Students' Anonymous Evaluations Page

Welcome. Here are anonymous evaluations from students regarding this Soc. 199 class and the main Soc.M167 (Contested Sexualities) class.

In the first four cases, the instructor had asked the students to respond to five items listed below. Students turned in their typed evaluations anonymously by putting them in the instructor's box. The instructor then collected them, scanned them and uploaded them here.

The five items asked on the evaluations are:

Summarize some key ideas you have learned from Soc.M167 class that you will take with you.
Summarize what you have learned from Soc.199 class.
Does working on the class resource webpage help to facilitate your learning in Soc.M167? How so or not so?
What do you like and not like about having this Soc. 199 component to the Soc.M167 class?
What are your suggestions for this Soc. 199 class in the future?

Evaluation 1

The key ideas I have learned in Soc.M167 revolve around how to adopt a critical approach when analyzing what is seemingly essential and normal. There is a naturalized and normalized order that has been built by those in power. Those in power have the power to determine what is a legitimate sexuality and what is not. Those at the top of the heirarchy determine which sexualities are privileged over others. The group that resides at the top of the heirarchy are the white heterosexual males. Anything or anyone that contests and challenges what they deem to be right is automatically labeled as deviant. In order to break this hegemony, a critical perspective must be utilized. I have learned how to read against the grain better because of this class.

In the Soc. 199 component I learned about technical aspects of the web. Initially I learned how to explore the web more efficiently. Then we got into the web designing and uploading component of the course. We learned how to create orientation bars, links, bookmarks, upload images, and display labels. We were able to create a vast and informative site that encompasses many aspects of contested sexuality. It was a group effort that I feel came together better than I expected.

Working in the 199 component allowed me to think about the material more that I would have without it. Because the information regarding the particular sites being analyzed was exposed to me 2-4 hours a week I feel I got more out of the course than those that did not participate in the section of the course. Even though this class did not expand on the topics addressed in lecture, it did make me set time aside to think about the issues more.

What I enjoyed about this 199 was that my knowledge of the web was expanded. With the internet becoming such a useful and necessary tool, I found this class to be very timely and up-to-date. I have not received this option in any of my other classes, but I would definitely do it again if it was offered. The only thing that I did not like about the 199 was that sometimes it took me longer to do the assignments than expected. Some weeks I was putting more time into this 2 unit course in comparisson to my 4 unit courses.

My suggestions for this class in the future would be that there be step-by-step handout sheets regarding our assignments. This was done a couple of times, but noton a regular basis. If the actual lecture and class was more sttructured it would have given us in the 199 some foresight into what we would include in the final project. Sometimes we did not know what we should include because lecture was a little scattered. In order for the website to be useful it need to correlate with the class and focus of the class. If the class does not have focus it is a little harder for us to do our job. Overall though I am very pleased with the section. Gina is very knowledgable and helpful and I really feel as if I got something out of this component of the course.

Evaluation 2

Sociology 199 class helped tremendously in learning the materials for Sociology M167, Contested Sexualities. We went over and clarified many key aspects to the course. Gina was great at getting me to understand the difference between essentialism and social constructionism. The debate that many people believe to be at the crux of the essentialist and social constructionist debate, being natural or unnatural, is not what the debate is. Essentialist want to discover from where homosexuals come from, are they naturally queer or is it an unnatural phenomenon. Social constructionist want to critique the social construction of categories, and what these categories mean. What are the consequences that face those placed in the homosexual or heteosexual category. This class also helped me to critically analyse information that is presented.

By working on the class resource webpage we were able to go over the key concepts in the class which helped to solidify our thoughts. We were able to aply the concept by being able to see them while analyzing the many different sites. By facilitating some discussions on the class discussion board we were forced to critically think about topics and ask questions about things that we were unsure of. Since we had to create the main page for topics we had to read or at least skim through all the students analysis in order to come up with a summury for the site.

The sociology 199 component was great except that it took way too much time. I loved learning the new technical stuff that was necessary in creating a webpage, but I wish there was a way to condense that section of the course.

The only suggestion would be that for the amount of time and energy put into the class, the class should not only be worth 2 units.

Evaluation 3

I will remember how diverse the queer community is. I always thought gay is gay and lesbian is lesbian, but now I understand how complex sexuality could get when it comes to race, politics, religions, etc. The most confusing topic in this course is

transgenderism. I have also been introduced to different social, political, and religious perspectives of queer sexuality from the course material and the research of different websites on the internet, which was very interesting. The field studies class taught basic technical skills that will be useful if I decide to explore webpage creation. It did not really enhance my learning from the main course. I think the only way that can be possible is if the field studies component takes place twice a week - one day for technical skills (webpage) and the other day for going over actual course material. The field studies should be a four-unit course if that does happen. But I think it is fine the way it is this quarter.

I liked the fact that I got to take a more important role in the Soc. 167 class by being in charge of a certain website topic. Sometimes, the responsibilities became a little more demanding that I expected, but they were not anything I could not handle. The field studies course is a very good idea for people who want to be more active in sociology classes besides being a student. It will not help students who want to know more about the course material but that is what discussion sections are for. It was a good experience, but I think some students may feel it is not worth their time. Field studies course needs students who are determined and willing to take an active role in the main course. Computer-loving students are also a plus.

Evaluation 4

1. Summarize key ideas you have learned from Soc. M167 class that you will take with you.

This Soc. M167 class has taught me many lessons concerning not only queer sexualities, but about marginalized groups in general. The class topic that stands out most in my mind and whose lessons I will carry with me was the identity discussion. Our guest speaker, Cherrie Moraga, talked about all the different identities all of us carry with us. She taught me to understand that just because we as individuals are made up of diverse components, that doesn't mean that we aren't a unified whole. Even when two or more of our identities seem to be in conflict with each other, that doesn't mean we're ambivalent in our beliefs. Ali it means is that we are complex and that certain identities are brought out within us depending upon our changing environments,

2. Summarize what you have teamed from Soc. 199 class.

The Soc. 199, (field studies), component of Soc. M 167 has taught me many technical skills regarding webpages, websites, uploading, downloading and editing, I have found this class tremendously helpful in expanding my knowledge about computers in general, and specifically how to create/edit webpages. This knowledge is useful, practical and even marketable. I feel I have become more adept and comfortable using computers and their technology to do what i want and need to do with them.

3. Does working on the class resource webpage help to facilitate your learning in Soc. M 167? How so or not so?

Although originally the field studies component was supposed to be both a technical and an abstract augmentation to Soc. M 167, in practice it really turned more toward a technical class about editing and uploading our webpages. There were times when our T.A. thed to veer the class more toward a discussion of the concepts we had taken up in class it was difficult because of the time limit and the number of technical questions and problems we had regarding our webpages, Although I found our T.A.'s comments very helpful, knowledgeable, clear, and insightful, as a class we needed her help with the computers more than with the concepts.

4. What do you like and not like about having this Soc. 199 component to the Soc. M167 class?

I liked the field studies component because of its intrinsic value in teaching about computers for the reasons I spoke of above. The one thing I didn't expect regarding the class was the amount of time and commitment that it required in order to do a good job with the the webpages. Although I enjoyed it very much, I
found the amount of work that we did was in excess of the 2 units and the P/NP standing of the course. I believe that because of the effort we put into the class we deserve either two more units, a letter grade in the class, or both. Even the extra credit we got for Soc. M 167 was tedious work, for which we're not sure what we're getting back. All I can say is that I have learned something that I consider very valuable from this class because of the amount of time, energy, and effort we've all put into it, (including our T.A.), which at least I was not expecting when I first started.

5. What are your suggestions for this Soc. 199 class in the future?

First of all, I think there is sufficient material to be covered in the course as a field studies component of Soc. M167, that more credit should be offered (either units, grade-wise or both). Second of all, I think it would be helpful to add the conceptual part (of Soc. M167) that we sort of left off as another aspect of the course. Third, it would be wise to let the students interested in the realistic amount of time spent both in and out of class, as well as the commitment necessary in order for the project to be successful.

Evaluation 5

I must say that I am very thankful for this class because up until now I was extremely tired of being gay, as I mentioned during the out panel. I don't think that it was internalized homophobia as much as it was part of a more materialistic approach to social justice and the future. I thought that my activist days were over and that with a prestigious degree I would be able to meld into the background of some law firm somewhere and even if I did not make as much as a straight white guy, I would still be able to make more than enough to live comfortably.

However, this class sure has changed things and I am energized and radicalized and motivated to act! I feel that I have a pretty good understanding of critical queer theory, social construction, and deconstruction and hopefully that comes through in my work.

My personal beliefs are more of a Realpolitik nature and I feel that many lives are at stake in the fight for queer liberation. Therefore, while I admire the elegance of the arguments put forth in favor of critical theories, I personally think that some grittier old fashioned pluralism and charisma and empathy will be necessary for us to use to make enough gains to enable us to then apply insights from queer critical theory into practice.

Some examples are that our system favors essentialized identities so perhaps we should not rock the boat on publically fighting for something like right for assumed identities unless there is concensus among all minorities to take this track....we could just be selling ourselves up the river if you know what I mean.

The point is, that I really appreciate all that I have learned as well as the recharge I have received from this class. And, that if I come across materialistically or essentialized in some arguments it is because I feel that our side trumps even when using the tools of the enemy so to speak and that's why I do it.