3.4 Additional comments
The final question on the survey was an open-ended question box where students were invited to provide any additional comments about teamwork or the course. Only three students commented here and all were positive. Respondents 7 and 9 both provided comment on issues/improvements. For example: “a shame that we were unable to have the popcorn session, and the lack of poster feedback from the class was disappointing” (ID7). The ‘popcorn session’ was to be an optional viewing session in the last programmed class and 23/24 students logged into the BIOS3015 class team to join in. Unfortunately a storm took out the internet in our local area where several lecturers lived, resulting in the session being cancelled. Also the poster feedback happened online rather than the planned in-person session, so fewer students engaged with providing the feedback. In future this session will be done as a class (preferably in the classroom but could also be in the BIOS3015 Class Microsoft Team environment) with instant feedback given in the chats.
The other potential ‘improvement’ suggested was a shorter video and an exam based on all the content. The reason just one topic is requested of each group is so they can explore the science in depth, linking scales and different physiological and genetic responses. Since the general processes apply similarly across many of the stresses explored, by understanding one in detail students can then apply this to any future situation. Memorising the content of every lecture for an exam would not achieve this goal. However, in future it may help to make this overarching goal clearer to the students in the course objectives and reminders provided throughout the semester.