Class Evaluation

How did it get to be halfway through the semester already? And why is it snowing...in October? Time flies when you are a college student. I guess that should make me fired up to start influencing change on campus today...because time is fleeting. Anyway, the fact that it's halfway through the semester also means that it's time for the course evaluation. I feel like it's always easier to point out the things that you don't like about a course, and harder to identify the elements that make it special. So I'll try to do both, as on the whole, I really like the Environmental Action course!

Things That I Like
-There is a lot of time for discussion, but we also always have a factual lecture every class. This way I feel like we are both learning new things and debating the things that we already know.

-Dallase and Tina make a great teaching team--Dallase is so passionate about changing the world, and Tina has the knowledge and experience to back her up.

-More about Dallase: (and no I'm not just writing this because I know she is reading it) I love that she can be so passionate about the environment and so...inoffensive. I mean to say that most people perceive environmentalists as people who say "don't do that!" "now you can't use this!" and with an attitude like that, why would anyone want to be an environmentalist? I realize that I do this sometimes, too, or sometimes I don't say something because I don't want it to be percieved as rude. So both Dallase's and my classmates' anecdotes about how they have gotten people to shift their behaviors are very helpful in thinking about my own strategies.

-My fellow students: I love hearing about what everyone is up to, everyone has had so many different cool experiences and I think it's really inspiring. Maybe I will take some of them out for coffee, as Dallase suggested :)

Room For Improvement
-I like the learning that comes from researching the "critical thinking" sheets, but when we don't talk about them in class, they can feel like busywork. Also, I think it would be more beneficial to just research the issue and then analyze where the sources come from rather than do "pro" and "con" (as most articles that I have found for the critical thinking worksheets aren't so one sided)

Social Marketing Project: I feel that we are never going to find one project that everyone is 100% behind, and I think it's important to believe in the what you are trying to achieve. Perhaps we could split up into groups based on interest and work on several (2 or 3) social marketing projects? Group work would also help us get to know each other better, which I really would like to do!

-also, we've done a lot of talking for this, but we haven't actually done anything! I know that large scale projects require planning, but I think if we could actually start getting some concrete responsibilities in terms of planning, it would really help.

I'll add more as I think of it!