Collo as caulk

I'm going against everything I said here and for the purposes of this post, talking about Collo as what happens inside the classroom. In looking over the evaluations again, there were a few particular classes that got consistent, positive feedback--the discussion about grad school, Dr. Koterbay's session on writing a creative thesis, and the current events round table discussions. Others classes got mixed feedback, but feedback on these classes was all positive.

So what went right in these classes? A slightly more arrogant version of myself might note that I am featured in most of them and call it a day. I doubt that's the real story, though. My guess is that these classes filled a gap. They covered things or offered something that you don't or can't get elsewhere. I know from teaching Foundations of Research that there are a lot of questions about doing a creative thesis. I also know that Dr. Wachs and I are not great at explaining it. So having Scott come in and talk about that filled a real gap. A lot of you are planning to go to graduate school of some sort and having a forum for discussing a range of issues associated with that filled a real gap. The current events discussion is trickier to fit into this. You can talk with others about current events any time. But these discussions brought together a slightly more diverse group and were at least loosely moderated, which is perhaps not something you get elsewhere.

In addition, these particular classes were fairly small and I think that makes a difference. For the most part, you don't have a need for someone to come lecture to you about anything for an hour. Even though we got the size down a bit, I think the numbers were still a barrier to the career services sessions being more effective. They ended up being lectures instead of discussions. The smaller classes, overall, seem to have gotten more positive feedback.

If this is right, then at least one thing we need to do to improve Collo is aim for smaller classes that satisfy a real need or fill some gap. Class size is its own logistical issue that we'll have to figure out when we get to the nuts and bolts of designing the course. But what kinds of classes would actually fill a need for you is something I need your help with. (That means at some point I need some actual suggestions.)

One idea is to have some classes that cover some really practical things or "life skills." We could have classes on financial literacy, buying a car/house, doing taxes, navigating health insurance, basic car maintenance, home maintenance, etc. Obviously we wouldn't cover all or these in a semester or a year, but we could do a few classes like this a year and not repeat the same ones every year. I have no idea if people would be interested in classes like this or not.

Other ideas? Would it be helpful to have more opportunities to talk about study abroad with folks from International programs? Would career focused sessions be more helpful if they were smaller? Are there other things we should be devoting some class time to? Other gaps we can fill?