Course Evals in ENGL 373A: Beowulf to Milton

So, reading through my first-time course evals for ENG 373A. In general, I'm satisfied with them. As per usual, students found my energy and style especially appealing, and they also gave high marks to accessibility and ability to make material interesting. Nobody complained about unclear expectations. Overall, the commentary was quite positive, and several students self-reported enjoying the course highly.

The complaints were also pretty standard. I still talk too fast. Unlike my freshmen course on Monsters, however, there were almost no complaints about "too much work." Still, several people offered the standard complaint about "harsh grading." (This remark, which also tanks my ratemyprofessor score, continues to confound me, as 70% of my students got A's or B's. Historically, I'm pretty sure at least some of these complainers have actually gotten A's in the course overall. I struggle to come up with an explanation that don't sound like an old man shouting at the clouds.)

Anyway, here's a few random things that stood out to me:

  • Omg, never again am I *NOT* going to immediately release PowerPoints. Sweet Jesus, I only did a couple of them, but despite releasing them all within a week after discussion, I've never had so much moaning. One person even said "the instructor refused to release them."
  • One student complained that they never had to take a course that required a "final paper plus a final exam [that includes two essay exam questions]." Which seems.... weird? That's basically every undergraduate course I ever took.
  • My favorite one ... "The Middle Ages are magical!"

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