Genetics

Comments: Things about the course that were most beneficial/useful: 1) The information in the book was very beneficial for my major. 2) Population genetics 3) The fact that it is structured to make you think and work at a pace you might not be use to. You have to take in a good amount of material in a short period of time, which for us persuing careers in the medical field, is critical. Things that were least beneficial/useful: 1) The tests did not seem to reflect the information in the book all the time 2) Equations 3) For some of us, some of the material is repetitive. But I understand why it is to me because some of it is general knowledge that I have already received. Course Mechanics: 1) Better organization, better teaching skills, not getting off subject for an hour, etc. 2) I don’t think it could 3) Its good how it is, maybe the only thing that I might suggest is to split the class up into 2 days instead of one. 4) We could have more grades taken.. Approach to teaching, identify the instructor’s strengths: 1) Seems to be fair 2) Being able to personalize the material to each student 3) Dr. McCallum really knows in stuff. Like its hard for us to sit for long periods of time and soak up all the information that we need, it also takes its toll on him. LOL…but he pulls through. 4) Very detailed, answered any random class questions, and used material in real world examples. Nature of the Course, how do you feel about the degree of challenge and long-term educational value of this course, both positive and negative? 1) The class was somewhat challenging but I do not feel like I learned enough to have any long term benefit. 2) This course has made me want to learn more about this field. 3) It’s a challenge to sit for hours and take notes, but u get gratification once you move to something different knowing that you are a step above the rest. 4) Loved the course. Difficult material though. Approach to teaching: identify the areas that the instructor could change to improve the quality of instruction/learning. 1) Better organization of the class 2) A few more demonstrations of some of the concepts presented. 3) Its good the way it is. We have book assignments and do activities in class to spice it up some. We have class participation to keep us on or toes. Keep up the good work.

Environmental Physiology (First Time Taught)

What was most beneficial/useful: 1) Most all of of the course will be benefical because of the field I intend to go into. 2) Doctor McCallumm has taught this course to the expectations I find necessary to continue my education here. This course had several benefits, most noticeably student participation and challenging their knowledge on a subject. He was reasonable on test times and how to take the test, as well as providing insight on reasons why we ask questions pertaining to labs. 3) I plan on going into the medical field so this was a good class. The only problem was That the school didn't get the computer here until a month after class started. Dr. mccallum try to get them here and after he could not speed up the process he ask for permission to use one of the computer labs but the computer tech were very slow about putting the software on the computers. After a month we got the computers but the tech still didn't install the software and Dr. Mccallum finally got them to give him the software and he installed it. While we were waiting for the computer Dr. Mccallum did a great job in teaching the course using other methods including life examples, the book, outside assignments, and PowerPoint lectures. 4) It makes us think on a deeper level. We cover general knowledge things but at the same time go into more detail. Its a course that Dr. McCallum made interesting. 5) Mccallum made us do the usual reading a few scidntific papers and i learned alot from these. We did some interesting labs. What was least beneficial/useful: 1) If the school would get their act together, and provide the materials we need in a timely manner, then the class would have gone a lot better. The professor did a good job trying to work around not having computers and other supplies that we needed. 2) Nothing is needed but to provide McCallumm his resources when he needs them. 3) If the computers were here on time we could have done more labs 4) Well, if we could've had the computers for this class, on time, we would have been able to get a lot more things accomplished. We had to come up with experiments just to say we had somthing because what we really needed to do was on the computers. Some of our bigger projects needed to be done through Electrodes, which would have required us to retrieve the data only through the computers. This has been a problem. Someone, other than Dr. McCallum, should answer for why things things weren't taken care of in a timely manner. Approach to teaching: identify the instructor’s strengths. 1) Having been through McCallumm's classes throughout the entire stay here at TAMUT, one thing I have found consistent with him is his ability to work around and even understand the student individually. He works to help the students in their weak areas, expresses concern when it is warranted, and tries his best to have each student perform their best when the student wants help. There is not a single area I can define that he needs improvement in 2) He was very informative and knowledgeable. He took time to make sure every student understood what they were doing. He was always available during and after class and he made sure we were prepared for every test. 3) The strengths were that we really went into more detail in the subject material that we covered. Dr. McCallum is very good at coming up with experiments that flows with our lessons. 4) Dr. Mccallum is great at getting students to seek out information on their own. Many students expect the professor to practically hand you the answers to the test. Most teachers at A&M do hand the students answers to the test and that is only hurting the students. If anyone decides to further their education they will have a very difficult time when they move on to another university. Other universities do not spoon feed their students the information. They make the students learn it. Nature of the Course: How do you feel about the degree of challenge and long-term educational value of this course, both positive and negative? 1) Dr. McCallum has challenged my ability to think, to present to an audience, to hold different perceptions in regards to a subject or even something as simple as a question. His teaching techniques allowed me perform at my best, and even remember things from previous semesters. 2) It was challenging because we had to read a lot of scientific paper but he helped us make since of of them. When also had to learn to run experiment and write lab reports 3) Yes, this course was challenging but he made it to where it was not only challenging, it was fun 4) I think a physiology course should be required for a biology major. It is information that will be useful no matter what field you go into. Approach to teaching: identify the areas that the instructor could change to improve the quality of instruction/learning. 1) Dr. McCallumm needs nothing to improve himself professionally 2) I really did see any ways to improve it but I would have like to have done more labs but he did have control over that issue 3) I wouldn't change anything about this class, or the way that it was structured 4) my only complaint is that mccallum has made the classes easier since they have gotten larger. i understand that their are alot of teachers and even a psycology major in the class, but i wish he was as difficult as he was when i first got here.

Landscape Ecology and GIS

What was most beneficial/useful: 1) Getting to learn ESRI will be useful to anyone who intends to go in ecology. 2) The GIS is very useful. This allows us to broaden our horizons and see what certain fields require and how you would actually handle that atmosphere. 3) Landscape ecology allowed for beneficial understanding on how to use Geographic Information Systems to plot various sets of data over a geographic area. This was the main point of the course and I feel that it was taught to the best of Dr. McCallum's ability 4) We got to learn the GIS system and all the different application it has. We also learn how to efficiently use the system. Dr. Mccallum also shows us how to install the system, he took advantage of the fact that the tech didn't install the program and incorporated it into the class What was the least beneficial/useful: 1) Not having the computers in the classroom until a third of the way through the semester hurt the class since the point of the class is to learn to use a program on the computers. The school needs to take responsibility and make sure that that does not happen again, because the professor did everything he could to get the computers in the classroom in a timely manner. Even once the computers were put in the classroom by the University, they still were not setup correctly, and the students had to spend class time fixing them so that we could begin learning the program on the computer. 2) Its all useful! There are so many things that you can get from the information. 3) The areas of least benefit were the number of computers. This is not Dr. McCallum's fault, as he had requested them prior to enrollment of the student's in the class and the school's lack of response to providing adequate facilities, or even the software, was a disappointment to both student and professor alike. With only four computers, it was hard for all students to get the same educational value out of the class, simply because the class to computer ratio was roughly 5:2. Dr. McCallum had to improvise a different teaching schedule due to the fact that he didn't have the equipment to teach the lab, or even the software to teach it when a little equipment was scrapped together. 4) The thing that was least benficial was that the computer were late and that there is no computer lab on the new campus. Course Mechanics: How could the course be improved? (i.e., textbook, organization, assignments, etc.) 1) As stated above, the University needs to make sure that all classes have the supplies they need. 2) Well, being that this was asked, the information for this class should have been here from day 1! It is not Dr. McCallums fault, it is administration or who ever was in charge of gettin us our materials. It took 2 months, or almost half the semester to just get the computers set up in the classroom so we could do the work. But not only did we get them late, we couldn't even use the software for the subject. This shouldn't have happened! We should have been able to get started maybe 2 weeks into the semester. 3) The school needs to take faculty requirement's more seriously and more rapid response. Dr. McCallum's request's need to be acted upon, not simply brushed aside. More negligence like this could be detrimental in the student's ability to learn, but also question their reason to attend A&M, given that the latter was compromised. 4) If there were more computers then students would have to wait to get the hands on experience that they need but we only had 4 computer. Dr. Mccallum ask them to put the program on the computers in the lab but they never did it so the only time we could practice was in class and Dr. Mccallum would stay over class time and would come in anytime students need him to Approach to Teaching: Identify the instructor's strengths. 1) Just given us the general knowledge of what GIS is and what is is used for was textbook. Many of us would never think of how this information is used in our everyday lives. 2) The Professor performed to the best of his ability given what he had. It is not his fault that he wasn't able to teach to his potential, but rather the school's for having the inability to provide the right facilities for people to have a better understanding of GIS software. Despite the setback's, he was still able to perform his duty as a teacher. 3) He know how to communicate well. If student have problems with a concept he use did approaches to help them understand. He also has a good ability to pick out students who are having problem so that he can help them and keep them up to speed. Nature of the Course: How do you feel about the degree of challenge and long-term educational value of this course, both positive and negative? 1) It was a challege, mainly because we had to scurry to intake information so we could move on to new subject matter. 2) GIS challenged my ability to map multiple sets of data at once. I feel it to be a valuable asset for me, especially in field biology in the event field work is necessary and data needs to be geographically positioned. 3) It was useful because everything were do now is computer based and this class help you get familiar with complex computer programs Approach to Teaching: Identify the areas that the instructor could change to improve the quality of instruction/learning. 1) He doesn't have to change his approach. He did a fantastic job given the time and materials that he had to work with. He pushed so that we could get more than just a basic understanding of the software that we were using. Given that it took forever for the school to supply us with the necessities for this class, HE DID A WONDERFUL JOB! THANX 2) Once again, Dr. McCallum does not need improvement, and my opinion should not be misconstrued in any way. He does however need computers and lab equipment so that students can receive a sufficient knowledge in lab techniques or use of software. This isn't something he can single handedly do himself, but rather is a resource that only the school can provide. 3) I can think of none.

Field Biology

Histology

A. The areas of the course that were most beneficial/useful were:

Look @ the slides/lab time/the slides over the cells and paits of bons/slides; lab/the labs & hands-on experience/Lab time/

B. The areas of the course that were least beneficial/useful were:

Lecture/lecture time/the slides/powerpoint; lecture/goats/

C. Course mechanics: how could the course be improved? (e.g. textbook organizations, assignments, etc.)

More organization more effective use of time/more idea of what the test structure will be./More subject matter over epithelial ulls on slides/more tests during semester/The power points need to be organized more/n/a/A more organized outline and schedule/

D. Approach to teaching: (Identify instructor’s strengths as well as the things that he/she could change to improve the quality of instruction/learning.)

Strengths:

Knowledge/diversity in teaching skills/knowledge of instructor/The clear expectations and hands on approach Dr. McCallum emphasized. Stated what we needed to know and gave ample time for lab/Very knowledgeable/

Areas for improvement:

refer to C/work on lecture/lesson plans/-/Do more than just read directly from the power point during lecture/n/a/

E. Nature of the course: (How do you feel about the degree of challenge and long-term educational value of this course, both positive and negative?)

It was very challenging but required a lot of self study to gaw a grasp of the content./Good!/Imstern valve is very good, I would need to know it later; overall this was a challenging but good course/beneficial to future degree planning/Very challenging coursework but at the same time effective and veneficial:/I think it was challenging enough & very valuable./

Herpetology

A. The areas of the course that were most beneficial/useful were:

Outdoors learning with real animals/Projection slides./Everything was beneficial & useful./

B. The areas of the course that were least beneficial/useful were:

n/a/nothing./

C. Course mechanics: how could the course be improved? (e.g. textbook organizations, assignments, etc.)

n/a/I don’t think it can be improved any more/

D. Approach to teaching: (Identify instructor’s strengths as well as the things that he/she could change to improve the quality of instruction/learning.)

Strengths:

Explains things well/ Wonderful people person, easy to talk to; Very good prof. no need for improvement/

Areas for improvement:

n/a/See above/

E. Nature of the course: (How do you feel about the degree of challenge and long-term educational value of this course, both positive and negative?)

This course gives me a stronger backgrond of science & animals, much needed./I think this course is very valuable. I enjoy the material & learning about amphibians & reptiles./