This past summer I did a similar study of our last three years' worth of
graduates (N=51). The quick summary re. experiment: the course has a lot of
impact on our students, who cite it as one of the three most important
experiences in their programs (with Senior Seminar and the required
internship as the other two). Many found it among their "most meaningful"
and the source of the work of which they are the most proud. Many also
identified it as "most dissatisfying", but for reasons having to do with
their own preparation or behavior in the class (that is, not as an
experience that is unimportant or poorly run).
This is a timely issue for me because I see one of our regular "let's make
Experimental an optional course" pushes looming on the horizon. We have an
extensive (3 semester: methods/stats/experimental) research curriculum, and
at least in terms of students' self-reports, it seems to me to be a clear
strength of our program (as the numbers below will show).
(longer summary follows)
Paul Smith
Alverno College
Milwaukee
=======================
Summary of my findings:
=======================
During their last semesters with us, all of our majors do a "graduation
review", in which they answer longer versions of the following questions
What work were you most proud of?
What work was most meaningful?
What work was most dissatisfying?
Here are the top few answers to the first question ("most proud of",
with # of graduates giving that response):
Senior Seminar 23
Experimental 11
Physiological 10
Learning and Cognition 7
OCEL (incl. 383) 4
Social 3
("OCEL" is the required internship experience, and includes two semesters of
work).
(I have left off several courses that were cited only once, or not at all)
and to the second question ("most meaningful"):
Senior Seminar 15
OCEL (incl. 383) 12
Physiological 6
Experimental 6
Learning and Cognition 5
Clinical 2
and to the third ("most dissatisfying"):
Experimental 12
Adult Learner 4
Senior Seminar 4
Family 3
Physiological 3
Learning and Cognition 3
Experimental easily topped this list, but the reasons that the students
gave in 10 of those 12 instances were about their frustrations at not having
done the work carefully enough or having felt sufficiently well-prepared
(the other two were an inability to get funding for a project and a
personality clash).
Our students also identified courses in which they met each of the
department's four major outcomes.
-Theoretical Reasoning-
Senior Seminar 34
Learning and Cognition 11
Social 6
Experimental 4
Physiological 2
-Methodological Proficiency-
Experimental 25
OCEL (incl. 383) 13
Clinical 8
Learning and Cognition 3
Senior Seminar 3
-Professional Interaction-
OCEL (incl. 383) 28
Applied Research 6
Experimental 4
Physiological 3
Clinical 3
-Self Reflection-
OCEL (incl. 383) 7
Senior Seminar 6
Clinical 2
Physiological 1
Experimental 1
Applied Research 1
Learning and Cognition 1
Notice that Experimental is not only the leader in Methodological
Proficiency (not at all surprising) but is also among the leaders in two of
the other three categories (where other courses are the intended source of
the outcome).
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