RED 746 Literacy & Technology Spring 2011 Stevens Overall Quality of Teaching: She is a top-notch teacher who

o explains things very well and makes coursework relatable to everyday teaching experiences. Organization of course was good, with lots of opportunities to use new Web 2.0 tools and gain some facility with them. Some student mini-lessons were better than others and I would have liked the instructor to add on to the student mini-lessons. Prof Stevens is an excellent professor with a high overall quality of teaching. It is obvious that she puts a lot of effort into preparing for the class. Professor was very in tune with students needs, intrests & progress throughout the course. Very organized and well planned. Overall very informative and enthusiastic about the topic. I think there were definitely times when students took advantage of the teacher and did not show appropriate respect. The teaching was great and the teacher knew a lot about the subject. She went the extra mile for all of the students. I think Elizabeth is a wonderful instructor. Always organized. Provided handouts, used email to stay in contact throughout the week. Excellent I felt very supported throughout the course. Organized & provided explicit explanations for readings, class activities, and assignments. Seemed really interested in material and helping us learn more enjoyed it. Prof. Stevens provided useful information and was very efficient in grading assignments Very thorough, concerned Teaching was well-organized and the objectives were always very clear. Expectations and daily agendas were very helpful for the organization of the class. Overall Elizabeths quality of teaching was good,. She put forth a lot of effort in helping us grasp the importance of integrating literacy and technology. I think Professor Stevens was an excellent teacher. She provided quality, well supported, and scaffolded instruction. Loved having Elizabeth as a professor. I learned a lot from her & from this course. Great! I felt scaffolded and supported throughout every portion of the class. Instructor really knew the content area and could Elizabeth did a wonderful job of covering such a fast-changing and little-researched topic.

Elizabeth is prepared, engaging, and consistently attempts to utilize current issues of interest and application to each class. She is fair and flexible while maintaining high standards. I felt the quality of the teaching was excellent. I felt that it was an even exchange of ideas instead of instructor standing and lecturing for the whole three hours. I feel that the use of technology during class/presentations broke of the mundane habit of taking notes. Wish more professors allowed computers as note taking devices.

Instructor Knowledge of and Enthusiasm for the Subject Matter and Teaching: I feel that she is well-versed in her content and subject matter. Instructor was very up to date and communicated clear enthusiasm for Web 2.0 tool use in classroom practice. An excellent course-instructor match in my opinion! Prof. Stevens is highly knowledgable and if she does not know much about a specific technology, she allows students in the class who are knowledgable to educate the rest of the class. She is also very enthusiastic. Knowledgable of most topic areas and willing to learn from students. Very enthusiastic! Always illustrated a high level of knowledge and enthusiasm. The teacher provided extra resources for support and constantly encouraged us to explore Web 2.0 tools independent of class. Elizabeth knew the subject and loved trying new things out. Elizabeth is very enthusiastic w/ her teaching and appears to really enjoy the subject matter of the course. Very knowledgeable. Seemed interested in each weeks topic. Very extensive Great Seemed knowledgeable on material and if she didnt know the answer she would have the answer for us next class. Very knowledgable and enthusiastic about technology and literacy. Knew a lot about Web 2.0 tools. Knew her technology. Provided lots of resources. Knowledge seemed a bit limited concerning course content but enough information and tools were provided to make up for it. She was very enthusiastic and knowledgable about using Web 2.0 tools and how to connect these to literacy instruction. Professor Stevens was very knowledgeable about the integration of technology and literacy instruction. She is very knowledgable of the resources used in class. She uses the new technologies herself so that she can better explain their use and classroom applications. Very knowledgeable and enthusiastic about the topic. Very enthusiastic

Elizabeth has a very thorough knowledge of the subject matter and combines her research with her own prior knowledge and experience. The enthusiasm could be seen in body language, tone, and presenting. Was not only excited about what she was teaching, but what we as students were teaching to our fellow peers.

Ability to Present and Clarify Material: Her techniques were effective. She modeled the use of a lot of the technology discussed in class. As in the first section, I would have liked a bit more instructor presentation than there was, but all instructor delivered content was very clear. She does a nice job of presenting and clarifying material. She ensures that she is being clear through quick writes, in which she formatively assesses what we are learning, as well as what we would like to learn. Clear presentations, conveyed main points well. Powerpoints were clear and easily understood. Did a good job by giving us a variety of presentation methods motes, videos, tip sheets, articles, etc. Very good! Ive learned a lot with this course. Great, very helpful. Checked in often for student understanding. I liked how we explored the 2.0 tools however the graphic organizer we wrote on didnt match the organizer we filled out as a class which made things a little confusing. Great Always prepared for class and answered any questions we had. Provided helpful information and emails to clarify confusions. Very thorough and clear Very well presented! Assignments were clear and concise. She did a good job at presenting and clarifying ideas and theories from readings. She was a very poignant speaker and always clarified questions and concerns. Presents information clearly through Powerpoints and videos. She is always available, via email, to clarify things. Material was presented with clear and concise focus the manner in which it was presented was varied and did not become boring. Always checked to see that everyone understood. Elizabeth presents materials clearly and uses visuals each class to help present materials and provides an agenda to help students know what will be covered and expected.

The instructor had a high ability to present materials in multi-modalities. I would say she attempted to clarify any materials to the best of her ability. With the ever changing technology world it would be unrealistic to except her to know all the answers on the spot, I do appreciate that fact that she would ultimately answer your questions even if it was at a later time.

The Activities, Lectures, or Discussions: Effective and relevant. Laptop use in class greatly facilitated understanding of tools. Some of the brainstorming of tool benefits became repetetive, but the overlap in tools is to be expected. I found the class to be very enjoyable due to the hands-on activities, engaging discussions, and insightful powerpoint presentations. The activities and discussions helped familiarize and deepen my understanding of course topics. There could have been more structured think-pair-shares to promote more interaction. But again, I think students had a tendency to take advantage of time spent during group work. Sometimes discussions would get a little off-task. Too much repetition with internet inquiry. Many readings said similar things. I felt that some of the free in class work time could have been better used but overall I loved this course. Good variety. Lectures were relevant, activities and discussions were engaging. Good helpful to play with Web 2.0 tools and discuss how the tools may fit into the classroom. Enjoyed the activities and lectures were more based on technology than anything some discussions seemed a little dry and forced. I liked how a few classes were virtual, would have liked more to be. I liked exploring the activities and Web 2.0 tools Activities, especially in small groups, were interesting and fun. Occasionally the discussions werent thought provoking & on dry topics. Were overall useful, sometimes tough to connect back to the readings. She broke up class time very well so that students were always engaged. All were very helpful and organized. Each were centered around the tools/topics that were featured that day. There were occasions when I noticed classmates taking advantage of the lecture format. The discussions were fruitful and engaging. Activities were on target and facilitated learning. The lectures and discussions were very interesting. The blog was pointless people didnt collaborate in the intended manner.

Lectures and discussions have been helpful. Some activities have not done much for me some seemed redundant in light of some of the readings. I would have benefited more from more small group discussions. Well thought out, interesting, and correlated with readings so we had prior knowledge on what was going to be discussed.

How Well Assignments Helped You Learn Everything was well-planned and I felt that the assignments supported the overarching ideas of the course curriculum. Actually setting up and posting to a blog weekly, while time consuming, was a hugely beneficial learning tool. I really got my hands dirty trying these tools in a way Im not sure I would have w/o the blog. Not sure why RWT had to be social justice a little limiting. I thought the assignments were well-structured and relevant to our learning. The literature review and minilesson helped me learn more about specific Web 2.0 tools. The final project is doing the same and increasing my knowledge on social justice topics in childrens lit. The minilessons and peer selected readings were extremely helpful. I learned a lot of valuable information. Loved the blogging assignment & using the tools for myself. Best way to learn. Really great except the final project. I dont feel that everyones projects were of equal difficulty. Mini-lessons, RWT lesson and final project all benefical. Blog post was tedious after awhile esp. when paired with class discussions. All assignments were very relevant and helpful in furthering my understanding of new literacies. Articles related well to changes in literacy instruction; struggled to get into the blogging Liked how we got to learn about all different types of technological tools that will help us in our teaching The final project allowed for a lot of learning, due to research needed. I learned a lot about various technologies I can utilize within my own future classroom. Very much, though they were time consuming. The tasks assigned were helpful in practicing our own use and application of Web 2.0 tools in the classroom. I liked all the assignments. However, I feel that since students created their own rubrics for the final project, I feel like the assessment will be unequal across the board. All assignments allowed me to become knowledgeable and more comfortable with new web tools. Pretty well blog posting did get tiresome after awhile. Final project was very helpful and allowed for practice with these new Web 2.0 tools. The minilessons and genre studies were my favorite part and the most informative.

Blogging and Read Write Think and final project assignments were exceptionally helpful to me because they made me practice the procedures and theory-based skills we have read about. I usually learn best by doing so they were beneficial to me. I feel the assignment allowed me to not only learn about web 2.0 tools but practice using them as I complete my assignments. I did feel that the literature study was unnecessary being that these have been done in many other classes and became just another assignment.

Flexibility and Concern of Instructor for Students Welfare and Progress: Elizabeth was very flexible and thoughtful toward student needs. Instructor was very on top of things, getting assignments back promply w/extensive and helpful feedback! Fabulous! Prof. Stevens was very considerate and fair with an excellent sense of our needs. I really appreciated her cutting one assignment, changing due dates, and giving us breaks on blog reporting. Was willing to work with students based on needs, checked in frequently on student progress. Very much so. The teacher constantly checked in with us and maintained contact through email. Elizabeth was very flexible w/our needs & schedules. She could have stressed grades more throughout. Very helpful whenever we had problems/questions Flexible about deadlines, open to discuss concerns about assignments. Very balanced between flexibility and maintaing high expectations. Very good Always asked for updates on projects and available if we needed help with assignments Very flexible with due dates based on progress of the class. Very understanding and fair. Was definitely concerned about our well-being and progress throughout the course. Extremly flexible. Perfect! Really accomodating and helpful Very flexible and genuinely concerned for how we were doing and if we needed assistance with our work. She was very good about sending email reminders and answering questions and concerns. She was flexible with the schedule and made adjustments according to our schedules. Very much so. Always asked for our well-being updates and discussed assignments w/ us. There was no flexibility available. Even after asking for help, it was denied. Elizabeth has always been understanding, helpful, and available.

Felt she was fair and conscious about my well being but maintain continuity in relation to class

The Readings Selected for the Course: Readings were applicable. Richardson book was excellent! Many articles also useful, particularly those specifically on tool use. Excellent reading choices. Very informative and not too lengthy. I have gained a lot from the readings including classroom application and theory behind Web 2.0. Toward the second semester some of the readings seemed redundant. Loved the book for the course. Some of the peer-selected articles didnt seem to fit. Too much repetition. Great text! Enjoyable readings liked that students had voice in selecting readings. Applicable I liked it better when the instructor picked the articles because I was more confident of their application. Relative to Web 2.0 & literacy instruction/strategies. Some reading were good but by the end they all seemed to overlap on the topic/theme and message that they were trying to get across Interesting however some were repetitive. The reading were applicable to everything we discussed and explored. Some were very interesting, others were dry and lengthy. Readings were helpful and useful for using Web 2.0 technology and connecting it to literacy instruction. Sometimes redundant but quality overall. The readings enhanced our understanding of new web tools and went along with class presentations & discussions. Towards the end of the semester, I felt like some of the readings were redundant. I felt like there was a lot of info on one topic that said the same thing. Although interesting at first, they became redundant as the weeks moved on. Readings were very beneficial although some were very repetitive although given the nature of the course and the fact that most of the research is recent, I dont know that this could have been avoided. Felt that the reading were well selected and were not overwhelming. I enjoyed how the reading coincided with the topics being discussed in class and had time to process the information and synthesize their relation to our teaching in our blog.

Additional Comments: Thank you. I think that Elizabeth is an excellent teacher. I would take other classes from her if I could without any hesitation. She has been the best teacher I have had at SU mostly because I think she is very down to earth and very much connected to practicing teachers many times I have felt that my professors have spent so much time in research and theory that they have lacked a personal understanding of my daily grind and how it affects my learning and participation. I do feel that when we were able to switch from just creating a 2-4 paragraph of synthesis of the articles to using any web 2.0 tool to convey our thoughts about the articles it allowed two learning goals to be achieved simultaneously.