Galen T. PickettAssoc. ProfessorPhysics and AstronomyPH3-103
California State University Long Beach 1250 Bellflower Blvd. Long Beach, CA 90840-3901 (562) 985-4934 vc (562) 985-7924 fax
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Analysis of written comments:
At the time of evaluations, enrollment in the course was 48, and
26 students filled out evaluation forms. Of those , 22
had extra written comments to make.
There are two recurring comments. First, there is too much homework assigned in the course. The basic idea *every* physics professor has for a course like this is that the *problems* are what teaches the physics, so assigning challenging homework is a vital goal for this course. I sympatize, however, with the workload complaints, and will see how both increasing the grade-weight of the homework, and in cutting down the quantity of problems will help.
Secondly, there are persistent comments on the lab for the course. These mostly focus on trying to synchronize the lab and the lecture, but also point to the large workload the labs entail. I'm reluctant to address the workload of the labs, but I can make a better effort of putting the lab work into the context of the lecture.
Comments made during standard class evaluations:
1. If there are going to be so many computer
homework problems, then it should be weighted with a higher percent on
your overall grade. Lab instructors
should give examples that are on the same subject as lecture. Lab
could also be worth a higher percentage by at least 5-10%.
Thank you very much for an interesting and attentive semester.
2. Physics 151 is a difficult course, however, Dr. Pickett was excellent
in helping us understand the content. The group exercises used during
the course were very valuable and key to understanding the material.
Some of the mastering phsyics homework was too much.
The lab needs to follow the lecture.
Overall, great teacher. Very interesting.
3. This professor is one of the best professors I had for my
classes. He explained everything clearly in the class and
very helpful during office hours. Helps our lot for homeowrk
during the office hours. The homework assignments were very helpfull
and best way to practice what we learn in the class. In class exercises
also helped a lot because I could discuss problems with other students.
This was the best physics class I had in CSULB and I learned lot.
I highly reccommend this professor for 151. ... Thank you.
4. ISEE method was extremely helpful in class lectures and tests;
it provided an organized and clear way of objective of problems.
Mastering physics site was difficult to learn and get used to at first
but the problem sets were useful; however, the amount
of problems given, per set, tend to be excessive.
5. I had tried taking this class before from another instructor
and had to drop our simply because I couldn't understand what he was
saying or writing on the board. It was refreshing to have a professor
whose native language was english. It's hard in a course like this
to cover so much material, and at times I was confused simply by the amount
of different concepts being discussed at one time. The lab website
was somewhat useful, but hard to navigate at times. The same goes
for Mastering Physics.
6. I had a very good experience in this class. The subject
matter is very difficult no matter who is teaching it. I felt Prof.
Pickett was well organized, consistent, and did a very good job.
I would recomend to any of my friends that take Physics 151 to chose Prof.
Pickett's class over other teachers.
7. Best phys exerienced. Learned all the concepts, when help
was needed, he was always there as specified during lab hours. Very
helpful, but sometimes cut time short because he had to go, but otherwise
great. Also, labs are not synchronized with
the lecture. Most work in lab was tedious and irrelevant. We
got a lot of data which was too time consuming. Also,
Mastering Physics took longer than expected. Some problems were too
difficult that even Dr. Pickett seemed to get stuck on while trying to
do them, so how does he expect us to do them. Also, try to put less.
8. Very smart teacher. Just needs to slow down a notch.
Grading was fair. Needs more in-class activities.
9. Professor was well prepared for class; notes were very organized.
Mastering physics was helpful and was better when we didn't get penalized
for having the wrong answers. In class assignments weren't very challenging
- kind of a waste of class time. They were just an easy way to boost
our grades. There should be more physics professors like Dr. Pickett.
10. I really enjoyed having Pickett as a teacher. Sometimes
I would get lost in class because the examples were computationally heavy
and I'd forget what the overall goal of the example was. But I thought
that the way the tests were graded was really fair and helpful. Too
bad he's not teaching 152. Mastering Physics was a great help.
11. Overall, I feel this course was well instructed and I did
learn a lot from this class. However, I think
the workload outside of class was a little too much. I feel
that I wish we could have done more in-class work and less homework.
I think the Mastering Physics is a good way to assign the outside of class
work, however, there were too many problems to sit down and work on.
Also, I believe we should spend more time going deeper into a few laws
and theorems rather than just using them once and moving on.
12. Mastering Physics online HW was a good way to learn and understand
work in this class. However, sometimes there
were too many problems assigned. The worst was when one problem had
more than E and F parts. In class instructor was good at presenting
material. One thing I would like to see change is maybe when explaining
something to somewhat face the class and not the board, just so it is easier
to see the board and hear the instructor better.
13. Homework takes too much time.
14. Definitely don't make the homeowrk on the web hurt.
This site and questions are often very confusing. Do less derriving
of equations. There's very little time in class, so more time should
be spent on how things work, examples, etc. rather than derriving how to
do it or how ``xyz'' came about. More in-class assignments, but longer.
Tests are sometimes too long for the given time. Maybe 1 ``hard''
question and one easy one. ISEE is very difficult to understand.
We think it's too formal and spend too much time worrying about the ormat
rather than the content.
15. The amount of homework on Mastring Physics
was a bit much. Mastering Physics on the other hand was great.
The lab I was in was rather pointless.
I learned nothing from class, the problems on the board and the lab rarely
coincided with the current topic in lecture.
16. The problem sets on Mastering Physics were unclear at times
when hints and certain algorithm was needed. Try and explain that
the 2nd book on the exam, anybody can help each other for the problems.
17. The Masteringphysics assignments had some kinks in it that still
aren't fixed. Such as revealing of answers and even plain refusal
of the right answers to some of the problems.
It almost made the reasonable homework too hard. It rose how difficult
it was.
18. The problem sets were a little too much
to handle every week. I liked the in-class assignments.
More would be good so people can work together more often. The
lab could have been more synchronized with the class.
19. He was always available during office hours and has helped me
a lot. Even when it wasn't his office hours he helped me alot which
shows that he cares greatly for his students.
20. The course was great - my only complaint is with the online
homework. It didn't always work and I found that it confused
me more than it helped me - I think it's because the way the problems are
set up online.
21. "Mastering physics" online homework was very effective in giving
the students instant feedback about their strengths and weaknesses.
Prof. Pickett was clear, and accessible for questions. Thanks!
22. I enjoyed Dr. Pickett's lectures, but I did not like the
Mastering Physics website at all. I did not feel that it was effective
in teaching physics.
last updated: June 22, 2005
