Katho New Media course evaluation May11

    New Media  ‐ the challenge for traditional media,  advertisers and communicators ‐          Erasmus Course Evaluation      Lecturer: Ana ADI          Session 2010/2011  Semester 2 – May 2011  

At  the  end  of  the  New  Media  course,  the  14  participating  students  were  asked  to take a survey in order to evaluate the New Media course together with the lecturer’s method,  approach  and  enthusiasm.  The  evaluation  survey  was  accessible  online leaving students with the option of taking it at their own pace and in the absence of the lecturer. To avoid bias, students were asked to submit their answers before their final  grades  were  delivered.  13  out  of  the  total  of  14  participating  students  in  the course took the survey, offering responses from 92.8%% of the course participants. The survey’s structure of the previous semesters has been maintained.  Overall, 71% of the students (10 out of the 13  respondents) found the course, the overall content and the overall teaching effectives as “very good”. All other answers recorded rated the course as “good” or “excellent”.     1. Overall course evaluation results   Asked  to  evaluate  specific  aspects  of  the  course  or  the  teaching  process,  the students  responses  confirm  the  high  evaluations  of  the  overall  course  as  most  of their answers provide “excellent” or “very good ratings”. The lecturer’s enthusiasm, the  lecturer’s  use  of  technology  and  the  Skype  online  live  video  guest  lectures obtained most of the “excellent” ratings from the students followed by the lecturer’s availability to answer questions, the lecturer’s answer to the students’ questions and the integration of other lecturers and guests within the course. This could  indicate that  providing  some  diversity  in  the  way  content  is  delivered  has  a  potential  to maintain the students’ interest in the course.  

  2. Specific course elements evaluation    As with previous sessions, two online  live video  guest lecturers were set up. While the  connection  to  the  USA  via  Skype  was  successful,  technical  difficulties  were encountered  with  the  connection  to  Bahrain.  This  led  to  the  Bahrain  guests continuing their interaction with the class via chat and Twitter.   Similar with the previous sessions, the online live video lectures were regarded as a novelty as well as a great way to integrate new media in the class.  

  3.Online video guest lecture evaluation     Among other aspects of the course evaluated were the use of the class time (46.15% very  good),  the  relevance  and  usefulness  of  the  course  content  (53.84%  excellent) and the balance between theory and practice (53.84% excellent).      4. Other course dimensions evaluated   With regards to attendance, all responding students attended all classes. Almost half of the responding students (6 out of 10) expect to receive an A.  

Three qualitative questions were part of the survey as well. They aimed to determine the  areas  that  students  most  liked  or  disliked  as  well  as  identify  elements  that students would have wanted the course to cover. Even with the course covering 7 sessions  at  a  total  of  24  hours  of  contact,  some  students  suggested  the  course  to take  even  longer  or  to  be  scheduled  in  such  a  way  as  to  provide  them  with  some decompression and/or reflection time.   Other suggestions included more examples and  practice with new media tools and platforms (beyond micro‐blogging, blogging and social media analytics tools) as well as more business related examples. These suggestions ill  be taken into account for future deliveries of the course.       5. New course elements wanted   One the changes suggested makes reference to the new media impact on journalism day  and  practice.  Taking  into  account  that  most  students  in  this  semester  had  a background  in  business  and/or  business  administration,  their  suggestion  reflects their  different  subject  interests  as  well  as  their  little  impact  with  journalism. However,  discussing  about  creative  industries  and  new  media  production  and influence without making reference to journalism, citizen journalism would depict an incomplete picture. In order to incorporate the students’ suggestions, the journalism exercises will be redesigned to include a more business angles.  

    6. Suggested improvements     Finally, among the things the students liked the most were the practice‐based‐days, the discussions they generated and the final project.    

  7. “What did you like more about this course” answers     Observations and Conclusions: All the answers given to the questions asked are in the higher positive range – from good to excellent.   The areas marked the students as being excellent (obtaining also the majority vote) were:  • The lecturer’s use of technology (100%)  • The lecturer’s enthusiasm (84.6%)  •  The practical aspects of the course were mentioned as strong points of the course and good  learning experiences. It should be  noted that this semester featured one individual  assignment  and  two  teamwork  assignments  including  the  final  team‐project.  To  showcase  the  student’s  assignments  the  students  chose  wordpress  as their showcase platform:  http://kathonewmedia.wordpress.com  The students final projects will also be shown on in this space.   

It is notable that many of the students indicate as an important factor the lecturer’s enthusiasm  and  support.  As  with  previous  semesters,  this  shows  reiterates  the potential,  if  not  the  need,  for  courses  to  be  delivered  in  a  more  interactive  way where students are constantly given challenges to solve together with the lecturer. Having a problem‐based learning approach in this case is perhaps the best solution, ensuring the students apply and/or discover the content they need in order to fulfil their tasks.    When it comes to the use of technology, even three years since the course was first offered, the online live video guest lectures obtained still a very positive evaluation even from a group who is accustomed to using online live video streaming platforms for  personal  uses.  As  with  the  previous  semester,  the  responses  indicate  that  the transfer  of  knowledge,  dialogue  as  well  as  learning  objectives  could  be  achieved regardless of the presence in class of the lecturer. Furthermore, the good evaluation the  online  live  video  lectures  received  show  that  students  appreciate  contact  with industry experts and other lecturers that live and operate outside their countries.   Recommendations and suggestions:  Taking into account the students’ observations and in an attempt to make a link to the areas determined in the course evaluation as having a potential for improvement it is suggested:  • A  redesign  of  the  journalism  related  exercises  to  be  more  relevant  to  business students  • The  introduction  of  more  practice  days  related  to  other  technologies  and  platforms  • The presentation of more new/social media statistics and inforgraphics as a  way of showing changes in media consumption behaviours  • The  introduction  of  more  discussions  and  debates  about  the  future  of  internet, the impact of internet on cultural and political dialogue, privacy and  security   • An  expansion  of  the  New  Media  course  to  local  students  as  well  (not  necessarily in the same classroom).       

Katho New Media course evaluation May11

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Katho New Media course evaluation May11 Document Transcript

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