You know, I completely neglected to mention that I was placed on the Department of Psychology's Teaching Honour Roll with Distinction for my Fall, 2014 courses. Thanks to everyone for your comments and feedback!
In other news, I also was placed on the Teaching Honour Roll with Distinction for my Spring, 2015 courses. Thanks!
Er, but, what about the Teaching Honour Roll for Winter, 2015? I dunno. It hasn't been released yet. Ooh, I'm on pins and needles! (Actually, I have full access to my eUSRI results online. And it looks like I'll qualify for, yep, Teaching Honour Roll with Distinction for those courses, too. Yay!)
Here are some select comments from students over the past year. Sorry it's a bit long--it covers the whole year. I was a bit surprised by the volume of comments, as when evaluations go online, the rule is that you get fewer responses. The tone of the feedback was constructive, respectful, and helpful. Thanks to all.
As always, proceed with caution. There be sarcasm ahoy!
PSYCO 104 (Winter):
“I had to rely on reading the textbook in order to pass the exams.”
“Textbook is interesting, it's the only one I've read in it's entirety
in the last term.”
(Yep, the textbook is important.)
“Instructor's jokes were okay at best (sorry Karsten)”
(I’ve fired my comedy writer (sorry Mom).)
“I wish there would be some practice questions before the exams”
“I thoroughly enjoyed this course (enough to make me reconsider my
minor)! Dr. Loepelmann is amaaaaaaazing”
(But not amaaaaaaazing enough to make you reconsider your major. Tsk!)
“He used portions of the course and made them applicable to our
studying and our general life, which was very useful and actually helped me
remember the concepts more clearly. His notes are very thorough and well laid
out, and having the mad libs format meant that I could actually pay attention
to what was being said instead of scrambling to write everything down. Overall
a very nice guy who taught us with respect and made the course a very enjoyable
way to start my day.”
(Wow, that’s really nice of you to--wait, what? Mad Libs format? For
the record, I did not rip off my fill-in-the-blanks approach from Mad Libs. I
ripped it off from a testing procedure developed by W.L. Taylor.)
“Hands down the best prof I have ever had. Really enjoyed learning
from him I would recommend him to anyone and I want to take another class from him.
What a great guy, I LOVE HIM”
(Thanks, but I’m already married.)
“In the course description I think it would be beneficial to first
year students (or other years of students) to say that the course content has
similar topics to Biology 30.”
(Thanks for your feedback.)
“the only thing I can say that I found negative about him is he tells
us that reading all the textbook is important for exams but I end up learning a
lot of unimportant information I wish he could single out key parts of text so
I can spend my study time more efficiently and focus on the information I need
to learn.”
(You mean, you just want to read for what’s on the test, right?)
“Stop giving out the whole class email list.”
(That’s not me, that’s Google Groups, and it's IST policy to give everyone access. I've asked them to change it, but they said no.)
“I did not really like the course website. The content was good, I
just wish it was all on eClass like my other courses.”
(What? eClass preferred over my hand-coded HTML goodness? Do you
prefer McDonald’s over home cooking, too?)
“The only issue that I had with him was that he did not take in-class
questions. I understand that a lot of the times the instructor needs to be kept
on track in order to get through the lecture for that day, however, it would
have been nice to be able to ask the question as it was pertaining to what was
being taught in class at the time. It would have cleared up confusion at that
moment, and perhaps it would have let him know where he was unclear and maybe needed
to slow down and go over.”
(I DO take questions. You just gotta really wave your hand around a
lot, or I won’t see you in such a big class.)
“11/10”
(Math fail.)
“LOVE the prof and class, but disliked the fill in the blanks because
if you miss one lecture and try to ask others for the notes they get too upset
and protective over it.”
(What’s up with that? People, be nice to each other, the class is not
curved, OK?)
“Throughout the course, there were no practice questions except
clicker questions posted on eClass to help the students understand the concepts.
There were no practice midterms posted online to help prepare for the exams.
Since the whole grade component was just based off of tests, this would be helpful.
There should be quizzes or practice questions posted throughout the term to
help students make sure they understand the concepts throughout the course.”
(Say it with me now: LearnSmart. Learn. Smart. Learnsmart.)
“I can't comment on the textbook readings because I haven't made it
past chapter one. However, Dr.Loepelmann was an awesome instructor and had a weird
amount of energy. I'm running on four cups of coffee and my left eye is still
twitching but somehow he had the energy of a six year old, like, every day. He
was always available for help outside of class and promptly responded to
emails. A+”
(Thanks, that A+ will really help my GPA. Also, see a doctor about
your twitching eye.)
“Dr. Loepelmann should be a more assertive professor, but other than
that this course was great”
(I should? Ok, I’ll do what you tell me to do and be more assertive.)
“Coming to your class was kinda like watching a PG-13 movie. Just when
i thought we were getting to the good stuff, you'd let me off with a tease.”
(Gosh darn it! What the heck are you talking about? Shut the front
door!)
“The instructor wasted class time with too many jokes. I would have
liked to get completely through the lectures before we start to mess around and
have fun. Clicker question should have been more real like the actual exams
rather than being so jokey.”
(Sorry. I try to integrate humour into the lectures periodically to
change things up and aid in focusing attention and learning.)
“He was extremely enthusiastic and made for a great 10am class!
Although it can be hard to get out of bed on a Monday morning, Karsten Lopelman
was always happy and optimistic making Monday mornings a lot more bearable!”
(Thanks. But, er, you spelled my name wrong.)
“I wish if we could have more exam sample questions.”
(Learn. Smart. Learnsmart learnsmart LEARNSMART!)
“The fill-in-the-blank notes were terrible. Going back through my
notes trying to study for the exam, I did not understand anything. The textbook
clarified everything for me, but I still feel unsure about the material that
was covered in class but not in the textbook. The notes are just so broken up
and make no sense. The sentences are broken up into fragments which just make
no sense. I would have even preferred to take down my own notes from slides instead
of filling in the blanks.”
(I’m glad the textbook helped you understand things better. There’s
nothing stopping you from ignoring my fill-in-the-blank notes and taking your
own notes however you want.)
“I also felt as though the instructor did not want us to do good on
the exams, since when our first midterm marks averaged out higher than normal,
he made the second exam harder.”
(Er, no. You’re giving me way too much credit. I do not manipulate
exam difficulty in any way. In fact, I cannot predict how a given class will do
on a given exam. There are historical norms, but since this was the first time
I used the Passer textbook, I did not know how well the class would do on the
textbook-based questions.)
“I don't agree with having reading the whole textbook as a
requirement; I have other classes that I also need to do readings for, I would
suggest assigning sections rather than just saying to read the whole thing,
this would make it more manageable.”
(Actually, you’re just assigned half
of the textbook to read in PSYCO 104; there are another eight chapters that are
left to PSYCO 105 to cover. Some intro psych courses in Canada actually do
assign the entire textbook in a
one-term course. So, you know, you’re welcome.)
“put missing words on eclass”
(Tried that. Didn’t work. Class misbehaved terribly.)
“Some profs give page numbers from the textbook that need to be
focused on for the midterm so that students aren't focusing a lot on the
material that isn't going to be on the exam.”
(“Some profs”? Really? I’d like to have the names of those profs before
I try doing anything like that.)
“I have a hard time finding time to read the textbook and see them as
a supplement for ideas that are unclear, not a necessity for exams. Karsten’s
note materials are full of life and I think emphasis is taken away from the
notes when it is necessary to study directly out of the textbook.”
(No, no, no. The textbook is NOT a supplement--it’s a required
reading. It shouldn’t take away from the lecture notes, it’s there partly
because I can’t (and don’t want to) cover every topic in the textbook in class.
Embrace the textbook.)
“I appreciated the modern approach to the dynamic nature of
literature, and was pleasantly surprised to be out of my comfort zone from more
"traditional" texts. I also greatly appreciate that our primary texts
were pulled from free online sources, rather than expensive hard copy books.”
(Um, I think you filled out the survey for a different course.)
“The only negative thing would be what I found to be an unnecessary
inclusion of comment on Intelligent Design. It was actually stated that we
would not be tested on it and it felt irrelevant to the course material. Only
thing I would change!”
(Well, at least I told you that you wouldn’t be tested on it. I
included that as part of a broader social context of understanding. My goal is
not to stuff your head with facts, but to foster an understanding that goes
beyond the course itself. Until ID is dead, buried, and gone, I’m going to talk
about it. And help bury it.)
“Absolutely fantastic professor, he made me love psychology above all
my other course. I'm even thinking about switching into specialization in
psychology now.”
(Aw, shucks. Good luck!)
PSYCO 282 (Fall):
“I found that the professor moved a bit slow through the slides - hard
for me to keep focused”
“The pace of the course was great, not too slow or too fast.”
“He spoke too fast”
(Right. Okay. Sure. Fine.)
“Karsten Loepelmann is one of the best professors I have ever had. He
is constantly asking for our feed back and developing this course to make it
better. I cannot believe he is not permanent staff.”
(I know, right?)
“Loepelmann is awesome!”
(That’s what I keep telling people.)
“Karsten Loepelmann is by far one of the best profs I've ever had. I
had taken psych 104 with him, and I wanted to take another course of his so I
decided on 282. When I was making my schedule, I had put it in the winter
session, but soon saw that another prof would be teaching it. And so I
destroyed my perfect schedule to put 282 in my fall term with Dr. Loepelmann,
and it was sooooo worth it. Keep it up!”
(I hope you didn’t have to take some gawdawful 8:00 a.m. class! Thanks for spelling my name right,)
“Assignments were interesting but the instructions were vague. Clearer
instructions would be beneficial.”
“I didn't think that the self management project was marked very
fairly and that the objectives or marking rubric was always clear. it seemed
like things were marked very harshly and it wasn't always super clear the
expectations of the marker.”
“I felt that the instructions for the self management assignment were
not as clear as they could. There were multiple places to lose marks, but it
wasn't clear when completing the assignment what you were going to lose marks
for.”
(I’ve been working on improving that for the past 7 months. I believe
that things are a lot clearer now. Thanks for your feedback.)
“Clicker questions helped highlight the main concepts of each chapter
and how well you understand them. The self-management project was really interesting
because it let us apply what we were learning to our own lives in real-time.
Dr. Loepelmann's enthusiasm is infectious and makes this already fun class more
enjoyable.”
(You’re infected? Eww. You should see a doctor about that.)
“the choice of textbook was fantastic. I have taken many PSYC O
classes with convoluted accompanying textbooks, but this one was very
accessible and enjoyable to read. I also appreciated all of the links and
resources he included on his website for assistance with the Self-Management
Project or to further our knowledge on Behavioural Analysis and Modification.
Thank-you, Dr. Loepelmann, your passion is very inspiring!”
(You’re welcome. Glad you’re inspired and not infected.)
“The majority of the classes involved searching for the word missing
from the blank and filling it in without paying attention to anything else, and
this still resulted in getting good grades. The fill-in-the-blank method is not
efficient at providing information, because many students just look for the
word without thinking of anything else, and just study the material at home. A
different method should be used instead of this fill-in-the-blank method to
make students pay attention, and I would even recommend not posting any notes
at all because all the information is in the textbook anyways. Either post no
notes and force students to copy them in class or pay attention, or use test
questions that emphasis material that is taught in class but is not in the
textbook.”
(I think the experience of (many) other students differs from yours.
It’s lucky for you that you were able to get good grades without trying. I
think that other students have to put in a lot of time and effort for the
grades they get. I have taught without online notes; it did not force students
to pay attention--in fact, they were so busy copying everything down, they didn’t
really pay attention at all! I will continue to develop exam questions based on
my lecture notes.)
“A appreciate that the instructor posted notes online, but the blanks
on the notes really didn't help me learn. When I sit in class and fill in the
blanks, I do not absorb the information nearly as well as I do when I can take
my own notes. The instructor goes so quickly that taking your own notes is not
an option. So I find myself sitting in class, filling in blanks and not
focusing on the material being discussed. I would have benefited from a
different teaching style, or a diverse teaching style (perhaps general slides
where we can add additional comments).”
(A suggestion is to get together with someone else in the class, so
that, between the two of you, you get all the fill-in words. Or one person can
fill in the words and the other can take side notes; and, you can switch roles
every class, or every topic.)
“Could you please do not let people to leave 15mins before the end of
exam?? very distracting.”
“...writing the midterms was extremely distracting after half the
class was up and kids were allowed to leave because the doors to the room are
so noisy. After half the exam time was up, I could not focus whatsoever on the
midterm which showed in my second midterm mark. It would be great if the doors
could just remain open so that we don't have to hear them being closed every 5
seconds.”
(Sorry, I’m not allowed to prevent anyone from leaving during an exam.
I have talked to the maintenance people about the slamming doors. Over and over
and over. I hope things are fixed when classes start up again in September.)
“As much as I sometimes wanted to take a nap in that class (not
because it was boring but because I was a tired student), I appreciated the
formatting of the notes with spaces to be filled in as it forced me to stay
awake. Overall interesting class that will help me better train my crazy dog.”
(Hmm, you know, you could apply behaviour modification to help get
more sleep... Is "crazy dog" a euphemism for your roommate?)
“Out of the many courses I have taken, Loepelmann is the one prof I
would recommend to everyone to take a class with. Time was superbly budgeted,
the use of iclickers aided in consolidation of class material and the
self-management project was a fun addition. The use of his own website was also
great as it was well organized and had many links which aided in studying. Hope
to be able to find if Loepelmann is teaching other senior courses so that I can
enroll!”
(Although I am scheduled to teach next year, my contract has not--as
yet--been renewed. Hopefully soon! When it’s renewed, I take my family out to
dinner.)
“The only part of the course that was difficult for me was the
assignment component that required computer knowledge. I lost 6% because I'm
terrified of computers and couldn't for the life of me figure out how to make a
graph. I understood everything that related to the course, but couldn't manage
the technology. I understand this is pretty lame, and something I'll have to
deal with in real life, but I'm not entirely certain I think it's fair for
grades to be dependent on knowledge that has not been taught in class.”
(So, first of all, I could have helped you. (I did help one student
who came to my office; showed her how to make a graph in 10 minutes.) You didn’t
have to do it on a computer; you could have drawn it, and then submitted a scan
of it!)
“The only thing that could make it even better is giving reminders to
students when a part of the self-management project is due. I understand it's
important for students to be have a certain degree of responsilibity, but with
us having to pay attention to 4 other courses and labs, it would indeed be very
helpful if there was a reminder”
(That’s why I go to the time and effort of setting up an online
calendar for the course. Not only can you see the deadlines, but it emails you
a reminder before each assignment is due. *sigh*)
“one of my part-time jobs require me to work with children with
disabilities. I find great value in the concepts I learned in this class - very
applicable to real life.”
(Wow, that’s great to hear!)
“The only aspect I would encourage to be changed would be the
fill-in-the-blank style notes. It was very irritating for this class. A
different way to encourage attendance, other than keeping the class
interesting, would be to make the iClicker questions part of a participation
mark, that's always fun.”
(Well, some students can barely afford the textbook, let alone another
$40 for a clicker.)
“Spoon man!”
(Yes, my name, translated literally from German, does mean Spoon Man. One
of my ancestors must have been a cook. I myself am (modestly) a pretty good
cook, too!)
“Best Chem 101 class!”
(Ah, that explains your F.)
PSYCO 494 (Fall & Winter):
“Dr. Loepelmann is an exceptional prof. I have not encountered many
profs who are as dedicated as he is to this class and his students. He makes
the material very interesting and engaging. I had signed up for this class to
fill a requirement but it turned out to be one of my favourite classes this
semester. I always believe that the prof can either "make or break" a
course. Dr. Loepelmann definitely "made" this course. Furthermore, I
really, really appreciated how Dr. Loepelmann offered to give students feedback
on their final papers before handing them in for grading. There are not many
profs that offer to do this because it is very time consuming. This was
wonderful, thank you!”
(Well, thank you! And, you’re welcome. I like to be well-mannered.)
“I would like it if one change
can be made: move the classroom...BS G114 isn't my favourite.”
(I don’t really get much say in that. There is one other classroom
that’s a possibility: BS G110. Argh.)
“Karsten does a good job updating material, but some of the statistics
are 10+ years old. All I can suggest is to continue being diligent and updating
slides when possible.”
(Do you mean “studies”? Or readings in the coursepack? I try not to
update things, just for the sake of updating. Some older studies are still
relevant, and not overly complex. And I don’t update readings in the coursepack
often so that you can try to buy used ones and save a few dollars. Some of the
oldest readings--from 1994--are scheduled to be updated, but the publisher
keeps moving the deadline back every year.)
“Way too much details and you are never tested on them. Waste of time.
There should be 2 midterms because the lectures cover so much and bring down the
percentage for the term paper.”
(The nature of this course is not so much about memorizing
details--and essay exams are not structured for that. If you can remember the
details and give them on the exams, your work will be rewarded.)
“I really enjoyed the material in this course and found the instructor
a very engaging speaker whom you could tell was passionate about the subject.
I've learned how concepts in this course can apply to so many different aspects
of my daily life, such as explaining my errors in interacting with technology,
and how organizations and groups of people deal with and evaluate problems.
Overall very valuable class”
“As a student, this knowledge and enthusiasm has been passed onto me.
I am interested in ways to apply human factors and design into a career, and
will be pursing graduate school in a field that uses human design concepts.”
“I really enjoyed this course. I find myself now looking at the design
of things and critiquing them about how they aren't human-centric, as well as appreciating
good designs.”
(If you can apply anything you’ve learned in class to daily life, that’s
incredible! I hope it’ll help you in your future career(s), too!)
“Professor Loepelmann created a custom course pack that brought down
the cost for the mandatory text material to a mere ~$27 (with alternative
resources for the rest of the readings). I greatly appreciate this and heartily
wish that other instructors who use a bulk of journal articles as mandatory
reading use this same method. It saves students a lot of aggravation due to
printing for hours on end (although it makes for good entertainment fodder for
my cat)”
(I hope your cat enjoyed the readings, too. Meow!)
“The pragmatism of some concepts were a touch weak, but overall the course
was interesting. I'd be cautious of recommending the course to other students
if they share a similar nihilistic view about psychology, but I truly do commend
the instructor for being one of the main reasons for attending class.”
(I have to balance the theoretical and the applied--too much of one or
the other and it’ll be boring, or
entertaining but useless.)
“I found Dr. Loepelmann
to be quite arrogant in this small classroom setting. Demanding a 12 page paper
takes focus away from content and makes it all about the word count.”
(Arrogant? Sorry you felt
that way. Yes, I “demanded” a 12-page paper, which is appropriate for a
400-level course. It used to be 15 pages, which is what I had to write back in
the day, but it took too long for me to mark. It is the length it is not for
the word count, but so that you can do your topic justice.)
“The prof was very
enthusiastic throughout the term, and made sure that students were being fairly
graded. I appreciated greatly that he took back the assignments not once but a
second time to ensure that the students received the best grade they possibly
could.”
(Unfortunately, getting a
TA with HF/E experience is almost impossible. They do the best they can when
marking the short paper.)
PSYCO 258 (Spring):
“The notes system was
particularly distracting. The blanks for the notes were in irregular patterns
and were often for unimportant pieces of information. I think the system is
good because it forces you to pay attention in class, I don't like the words
that were specifically chosen for the blanks. I would have preferred more
technical and important terms to be underlined, otherwise I spent too much time
in class focusing less on the material and more on what I need to write down.
The space for writing was also heavily constricted, and could have used some
additional room to write.”
(In my Blanks FAQ, there’s
information on how to make the space bigger. That’s why I use HTML for my
notes, and not PDFs.)
“In-class
examples/experiments were very effective at helping explain the material. The
instructor did a fantastic job at explaining concepts in a way that did not
feel like he was simply reading off of his powerpoint slides. At no point did I
feel like I could simply read the posted notes, skip class, and still get the gist
of the course content. Excellent use of class time, and a very thorough and
interesting course. I will definitely take another course with this instructor
in the future.”
(Thanks for the kind
words!)
“Steve Holt!”
“Some questions on the
midterms were very confusing; there were 2,3 questions that were not mentioned
in the book nor in the lectures”
(If you ask me, I can
tell you where the exam questions are from. Some, however, are integrative, that
require you to put together information from a number of sources.)
“With the course being a
survey course, I can understand that there is a lot of material to cover but it
would be nice if you prompted for questions at least once during lecture. It
would give students' brains a break from constant absorbing of information and allow
some time to consolidate information give opportunity for curiosity driven
questions.”
(If you notice, I do that
early in the term, and see how the class responds. If there are no takers to “Any
questions?” I stop doing that. Generally, I’ve found that very few students
want to ask questions during class. As soon as class is over, though, there’s a
line of people wanting to ask me questions.)
“overall, this course is
good. but when we have to print out the notes wast more money. if we take notes
as PDF it is less useful than PPT. As well as there are many acronym in the
notes, if makes the notes hard to review for students use English as second
language.”
(Sorry, but I do not give
out my PowerPoint slides. If there are acronyms and abbreviations that I use in
class, please raise your hand and ask me. Please! I do not want to leave anyone
behind, whether they are native English speakers or ESL.)
“Hopefully you get your
promotion soon Dr Loepalmann!”
(Yeah, well, that didn’t
work out. But thanks. Also, you spelled my name wrong.)
PSYCO 367 (Spring):
“K.Lo is one of my
favourite faculty lecturers at the university. Even without all of his top
notch jokes and references, he makes class very engaging. The material is
interesting (I keep on telling everyone about cheap sunglasses) and I really
enjoy having lots of research presented in class to help solidify concepts. He
is always ready to answer any questions you may have, even if you stay after
class to ask heaps of questions so frequently that the class in the room 20
minutes after knows exactly who you are (where does that patience come from?).
I really appreciate how fast he gets our grades back to us and I'm glad to know
that he didn't want the exams to be purely multiple choice either. Although I
am often interested in what we are learning in class, I found it difficult to
manage learning everything in the lecture notes and textbook over a six week
period, given that there isn't as much overlap between the two as in most other
classes. Nevertheless, I would highly recommend both this course and that salad
person from Arby's to others.”
(There used to be greater
convergence between my lectures and the textbook, but with each new edition,
the textbook drifts further and further from what I consider to be core
concepts. It may be time for a different textbook. ("K.Lo:?))
“The course material was
a bit dry but I love that Dr.Loepelmann was enthusiastic to teach us and made
jokes. I realize the class was probably a bit too unresponsive to the jokes but
I found the funny.”
(The first rule of
lectures is you do not laugh in lectures.)
“Don't ever change the
way you instruct, the simple fill in the blank notes combined with the comfort
as ease you seem to have while lecturing makes for a very engaging class and I
retain information very well because of that.”
(I’m too old to change,
so no chance of that happening.)
“Love all the jokes made
in class. Instructor presents information clearly and effectively. Keep up all
the awesome dad jokes!”
(But I didn’t tell any
jokes about my dad. Oh, you mean jokes about me being a dad, and my two
daughters? Just wait until they’re teenagers. Then I’m sure I’ll have a lot of “jokes.”)
Why aren't you studying?
