Anonymous Course Evaluation for BRTF (Fall Semester)

Please tell us what you think about Beginning Russian Through Film as it has been taught this semester. We do take your evaluations seriously, and in this case we are going to study them very carefully, because we've never taught beginning Russian this way before.

When we started planning this experimental course, some of the biggest questions/objections that we considered were:

• Will it be too hard for beginners to hear Russian at normal speed?
• Will it be too hard for beginners to digest natural, unsimplified speech?
• Will the benefits of using digital technology be worth the problems that it will undoubtedly create?
• Because less time will be spent practicing simple language patterns, will the learning be less efficient?
• Do very short video clips really provide any interesting information about Russia?
• etc., etc.

The anonymous evaluation form below is designed to help you share your impressions with us, but you should feel free to talk about things that we haven't mentioned here, or even ignore our questions and describe your perspective in your own categories.

If you submit this form, and then remember something else you want to tell us, feel free to use this form again.

You may type as much text as you like in any of the boxes below. Your text will wrap and scroll.

Why did you decide to take Russian 121?

Have your expectations been met, for the most part? Please try to be specific, e.g. list things that you've learned about, ideas that you've come in contact with, etc.

You spent 3 days a week working with videos. On the whole, was it worth it? Why?

You spent 2 days a week working with the textbook, audiotapes, etc. On the whole, was it worth it? Why?

If we were to change the proportion (3 days with video vs. 2 days with the books), how should we change it? Spend more time with the videos or more the books? Why?

In the past, we used these books/audiotapes/computer quizzes 5 days a week. If we went back to that system and dropped the videos entirely, would that make the course more useful or less useful? more attractive or less attractive? more fun or less fun? more work or less work? etc.?

What, if anything, have you learned from the films that you would not have learned from a book? What did the videos add to the course? Try to be specific.

Which of the videos is the most memorable one? What did you like or dislike about it?

Compared to other Cornell classes, how useful and how interesting were the FRIDAY classes? Why?

What, if anything would you change about the way the FRIDAY classes are taught? Spend more or less time doing certain things? Do some other things? Any other suggestions?

On average, how much time did you spend ON LINE (i.e. connected to the Web site) doing your homework for the FRIDAY class?

On average, how much time did you spend OFF LINE (i.e. studying from notes or printouts, or practicing) doing your homework for the FRIDAY class?

Did you spend a lot of time reading the glossaries? Was there too much information? Too little information?

When you worked with audio cassettes, you listened to the native speakers and then (in some cases) repeated after them. When you worked with videos, you listened to the characters and then later made your own sound recording. Which method is better? In what way?

In some of your sound recordings you retold the story in the film by reworking the transcript. In other recordings your text was very close to the transcript or exercise. Which were more useful? Why?

When you did receive an email offering corrections on your pronunciation, intonation, etc. concerning your sound recordings did you really read them? Were they helpful?

Did you find anything problematic about the FRIDAY review sheet which contains examples of troublesome words and phrases taken from your audio cassettes, sound recordings and translations? Were these sheets useful?

How much time did you take on average to complete a translation?

On the whole, were you mostly confident about your English translations of the videos or mostly unsure?

What do you feel you gained from doing the translations?

When revising your translations, how did you approach the task?

What was your favorite part of the FRIDAY class?

What was the principal value of the FRIDAY classes?

Were you bored in the FRIDAY class at any time? If so, why?

Compared to other Cornell classes, how useful and how interesting were the WEDNESDAY and THURSDAY classes?

What, if anything, would you change about the way the WEDNESDAY and THURSDAY classes are taught? Spend more or less time doing certain things? Do some other things? Any other suggestions?

On average, how much time did you spend doing your homework for EACH Wednesday and Thursday class?

What was the principal value of the WEDNESDAY and THURSDAY classes?

Compared to other Cornell classes, how useful and how interesting were the MONDAY and TUESDAY classes?

What, if anything would you change about the way MONDAY and TUESDAY classes are taught? Spend more or less time doing certain things? Do some other things? Any other suggestions?

On average, how much time did you spend ON LINE doing your homework for EACH Monday and Tuesday class?

On average, how much time did you spend OFF LINE doing your homework for EACH Monday and Tuesday class?

What was the most difficult or time consuming part of the homework for the MONDAY and TUESDAY classes?

Did you like, dislike, find useful or useless memorizing scenes from the films and then acting them out in class? Why?

Do you intend to take Russian 122? Why? Did the structure and teaching of Russian 121 influence you one way or the other?

Russian 122 will be similar to Russian 121 in structure (a mix of books and videos). What kind of videos would you like to see in the spring semester?

Do you think you may continue taking Russian beyond first year? Why?