Question 32 :Please provide any comments, suggestions, or ideas you have regarding any aspect to this eCore course that were not covered in this survey.

·         I thought that I wouldn't like Political Science.  Dr. B made it really interesting, and I really learned a lot.

·         Professor Marietta's instruction, informative views and knowledge enabled me to begin my journey toward achieving my ultimate goal! Thanks!

·         Some of the quiz and test questions were confusing because I hadn't encountered an example that could help me interpret them. There seemed to be elements missing. There was particular question about insurance policies that didn't seem to help me learn more about probabilities because I had no idea how insurance policies are supposed to work. I understand the question was an application, but learning about insurance is not why I took this course nor what I thought was necessary to comprehend probabilities. Another thing that I didn't like was every student received a somewhat different set of questions, things that others encountered on their quiz was completely different from mine. A certain question I learned of from another student presented material that was not representing on my quiz at all. If I had seen that material on the test I would have been totally unprepared to answer it. I did, however, enjoy this course and feel I now have a true understanding of statistics that I can apply in my biology degree and am considering tutoring in.

·         It was a great course (a little too much reading with a full time job and other classes) and I enjoyed taking it as well as the instructor, he was great. I appreciate being able to take classes like this online, so I can work at any hour.

·         Very little interaction with professor. I would have preferred more feedback on my individual postings instead of just responding to the class as a whole. Also, the professor does not explain the grade you receive on your posting, so you are unaware what you need to change to improve.

·         I had problems adding attachments.

·         I really enjoyed both courses this summer.  I would not take two courses in a summer semester again.  The syllabus was not decreased, it was simply compressed.  The amount of work at times was overwhelming.  I wasn't always able to give each course as much attention as I would have preferred.

·         Professor Robertson was a wonderful instructor and I would recommend him to everyone I know.

·         Professor Simson-was a hard nose but thoroughly guided you through the course. His words of encouragement were a guiding light for this course. I took four courses online this summer and by far this professor was the best. He responded to your emails in a timely manner and readily available to assist with questions. I thought for sure this course would bore me to death but with the teaching skills of Professor Simson, I actually obtained a great deal of knowledge of history.

·         This class was very well taught!

·         I believe that in a class all people should get the same form of treatment and I believe that all students should be treated with respect, just as we treat our Professor with respect.
I was thoroughly disappointed with the class and I will not be taking another eCore class, nor will I be recommending this Professor to anyone.

·         On written assignments it was hard to understand why you got the grade you did.  It seemed like the assignments were graded a lot harder than they should have been.  I'm still not sure why I got the grades I did, and I wish there had been one of those rubrics that says "this many points for content, this many for style, etc" so I knew what things I was being downgraded on.  I would submit an assignment I was sure was really good and get a bad grade, but then submit an assignment that was not that good and get a pretty good grade.  On the whole it was just really confusing. 
Also, the points for an assignment don't reflect the difficulty; one assignment worth only 20 points out of 900 was the hardest assignment of the semester and took days of time in the library and on the computer and internet, but smaller papers worth a few hundred points didn't take nearly as much research or anything.  Also, during the class the professor didn't give us a grade from one assignment in time to apply the things I should have learned from that grading to the next assignment; usually the next assignment had to be submitted a couple days before I got the grade on the previous one.  The other thing I'm really worried about is that according to the syllabus we were supposed to get a grade at mid-term on the discussion postings, and we didn't, so I had no chance to do better at them if I hadn't been doing good enough, and I'm worried that it will turn out that my discussion posts weren't good enough and I'll get a bad grade for those, especially when I had no idea going along if they were good enough or not.

·         The assessments and learning modules SHOULD match the chapter in the text.  It was extremely confusing to communicate about pages in the text and aligning chapter numbers in to text with assessments and learning modules online.

·         I wish the instructor would participate in the discussions a little more...or give us some discussion feedback or something. Otherwise, great course!

·         The only problem I saw with this course is the length.  Compressing 15 weeks of information into 9 was difficult.

·         Over all I loved it.

·         I HIGHLY recommend eventually adding sound to online course material.  I would love to be able to click on a word and hear the correct pronunciation.  A great example of this is at Webster.com.  When I look up an uncommon word, it also lets me click on it to hear the word.  This would be great for names of people and places!

·         I believe that e-core would have been more suited to my learning preferences if I constantly did not feel rushed and if I could complete assignments at my own pace. Also the amount of work given for the time period stated was enormous and I am not sure if it was just because it was summer or because of the instructor.

·         I didn't think the peer aspect added anything to this class.

·         The teacher and class were great!!!! Good job eCore!

·         I thought the instructor was extremely knowledgeable and effective.  The only area of improvement I would suggest would be his spelling and improvement in his cut-and-paste technique to avoid mistakes in his online readings.

·         I would suggest that the group project area be terminated.  It is nearly impossible to coordinate with other students on an online class.  I had to complete our two projects alone because I could not contact my team members and was therefore unable to get their input.  I would also like to add that the negative feedback from the professor did not help with the understanding of the material.  Often she would provide feedback that did not add to the understanding of the material.  I would not recommend this particular class to anyone because the irresponsible manor of the teacher and the negative attitude that she had towards her students made this class nearly impossible.  I made an A in this class because I am a committed student not because the teacher assisted me at all!!

·         I enjoyed Prof Daigle’s class and would welcome the opportunity to take another class with her again.

·         Dr. Ravi is an excellent instructor.  I dropped this class last semester because the instructor "Vacelloeos" I believe is how her name is spelled; she was very unreasonable and threatened to fail me and my classmates several times.  I was new to school after having sat out for 20 years and did not appreciate being talked to like a child. I am clear on what my purpose is for enrolling in school and although it is challenging working 12 hours 5 days a week and balancing school, I understand my place in school.  If I fail it is because I failed myself.  "Vacsellos" could not fail me which she seemed to take pride in.  Dr. Ravi on the other hand is very encouraging and provides positive feedback on assignments. I enjoyed her class so much that I have enrolled in another of her courses next semester.

·         I know that the class is condensed but a lot of work required for course.  Also, materials are available for all quizzes and midterm for help but when it comes to the final- no help is allowed.  There has to be some compromise on that.

·         Small time frame to complete all the reading and assignments that went along with the class. Heavy on Essays. Even though I know this was an English class, I didn't expect it to encompass so much writing as in the other 2 English Composition classes.

·         I could tell Mr. Simson was very knowledgeable about the subject and did not mind sharing some of his knowledge with us the students.

·         Discussions and papers should be spaced out more evenly.  I felt like some weeks there was a lot to do and others I did not have much.

·         I realize this is a summer class and that there was going to be a lot of work but there was a ridiculous amount of work.  There was way too much reading! I don't think professors realize that students take other classes and have work from those classes too.  I had to drop a class because there was so much reading in this class. I think professors should take into consideration that students have other classes.

·         ECourse Navigation was overly complicated and didn't flow well with multiple assignments. Class load was not consistent. Paper due dates were complicated to understand. Disliked teacher's methods for class.

·         I did experience a slight difficulty with discussion postings. When attempting to use the web link insert tool on a discussion I was unable to. The only tool that I was able to use was the equation tool; it caused problems when I was posting a required discussion.

·         My teacher/instructor was awesome!!!!! The course layout for each assignment was clear and made learning so much easier and self-explanatory!

·         Instructors should revise course content and assignment due dates with each new class, to avoid conflicting dates.  Find ways to allow the student to show more of themselves in the class.  More open discussion topics should be used, at least part of the time.

·         I was not happy with how long it took to get back papers. Going into the final this week, I am still unsure of 52% of my grade. Very scary.

·         Visual aids, such as video lectures like those in other universities.

·         make the online support center easier to navigate

·         Don't have the next section to be covered start on a Saturday or Sunday.

·         I understand the use of discussion posts but for me they were not very helpful

·         I think all information such as deadlines and assignment specifics should be posted in one place, having only one due date.  Also, deadlines should be consistent instead of changing times.

·         I believe that if I was not timed I would have done better on my quizzes because by timing me it made me stress out over the time left rather than concentrate on the question.

·         Professor Deaton was a great professor, and was very helpful anytime I needed assistance!  Also, I would like the option to see where I fall in the class, grade wise.  I believe there was a tab for this, but when I clicked it, there was no information.

·         I would have liked to see the instructor weigh in on more discussions.  Many times I felt some clarification from the instructor would have helped my understanding on certain topics.

·         I really think he should have stepped in during the public opinion polls. A few students got rather nasty.

·         Maybe this being the short summer semester made a difference, but I feel that it would be helpful if the teacher could offer the option of sending rough drafts to essays before they are due.

·         I'm planning on taking another e-core class next summer.

·         Overall, I enjoyed this class and had a very good eCore online experience.

·         I loved this class!! I have never participated in politics until recently and this class helped me understand what was going on and why it was going on and the aspects of all parties.

·         She needs to respond faster to emails. I felt lost with an assignment and emailed her when it was posted and I did not get a response till after the assignment was due! I felt like the entire course was mainly me waiting for a response...

·         I used quite of bit of tutorial videos on YouTube and other sites on the internet.  One site in particular that was very help was yaymath.org.  What I couldn't get through the notes here was shown in another direction on the other sites, which then helped make everything come together.

·         Make sure the teachers are available more.

·         The reading expectations for the class notes were pretty outstanding. I was expecting a lot of reading, but at times we were required to read up to 30 Word document pages, not including the text reading assignment. I think I would probably have learned more if the amount of material wasn't so overwhelming and I could focus more on specific parts.

·         The reading was a lot to cover in such a short period of time, but that is to be expected with any summer course. Professor Simson was very generous with the due dates/assignments... I’m not a big fan of history but this was a great class and Professor Simson was a great instructor. I look forward to taking more classes with him in the future if possible.

·         Dr. Rose man is an EXCELLENT teacher.  She was so nice to deal with and was always very helpful, whether you had a question about the material or a concern of another nature.  She was always prompt with e-mail responses and was great to remind you of upcoming deadlines.  I would recommend Dr. Roseman to anyone and wish that all my college professors could be as effective and great to work with as her.  A+++

·         Make deadlines for 11:30 P.M. instead of 10 o'clock if anything

·         Someone other than the instructor wrote the course program and, at a few places, this person did not seem to have the English Composition skills the course was teaching.   For instance: 

1. Some assignment directions are written in a very unclear manner.  (Sometimes the author assumed I knew something that I didn't, so I misunderstand what was being asked.) 

2. The very first quiz on the syllabus was programmed in a moronic manner. (Take the quiz yourself and you'll see the problem.) 

3. There were a few typos and grammatical errors in the course program, which is a little ironic for an English Composition course.   (Just hire one of the instructors to proof read it.)  

I must add, however, that these were minor irritations in an otherwise very well-designed and enjoyable course.

·         Mr. Marietta was an excellent instructor! I thoroughly enjoyed this class. He was very quick in grading assignments and provided useful feedback. Anytime you had a question his responses were timely and useful. He was active in his participation with us during the course. All of the assignments and coursework was layer out in a manner where it was easy to find and follow. I would recommend Mr. Marietta to anyone. I hope to be able to take other classes where he is the instructor.

·         Teacher need to review quizzes before the next semester several questions were incorrectly worded and provided the wrong answers for the questions.

·         Professor McWhorter is a fantastic teacher.  I would never take another online class because online is hard for me, but she made it a pleasant experience for me.  She was always present.  She participated in the discussions with the class.  She is an overall very good instructor and I enjoyed having her.  She made sure everyone understood everything and no one was lost.

·         no comment

·         I just have one comment on graded assignments. It would have been more convenient to have received grades on assignments earlier, particularly essays. I would have liked to have been able to look over the mistakes and improved on those for the next essay. Other than that, I was happy with my online course experience.

·         I think everything was covered well.

·         Professor was very clear and organized!

·         Dr. Reddick has been one of the best professors that I have had at VSU.  The literary works that he has assigned us to read were not only applicable to the course in American Literature, but were a pleasure to read.  The works covered all areas of cultural and racial diversity.  Dr. Reddick was readily available when any of us had a question or concern and he was able to post feedback and comments to our posts within 24 hours time.  What I liked best about the course was that we were able to watch videos that tied the reading materials and online discussions together.  These short bios on film were a wonderful way to view what these authors looked like and their lives during the time periods they lived in.

·         I would recommend this teacher to everyone!

·         Course was treated as if it were an upper level history course. Work load and complexity of discussion requirements did not promote learning, instead created a frustrating and daunting environment. This course should be treated more like a 1000 level class and limited to a short discussion and quiz per week, as opposed to one page compositions with citations, long peer responses and then a unit quiz.

·         Books are way too high AND the school does not process financial aid so I can get my refund in time to buy my books. That hurt a lot and will consider big time in taking online class. VERY DISAPPOINTED with that.

·         For some people, this type of course is great. I would just rather be in the classroom.

·         Although we heard next semester the midterms would be moved back further in the semester, it did not benefit current students.  The amount of information we had to cover for the final exam was very demanding.

·         I feel that it is unfair to have to pay parking fees if you are only taking online courses.  I also do not understand why we have to pay for the exams.  We are college students and do not have a lot of money to spare.

·         Prof. Reddick ROCKS!!!

·         The class was wonderful. Students participated with each other, the instructor was RIGHT there to comment and answer any questions, and the tests were easily understood. Great summer session.

·         I think that some type of FINAL study guide should be provided. There was so much material to place in only 100 questions.

·         The assignments should have been posted sooner so that the students could have more time to complete the assignments successfully.

·         Very good learning experience.

·         This program would be greatly benefited by allowing this instructor to share with all other instructors what it is he does to make the class most interesting and fun. Truly the ultimate example of online teaching would be found in the skills of this instructor.  TAKE NOTE!!!

·         To be honest I think the professor could have been a bit more aware/respectful of her class audience. I felt talked down to more than once... and having comments made to students about logging in every day to keep up with a heavy workload while the instructor takes off for a week vacation wasn't well received. Some assignments weren't released to the students to be worked on in a timely manner... but the due dates were never adjusted. There was a since from what I heard from students of feeling insulted from the beginning when they didn't get maximum participation point for being one of the first eight to log in the class and post. A large proportion of students in these classes are thirty something’s who are professionals and executives. To be talked down by someone whose salary you are paying because they think you are eighteen and fresh out of high school is grating to say the least.

·         My teacher seemed to magically disappear after midterms. I had sent an email to him days ago about finals and it has not been answered yet. It is now the day of finals and if he answers it after this very moment, it is useless anyway.

·         WebCT has an assignment tab that wasn't used; it would have made finding complete instructions and due dates A LOT simpler. I don't have much free time and a lot of it was wasted trying to find bits of instructions for each assignment in three different areas (syllabus, course content, email).

·         Honestly, Lance Wilder was without a doubt the worst instructor I've ever had. His responses were substance absent and he on numerous accounts offered few to no suggestions at all on how to be successful in his class. From high school on I've earned an A in every English course I've taken. I've never failed a paper or a class until his. He is more concerned about irrelevant details and failing his students than providing a good learning experience. A strong essay in this course will fail because of a grammar error or a formatting error. His expectations for this course are beyond any other course I've ever taken which isn't a bad thing except his expectations are focused on areas which are of no significance to the course or anything for that matter. Forget a title on an excellent essay, FAILURE! Forget to address him as Dr. Wilder, FAILURE! Write an excellent essay that proves the thesis but one word sort of the requirement FAILURE!

·         It would be nice to be able to add something to the assignment drop-box. I failed to attach one sheet on one occasion and had to e-mail it to instructor. I was unable to add it after I sent the assignment.

·         Great overall course. The professor was amazing and worked with me and helped me to learn how to write a paper. A+

·         It may seem impossible or expensive, but including online lectures that students can view in links would be a plus and make things easier. Terrify is a great tool for online classes. Skype would also be beneficial, but could be confusing for some students to understand and would require a webcam. This would be pricey for some, but webcams are available for $10.00 and up, so it wouldn't be too expensive or too much to ask. For me, it would have made a huge difference and added a more personal touch to the class.

·         Have teachers understand that they are still instructors and that their job is to help students understand what they are teaching, even if it means taking some extra time to explain things that aren't understood.

·         There should be an easier way of getting in touch with your teacher.

·         The final exam video time needs to be a little shorter in order for it to send through e-mail. I think that would make it easier for everyone.

·         Also, the electronic costs for this class were unacceptable. I had to buy a microphone and camera and everything for this class. I much rather would have taken this class at school.

·         I enjoyed this class and Prof Deaton gave me the tools to look at aspects of history in a different way. This class was not just learning dates, wars, and important people in history but engaged my thinking on a deeper level of world history...thank you!

·         I truly enjoyed this class. I have learned a lot and have gained many tools to assist me in future classes. Thank YOU!

·         I really do not like the online interface. The system should be set up to handle a 100% of the users so we don't get locked out when trying to post assignments.

·         I think that adding recorded lectures to the Unit resources would be a major improvement.

·         The quizzes should not have questions not covered in the reading materials.  This only happened in a few quizzes.

·         The instructions for assignments were not always as clear as they could have been.
There was always confusion over where to post and who (in group assignments) was to post. There were occasions when the instructions were for everyone to post but only the first persons post was taken...submissions had to be emailed in an effort to ensure that the work was submitted in a timely manner.
Responses from the instructor via email or posts in the discussion areas usually took several days to garner a response.
Overall I enjoyed the class and the activates and I did learn a lot from the class. The interaction I had with the instructor was helpful and insightful. My only thought is I wonder if the instructor is as slow with feedback and responses with her on campus classes as she was with this class.

·         The tutoring resources eCore provides were a great resource. That along with a great professor made this an extremely positive learning experience!

·         Philosophy is a course that is not best taught online. I found myself lost oftentimes. I cannot say that I have walked away from this course having learned much.

·         Mrs. McWhorter is a great instructor

·         Dr. Spike, continue to do what you're doing.  Outstanding job.

·         This survey covered everything I needed to say.

·         I hope that the rest of my online courses are as good as this one. Dr. Dorsey Deaton made a GREAT attempt at making the online experience comfortable for his students. In my book he definitely succeeded! Great professor.

·         Maybe somehow, more student teacher interaction.

·         I have enjoyed this English course and anticipate re-reading the material when available.  Thank you for all of the feedback during the course.