Course Goals & Objectives
The stated goals and objectives are definitely relevant. But, even though I didn’t know too much about adult ed for refugees in the US, I don’t feel I learned much. As I mention below, I felt the course design, being relatively broad in scope for a one-unit class, didn’t allow us to do much more than skim the surface. Perhaps that was the intent and my expectations/hopes were unrealistic under the circumstances.
Course content/design
The topics defined in Elizabeth’s overview are extremely important. However, I felt that we skimmed the surface of all of them, and didn’t delve as deeply as I’d have liked into any one. I realize we’re constrained by this being a one-unit course, but might it be a solution to pick just one or two of the topics stated in the Overview, and really dig in?
Course Materials
“Adult English Language Instruction in the 21st Century” was excellent. I felt the “Top 10 Immigration Facts” was predictable and basic for people who are already interested in immigrant education. I checked n/a on representing diverse perspectives” because I don’t think it’s relevant here. These readings were meant to be overviews of a system and a bird’s eye view of the people navigating it, so I didn’t see specific cultural perspectives as within class scope. But the Ilan Stavans article was interesting. I can’t remember the other articles offhand.
Out of Class Assignments
I didn’t find the reports about immigrants to the US to be particularly useful. While I learned something about Mexican immigration to the US, it wasn’t really the kind of thing I wanted to be learning in this class. And to be honest, I can’t say I found the other presentations particularly interesting, again because the material was mostly not new to me. I think it’s an important topic, but I’d rather have read a well-chosen article and used that class time to go into an area that’s more unknown. Preparing the final report, on the other hand, was the highlight of the class for me. I was grateful that Elizabeth let me pursue a topic not on the list, and I am now even more interested in it than I was before. I don’t think my presentation particularly benefited my peers because I raced through it, but I gained a lot of insight into adult ed.
In Class Learning Activities
The classes were overall interesting and paced nicely, with constructive use of interactivity to keep our brains chugging along and to reinforce ideas. Because I am an older adult learner with all the associated brain-shortcomings, I’m having a hard time remembering specific activities beyond those I’m describing here. I’m looking at the class topic for 10/19: “The Teacher: Roles & Responsibilities: Where do I begin… how [would] you set up your classroom…?” I have no recollection of discussing either of those two things. That may be my flawed memory, but if it’s not, those are things I really wanted to learn about — and in any case, I didn’t learn enough to have it stick. I guess here’s a good place to say that what I hoped to emerge with was an understanding of some specific techniques for working with adults: tricks of the trade and other practical info; but instead, I felt we got more theoretical than practical grounding, so I was disappointed by that.
Feedback on Assignments
The feedback on our final presentation was instantaneous. I wouldn’t have minded getting more hefty feedback, since I’d spent so long on my presentation: directions I could go from here, etc. Yeah, now that I think about it, I do wish for more substantive response. But I appreciated the comments I did get, and the instant gratification of getting them the moment I finished. I don’t remember getting specific teacher feedback on my presentation about Mexican immigrants. I also spent a long time on that and would have liked an e-mailed paragraph — I want to pick my teachers’ brains while I’m here!
Teaching
Thanks, Elizabeth. I appreciated your creating a caffeinated little world for us so early in the morning, and fostering a climate of inquiry.
Strongest aspect of this course
The opportunity to explore deeply a relevant subject of interest.
Recommended changes
As discussed earlier, I would have preferred the net not be cast so wide at the expense of going deep. And I wanted more practical skill-building for teaching an adult ESL population.
What should prof do differently?
Alluded to elsewhere. One other thing that she and I have already talked about: manage class time better!
Moodle
It is always confusing. I just checked it now to see what was up there, and spotted a whole lot of articles that have been posted, but I don’t know when or why. I mean, I know why: for our edification. But I wish a) we’d been told when something new was up there (otherwise there was no reason to look at Moodle for this class), and/or that the article had been given an annotation instead of just a title. With an annotation, I can tell if it’s something I’m interested in or not. In fact, if it’s not too late, can Yajuan or someone do that for the PDFs up there? I have a very slow internet connection out in the boonies, and I have to really want something if I’m going to download it.