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 57, and 38
students filled out evaluation forms. Of those, 35 had extra written
comments to make.
All semester, I tried very hard to keep the material in Sec 1 synchronized with the material in Sec 2, but these were two different classes, and they had moderately different views on the course. The differences are interesting, quite as much as the similarities, so I will group my analysis of both courses. Two issues stand out, one is the pace of the course / number of topics dealt with, and the second involves the the online homework system. Section 1 met Mondays and Wednesdays, while section 2 met Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. The homework for each section was due Saturday nights at 9pm. Even though each class covered the same topics at the same rate, and had the same homework assigned with the same due date, the MWF section thought the workload was very reasonable (even more reasonable than the CNSM average) while the MW section frequently commented on how much work the homework entailed, and the rushed pace of the class. As I start each class with an opportunity for students to ask questions (and I'm prepared each class period for the entire period to be taken up with questions if there are that many), I did find that having a class meeting the day before the homework was due gave the students a real opportunity to take a crack at solving the problems. In the MW section, student would have had to have carved out time on Monday, or Teusday to find out where the difficult problems were. Also, in the MWF section, there were three opportunities / week to ask questions, as opposed to two for the MW section. The remedy may be to adjust the due dates for the MW homework section so that there is more of a deadline pressure causing students to bring their questions to class. I rather think the solution will be to limit my offerings of the course to MWF sections. At any rate, reducing the number of topics covered in PHYS 151 is something that the department will be taking seriously in the future. Both sections, with a few exceptions, found the Mastering Physics site to be very useful, perhaps even more useful than the lectures I offer. That is as it should be --- I am firmly convinced that the lectures are only a supplement to the real work in the course that takes place in the homework.
Comments made during standard class evaluations:
1. The lecture period is not long enough
to effectively present all the material. The instructor seems rushed
in lectures for this reason. He covers all the material in class;
but because it is at such a fast pace, I either don't understand or I get
left behind. I still think Prof. Pickett is an excellent instructor
though, considering the circumstances.
2. I enjoyed using the Mastering Physics
website. However, some problems were tricky and were sensitive to
how the answer was submitted. It was a little excessive at times;
but was helpful overall. Perhaps you may reduce the amount
of problems, both extra credit and the regular problems. Instead
of 3 midterm exams, you may want to have more exams, maybe even 1 exam
per chapter. That way, our grade doesn't depend on performance of
any given exam. You were very knowledgeable, and you presented the
material effectively. Good Job! I enjoyed having you as an
instructor. A+ job. (P.S. don't forget to slow
down a bit at times.)
3. The amount of material required to
be covered in this class was too much. Either the subject content
should be cut or lectures made longer. In order for the professor
to cover all of the necessary material he flew past some kwy concepts.
Many students were left behind. Mastering
Physics program was helpful for homework if you understood the material.
I know I started getting lost around chapter 9 and when putting in answers
I'd just keep changing things around until I got it right. This method
is obviously not useful for learning. In
the beginning, chapters were well spread, but 3/4 into the semester, 6
chapters were thrown on us. It was too much material to fully grasp
the ideas.
4. Professor Pickett is a great professor. Helps the
students a great deal in making them understand the subject material.
The amount of homework got too much at times. It became difficult
to finish all of it, but professor gave an extension often enough for us
to be able to finish it. While giving lectures,
please slow down. We are covering too
much material in class. As a result we have to skip over some topics
which get covered in the homework. Mastering
Physics experience went well. Extra Credit makde the grading very
fair. The only thing about it was that in the questions mastering
phsyics plays with variables. They want one answer and different
way using different variable. We are not learning physics that way.
Labs were fun and easy. It was pretty lightweight. Again,
cover less material. Cut it by 25%.
5. The class was great, but had too
much material overall. It seemed like he was trying to cram too much
into each lecture before students could get a grasp on the subject material.
Mastering Physics was a very good learning
tool. The extra credit was very helpful. I also liked
group exams - it was a very good way to learn the material.
6. A very good teacher, pretty effective lecturer.
I liked the online HW, the instant feedback was very
useful. Some of the subject matter was hard to understand in lecture,
but the combination of hw, in-class exercises and lecture made everything
pretty reasonable. I thought the labs were much less
useful than inclass assignments for understanding subject matter.
Good use of examples and homework problems to show us how each sujbect
works. Teacher works well with students so everyone has a chance
to understand and succeed. Good stuff, very good teacher.
7. There was a lot of information to comprehend
in this class. However, using the "two blue book" format helped.
There should be slightly less material to cover.
8. Pickett was a good teacher, he was clear about the material and
fair with the grading.
9. Labs were just right. Work load in the lab were not
different. One thing I could suggest is that during lecture, instead
of just deriving how it came to be, do examples for the textbook.
So that it could help some of us solve the problem set.
10. This class was not half as bad as I thought it was going to
be. During the beginning of the labs when we did the practice problems
we came out with numerical values and in the lecture we did not.
Maybe next time the problem can coincide with the lecture so there are
no numerical values.
11. The lecture was very enjoyable, although the lab part was way
too long and it required way too much effort. A lot of work done
in lab was just too repetative. (for instance, doing the same experiment
10 times was not necessary in my opinion, 2 or 3 trials could have still
the point.)
12. I am glad that we had two bluebooks for the exams.
There were just the right amount of in-class assignments. The material
was explained very well. I liked how we could
go back and do problems on Mastering Physics. The extra credit problems
were helpful in case I lost credit on the other problems.
I think we should be able to return the labs one week after completing
them so that we don't have to come back to campus just to drop off a lab.
Overall very well taught.
13. The extra credit on the homework
not only helps get homework points but helps understand the next problem
set and helps with the understanding of the subject. I think
if you sould hand out some extra problems with answers it would help learn
how you want it and how to practice for tests because the way you solve
it is different from the book and lab (its a bit confusing). Work
on small writing on board.
14. The lectures are interesting, but working with only equations
makes the subject a little harded. as for the
online homwwork, even though its easier for the instructor to grade, it
is very time consuming for students. And, in my case I would be better
off turning in paper because that way I can take it with me everywhere,
unlike looking for a computer to do it. Regarding the lab,
I would reccommend that they go along with lecture and not to be all over
the place, like it was this semester.
15. Professor Pickett, thanks for all the help.
16. Professor Pickett, I think that you should go over more
problems in class that are similar to the exam problems. But, don't
do the Q's section of class because no one asks questions! Also,
I think in class quizzes would be a good idea, because it would tell me
/ people where we are having problems on the course work before the exams.
17. Great professor and very helpful. Very through approach.
Good approach to the tests. For labs: some of the labs were
long but was manageable. Needs to be more constructive and real life
applications.
18. This class had more than enough
work. The lab had a considerable amount of work which when
combined with the class, was overwhelming at times.
19. Speaks and writes so fast I can barely
write everything down. Most of the time I'm just copying what he
writes and not really understanding the material, homework problems are
overwhelming in number, I don't have time to finish all of them in one
week since I have to read and re-read the book to understand the material.
20. Because of the amount of work required for the problem
sets, it was difficult to finish them early in the week. I would
suggest having the ps due the saturday or sunday after instruction,
but always before the exam.
21. The workload of the labs was easy to handle especially
with the use of computers during the period.
22. Mastering Physics can get hard, especially
if the answer is not shown.
23. Topics gone over in lecture were helpful for understanding
the material. The online homework was a lot,
but it definitely helped in understanding the problems. The extra
credit is a great feature also. Having office hours in class
and going over the problem set problems was very helpful. Fast responses
from emailed questions (most of the time) were essential. THe professor
is very effective in teaching the course content, even if there is a lot
to cover.
24. The online homework took many hours to
complete. There was a lot of information
to cover.
25. I thought the class was very well organized and I liked
the way the homework and the exams were set up.
26. Lectures: only reason to go
is for in-class assignments. Too confusing. Talks way too fast
and doesn't give time to let students absorb material. Homework:
where most of my work in class was done. Very very useful.
Lab: lab #7 has got to go. Labs need to be hands on, not conceptual.
27. I think it was fair and reasonable. It is a hard
topic and he does a pretty good job throughout the course.
28. Best physics prof. we have! I took 151 last semester
and got an incomplete. I decided to retake the class totally, b/c
I felt I hadn't learned anything. This semester was great.
I love Mastering Physics, and wish I could use Mastering
Calculus (ha ha!). Plus, the labs were much easier to accomplish
than last semester. You should teach 152 and then I may learn as
well as I did this semester. Thank You!
29. One thing I didn't like about the
online homework was that if you spent a great deal of time on a problem
and couldn't get the right answer, you got zero points for that problem.
I think hand written homeowrk is better, because this way if you put a
lot of effort into a problem you will at least get some credit.
30. The lab for this class is irrelevant in understanding
the material in this class. The material were
too much to comprehend at once. I do
enjoy the problem sets.
31. Extra credit on the homework was
very helpful. Homework due on Saturday night was not helpful.
Sunday night would be better. Labs were too much work and too ambiguous.
Chem 111A labs were better. THe way the lab is layed out is wierd.
It would be better if it had questions at the end instead of making you
do wierd graphs.
32. Dr. Pickett is very concerned with his students' education
and understanding of the material. He was available during every
single office hrs. but 1 for the entire semester. Sometimes his method
for presenting the material was confusing, it might have been simplified
by leaving out derivations of some of the formulas.
33. Mastering Physics is a great idea
and the 2 blue-book test. I took this class once before and
I can confidently say that Pickett is the best teacher I've ever had at
CSULB. He makes learning tough material less stressful and is very
effective. Answering emails and offering before-class office hours
in the classroom was great also. Only 2 minor problems. They
were that the lectures sometimes seemed rushed and the due date
for labs were very unreasonable. Labs assigned on Wednesday were
due on Friday, it was a bit rough. Other than that no other complaints.
Great professor overall.
34. I think I was most suprised at how helpful you were in
this class. It was much better and easier than I expected.
The labs are a lot of work but I think they would be much more tolerable
if the TA's could explain what we had to do in the writeups instead of
relying on the referenced instructions.
35. I enjoyed this course alot and feel more confident about
next year's course. I also found the p.s. very
useful because many were very similar to the MCAT Q's. Thanks!
Professor Pickett was also very approachable and I would feel very confident
in asking him physics questions after the course is over.
last updated: Jan. 31, 2006
