Student Evaluations
Student evaluations are submitted at the end of each semester and have been a huge influence when I consider revising my courses. I have been at Point Park through several large cultural, leadership, and environmental changes, and the student feedback reflects the significant shift in how they perceive their own education. I have learned how to interpret comments about work load, speed of information, and content of assignments in ways that allow me to make helpful changes in the structure of each course. I have also learned the importance of seeking feedback from the entire class, rather than from a single student, as well as from faculty. This combination helps me to find the best balance of what to change and what to keep.
Below, you will find a summary of student evaluations from each semester and the changes they inspired in course content and approach.
Fall 2019
Student Feedback
For my first semester, I received very high scores in Stagecraft, Electricity, Professional Preparation, and both Lighting 2 classes. I was incredibly honored to see that students were excited for me join the faculty, and they responded to the class content really well:
“Cat is by far one of the BEST professors I've had so far at Point Park. She is always prepared, ready to answer any question, supports her students in and out of class, and is just overall a great professor.”
“This class was a challenge. I had to learn new software, concepts, and generate drawings that I have never attempted or thought I was capable of completing. The class was structure well, and I felt that it taught me great skills a Level 2 design class should.”
“Cat Wilson is an angel sent from heaven and I am so thankful for her teaching this course. I am still panicking about post-grad life (who doesn't?) but I feel that I am in a much better mindset than I would've been without her. And I'm glad she covered material other than just resumes and portfolios, such as taxes and union contracts.”
Course Changes Made
Lighting 2 was a lot of work for the class, but they seemed excited and ready for it. I was testing the pace and intensity of the students. They met my challenges well and enjoyed the projects. However, I discovered they were missing a lot of base information I thought had been taught in Lighting 1, so I asked for a special topics class: Lighting 2.5. This caught students up to where I hoped Lighting 2 would be.
The stagecraft students responded really well to a full range of projects, from lighting to props to carpentry. They appreciated the staff coming in as guests to teach certain techniques, which led me to reimagine how Stagecraft is taught. For the next semester, I suggested a co-teaching situation in which each section is taught by the staff person who works in that field at the Playhouse.
Professional Preparation students appreciated the content that addressed post-graduation life in addition to portfolios and resumes, so I decided to keep the tax day, city research, contracts, and budgeting information.
Spring 2020
Student Feedback
For my second semester, I suggested and implemented a new structure for Stagecraft, splitting it among four teachers who would teach to their strengths: Lighting/Sound, Props, Construction, and Sewing. I coordinated the team to create a new Stagecraft class, which was quite successful. We held a special topics class, Lighting 2.5, which was also successful, and caught students up on missing knowledge. I was also able to start fresh with Lighting 1, creating the knowledge base I hoped students would have to start with. I got a wide variety of feedback in Lighting 1 that greatly changed how I approached the class in the future. I also had helpful feedback in Vectorworks that taught me a lot about breaking projects up into small portions, the students’ ability to manage time, and class pacing.
“I love the new structure of this class. I know this semester it was completely new but I absolutely adored it. I like how they had the master of the craft teach the certain aspect of theatre. Jeff for example, teaching us lighting . It made so much sense to me. That being said, I think the handled the transition to online school the best out of all my teachers and I have nothing but respect for them. I really want to work with them later in the future at this university and again, I loved this class and was sad it was cut short.” (about Stagecraft)
“Overall, I think this was a well-executed course. It introduced many of the fundamental concepts needed to execute and complete a Lighting Design. There were some great in class activities that helped make the class fun, and some stunning presentations that made things easy to learn from. For me, this class really pushed me to go further and to think bigger…. Smaller activities such as the adjective project were excellent ways to practice the fundamentals of lighting design, and I think integrating more of those types of activities would help train competent designers in the area of look creation… I think there is also a need for a whole lighting concept statement presentation. It would be a nice resource for students to go back on, and help everyone understand what forms a good concept. Methods and expectations are varied among designers, and while many things in this course were presented very well, I think this is an area that could be improved upon..” (Lighting 1)
“I really enjoyed this class! I like how we started out with the basics and worked on the myths project before moving on to the final. If I had one critique (and this is very nitpicky), it would be the consistent use of real life pictures for journals. I understand using them in real life for the first month or so, but it became hard to find different areas of light when we were in school during the daytime.” (Lighting 1)
“Projects were too large and complicated based on the timeframe expected to work on them. A project claiming to take 4 hours took more like 15, difficult to manage with a full course load. Appreciated making projects creative. Wish this was taught twice a week with smaller checkpoint progress grades to try and keep more on track.” (Vectorworks)
Course Changes Made
Stagecraft was a huge success as a four-part master class style course. So we officially changed the structure and created a co-teaching structure.
The Lighting 1 feedback gave me a useful look into which projects students found helpful, which they found fun, and which they learned most from. I discovered that dividing the three-hour class into two parts was most effective. During the first part of class, students were able to pay attention to a lecture or some other kind of information delivery. But much longer than an hour, and their attention drifted or they got tired and would not retain much more information. It turned out to be most effective when the second part of class was a hands-on project using the information from the first part. This allowed them to get practical experience, try out the concepts we discussed, and get immediate feedback on their ideas. For future three-hour classes, even outside Lighting 1, I kept this in mind and altered the structure of class to incorporate more hands-on projects.
Teaching Lighting 1 for the first time also showed me which concepts students found harder than I expected: concept statements and the photometrics (math) portion of doing a light plot. This led me to change the lessons involving both these concepts, breaking them down into smaller pieces and having more in-class practice with them before assigning homework.
Student Feedback
Feedback this semester was a bit tricky since we were online due to COVID. But I did discover a whole new set of tools we could use to integrate into classes. I tried to incorporate the students’ previous feedback about preference for hands-on learning, and to translate that to activities that could be accomplished at home. I also got an even better idea about the range of feedback I would be receiving even within the same course. This semester was a great lesson in not being able to please everyone, and staying true to the goals of each course.
“I think that overall, this class went really well! I think all of the projects were beneficial and the mock interview (the in class one) was super insightful. I think I would rather have more mock interviews than panels? By the end, I just was overwhelmed by the amount of panels we had. I understand that it's good to have questions answered and build connections, but it became a little much by the end.” and “Cat did a wonderful job at teaching this class. I feel better prepared into going out in the real world and presenting myself due to the assignments we did. Also LOVED hearing and talking to multiple people in and our the live entertainment industry. Got a wealth of knowledge from just talking to them, please keep this part of the class. Overall this class was really good.” (about Professional Preparation)
“What an awesome class! I simply wish there was time for more time for the Dance Project or a full musical(The musical and concert design subject is something I am eager for in Lighting III). But I’m the context of this class, I wonder how effective starting out the semester with a paper project musical, moving to a “real” play, and finishing with the song project might be. This would allow students who do not take Lighting III to have a well rounded design experience. As the above odds suggests, I think doing a project like It’s A Wonderful Life was an excellent chance to get experience executing a design. I also really appreciate” (Lighting 2)
“I appreciate how flexible Cat was in this weird COVID semester. I never felt like I was being assigned too much work at a time and I never felt like I was missing out on something I might learn in a normal semester. I also liked how when we were designing Wonderful Life, we were assigned barely any other homework. Having respect for our time like that and not making Lighting Design II our life was very nice.” (Lighting 2)
“Personally, I felt like all pf the productions this semester were very difficult and extremely hard to balance with doing classes. I think not only were the virtual elements harder to learn and get used to, but some people thought doing things virtually was less work for tech students, when it was actually more. I enjoyed learning about film and it was very fun to get to learn how to better use a lot of technology, but I think the expectations for stage management were too high.” (PROD 200)
Vectorworks was also a great lesson in how the students approach homework. Most left the assignments until the night before they were due, and ended up spending extra time trying to remember what the lesson was (they didn’t want to take notes either), and then getting the assignment done. This turned a somewhat intricate assignment that should have taken two to four hours into a much longer ordeal. I learned that assignments need to be broken down into smaller parts due more frequently in order to encourage better time management
I discovered that following the previous Vectorworks syllabus was no longer beneficial to the current student body. Originally Vectorworks had focused mostly on the lighting portion of the program, but only two of the 20 students were lighting designers. I realized I needed to broaden what the class covered and spend equal time on drafting for scenery and lighting, and then include what the program can do for audio and projection.
Fall 2020
Course Changes Made
The Pandemic opened a new door for bringing in guest professionals to speak to classes. In Professional Preparation, many students enjoyed talking to a wide variety of guests who have used their theatrical skills in many different ways, while others did not like the panels. So moving forward, I decided to invite guests only a few times throughout the semester, while keeping the zoom panels from all over the country to expand the students’ exposure to professionals.
The Pandemic also brought on a lot of “if I’m paying this much, I expect this kind of thing” from a lot of very angry students. I received feedback from fellow faculty to take reviews with a grain of salt, though I still have trouble not taking them very personally. For Senior Project, I did understand the few students who said it seemed like extra work load on top of their already large production assignments, and I began to discuss with the other Production Faculty the possibility of getting rid of the extra work load on top of the production responsibilities.
As this was the first real Lighting 2 class (not filling in a Lighting 1 class that did not cover the basics), I got a lot of great feedback on which projects were successful and which were not. Most students loved the dance lighting project, so that was definitely a keeper. Most students liked doing the practical project where we lit the filmed production of It’s A Wonderful Life, and they got a lot out of learning lighting in a real environment. But the outside-of-class schedule was difficult to balance, so future practical assignments need to find a way to operate within class time.
This semester also taught me the importance of respecting what else is going on in the students’ schedules, and how staggering my projects with other major class projects would ensure the most learning. Just operating on a schedule that served my class well without considering production schedules or other class work made the students shut down. This changed how I approach not just the Lighting 2 projects, but the projects in all my courses.
The Pandemic shone a light on the Production Assignment work loads and how some assignments, such as stage management, had unfair time commitments. Now that I was going to take over coordinating production Assignments, I wanted to work on creating policies and schedules that would help students balance production work and classwork more successfully. This would be a multi-semester process.
Spring 2021
Student Feedback
Early in the semester I received a notice that my contract would not be renewed (along with 18 other faculty). The students, staff, and faculty fought so hard that by the end of the semester I had my job back. This really showed me that despite the mixed feedback and some unhappy students during COVID, the students really did value what I was able to bring to the program.
“Cat Wilson is a wonderful teacher, mentor, and resource for all us in tech theatre, not only in lighting areas. It is truly a shame that we are losing her as she is one of the best professors i have had in my time at this school and has brought in countless opportunities, real world applications, and is a wonderful person in general. i am so disappointed that she will not be here for my senior year and for classes under me that would greatly benefit from her teaching.” (Lighting 1)
“I really enjoyed this class and learned a lot. Cat is an incredible person and was readily available if we had questions or concerns. It was a fun class that also taught us a lot of important information and gave us hands on experience. The only complaint is the final project seemed rushed and therefore I felt that I did not know enough and had to rush to learn things in the last few days in order to do the assignment. However, Cat was always there to help and I understand that this semester was unlike others.” (Lighting 1)
“Cat took so much time to walk her students through very complex computer programs, often taking hours of her time off to help us. She worked one on one with students to make sure everyone was on equal playing ground so that we all could create work we were proud of.” (Lighting 3)
“I just want to thank you for all the support you have shown everyone you encounter and for how you are constantly cghting to help us get the education we deserve. Thank you so much for giving me hope that there are in fact people out there who want to see us succeed even if they are few, far between, and hidden behind those who don’t care and want us to fail. Thank you so much for all you have taught me.” (PROD 201)
“When everything with this specicc production happened, Cat was right there in it with the students and really fought to get us what we needed when the production was cancelled. I went to her and to my mentor several times for guidance, and their guidance helped me make my decisions and taught me to advocate for myself and what I needed.” (PROD 301)
Course Changes Made
Several productions were canceled due to COVID, and to actor protests, but it was clear that the production students were hungry for the hands-on experience they were missing. I coordinated with the director for Passing Strange, and the Playhouse staff, and we ended up holding tech week without the actors so students could still get the production experience. Their response to this made it very clear that they needed as much experience and mentorship as they could get.
Based on the feedback about Production, I discovered that the students felt they were not getting the level of guidance they wanted during their production assignments. So I worked with the mentors to clarify mentorship duties, which then brought to light the fact that the staff was not getting paid for their efforts and time dedicated to mentoring students on production. The Director of Theatre Production and I began work with the administration to remedy this.
Lighting 1 feedback had some good suggestions about getting grades in more quickly and spacing out the final project. One thing I did struggle with was getting assignments graded in a timely fashion, and for the final collaboration project that was not terribly helpful for students revising their work. For future courses, I made it a goal to get grading done within two weeks of the assignment due date. This was incredibly difficult, and I continue to work toward this goal even today.
In Lighting 3 and in other courses, students responded well to my taking a lot of outside time to help them on assignments and extra learning goals. This is something I continued in the course, offering workshops for those who might not know Photoshop, or an extra meeting time for anyone struggling with Capture, the computer program we were using. But I also discovered that students started relying on these times. I was making myself sick with the extra time commitment. They stopped taking notes because “Cat will help later”. So while I continued to offer additional support and workshops during future classes, I also began to look into setting some boundaries to protect my own health.
Fall 2021
Student Feedback
This was the first semester I received more student feedback in person rather than in the official course review form. Many students frequently came to my office to discuss class improvements, production process improvements, and changes they would like to see made in the department. I also discovered it would be helpful to ask students to fill out the evaluations so I could get the written feedback.
“My main comment for this course is that sometimes it's a little hard to move on for the projects that build off of each other without the prior parts being graded and having your feedback. Besides that, really appreciate the flexibility this semester!” (Lighting 2)
“This was a great semester. I really liked the hands on experience we gained. Would love to study moving lights. Maybe Lighting 3?? I do wish the turn around time on grading and feedback was a little quicker.” (Lighting 2)
Course Changes Made
The major adjustment I committed to for all courses was to a faster turn around for assignment grading. I spent so much time adjusting lesson plans and coordinating hands-on opportunities that I got behind on grading and could not catch up. I sought help from the Head of Theatre Production and tried implementing several of his suggestions. I also reached out to faculty outside Point Park who assigned similar types of projects involving intensive written and in person feedback, and got a few more suggestions to try.
I continued to take into account the fact that students were overwhelmed with more than one large project due at the same time. I was flexible when looking at due dates and moving assignments a week or so to better fit their schedules. This was appreciated again this semester.
Spring 2022
Student Feedback
This semester saw a big shift in how students handled class projects. I believe a large part of this was due to getting back into production, and students quickly overcommitted themselves again. But I did not see that until the end of the semester, and therefore a lot of feedback revealed that my classes had projects that were too large. I also struggled again with on-time grading, so a lot of what I changed moving forward revolved around reevaluating the scale of assignments and how they were turned in.
“In class, Cat is very good at explaining concepts and getting students to engage and learn more about lighting design, but feedback comes slowly, sometimes too late for anything to be done with it.” (Lighting 1)
“I think this was my tied for my favorite class this semester. I liked the challenges of the weekly discussion boards. Another thing I very throughly enjoyed, was being able to have hands on experience.” (Lighting 1)
“I overall feel like I learned how to visually express what I wanted, but I don't feel that I learned the technical sides of lighting design which is what our final was based off of. I would have appreciated more Vectorworks based classes and small assignments about halfway through the semester, so by the time we got to finals I felt confident in my skills.” (Lighting 1)
“The only thing about this course is we were given very difficult programs to work with and a very short amount of time to complete these projects. At some points we were only given a day due to receiving the license for the programs at such a late time. We also were placed in the Light Lab in the playhouse basement with a limited amount of projectors/working space.” (Video Production)
“If the end goal for when this class is taught again is to create another installation I think it would be much more beneficial to spend the whole semester on it. You could easily have each student with their own installation idea and spend the whole semester learning how to make content for it, and the different ways to display it.” (Video Production)
“Giving us only one week to work on assignments works for the first half of the class (Photoshop, AfterEffects, Premiere, etc.) but once we got into QLab and Isadora, I felt like it would have been better to have two weeks per assignment. I feel like I barely understand each program because I was not given the time to mess around with it and figure it out, something which is essential to learning those programs. I had no time outside of class to do that, as we are all Theatre Production students and ridiculously busy all the time. Other than that, I really enjoyed this class and felt like I learned a lot. Cat, you're amazing at being available for us, even when you're also really, really busy. I appreciate all of the help and advice you've given me, both on this class and other things.” (Video Production)
“I feel like the industry discussions were kind of pointless, especially the mandatory participation in them. I understand their purpose was to make us aware of what is happening outside of our four walls and I enjoy that part of it. However, not every department can speak on every subject because some subjects aren't relevant to every department. What is a painter or carpenter going to say about intimacy training? We are never in the rehearsal room and our jobs rarely involve touching or intimate subjects.” (PROD 401)
“cat's wanting for us to succeed is seen so clearly through her support and mentoring in this class” (PROD 401)
Course Changes Made
My attempts to grade more quickly improved my turn around time slightly, but it was clear I needed to continue to find ways to get faster. I needed to find a better balance between time working on lessons, time advising on productions, time accompanying students to professional conferences, and time working on outside shows. I looked ahead to the next semester to try to simplify my responsibilities, and I set aside a dedicated day that would be my “grading day”.
Hands-on projects continued to be most popular in classes, and that was the information that students had the easiest time with. They struggled with the math and computer programs involved in drafting a light plot, so I decided to find a way to communicate those ideas in a hands-on manner. The next time I taught photometrics, we would do a project where we turn beams of light into physical items so the students could see and touch the beam angles.
I got a lot of useful feedback from students in Video Production. I believed the students signed up for it were hungry for projection knowledge, but it turned out that the pace I planned was too fast for them. The course was intended to cover several different projection programs, so I planned one project per program. Students found this too much and too fast, so for the next time teaching this course, I plan to significantly simplify and possibly just focus on two different programs. I will also break the projects up into smaller portions due more frequently rather than every three or four weeks so that students do not wait until the last minute, then complain about having only a day or two to do the project. I know this works well for other courses, so I will follow the same method to help with time management.
To address the feedback about being in the light lab with little equipment, the only adjustment I could really make was to continue to look for grants and support to get more gear. We operated class with four projectors, individual software licenses for each student for each program, three spare computers for those who did not have a computer that could handle a specific program, and a permanent computer station that remained in the light lab for their use. I did not feel we lacked the equipment to properly do the work. However, I will continue to look into more flexibility and availability of gear.
This was also the first semester I really experienced students who were either afraid to ask questions, or possibly embarrassed to ask. Each class period I would ask if there were questions from the week before, and at the end of class I would ask if there were questions about the assignment I just went over. No one ever had questions, but then evaluations stated that people were confused and often had questions that were never answered. This was a challenge I would face over many semesters, so for the future I planned to try to ask students repeat information back to me in several different ways to demonstrate their understanding. This would also help them discover if they didn’t understand something, and we could address it as a whole class for everyone’s benefit.
I co-taught PROD 401 - Senior Project - for the first time, and we both worked very hard to incorporate panels of professionals speaking about life in the theatrical community. This was something we continued from the Pandemic times that students loved. However, the student body has changed, and we got feedback suggesting they did not understand the value of being able to talk to people outside their own professions. For future classes where we bring in professionals, I will work harder to emphasize the collaborative nature of theatre and ask the guests to speak to their own experiences of learning from and working with people in other fields.
Fall 2022
Student Feedback
This semester was the beginning of a lot of adjustments to how we handle Production Assignments. I was in charge of coordinating assignments, but it was clear that students were eager for more mentorship. I received feedback for all departments as I was the instructor on record, but it allowed me to address concerns with all the mentors moving forward.
“I want more feedback from my mentor on what I can do to improve in my role,I think everyone can agree on this across the board. Maybe we could suggestsome kind of evaluation for everyone at the end of the process? Especiallythose of us working in Shop Roles (Scenic Specifically). ” (PROD 300)
“I throughly enjoyed having the dance project and being able to lightsomething other than the light lab, especially when you aren't a lightingmajor. Such wonderful projects!!“ (Lighting 2)
“Overall this course is well structured and definitely fits with the courseobjectives in the syllabus. The projects were fun and relevant and whiledifficult and time consuming at times, sincerely helped us grasp the conceptsand understand the job of a lighting designer and all that it entails! … I would love to have seen grades and feedback a little sooner sometimes, but it was madeclear to the class in the beginning of the semester that you are very busy(hello, working industry professional) and it was a completely understandablesituation. The grading is fair and clear and you're an absolute joy of aprofessor. Classes did feel a bit long sometimes, and slightly repetitive due to the numerous examples of concepts we were given, but that is a more personal thing and is likely helpful for those who need those examples to fully grasp the concepts. Please keep doing what you're doing!! Your anexcellent professor, a talented designer, and a lovely, kind, respectful person.” (Lighting 2)
“TO BE CRYSTAL CLEAR the teacher were ok I don't have complaints aboutthem! the class itself and it's setup are what I greatly dislike. This was a trauma/ complaint dump and I hated it I got dinged for not participating because it's rude just to complain and complain all day long” (PROD 400)
“The interview opportunities in this class were extremely valuable. I feel that isthe most valuable part of this class. It was good practice and allowed for real world interaction from people in the industry. The Professional Contact assignment is an extension of that; I just wish it was weighted a little lower and talked about more throughout the semester. “ (Professional Preparation)
Course Changes Made
Based on the PROD 100-300 feedback, I developed a grading rubric and feedback sheet that I sent to all mentors. I then formatted the feedback for all students, ensuring they were receiving not only in-person feedback, but also written and graded feedback. I had to work hard to encourage full mentor participation, but it did ensure that all students got feedback. This is something I will continue in the future.
Lighting 2 feedback confirmed that many of the projects we do are worth keeping. Several students commented on the time commitment of projects, so moving forward I will pare down what I can without losing the essence of the projects themselves.
Some of the negative feedback I got in Lighting 2 stemmed from students who were frustrated either by moving a bit too slow to make sure the non-lighting students understood the concepts, or moving too quickly and going a speed better for lighting students, leaving non-lighting students confused. Since I got both comments, it is clear I just need to keep working on the balance of integrating advanced information into the pace good for non-lighting students so everyone is challenged and engaged.
The feedback we received from PROD 400 matched the deep unhappiness we were seeing in the senior class. With everything turning into a complaining session and the class not meeting the course objectives of analyzing and discussing their production assignments, we decided to look at the purpose of PROD 400 and revise what would actually be helpful for the students. We decided the course would be more helpful as just their production assignments, and having discussions with their mentors directly rather than making it a group participation analysis.
Spring 2023
Student Feedback
I found a decent groove with assignment content, though still found I needed to do some work on the scale of class projects. This was another semester struggling with getting feedback to students on time, and trying to balance the amount of hands-on advising and workshops outside of class time. I did see some of the improvements from previous semesters. however, those are not the things students commented on.
“I did enjoy this class and everything I learned, I just wish there was more of a focus on the technical elements of lighting versus the design elements. I wanted to learn more how to hands on use the light board, how to actually hang a light and do a deeper dive into all the encompasses. Maybe this is covered in a different class though. Feedback and grading were very delayed which made it hard as the entire second semester assignments built up to the final.” (Lighting 1)
“I almost switched and became a lighting designer. I love the topics we went over in class and it was well organized. some days I did feel a bit overwhelmed with how much was being thrown at us. I did make it through I just hope it could be condensed down just a little. I do also wish we had a vector works session before our finals. I did feel confused and worried if I was going to mess something up. Cat was there for questions of course but some scheduling didn’t really allow for us to make it to our in person sessions. I do love this course and the work load was very reasonable.” (Lighting 1)
“My comfort with Vectorworks has significantly improved from this class, but it's hard to know where I still need to improve and what I have not been doing well consistently without receiving any feedback on assignments throughout the semester. “ (Vectorworks)
“Cat is always delightful to have as a professor. The area that comes up difficult is getting assignments out on time and graded in a timely fashion. Cat is a thorough grader, which is useful and likely time consuming. It was would be difficult to criticize Cat for this given the student lack of punctuality as well. Maybe it’s this specific semester, or it is upperclassmen, but no one was quite on time.” (Vectorworks)
“Cat, as always, is great. This course does not reflect what I expect it to. I amnot a lighting student. I enjoyed concert lighting and touching on film.However, I feel these subjects should be explored less. Cover more bases ofdifferent lighting. OR we should dive into advanced lighting for theater. Iunder stand I & II are being re-worked, but II feels more like a crash course ofdifferent live mediums. III could be a deeper dive into those mediums, orfocusing on the finer details of lighting design. Design a One Act or possible afull show. Simulate real world practice.” (Lighting 3)
Course Changes Made
In Lighting 1, a few students brought up the desire for more technical training. This is the second time I heard about another class not having the content that was supposed to be a precursor to Lighting Design 1, so I addressed the issue with the Head of Theatre Production. He said he would speak to the instructor to try to get lighting more incorporated into the prerequisite. I also made sure to incorporate a review of the technical basics of lighting at the beginning of the next Lighting 1 class, and more programming in the projects we do.
Grading was clearly a struggle again, and the things I was trying in order to get grading done more quickly didn't work. I was not able to keep Mondays as a grading-only day, since every meeting was schedule for a Monday. So I needed a better approach. The next thing I tried was a suggestion from a colleague: One day each weekend was dedicated to grading, and one evening during the week was only grading. This is the next tactic I will try to get more feedback to students sooner.
The feedback I got from Lighting 3, though from only one student, opposed everything I heard previously. Most were excited to approach lighting for non-theatrical industries, so hearing that this student wanted more theatrical lighting led me to conduct a survey at the beginning of Lighting 3. This survey asked the students if there were elements of lighting they wished to review or dig deeper into, and I left a few weeks open to be able to focus on those elements.
Fall 2023
Student Feedback
I had a tough semester and found (and passed) my limits of outside work vs teaching responsibilities. I fully admit this was not a strong semester for my teaching, and I learned a lot about the balance I needed to find to be the best teacher I can be, while also maintaining the professional contacts I want to give the students. I also learned I need to get better feedback from the whole class, as I believe I received only feedback from the three or four students who were very angry; they took four different classes from me in one semester. I learned a lot from this feedback and do not take it lightly.
“Fun class with brain stimulating assignments :)” (Lighting 2)
“i think the communication needs to improve drastically, and also realize that we are students who have other classes and our production assignments. I think you should turn a more attentive ear to students' wants and needs, there was a lot of brushing off people's needs that I did not appreciate.” (Lighting 2)
Summary of Electricity feedback: Students were upset by a guest I had teach a class because he didn’t explain information well, then said it was because the class was last minute. A student was unhappy about all the canceled classes in the semester (I cancelled 2). They said it was cancelled to last minute. A student was unhappy that I offered an extra credit opportunity to make up a class by inviting them to attend the tech at the CLO I was doing.
“I feel like Cat did a good job when it came to teaching the subject matter itself,however we had a large percentage of classes online due to Cat takingoutside work. I understand the struggle of balancing teaching with being a professional in this field…” (Electricity)
Course Changes Made
For all future semesters, I have learned I need to provide time during the final class of the semester for students to fill out class evaluations. I know students had a lot more opinions about class, and without more feedback I find it harder to improve. My goal is to get better every semester and to really hear the students. But if they don't fill out the evaluations until they get mad, I don’t get an accurate sense of the class. I want to make sure I’m keeping elements that work well for them, and continue to improve elements that do not work as well as they might.
First and foremost, I found what “too much” was this semester. My outside show commitment, along with organizing a lot of out-of class workshops and extra classes to cater to student interest, in addition to trying to do collaborative classes with other departments, was just too much. I was not around as much as the students had gotten used to, and therefore I was not able to provide as much hands-on help. I was not able to grade quickly, and I was not able to deal with a medical issue I had which caused extreme exhaustion. Overall this was not my best semester, and students noticed and commented. Moving forward, this greatly influenced how many outside shows I accept, and in what circumstances I design a show out of town. I found the limits, and now I know my boundaries. I do believe it is still important to work outside Pittsburgh so I can stay current and provide students with valuable contacts in the industry. But I now have a much better understanding of how to balance professional design work with supporting my students. Consequently, I cancelled the conference I was supposed to attend the next semester, and I cancelled all but one show (the one I could not get out of contractually).
Several students had to take four of my classes in the same semester due to graduation requirements. They were not happy about this. They also expressed unhappiness that they had to do work outside class (the collaborative dance project and hands on hang and focus projects for Electricity). They made their dissatisfaction clear in evaluations. These are projects most students have loved in the past. As our production calendar gets busier and busier, however, the students have a hard time doing projects outside class time. Initially I take these reviews very personally, and my instinct is to just cancel the projects moving forward. Enough students love them, though, that I think I will need to find ways to keep the project but schedule it at a time that better fits production assignments. I need to counter balance it with class time off for any time they have to spend outside class. It is clear that I need to make a schedule change if students are angry enough to claim I do not care.
I take reviews such as “there was a lot of brushing off people's needs that I did not appreciate” very seriously and personally. If you have ever met me, you know this is so far from how I operate that it was incredibly shocking to read. But if a student was angry enough to write it, clearly something happened that made them perceive my actions that way, and I will do everything in my power to change that. If I notice students struggling who are not taking my offers of help in the future, I will make sure to find a way to get involved and have conversations that make it clear that I am available and trying to help.
Spring 2024
Student Feedback
I did a lot this semester to address the limits I found last semester, as well as the feedback I got from students and faculty. I improved many things about my approach to classes, such as faster feedback, more hands-on time with students, and attention to progress in classes. However, I think I might have gone too far in making sure students were understanding the concepts, and maybe went more slowly than necessary.
“Cat Is a good professor, but often takes a little bit too long explaining things. I struggle with my own attention span and feel like sometimes she gives too many examples. Despite this, she taught this course well and was very flexible and available for feedback” (Computer Applications for Designers)
“I learned a lot in Lighting I! I came in very unfamiliar with the material but have a great base knowledge now. I do wish the course was a bit more accelerated though. Even though I didn't know much about lighting going into the class, I think we often spent too much time on the material. Cat is an excellent teacher (especially for beginners) but I wish we would go more in depth and spend less time on lectures. Overall the class was great though.” (Lighting 1)
“Cat is an amazing professor and was very open to helping students when needed. However, as someone who is not a lighting major, I struggled on some class discussions and projects. Sitting in a black box room with no windows for 3 hours is very rough and even though Cat is a great teacher, a lot of our lessons were repeated or went on for long periods of time. I think the things we learned were reasonable, but going through the same lectures multiple times made the course drag and less enjoyable. I think holding some classes in other parts of the building like the Raul or a common space would keep everyone more focused. Overall, I did learn a lot from the course and I am excited for Lighting 2 in the Fall.” (Lighting 1)
Course Changes Made
I improved my time available to students as well as my grading turn around. Frustratingly, students didn’t notice that I got assignments back to them so quickly, but I feel very good about the speed I achieved while maintaining thorough feedback. I had assignments back within at least 2 weeks.
Computer Applications for Designers saw minimal feedback. However one students mentioned that they would have liked the class to move faster. I may have taken the feedback from other classes where students felt like it was too fast and made things too slow in this course. Moving forward, I now know they are beginning to be able to handle more information more quickly.
Lighting 1 feedback also suggested that I took the past feedback of being lost too far. I can step up the pace next time I teach lighting 1. I continue to work to make all lessons as hands-on as possible, and I will keep reaching for that goal. Some students requested more time on the light plot we do at the end of the semester, though I do have to say this group of students made the most complete and well thought through first light plots I have seen yet at Point Park. I will keep the adjustments I made this semester of giving the plot more time and finding a physical way to show the idea of photometrics for year. I will also find ways to delve deeper into what we are doing and provide a bit more advanced information.
I did receive feedback about students having trouble staying attentive in three-hour classes while sitting in the Light Lab, which is a dark room in the basement. This is where we hold almost all my lighting classes, and it is difficult to be without daylight for that long. I do try to hold classes in other spaces when it is applicable to what we are doing in class. However, I tried to keep classes in the light lab this semester due to the previous feedback about not liking class outside. I believe that was a rare semester, and I will be returning to trying to hold class in additional spaces. I do believe practicing in other spaces helps students apply concepts to what they see and experience while working on productions.
This semester I kept only one out of town production (one I had already signed a contract for and had started the design process). I was out of town two weeks, which is the balance I had hoped would work well. It did. I was able to prepare students for the weeks I was gone, put lesson plans in place that were clear and successful, and incorporate the show I was working on into class information. I also cancelled the conference I was supposed to attend to keep my time away to just two weeks. This seems like a balance that works well, and I will continue to explore this limit. I’m glad I kept this production because it was A Streetcar Named Desire at Paramount Theatre, for which I won the Joseph Jefferson Award for Lighting Design - Large Production.