GEOS-2123
Module: Introduction to Structural Geology

Course Assessment 2005


The survey is based on 576 cumulative answers from 15 students. About 55% of these answers points toward a good to excellent perception of the course, whereas 15.3% of answers that points toward unsactifactory experience. Students judge their involvement with this module positive at 31.5% at rather negative at 27%.

Assessment of the course only (including lecturer). Student assessment of their engagement with the course.

Despite organizing a repeat session for the practicals, clashes with other courses still persist, it this the reason why students judge their own involvement rather average? Anywasy these clashes impact negatively on the learning experience of about a third of the class.

Before attending this module, students experience with geometry was mainly two dimensional. They were certainly challenged by the practicals which involved solving 3D geometrical problems. Their problem solving ability were sharpened and many students acknowledge that the practical make them think and learn more that they expected which I take as a positive outcome.

P. Rey, Sydney Sept. 2005

QUESTIONNAIRE

13

76

169

227

91


Achieving Aims and Objectives

6 13 29 60 17
Q1: This course provided a solid introduction to Structural Geology...... 0 0 4 9 1
Q2: I know more about faults and fractures. 0 2 1 8 3
Q3: I know more about folds and folds systems.............. 0 3 1 6 4
Q4: I know to use structural contours... 0 0 5 8 1
Q5: I know how to use fractures to orient of stress axes... 3 3 3 5 0
Q6: I know how to use kinematic criteria... 3 3 5 2 0
Q7: I know better how to analyse geological maps... 0 0 4 7 3
Q8: I know how to use the stereonet... 0 0 3 9 2
Q9: I have learn not only theoritical things but practical stuffs too... 0 2 3 6 3


Organisation and Teaching Methods

3 30 40 55 22
Q10: I had a clear idea of what was expected of me in this course........... 2 4 6 3 0
Q11: Overall, this part of the course was well organised.............. 0 4 5 4 3
Q12: Lectures and practicals followed a coherent format ............. 0 5 2 8 1
Q13: I was given enough time to understand the things I had to learn............. 1 7 3 4 0
Q14: It is good to have the lectures and practicals available on the Internet...... 0 1 2 5 7
Q15: The practicals on map analysis and stereonet technics were challenging...... 0 1 6 8 0
Q16: The practicals challenged my problem solving ability................... 0 0 3 8 4
Q17: I got enough feedback on my reports..................................... 0 3 3 6 3
Q18: The focus was on learning rather than marking........................ 0 3 3 6 2
Q19: Efforts were made to understand my difficulties with my work..... 0 2 7 3 2


The Lecturer

1 14 44 62 36
Q20: I feel the lecturer was committed to his course and his students............ 0 0 3 8 3
Q21: The lecturer worked hard to make his course interesting.......... 0 3 4 6 2
Q22: The lecturer was good at explaining things................. 1 4 5 3 1
Q23: The lecturer was helpful and approachable................. 0 0 3 6 5
Q24: The lecturer was concerned that students learnt effectively ..... 0 3 3 6 3
Q25: The lecturer made himself available for his students........ 0 0 5 5 6
Q26: The lecturer had reasonnable expectation of what I could achieve...... 0 1 5 5 2
Q27: The lecturer made effort to provide a friendly learning environment..... 0 2 2 7 4
Q28: The lecturer explained clearly his teaching strategy and methods......... 0 1 6 5 1
Q29: The lecturer respected students and responded to student needs....... 0 0 4 7 3
Q30: The lecturer treated students fairly and impartially............... 0 0 4 4 6


The Content

3 19 56 50 16
Q31: The content specified for this module was relevant to a geoscience degree...................... 0 0 4 4 7
Q32: Aims and objectives were specified at the beginning or the course......... 1 1 6 3 3
Q33: I was helped to understand why the topics were relevant.......... 1 1 8 2 3
Q34: I had sufficient information to source additional information.................. 0 4 4 6 0
Q35: I had sufficient knowledge in geoscience to cope with this module................... 0 0 7 7 1
Q36: I could cope with the mathematics and physics aspects of the course... 0 2 6 6 1
Q37: Overall this subject was challenging and interesting......... 0 1 8 6 0
Q38: The level of the lecture was about right......... 0 2 7 7 1
Q39: The practicals were challenging yet duable............................. 0 4 4 5 0
Q40: After following that unit I am more interested in structural geology......... 1 4 2 4 0

You

5 11 23 10 8
Q41: I invested up an additional 1-2-4-6-8 hours per week ........ 1 3 4 1 2
Q42: I did the best I could.............................................................. 1 2 5 2 2
Q43: I was proactive and very involved.............................................. 1 3 5 2 0
Q44: I attended all the lectures..... 1 2 3 2 4
Q45: I am satisfied with my work..................................................... 1 1 6 3 0



         List at least the two things that helped you to learn in this subject and explain why each was important to you.

Good lecture notes, handy when timetables clash. Lecture notes aon the Internet. The lecturer was always happy to answer questions and explain concepts one on one. Patrice was willing to help students if they did not understand aspects of the practicals. One on one help in practicals. Lecture notes on the Internet. Instructions on the web was detailed and helpful in understanding course content. Lecture material plus figures were helpful. Practical details instructions and also willingness of lecturer to explain concepts and go over ideas thoroughly. Internet resources, I was unable to attend all lectures and pracs so having resources online allowed me to complete the work. All 3D concepts which were difficult to grasp were usually explaine fairly thoroughly with Patrice's hands. This helped visualisation, but computer animations would have been clearer. The notes were vet out so that it was possible to teach yourself, however diagrams could have been labelled better. Not spoon fed answers - made me really learn the material. Knowledge more important than marks made me take the time to learn the content. Feedback, very helpfull in understanding where I went wrong. Explaining the practicals, as if I were explaining to someone who had no geological experience was helpfull as it really made me understand what I was doing. Lecturer was approachable so I had no problens asking questions. The pracs were interesting and challenging. Stereonet - Practical 3 plus how to use it. Strike-dip-dip direction - Practical 1 plus how to determine it from form lines.
 

            List at least two things that could be improved and explain why these changes would help you to learn. 

Better explanation of mathematical concepts. The pracs seemed to involve a lot of work for what they were worth. Clearer explanation of what was expected of students with an idea of marking schemes for practicals. Material about structural geology very un-interesting and difficult to understand as I felt that it was not explained in a clear or coherent manner. The lectures notes are in very inaccessible format - PDF files would be prefered as they can be printed with ease. The lectures were hard to follow and understand. Some of the terms used were not clear in their meaning. Would be helpful if lecture material on the net were in a printable format ...not just pracs. Lecture projections larger scale. Diction and pronunciation - I don't want to seem racist, but it was very difficult to understand what you were saying in the lectures, which then made it very hard to understand the lecture content. Also there were spelling mistakes and grammatical errors throughout the web text. Web based material - They were very good to use on the web, but I don't have my own computer, and all practicals and lectures were not printer friendly. Perhaps a PDF version of everything would be of benefit. Slightly more explicit questions - questions assumed more background knowledge than I had. Flexible deadlines - some exercises are hard to finish in one week. Less material in practicals could be beneficial as they were extremely challenging (especially the last 2 practs, in which we really needed Patrice for) - Thanks Patrice for being a great friendly teacher. Better structures of lectures notes. I found it hard to follow the lectures. I felt it was a bit fragmented. I feel like we learnt a bit here bit there but I could never see the whole picture. It was hard to determine what the main point were. If it is possible, may be find a better method of explaining these 3D concepts because it was quite challenging. There is a lot of information and comparatively little time. Maybe a focus on key themes would be better. Hopefully the field trip will consolidate what we were meant to grasp in the lectures. Mathematic aspect - I should be able to do mathematical equations. Paying attention help me to learn plus understand what is being said. It never followed a structural order (it was all over the place).