• Home
  • /
  • Blog
  • /
  • MMS 173: Epilogue – First Trimester 2013-2014

MMS 173: Epilogue – First Trimester 2013-2014

As I wrap up my assessment of the final projects of my students this trimester, I can’t help but look back in what has been a roller coaster ride on my part. It ended up as a scramble to get the course in order the whole time. And I still screwed something up in the end. I wasn’t able to establish a system for submitting all these projects. They were coming from all over the place and easy to lose track of. With their own deadline only to think about, I don’t know if students realize how difficult it is on my end as well (not that it’s really their problem).

 

A class of 90 students for a course of this nature is cumbersome. It was a big point of contention for me, which I hope, with a formalized schedule of offering starting this year, won’t be happening again. Fortunately (or unfortunately for some people), not all of those students made it through the course. As I look at my class list right now, I have a mortality of just over 40%. Now, now now… before people who aren’t really in the know raise the red flags, sure, for a traditional classroom-based course (or subject, depending on where you went to school), that is alarming and cause enough for a teacher to be sat down by the dean for a heart to heart conversation at the very least. But for an online course, it is quite common, sadly enough. Not to wash my hands of anything, but in most cases, it really isn’t the teacher’s fault, and not mine in this case, as far as I can see. In any event, as unsavory as some people might see it, that drop in attendance really did help me in making the class more manageable. Still cumbersome, but manageable.

Losing a rather huge chunk, however, did not seem to have made the class lose its diversity and liveliness. And even though the latter somewhat dipped after a month or so, there remained an active core who, even at the time of this writing that’s two weeks past the end of the trimester, continues to check in with me and the course site. And mind you, it’s not just for the following up of their grades and submissions, but also for actual discussions even after I’ve graded them. That’s unprecedented for me. At a time when some of my colleagues lament how their course sites turn into a trimester-long monologue because of passive undergraduate students, here I am wondering when my students will finally call it a trimester and start preparing for the next one.

 

Going over the final projects was draining. Looking back, it’s probably one of the reasons why I encouraged students to work in groups — less work for me to assess. It took nearly two days to finish and it wasn’t a very deep evaluation, at that. Heh, chances are, scores would generally be lower than they are now, if I did that. I’m thinking about going through it again, now, actually.

 

Anyway, after two days and nearly two liters of coffee, I went through an array of project exhibiting a wide range of skill and exerted effort. While I feel a little bad that there are some that would have been better had they taken the time to consult with me, I am quite impressed at the sight of this lot. As you can see in the first picture, money was spent on presentation, and I can’t ignore that. I probably should offer to return it to them, as these projects probably mean so much more to them than it does to me.

While I’m pretty much over the class now, there are other things I realize I should not take for granted when it comes to class policies:

    1. Some students have a hard time following instructions. It gets worse for every detail I forget to include in the instructions.
    2. It doesn’t matter when you set it. Most students will submit them at or near the deadline, anyways.
    3. No matter how hard you try to prepare all sorts of considerations, there will always be a grey area between saying a definite yes or no.
    4. Finding the right balance between having a fricking bleeding heart and being a heartless bastard (with a slight bias towards the latter, preferrably) will be a never-ending quest for me.
    5. A certain amount of accountability on the part of students is a really good thing.
    6. Demanding commitment when it comes to attending face to face sessions is another good thing.
    7. I’m not sure if honesty is the best policy, period. But I do know it can do wonders in class. Compliments and higher grades would hold more meaning to students. On the other hand, overly sensitive students might regard not-so-positive critique as sledgehammers to their souls.

It’s also nice how taking in former students to volunteer as mentors in the class worked well. But I can also see how there’s still a lot of room for improvement in its implementation. I am thankful for Blaise, Misael and Winter being game with it. I owe these guys a drink, at the very least. Perhaps they can be part of the course again later. And maybe one or two of the standouts in the recent class will be interested to be part of this group as well.

And so, with this blog, I conclude Multimedia Studies 173 of the first trimester, AY 2013-2014. For some students, it will be their last encounter with me. Others will see me in one or two more courses. And for mortalities who want to graduate, let’s hope things will be better next time.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.