The SPOT (Fall, 2023): PSYCH 282

The SPOT are, of course, the Student Perspectives Of Teaching, taking the place of the USRIs. Here are some selected comments from students in PSYCH 282: Behaviour Modification from Fall term, 2023. (If it's not immediately obvious, my comments in parentheses are in full-on snark mode.)

“I like the organization of the textbook better than the lectures. It seems more logical.”

(But my lectures follow the chapters of the textbook exactly. I don’t know what else I could do except read directly from the textbook. Here’s what others thought, below.)

“The lecture material and the textbook aligned extremely well”
“The textbook did have lots of overlap but it helped reinforce and strengthen my understanding.”

💀

“It would be nice to have a video to watch that explains the self-management project in a bit more detail”

(I wrote an 11-page document all about: The Self-Management Project. Is it not long enough? Not detailed enough? I also talked about the project throughout the course in lecture. Sorry if that’s not enough for you, but I’m trying to treat you as adults.)

“There were immensely to many terms needing to be remembered for each test. A non-cumulative design for each test would be more conducive to a better learning environment.”

(The midterms were not cumulative, although this university-level course does build upon itself. All of those terms are part of the course content. Part of learning about behaviour modification is learning the language of the field. This is not part of the “learning environment.” You just want the exams to be easier, right?)

“notes could've been in greek"

(Προσπάθησα να κάνω τα πάντα κατανοητά.)

“Class lectures were structured into 3-50 minute lectures throughout the week which felt like a really good pace to go about some of the heavy technical terms, subtopics and jargon that this course involves. The syllabus outlined everything in a very comprehensive and effective manner detailing what topics are going to be covered each week and the major due dates for the self management project."

(See? This person gets it.)

“I think at times the self-management project instructions and expectations could have been clearer. There were a lot of questions asking clarification about a lot of things. I also found the scoring rubric to be confusing. The point deduction and addition system in it was confusing.”
“I found the requirements for the self-management project clear”

(These responses were literally one right after the other.)

“I didn't like the fill in the blank lecture notes. I found it distracting trying to make sure I was getting all the blanks filled in and would miss blanks often when I was trying to pay attention to the lecture.”
“The taking of the notes by filling the blanks really increased my in class attention. Was a good idea.”

(Some like it, some hate it. You don’t have to use them at all, you know. You are free to write everything down yourself. As I said in the first lecture, if you miss some blanks, you can come up to me at the end and I’ll help you out and give you the blanks you missed. Also, I think people were sharing them on Discord. So you won’t miss anything if you just put in a bit of extra effort.)

“I hate textbook exclusive testable knowledge. Everything testable should be covered in lectures.”

(Reading is an important skill. Yes, it takes effort. You sign up for my course, I assume that you want to learn things--and develop your skills. No?)

“There were a plethora of resources available on eClass and on the instructor's main course website. Literally everything from supplemental videos, Textbook answer key guides, assignment video tutorials, ePoll question sets, customized worksheets for several of the topics we learned throughout the course, substitution recorded lecture videos for the classes the professor unfortunately had to miss, a Zoom link to access some lectures when the class became a hybrid class, to even appealing, simplified 1 page infographics that made processing certain concepts and topics that much easier.”

(Gee, when you put it that way, it sure looks like I put a lot of thought and effort into teaching this class!)

“Prof posted a recording on zoom but did not give us the password required to access the recording.”

(When you click the video, Zoom copies the passcode to your clipboard and a message on screen says, “Copy Passcode to Clipboard.” This is how Zoom works, and I can’t change it. Sorry if it was too confusing for you.)

“the textbook did not align with the notes in too many instances”

(“Too many”? There were five. And I pointed each one out to you explicitly. I figure second-year university students can handle that.)

“This course has strongly shaped how I see psychology as a field. As well I have made great strides in my own personal wellbeing”
“I had no idea about behaviour modification, and despite this being a hard course, I am highly motivated to continue more in this field, especially due to Loepelmann's amazing humour, knowledge, and overall awesomeness.”

(Well that’s pretty darn cool. You keep me going, people; you keep me going.)

“Need to read the textbook if you want to get over 80 on exams”

(Is this a surprise or something? I did say half of the exam questions are from the textbook. And why are you writing this comment to me? This isn't rmp.)

“More practice exam or questions would have been better”

(So, having dozens of ePoll questions, dozens of worksheet questions, dozens on online chapter questions, and literally hundreds of practice quiz and practice test questions in the textbook are not enough? Really? How many are enough? Thousands? smh)

“had lots of practice exams”

(Yes. Yes, I did.)

“The one project that got split into 5 parts has a certain amount of points for each section but I found it difficult to tell how you were doing percentage/letter grade wise”

(You just have to do a calculation: the weighted mean. Here’s an online calculator: https://www.rapidtables.com/calc/math/weighted-average-calculator.html. If you are can’t do this, then I am sad that your math teachers have all let you down.)

“dont get to keep our tests”

(Yep, just like every other PSYCH course that has multiple choice exams. However, you could go to the exam viewing and spend 2 hours looking it over, though. You’re welcome!)

“THEY DID NOT MARK ANYTHING ON TIME”

(I have to stand up for my TAs here. First, what even does “on time” mean? Were there some deadlines to have marked material back? Did I make any promises about when your results would be available? Answer: No. Marking almost 300 completely different assignment submissions is a massive job. It’s not the same as a TA marking answers to math problems in which everyone is supposed to get the exact same right answer. They did a damn good job and I appreciate it. More patience you need.)

“If anything it felt slow paced at times”
“Too fast sometimes”

(Ah, a classic complaint from two students in the same course. I go both too fast and too slow. In the same class.)

“I felt that the self management project was useless as we as students are already struggling with the material, we don’t need a full on project that is designed to change one of our behaviours when we can barely keep up as it is with not only this course but other courses as well.”
“The test were less about knowing the elements of the course and more about almost tricking us questions as it was close to the material but way to challenging to decifer.”
“Midterm 1 was very fair and representative of the course content as well as the self-management project which incorporated the occasional subject content of the course close to the date that it was actually taught.”

(Maybe--and this is just a thought--maybe different people experience the same course in different ways. Maybe some people struggle more than others. I could simplify my course content to satisfy everyone. But then ? Is my course worse than, say, a second-year CHEM course? Or a second-year ENGL course?)

“He is a WONDERFUL human and made the lectures incredibly enjoyable to attend!!! I would definitely take a class with him again. He is incredibly funny, engaging, and definitely passionate and knowledgeable about what he teaches!!! Definitely one of the best psych profs I have had, he is so organized and prepared”
“Dr. Loepelmann is one of the best professors I have had in university. You can tell that he wants people to succeed and go to great lengths to ensure that people are understanding the content of his lecture.”
“Dr. Loepelmann is an excellent professor. He makes the class and the topics more interesting with the videos played to us during class. He explains the topics in a concise way.”
“The energetic environment made me excited to learn and I always looked forward to coming to classes.”
“The environment wasn't too serious either: the expectations were mostly all clear and he was so incredibly kind and funny.”
“This course honestly broke my spirit.”

(Well, that’s what I’m aiming for.)

Why aren't you studying?