discussion asked after progress on Ppr 2 and treated assigned readings. The last portion of class was given over to a quiz.

Students are reminded of the following due dates:

  • Discus 6 (to be completed online before the beginning of class time on 28 October 2016)
  • Discus 7 (to be completed online before the beginning of class time on 4 November 2016)
  • Discus 8 (to be completed online before the beginning of class time on 11 November 2016)

Please note that instructional materials are still being developed for the course.

Class met as scheduled, at 1100 in Weir 202. The class roster listed 12 students enrolled, unchanged since the last class meeting. All attended, verified through the quiz. Student participation was good. Two students from the class attended office hours since the previous class meeting.

Class Report: ENGL 1301.03: Rhetoric & Composition–21 October 2016

geoffreybelliott1 Comment

After addressing concerns from and questions about the previous class meeting, including the quiz, discussion returned to the next assigned paper, the IllDef (of which a sample is available here).

Students are reminded of the following due dates:

  • IllDef PV (in typed hard copy at the beginning of class time on 24 October 2016)
  • IllDef RV (online before the beginning of class time on 28 October 2016)
  • IllDef FV (online before the beginning of class time on 4 November 2016)

Please note that instructional materials are still being developed for the course.

Class met as scheduled, at 1000 in Weir 110. The class roster listed 20 students enrolled, unchanged since the last class meeting. Nineteen received credit for attendance, verified informally. Student participation was good. No students from the class attended office hours since the previous class meeting.

Class Report: ENGL/THRE 3333.01: Shakespeare: Comedies & Sonnets–19 October 2016

geoffreybelliott1 Comment

While being observed and after addressing concerns from and questions about the previous class meeting, discussion asked after progress on the AnnBib. It then moved to the week’s assigned reading, As You Like It.

Students are reminded of the following due dates:

  • AnnBib Preliminary Search Methods (in hard copy at the beginning of class time on 24 October 2016)
  • Discus 7 (to be completed online before the beginning of class time on 26 October 2016)
  • Discus 8 (to be completed online before the beginning of class time on 2 November 2016)

Information about and samples of later assignments are forthcoming.

Class met as scheduled, at 1435 in Weir 109. The class roster listed four students enrolled, unchanged since the last class meeting. Three attended, verified informally. Student participation was reasonably good. No students from the class attended office hours since the previous class meeting.