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 65, and 42
students filled out evaluation forms. Of those, 34 had extra
written comments to make.
Partly to address consistent requests for "physical" homework, I adopted a practice this semester of awarding 5 points on each exam if a student turned in a writeup on each of the online homework problem sets. These are the "homework portfolios" that many students mention in the comments, often quite favorably. Some studnets seem to be abusing thie practice, by copying solutions they have not authored, but copying out someone else's solution is better (probably) than never coming across the colutions in the first place. This practice seems to be driven by a workload issue that some students have with the course. Many, many students comment on the difficulty of the course, its pace, number of concepts, and my lecturing pace. While I can't see reducing the material any further, it is possible that lecturing with a table pc computer will aleviate some of this "note-taking" pressure. Perhaps emphasizing just the major conclusions in a calculation ... even a sort of "write this part down and fill in the steps between yourself" ... would be the kind of guidance students would find helpful.
Comments made during standard class evaluations:
1. I would have liked more feedback from in class assignments
and the tests.
2. 3 tests would be nice. Less homework.
3. The lab were too easy and not much was learned. The
lab should at least slightly follow the lecture component. Homework
portfolio was very helpful for studying. More test would help
make studying easier.
4. Very difficult course when compared
to PHYS 151. Great professor, but, nonetheless, it was a hard subject
to grasp.
5. The lab manual has ALOT of problems.
6. HW portfolio and + 5 extra was beneficial
to me and prepared me well for the tests.
7. More Test!
8. Dr. Pickett is very professional, helpful and motivated.
He's an awesome teacher.
9. Perhaps a summary link in which are
connects how everything is considered and connected. Simply
the best, and congratulations on your teaching award and professorship.
10. Thanks for putting the extra credits on the homework and
also for giving +5 points e.c. for the notebook.
It is helpful to study for the exam. The
class is difficult, fortunately you grade easy on the test.
11. I would have like to have had 3 tests during the semester.
The HW portfolio was helpful by understanding the
ISEE format for test and getting extra points.
12. Revise lab book. Mastering physics book = not good.
Difficult to follow work done on board. Step
back from board a little more often, hard to see. Overall difficult
but manageable class ... very difficult.
13. I was only able to complete the homework because there
was a large group of us working on individual probs. We would exchange
answers on Thurs. So, when we would fill out
the HW notebooks, I was able to see which eqns. and concepts showed
up and studied those.
14. Labs are a little to wordy, hard to understand.
Homework portfolio helped w/ the points. Actually helped me study.
15. In regards to the homework assigned, it was too much.
The homework was very helpful when it came to the exam since it covered
all the material presented in the various chapters.
16. Very helpful, made Physics 152 much simpler to understand,
I did not take Physics 151 with Mr. Pickett, but I wish I had.
His expectations are very understandable considering the subject everything
was helpful. Sometimes the test reviews wern't helpful, but overall
they were.
17. The HW portfolio was helful for
studying for exams and the points were really helful. I liked
having only 2 exams and a final. Enjoyed your
class considering how hard the subject of physics. Great instructor.
18. Great instructor, material difficult.
19. Another test would be useful. Instead of only 2
test. A lab manual that is understandable and consistent in format.
20. Had a much better experience w/ Pickett in 151.
These concepts were much harder to grasp and he seemed
to breeze right through them. The HW was much harder and the hints
wern't nearly as helpful as in 151.
21. Lab: page #'s. Who wrote this manual? The
directions as far as practical elements, i.e. plugging in wires, fluke,
etc ... were a little confusing and always having to refer to older labs
for info on the current lab. Class: True, there is a lot of
info covered for 2 test questions, but more tests isn't the answer to that
problem, 2 tests was *fine*! Maybe practice test questions can emphasize
test more directly.
22. There is no other instructor that I would take for PHYS
151 and PHYS 152 other than Dr. Pickett. I felt that I really learned
in these classes with Pickett. When he writes
on the board, he does it at such a pace I can't keep up. But, when
I go hone and actually read some of the material, I am able to understand.
I think that there should be a third exam just like how there was for Physics
151. There was too much to study for at one time. I
also feel that the HW portfolio was helpful.
23. Online homework let me set my pace for learning and having
two weeks ensured I could get them done. Lectures
were sometimes fast paced, but wouldn't have taken any other professor.
The first hour of lab helped tremendously and it was great that our class
was up to pace rather than most teachers a week or two behind seeing too
much new material. Homework book points relieved
pressure while the book itself had me feel prepared.
24. I found that some of the review problems were not even
close to the exam problems. The homework was a bit much and is impossible
to finish on time if you don't have friends. I did like all
the extra credit opportunities. I did like how the homework
and lab was weighted heavily in the class.
25. You seemed to teach 151 better,
maybe because it was easier. Too many formulas to remember,
allow notecard! If we didn't study, a notecard would not help so please
allow one. You can even give out a set of equations for us to have
or something. Hore HW assignments. same number of problems,
but split so one is due each week. HW was not as helpful as in 151.
26. I felt very lost sometimes because
in lecture many times you would just be deriving equations and I found
it very hard to correlate the concepts to what we covered in class.
The way problems were solved in class hardly ever were done in the same
fashion as the book did them and it is because of this that I was really
confused on how to go about solving for some problems.
27. Great at explaining materials. 2 tests are too few
because there is too much material to cover per test. The
notebooks are *very good* because they require actively writing solutions
to problems in organized fashion conductive to understanding.
Laboratory manual is extremely indirect and often impossible to understand
due to ambiguity and needless excessive explainations.
28. The material was a little difficult
to follow at times, but by virtue of the level of work involved,
there is nothing that can be done about it without taking something away
learning. There is no other instructor I would take for this course;
I would have taken it elsewhere first.
29. The lectures were interesting but often went over my head.
I had to study a lot from the books. Just the
sheer speed of him deriving equations left me in the dust. I
think if we only have two tests for the semester, more problems and extra
credit on the homework should be available since studying for a test with
only two problems with concepts from an older class can be nerve wracking.
The homework portfolio helped a lot when studying.
I had a clear written out problem for the different problems so it helped
for preparing for exams.
30. As a senior in Mechanical Engineering, Pickett is the
best instructor I've come across, bar none. I
though the homework portfolio was an effective way to study.
All base concepts were covered on the homeowrk, all the tests asked were
for the students to connect the concepts.
31. The class might be improved with a more interactive teaching
style. I wasn't the only one who fell asleep on a regular basis.
I was taking Calculus III at the same time and was
unable to keep up with many of the calculations. The equation which
you derived were not helpful in understanding the material. Please
spend more time on examples in the future.
32. A lot of the lectures were based
more on theory than practical examples which isn't as helpful for non-physics
majors. The ISEE method isn't helpful. Generally, I
do the I and S after I've solved the problem. Teacher is very fair
grader, has clear expectations for class. Best physics teacher in
the department by far.
33. The schedule was up on the board, that was nice to have.
Sometimes there was too much time spent on calculations.
HW portfolio was great, extra points and it made
you really understand the question. The lab manual was horrible,
but instructor James Lincoln was great.
34. Test and homework were fair, but
your teaching style is way too fast. I advise you to not have
two weeks where you don't learn anything that will be on the final and
either teach slower or have two weeks of review. The biggest problem
I had was your speed and use of technical terms that we don't know
which you are trying to teach us. Future students should be allowed
a notecard b/c there are way too many equations to memorize. In the
real world, calculators and notecards are allowed.
last updated: Jan. 15, 2008
