One of the things we ask the students from our winter class to do is hand a Course Critique. This is just some thoughts from each individual on perceptions of the class and things they liked or disliked. Totally anonymous these comments and/or suggestions may be used to improve upon future classes.

Here are a few from 2006:
My thoughts on the gardening course. I enjoyed the demonstrations, visuals and even your jokes it kept the class lively and interesting. You should always try to keep a short break in the class at some point. The week you didn't provide a break for us I felt the class time was long. I like the fact that you start each class with a re-cap fro teh previous class. I would like to seet he start time a little earlier. For your last class it would be nice to finish off with the same test as teh first class and mark it yourself. This would be an interesting way to see the improvements I have made. I appreciated the one on one time you provided us with answering our questions before, after and during the class. Thanks for the shopping tips and letting us know about on going sales. I like to see another course you could take next year that is different from this year for everyone who has completed this course.

*****
I found your classes very interesting and informative. I like the class on the different soil textures I found out how to work with the soil we have in Brampton. As a matter of fact I enjoyed all of your classes I thought thwy were interesting and informative. I expecially like reading your articles I often forward them to my parents. I would like to thank you and look forward to working with you and learning more thanks again.

*****

The current arrangemtn of the tables is in a horse show pattern, and does not give students on the sides a clear view of the whiteboard. A more practical arrangement might be to have all the tables facing the whiteboard.
More active participation by the class members is needed. Currently, alan talks, and most of the class listens, while others talk and one even sleeps!! One way of increasing participation might be to direct questions at specific members, instead of directing questions at the class in general.
Having notes is good, but not everybody is good at taking notes, and asking Alan to repeat himself is time wasting. If these notes are emailed a week in advance, some will definitely research or have their own questions, and this should definitely halp in class participation. Also, any follow up (math calculations, Quiz answers etc.) can be emailed with the next week's notes, giving everybody a lot of good practical advice. An added benefit is that if Alan is unable to complete the lesson, the students will have their notes to fall back on. Also, while some of the "geeky" stuff may be boring in class, it would be nice to have it on hand for future reference (Bienz chart, glacial activities etc.)
Thank you alan, I hope you enjoyed having us in class, as much as I enjoyed being here. And the good news is that the real education is just starting with the outdoor work!!

*******