eCAFE: Course and Faculty Evaluations

Instructor: Alex Golub

Available Survey Results

ANTH 341, Spring 2012
ANTH 449, Spring 2012
ANTH 152, Fall 2011
ANTH 710, Fall 2011
ANTH 300, Spring 2011
ANTH 417, Spring 2011
ANTH 341, Fall 2010
ANTH 449, Fall 2010

Alex Golub: ANTH 341, Spring 2012

Campus:	University of Hawaii at Manoa	Department:	Anthropology
Course:	ANTH 341 - Anthropology of Virtual Worlds	Crn (Section):	88397 (001)

1. Class Level (pick one)

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Freshman   Sophomore   Junior   Senior   Grad   Other   2.81 21 1.21 Freq(%) 4 (19%) 4 (19%) 6 (29%) 6 (29%) 1 (5%) 0 (0%)

2. Course

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Elective   Required   1.14 21 0.36 Freq(%) 18 (86%) 3 (14%)

3. The instructor demonstrated knowledge of course content.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.86 21 0.36 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 3 (14%) 18 (86%)

4. The instructor fulfilled the goals of the course.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.76 21 0.44 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 5 (24%) 16 (76%)

5. The instructor communicated effectively.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.52 21 0.87 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 1 (5%) 2 (10%) 3 (14%) 15 (71%)

6. I gained a good understanding of concepts/principles in this field.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.57 21 0.68 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 2 (10%) 5 (24%) 14 (67%)

7. I learned a lot in this course.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.52 21 0.87 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 1 (5%) 2 (10%) 3 (14%) 15 (71%)

8. I felt that this course challenged me intellectually.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.67 21 0.58 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (5%) 5 (24%) 15 (71%)

9. Which aspects of the course were most valuable?

The group discussion (fish bowl) helped further analyze the material in a way that is beneficial to my understanding. It also proved to be a great ice breaker amongst the class. "Meeting" the author of the book was really valuable, it gave me a better idea of what the author was like and how he wrote the book. Also, his insight on relevant issues that apply now, years after, was useful. Also, the frequent discussions helped me to develop a crucial aspect of the academic experience: learning how to express ideas, opinions and concepts in an understandable way. Some of the readings The skype call with Julian Dibbel after months of discussing his work was an excellent capstone to the My Tiny Life/Play Money part of the class. The class discussions really opened up my mind to new concepts. The fish bowl The best thing was all the discussion we had. This helped everyone in class keep up with the work even if they forgot to do the readings. It also challenged students to come up with answers or opinions to topics that are thought out well. the group discussions Learning about ethnography and how to do it small groups the group talking really helped motivate me to do the readings and helped me understand them Braking up into groups for class discussion and then regrouping as a class and discussing the readings as a whole while applying the concepts to other real life situations. He presents the situation/problem and then looks at it from a different angle that we may not have thought about it. He also uses material from a wide variety of sources to look at the problem from different angle. Most valuable part of the course was developing an understanding behind the basis of virtual worlds. I liked the parts on American Culture. The group and class discussions, as unlike in most classes I've taken I was able to compare what I gleaned from the reading to what others had gotten out of it, thus giving me a deeper understanding of the class content.

10. Which aspects of the course were least valuable?

Some of the readings ... Too many readings, some of which were at graduate reading-level. N/A The least aspect would be when communication of assignments are not done effectively. The homework or reading is sometimes loaded a bit too slow. Some of us students may have time to do it on other days, but sometimes the upload is on a different day that some of us may expect and so we could not find time to fit it in. none rotation of fishbowl nothing N/A Wasn't a big fan of the "fish-bowl" discussions. I didn't like the parts about the MOO. Sometimes discussions got bogged down by focusing too much on a small part of the subject matter or due to a lack of students having read the material for the class.

11. The instructor makes good use of examples and illustrations.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.43 21 0.68 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 2 (10%) 8 (38%) 11 (52%)

12. The instructor puts material across in an interesting way.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.57 21 0.68 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 2 (10%) 5 (24%) 14 (67%)

13. The instructor seems to enjoy teaching.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.62 21 0.67 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 2 (10%) 4 (19%) 15 (71%)

14. The instructor was able to explain concepts clearly and effectively.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.1 21 0.94 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 2 (10%) 2 (10%) 9 (43%) 8 (38%)

15. The instructor was effective in meeting the objectives of the course.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.67 21 0.48 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 7 (33%) 14 (67%)

16. The instructor treated students fairly.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.29 21 1.01 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 1 (5%) 5 (24%) 2 (10%) 13 (62%)

17. The instructor seems well prepared for each class.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.67 21 0.58 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (5%) 5 (24%) 15 (71%)

18. How can the instructor improve the teaching of this course?

Having a wider variety of discussion options I don't know, it seems pretty solid to me. Using fewer of the more intense readings would improve the course. N/A stop being so opinionated and condescending Possibly have the resources ready earlier so the students can do it when they can and not find out that they can not do it because it is not uploaded yet and find out it's uploaded on a day when they have work or something. none make us bring questions so we are more likely to read, i got away without reading a lot nothing he did awesome Allow a little more time to write the final and midterm papers See other comments. I think sometimes the way he speaks comes across as condescending. Sometimes he is heavily biased towards a position on the subject being discussed which hinders a fair discussion of it. If he would be more open to opposing positions on some subjects it would help the students gain a fuller understanding of what is being discussed.

19. What two or three single words best describe this instructor?

Witty and highly motivated. Smart, knowledgable, witty. Smart, Talkative engaged, knowledgable Fair Fun Articulate Animated and motivated see above Interesting Entertaining Enlightening easy going, interesting Enthusiastic. intelligent funny, passionate, cynical Funny, sarcastic, gamer See other comments. Funny, animated Enthusiastic and knowledgable

20. The TA appears to have a thorough knowledge of the subject.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   N/A   4.85 21 0.37 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 3 (14%) 17 (81%) 1 (5%)

21. The TA is friendly and accessible.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   N/A   4.8 21 0.41 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 4 (19%) 16 (76%) 1 (5%)

22. Other comments:

This course is by far one of the most interesting courses I have come across yet. It has exceeded my expectations and I would highly recommend this course to anyone with an open mind. :) N/A N/A I'm good to go :D I want to preface my response by stating that there are indeed significant limitations that Dr. Golub encountered with our class-and no doubt-in his other classes with regard to the motivation, intelligence, and curiosity of the students here at UH; however, these limitations are part of the challenge of being a teacher here, and in my mind, those who can navigate these obstacles are what separate the truly excellent teachers from the mediocre ones. Dr. Golub was simply, mediocre. He is without a doubt, a well educated and critically thinking anthropologist who is well versed in his teachings; but he hasn't yet grasped his own critical pedagogy to allow his students to flourish. I think part of the reason why Dr. Golub finds himself frustrated in class is because students are reluctant to speak up, as oftentimes our ideas are quickly shot down if they do not appeal to his own. It wouldn't be so bad if he guided us to see why our ideas don't work, but that isn't always the case and it leaves us frustrated and reluctant to talk. Dr. Golub you're a relatively new professor, and I see a lot of potential in you to succeed as a teacher. Be more openminded to students questions, and guide rather than impose your thoughts onto us. Dispel the professor in the ivory tower notions and work with us to develop an understanding of topics together.

Alex Golub: ANTH 449, Spring 2012     Back to top

Campus:	University of Hawaii at Manoa	Department:	Anthropology
Course:	ANTH 449 - Anth of Melanesia	Crn (Section):	88401 (001)

1. Class Level (pick one)

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Freshman   Sophomore   Junior   Senior   Grad   Other   4.0 3 0.0 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 3 (100%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%)

2. Course

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Elective   Required   1.0 3 0.0 Freq(%) 3 (100%) 0 (0%)

3. The instructor demonstrated knowledge of course content.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   5.0 3 0.0 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 3 (100%)

4. The instructor fulfilled the goals of the course.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   5.0 3 0.0 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 3 (100%)

5. The instructor communicated effectively.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   5.0 3 0.0 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 3 (100%)

6. I gained a good understanding of concepts/principles in this field.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   5.0 3 0.0 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 3 (100%)

7. I learned a lot in this course.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   5.0 3 0.0 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 3 (100%)

8. I felt that this course challenged me intellectually.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   5.0 3 0.0 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 3 (100%)

9. Which aspects of the course were most valuable?

I loved the fact that there were few of us, it truly allowed us to get into the flesh of the books we read and get into interesting discussions. I have gained a lot more confidence in expressing ideas and carrying out a thoughtful (and sometimes not so thoughtful) discussion. . The discussions after each reading was highly valuable because the material read was hard to grasp.

10. Which aspects of the course were least valuable?

.

11. The instructor makes good use of examples and illustrations.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.67 3 0.58 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (33%) 2 (67%)

12. The instructor puts material across in an interesting way.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.33 3 0.58 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 2 (67%) 1 (33%)

13. The instructor seems to enjoy teaching.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   5.0 3 0.0 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 3 (100%)

14. The instructor was able to explain concepts clearly and effectively.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   5.0 3 0.0 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 3 (100%)

15. The instructor was effective in meeting the objectives of the course.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   5.0 3 0.0 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 3 (100%)

16. The instructor treated students fairly.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   5.0 3 0.0 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 3 (100%)

17. The instructor seems well prepared for each class.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.5 2 0.71 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (50%) 1 (50%)

18. How can the instructor improve the teaching of this course?

.

19. What two or three single words best describe this instructor?

Knowledgeable. Approachable. Entertaining. . Articulate, Intellectual and Confident

20. The TA appears to have a thorough knowledge of the subject.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   N/A   4.67 3 0.58 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (33%) 2 (67%) 0 (0%)

21. The TA is friendly and accessible.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   N/A   5.0 3 0.0 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 3 (100%) 0 (0%)

22. Other comments:

I took this class on a whim and left with an interest in a part of the world that I had never truly considered before. Having such few students really helped I think. .

Alex Golub: ANTH 152, Fall 2011     Back to top

Campus:	University of Hawaii at Manoa	Department:	Anthropology
Course:	ANTH 152 - Culture and Humanity	Crn (Section):	74135 (001)

1. Class Level (pick one)

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Freshman   Sophomore   Junior   Senior   Grad   Other   1.81 98 0.92 Freq(%) 45 (46%) 33 (34%) 15 (15%) 4 (4%) 1 (1%) 0 (0%)

2. Course

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Elective   Required   1.61 98 0.49 Freq(%) 38 (39%) 60 (61%)

3. The instructor demonstrated knowledge of course content.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.67 100 0.7 Freq(%) 1 (1%) 1 (1%) 4 (4%) 18 (18%) 76 (76%)

4. The instructor fulfilled the goals of the course.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.32 100 0.79 Freq(%) 1 (1%) 2 (2%) 8 (8%) 42 (42%) 47 (47%)

5. The instructor communicated effectively.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.21 100 0.98 Freq(%) 2 (2%) 7 (7%) 6 (6%) 38 (38%) 47 (47%)

6. I gained a good understanding of concepts/principles in this field.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.05 100 0.88 Freq(%) 1 (1%) 5 (5%) 15 (15%) 46 (46%) 33 (33%)

7. I learned a lot in this course.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   3.93 100 0.97 Freq(%) 3 (3%) 4 (4%) 20 (20%) 43 (43%) 30 (30%)

8. I felt that this course challenged me intellectually.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   3.73 99 0.95 Freq(%) 3 (3%) 4 (4%) 31 (31%) 40 (40%) 21 (21%)

9. Which aspects of the course were most valuable?

no comment The visuals were very key, and helped reinforce the understanding of the concepts that were being taught. I ideas introduced in this class proved to be valuable knowledge outside and in my own life. His views on the content were integrated and helped with understanding the content clearly and efficiently. All definitions were made as clear as possible, relating to our everyday lives. Learning about many cultures and learning to interpret them. And Obama riding a unicorn. This course gave me some good principles of Anthropology that you can use when you get to higher level Anthropology courses. Everything was value. Especially the readings! His teaching skills were very good. He kept the class entertained while teaching. He is very knowledgeable about all the fields of anthropology. I loved his power points and examples The professor's knowledge of the course and humor were the most valuable. I felt like his ability to tie in humor and jokes with what we were learning helped me to remember things more and to understand it better. It helped a lot on exams. His teaching was priceless. Culture The over all out look of the world. How each culture is not original, many cultures are mixed. Understanding of culture I have a little broader perspective on the world. I appreciate this because I learned that Americans seem pretty closed/narrow minded and I don't want to be that way. It was nice to see the relating pictures as well because it helped me to relate different topics. Not sure Lectures were probably the most valuable because professor Golub kept you engaged throughout the entire year. He made even some boring topics interesting and appealing to students. Lectures The powerpoint presentations The underlying reasons why people choose to be cultural anthropologists. Although it's not for me, i can see the appeal to others. The core concepts of cultural anthropology were covered very well. This course made me think a lot. I saw my self applying some of the concepts to my everyday life more and more throughout the semester. Although I never have presented interest in anthropology Professor Golub kept me motivated to keep coming to class even though the text was not very interesting to read. I thought his personal examples were the most valuable. It is easy and dull to memorize terms from the textbook, but his examples of terminology and concepts through his stories made the lectures fun and easy to understand. This class gave me an understanding on the views of all types of people and made me think twice about how people think. Understanding the anthropologists perspective vs ,say, sociologists etc. The many examples that weren't necessarily test questions Attendance and Lecture are key to passing I thought just about everything in this course was valuable. I was able to apply many of the concepts in this class to other classes. I really enjoyed learning about different aspects of different cultures. It's interesting to see what parts of cultures intertwine into other cultures, and what traits are unique to other ones. I also really enjoyed learning about the different kinships. I thought that the way families work as well as the dowries were very interesting. I think the most valuable aspect of this course was learning about the hawaiian culture in lady friends because I think it's important to know the history of the place in which you reside. The PowerPoint slides were very good for lectures. The fact that he was very passionate during his lecture. He brought energy to the class and made it a fun atmosphere to learn. He made really good real life examples out of the topics and concepts that we needed to learn from the book. I liked the outside readings we did-- more than the textbook, it helped to emphasize certain aspects of the field. I really enjoyed Prof. Golub's lectures! They were all very entertaining and extremely informative. I also enjoyed reading the ethnograpies, Lycra and My Word in particular. It was neat to see another perspective on things. Anthropology... The way he tied the pictures with a term. Everything is important even the things that people may say that is not. The examples associated with the course terminology helped me better understand the course concepts. I appreciated all the lectures and how Golub was able to keep the topics light even though some where of provocative nature. I especially remember the lecture with the unicorns, definitely learned alot. I am always grateful for an instructor who makes it clear what he/she expects us to understand for the exams, so I was appreciative of that aspect regarding Prof. Golub. Also, I very much enjoyed the ethnographies that were assigned. Every lectures/ power points were helpful for our tests. The focus on vocabulary words for each chapter along with examples was very helpful to understand the full concept of each lecture. Aspects of the course that were most valuable is basically everything that was taught during the semester. But I say that kinship and the topics about political systems were most valuable including religion and tradition too. Having the power points with pictures to help us make connections with the materials. Learning about the kinships I like that he made the class fun with his humor, it made me enjoy going to class. I thought that the use of real-world examples that the concepts covered were fun and interesting. They helped to grasp the ideas in each chapter and also kept me awake. The lectures were well written, examples were clear, and I could understand well how the instructor thought about issues related to the field, and I usually strongly identified with his views. Extremely nice to have someone putting all these important issues to words so comfortably. most everything from the textbook Examples given in class helped me understand the concepts better. I learned a lot of new things. The teaching style was one of my favorites of all the classes I have taken so far. some of the examples to prove his points of certain subjects I like that Prof. Golub takes care to always be objective and respectful, and that his lectures are compelling. His metaphors are helpful in understanding concepts. -Lectures: good lectures, find myself remembering most of the concepts from lecture instead of my notes. Sometimes gets off track but definitely keeps students interested. -Readings: most of the books and articles assigned were interesting. Even the "text book" assigned wasn't too bad. All the pictures helped! I found that the most valuable aspects were the lectures. Dr. Golub's lectures were very entertaining, while at the same time informative. Very rare to find nowadays. The real life situations that were used as examples in the slide shows. I think the professors powerpoint presentations were the best. They had interesting pictures to look at and straightforward information that was easy to understand. I also liked the way he set up the lecture. Our class discussions were very lively and we talked about broad terms on a much more digestible level so everyone felt that they could understand and keep up with the lectures. Repeatedly pairing pictures with a concept to establish an association between the two was very helpful for memorizing. I really enjoyed his lectures. He is a really funny professor which made all of us students stay focused when he lectured us. The terminologies. Giving the students a foundation to explore various areas within the field of Anthropology. his insight into different cultures and time periods I definitely learned a lot from professor Golub's own stories about his anthropological study in Papau New Guinea. Those kinds of personal experience stories actually interest students and stick with us. The professor was very entertaining and it really made the concepts stick when you could link them to a funny event in history or a random event in class. nothing because the teachers never kept to his point, I think that the knowledge of different cultures was most valuable to me; especially because we live in a very diverse place. Probably the issues of race, ethnicity and being open to other people's ideas/ beliefs, ect. this course helped me understand anthropology and most of all the understanding of life. This class actually helped me with all my other class such as sociology and macro economics. I really enjoyed the way that he connected things with everyday life and jokes the people generally make. His sense of humor keeps the class alive and easy to enjoy. I really liked how well he explained things and made sure everyone understood what he was talking about using the clickers but also keep the class involved with the clickers. By far one of the BEST proffessors I've ever had and I wish I was majoring in Anthropology just so I could take more of Golubs classes! attending class and taking notes on the powerpoints, reading the material on your own. He didn't ever really hold back his thoughts on a subject for fear of offending anyone. He also had great examples to solidify concepts using somewhat offensive references, but it was helpful. He sort of opened my eyes to certain prejudices that I wasn't aware existed. Please keep in mind that none of this is a bad thing! He was a fantastic instructor and I will more than likely be taking another one of his courses in the future. He was very enthusiastic. The stories he told gender identification. The fact that everything we do can be contributed to culture. Culture is something that isn't with nature or nurture, but it's own unique quality.

10. Which aspects of the course were least valuable?

no comment Sometimes it felt like the class was very fast paced, but with good reason to be able to complete the lecture on time. I believe that the least valuable were the statistics given during Lycra, this did not prove to be helpful what so ever during the course. Golub is a bit pretentious and condescending towards students. None. I strongly believe the tests for the class were too easy. If people fail this test they are obviously not trying. I have had hader test given to me in Honors classes at my High School. This is a college level class, hence, it should be more challenging. Nothing that I can think of. Nothing was least valuable, everything was valuable. I recommended taking this class under Professor Golub to all my friends. none Lycra The power points were hard to follow because there was barely any words. Not sure N/A Everything seemed fine The readings at home were not interesting enough to WANT to read them thoroughly, which is what is expected. I think if Professor Golub was paired with more interesting text he could be even more successful. I thought every aspect of this course was valuable. All of the concepts covered were class level appropriate and not too challenging, but not too easy. The class sits right where it is supposed to. I got a little bit confused when Mr. Golub talked about the history of different countries because I can't relate for I don't know to much about the history, but this is my fault for not knowing. The several other books we were required to read were not interesting at all! I understand that the reason for that is because they were basically ethnographies, however, i feel there is a better route to gaining understanding than through the specific books he chose. Lycra, for example? come on. The attendance points given each day. I am paying for this class, and I should not be penalized when I have work and other extracurriculars to tend to. Knowing every vocabulary words even the ones not discussed in lecture. I didn't really enjoy learning about gross national products and what not because that's all about economics, and I am not a big fan of numbers! I didn't really find the point in lycra and learning about clothing, it seemed like a waste of time. We only have reading assignments and no homework. The examples of germans, the french, etc. I must say, I did not care for the Cultural Anthropology textbook... Although it was filled with very good information, most, if not all, of that material was buried within some of the most mind-numbing passages I have ever read. I constantly struggled to stay awake and occasionally hurt my neck from falling asleep at my desk. lycra... going too fast through the slides None ...However, as much as I enjoyed the ethnographies, I did not enjoy being required to purchase 4 different books for an introductory freshmen level course. N/A When he talked about things irrelevant to the coarse and side-tracked a little. I don't think that there is nothing least valuable in this class. It was fun and entertaining. Certain parts he was going to fast. idk In his lectures he didn't go over some of the terms that were on the test. I thought that pretty much all of what was taught was very valuable (besides the occasional story). I didn't think anything said was irrelevant. some of the reading materials I felt I gained little from the ethnographies we were assigned. Too much racist jokes. most of the course, the books are pointless as well I find it harder to stay engaged in courses with few tests (there are three in this course). I feel it's easier to get 'lost' and not have your knowledge properly examined with fewer tested. I think i would have benefitted from more regular small quizzes or tests, definitely. None None. I don't think there was one thing less valuable than anything else. I felt as though we barely used the book enough to justify the cost of purchasing it. We were assigned chapters out of the book and covered concepts in it but as a whole it was left up to us to read from it and take what we needed rather than go over parts of what we read and discuss which I would have felt valuable. I did not learn much from the book, Lycra. I really didn't like how sometimes he would go off topic. Some of the stories and powerpoint slides. LYCRA- I didn't understand what significance the book played in what we were trying to learn. the reading s The readings. Honestly, 90% of us are taking this class not because we want to but because we have to. If you're going to assign readings in a required course they need to be spectacularly interesting or else no one is ever going to read. I DID NOT LIKE THE TEXT BOOK. Repetitive, boring, and I was very discouraged to do any reading because the book was so bland. nothing because the teachers never kept to his point, I think least valuable were his apologies to certain things kind of got me confused. Probably the things he got really into detail about, but not pertaining to the subjects on the test. some of the theories did not make since because some of the theories controdicted each other. There isn't really much to say that was the least valuable, mostly just being prepared in the beginning of class, we probably could have covered more information if so much time wasn't being given to the computer situations. listening to the lecture. I liked everything about this course. The only negative thing I can really say is that he used Papua New Guinea as a reference a ton. I would've liked to hear about other countries more often, I guess. Sometimes he went way off topic and went on wild tangents very regularly. the slide shows sometimes got boring binge drinking Nothing. Everything was very opinionated

11. The instructor makes good use of examples and illustrations.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.43 100 0.78 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 2 (2%) 12 (12%) 27 (27%) 59 (59%)

12. The instructor puts material across in an interesting way.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.56 100 0.7 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 2 (2%) 6 (6%) 26 (26%) 66 (66%)

13. The instructor seems to enjoy teaching.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.66 98 0.66 Freq(%) 1 (1%) 0 (0%) 4 (4%) 21 (21%) 72 (73%)

14. The instructor was able to explain concepts clearly and effectively.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.22 98 0.87 Freq(%) 1 (1%) 4 (4%) 10 (10%) 40 (41%) 43 (44%)

15. The instructor was effective in meeting the objectives of the course.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.16 99 0.77 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 2 (2%) 16 (16%) 45 (45%) 36 (36%)

16. The instructor treated students fairly.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.21 100 0.94 Freq(%) 1 (1%) 6 (6%) 11 (11%) 35 (35%) 47 (47%)

17. The instructor seems well prepared for each class.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   3.94 100 0.83 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 6 (6%) 19 (19%) 50 (50%) 25 (25%)

18. How can the instructor improve the teaching of this course?

no comment Becoming more interactive with the students would be most efficient when teaching his classes. The iClickers were a great start, but adding more activities and participation would make the class all the more enjoyable and encourage attendance. Be a little nicer. We understand people say/ask silly questions, but they're usually innocent. They shouldn't be treated or spoken to as idiots by their professor. None, I loved this course. I believe Golub was an excellent teacher and I enjoyed how he incorperated his field work of New Guine in the lecture. Use of humor, pictures, and clips help to get the idea across more easier. Nothing, every things great. Post powerpoints online for easier access to study material Talk about different examples other than Papu Nugini I felt that there was a kind of lot of reading for the course. Maybe if there was a little less reading then I would be more excited because I could keep up better with the class. I appreciate that you tried to make the readings about interesting topics though! Most teachers wouldn't do that. Not sure N/A Giving hints as to what will be on the exams. Different books. Like I said earlier, the material was extremely hard to read and to stay motivated. The professor made me motivated to come to class but the text did not motivate me to do the readings. He could stay more on topic and specify the concepts that he is trying to elaborate on. Sometimes his stories are interesting, but it is unknown to how they incorporate the concepts of the lecture. He is a great teacher and really knows his stuff! He is passionate about anthropology and you can really tell he enjoys teaching this class. If he could improve I would say it would help if he made a study guide because I was confused in how to study for the tests. Thanks to the TA though he opened up a google document for us and made a mini study guide, but I know I got a D in my first test because I studied the wrong material. He can be very rude. He hails to his Jewish heritage every day and uses his "social capital" as a means to belittle us students. I do not appreciate his arrogance and it really is one of my only dislikes in his course. Stop acting like a douche bag. Some more hands-on class activities Just focus on the material in lecture to be on the test. Knowing all vocabs words are difficult to remember when it was not important or discussed. I honestly think that Professor Golub has the way he teaches this class nailed down to a science. For being a lecture class, it is by the most interesting lecture class that I have ever taken at UH. You are not safe anywhere in the classroom, which is what some of the people who sit in the back found out this semester. Professor Golub really forces people to participate by asking people questions all over the room. The size of his class does not hinder his teaching in anyway. While he really encourages students to learn as much as they can, he makes sure that how much we learn is up to us. He showed us that we have to take control of our education and that you how much you put into a class is what you are going to get from it. Therefore, I don't believe that Professor Golub needs to change his class in anyway. His power points are entertaining and interesting, and I enjoyed coming to every single class. I would highly recommend him to any student. I think the slideshows could be made better. Give homework assignments Do not stray too much from the topic of the day More Q&A style with the iclickers. It's interesting to see the thoughts and diversity with the class. Maybe next time he should walk around the classroom more and pick on people to tell their thoughts about a certain topic. It's great! The only suggestion I can think of is maybe a little more opportunity for extra credit (or at least a bit of advanced notice for upcoming lectures/things we can attend)? I would have loved to go to the lectures, but unfortunately I had to work at those times and was not able to attend. If I had known in advance, I may have been able to take the day off. n/a better presentation lectures too unorganized Have something like a "twitter fall" thing so students who are shy of speaking in front of the class may ask a question or may have a concern without being on the spot. While the lectures where great. Perhaps a study guide could be developed for the tests. I honestly felt that the information was taught thoroughly and effectively. I think Golub was more than fair with his expectations of the students. No specific improvements come to mind. I found the presentation interesting and I was engaged the entire semester. Slowing down the power points more and explaining it a little more slower and with easy words. He can have certain back-ups for his files due to certain occasions we came across the semester where class was slowed down because he would have technical difficulties. Alex Golub can improve the teaching of this course by making his PowerPoints differently with more pictures and captions. Also, the font and font color should be different from the color of the slide background. It makes it hard to see if the font is the same color as the background. When someone has a question about the definition of word, don't tell them to look in the book. Slow down things a little more Sometimes he rambles a bit about the subject and goes on for a while. Maybe a bit more focus would be nice. Generally good, however. Perhaps choosing different books. I appreciate that he tried to choose books relevant to us, but I also believe I would have enjoyed and learned more from books about less mundane things. Be prepared!!! not have ruben do everything for him, and he could be less racist in his example and rude I love the lectures, I would only suggest more frequent quizzes or tests . Gives a lot of great examples of the concepts he's teaching but sometimes gets off track. When this happens, it is very easy to forget what was being taught. Instead on focusing so much on examples, thoroughly explain the overall concept first. Too many examples causes students to lose sight of the concept. BE more direct and give a study guide for the exams. Change the iclicker. It does help count attendance so people come, but I've come to every class so far and its almost December and I still have a zero for attendance in my grades. This is because of faulty iclicker issues. Also, since it is a big class, it is hard to get assistance for my iclicker problems from the T.A. because there are so many people who have similar problems trying to get help from him. I guess he could pick more interesting books to read. He could try to engage students a little better as there were some students who chimed in all semester long then there were a few in the back who never talked once all semester. Relate the books to what we're learning in the text-book more clearly. To improve his teaching, I suggest that he puts the powerpoint slides onto laulima incase if the students weren't able to catch everything that he had during the lectures. Be more prepared for lectures. The Colonialism portion of the course is really dense. I would suggest trying to make it just a little big more interesting. be a little more prepared as far as technology goes Professor Golub is a very animated and fun teacher. He made a lot of really boring concepts easy to listen to. I didn't like the way that he would sometimes call on random students, the class is way too big to do that and its really painful to watch some poor kid get called on in a class of 120 and not know the answer. Just choose a different textbook!!! be a nice guy, respect people and actually keep to what the class is about Explain his apologies a little better. I think there has been multiple instances this semester, where he has been a little inappropriate with his jokes/ comments when it came to touchy subjects like race, ethnicity, religion, ect. It was never to a point where it was very disrespectful (and he did poke fun at all the different types of races/religions) however I still felt a little surprised at some of his comments. He's fantastic.. and I know that there is always something to improve.. but from my perspective he's got nothing to improve on. have a better lecture, stick to the current topic presented. Some days he had technical difficulties that held us from starting class on time. He should work to improve those to the best of his ability. Or at least show up early enough to get everything figured out before it is time for class to start. Stick to the topic at hand. He can listen to when studies put a comment out there instead of trying to turn it around as a joke. Stop talking so much about the Jews. We get it. bring coffee and burritos for everyone I think that since he wasn't used to having such a big class, it was harder for him to reach out to all the students. I think that by having the iclicker questions helped with student participation, but if he were to have them counted as a grade, it would get a lot more students involved. Not have class start 5-10 minutes late as well as being more open to other thoughts and opinions

19. What two or three single words best describe this instructor?

Crazy, spontaneous, witty no comment Intelligent and Respectful Calm, intuitive, thoughtful. Funny, modern, clear. Intellectual, charismatic, creative enthusiastic, entertaining, engaging Symbolic Capitol Funny, insightful, enthusiastic! Great Interesting Funny, intelligent, witty. interestingly knowledgeable gnome knowledgeable, whitey, funny Energetic & Enthusiastic enthusiastic, passionate Funny, Interesting, Knowledgeable Knowledgable, funny Happy. Interesting. Enthusiastic. Enthusiastic and funny Interesting, Educated Knowledgable, Passionate knowledgable, enthusiastic Passionate, understandable, funny informed smart-ass. Intellectual, rational, haughty Fun, Creative Funny, enthusiastic, and intelligent. Funny, entertaining, knowledgeable Intellectual energetic, passionate, and optimistic Interesting. Excited. Down-to-Earth. Enthusiastic, Witty, World-of-Warcraft-addict Greatest. Powerpoints. Ever. Interesting, enjoyable, different funny smart Well rounded intriguing speaker Sarcastic, funny, dry-sense of humor (all of which I thoroughly appreciated) Enthusiastic, fun, and interesting motivated, achiever, intellectual Enthusiastic, kind, and passionate fun, interesting, knowledgeable one smart haole interesting Witty, engaging. Energetic, intelligent Funny, intelligent Very knowledgable and friendly. racist, rude, unhelpful Engaging, objective, interesting Enthusiastic, engaging, informative, knowledgable, interesting. :) Odd and Talkative Awesome, hilarious, energetic Funny, Exciting, Unpredictable smart and weirdly funny Jolly, Intelligent, Sociable Funny, passionate, knowledgable Intelligent, Bright, Smart. Funny, Passionate, Knowledgable Papua New Guinea exciting teacher Funny, knowledgeable, interesting. FUNNY AND INTELLIGENT hypocrite, rude Exciting smart Honest, intelligent, blunt. energetic, enthusiastic, and knowledgeable. Happy, Funny, Knowledgable fun and energetic Funny, entertaining, and talkative Enthusiastic Random epitome of perfection Awesome, Optimistic, Honest

20. The TA appears to have a thorough knowledge of the subject.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   N/A   4.5 100 0.78 Freq(%) 1 (1%) 2 (2%) 6 (6%) 28 (28%) 63 (63%) 0 (0%)

21. The TA is friendly and accessible.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   N/A   4.64 100 0.81 Freq(%) 2 (2%) 1 (1%) 6 (6%) 13 (13%) 78 (78%) 0 (0%)

22. Other comments:

no comment The TA does an amazing job at helping the students while reinforcing the content Dr. Golub covered. His efforts are clear within the test scores and grading system. Professor Golub is one of my favorite teachers so far. His lectures were visually stimulating and paired with the material we were learning, I learned a lot; and remembered! His creativity in incorporating pictures/visual aids with his powerpoint proved to be successful. The clickers are also an awesome way to get the students to participate and I loved answering his clicker questions. Loved this course and professor. Please make the test harder!!! The class was fun but the test... were kinda of a joke I wish I could do this class again. It was surprisingly informational and enjoyable at the same time. Loved this course I really enjoyed this class. I was very hesitant to take this class because of all the rumors that anthropology was boring but it was totally the opposite and was the class that i enjoyed the most. wtb accessible powerpoints 1000g None This was a great class! I really did't mind getting up to go to class because the way Mr. Golub taught the class by using power point and funny analogies. All and all Mr. Golub is a great professor! Have a fun winter break Ruben Campos was the TA for this class and he is awesome. He would always be available to help the students with anything ranging from help on understanding a complicated topic in the readings or taking time to clear up our i-clicker attendance problems. Also, he delivered a very fascinating lecture about deconstructing the music and messages of hip-hop. I think he should teach a class that goes more in-depth about hip-hop next semester of in the near future. I'd love to take this professor's video game focused anthropology class sometime in the future! Thanks for a great semester! I really enjoyed the class. It was a great way to start off my MWF classes. Ruben is GREAT!!! In addition to Golub's teaching style, I very much appreciated Ruben's accessibility as a TA. I've experienced a lot of TA's in my time at UH, and Ruben was by far the most enthusiastic, most easily approachable and proactive TA of them all. Thanks, Ruben! Really enjoyed the class overall. I recommend it for other students. This class and the professor is awesome. Glad that I took this class. It was worth learning every bit of information that was given. nope I don't really like Anthropology, but Golub taught it in a way that was enjoyable. Very interesting class, I love Dr. Golub's stories! please let ruben teach this class, i learned when he taught VERY good teacher! Is very knowledgable of the course being taught and it is easily seen that he enjoys the subject and teaching. Would definitely take another class with Golub! I really like Ruben and thought that I learned more and paid more attention to him when he taught our class one day out of the whole semester. The TA is very friendly, but not very accessible which is why I put neutral for #21. I loved this class thank you so much! Ruben is AWESOME I was actually excited to go to this class, even though it was so early in the morning. The lectures were interesting, and I feel like this is the class I learned the most from this semester. I'm even considering switching my major to anthropology, while at the beginning of the semester, I was just taking this class to fulfill a requirement. None. None. Alex Goloub and Ruben work really well together. nope was a great class Ruben was awesome! change the book! did not like this class Ruben also did a great job in this course. I felt that the anthropology people are a great group of people to be around! I loved this course and I'm taking another anthro course next semester, JUST FOR FUN! Ruben was a great TA, he helped out a lot on the test reviews he's hot Professor Golub is an exceptional professor. He knows what he is talking about and can make things easier for students to understand the material even though the material can be harder than it seems. The TA for the class, also shows that he is knowledgable about his studies and tries his best to help us understand the material. The TA also takes initiative as much as possible and helps the students prepare well for the exams given.

Alex Golub: ANTH 710, Fall 2011     Back to top

Campus:	University of Hawaii at Manoa	Department:	Anthropology
Course:	ANTH 710 - Sem in Rsrch Meth in Cult Anth	Crn (Section):	74676 (001)

1. Class Level (pick one)

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Freshman   Sophomore   Junior   Senior   Grad   Other   4.2 5 1.79 Freq(%) 1 (20%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 4 (80%) 0 (0%)

2. Course

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Elective   Required   1.0 5 0.0 Freq(%) 5 (100%) 0 (0%)

3. The instructor demonstrated knowledge of course content.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.8 5 0.45 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (20%) 4 (80%)

4. The instructor fulfilled the goals of the course.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.6 5 0.55 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 2 (40%) 3 (60%)

5. The instructor communicated effectively.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.8 5 0.45 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (20%) 4 (80%)

6. I gained a good understanding of concepts/principles in this field.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.8 5 0.45 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (20%) 4 (80%)

7. I learned a lot in this course.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.4 5 0.89 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (20%) 1 (20%) 3 (60%)

8. I felt that this course challenged me intellectually.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.2 5 0.84 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (20%) 2 (40%) 2 (40%)

9. Which aspects of the course were most valuable?

For me, the practical skills (coding, transcribing, etc) were most valuable. I also enjoyed Professor Golub's selection of ethnographies. discussions with my classmates Practical guidance on research tasks - taking field notes, transcribing, coding. I enjoyed the variety of articles in the class.

10. Which aspects of the course were least valuable?

I'd read about the debates around 'reflexivity' 'the science wars' etc in other classes, so I could have done without the 'is anthropology science'- type discussions. the fishbowl method I don't really think it's necessary for students to purchase a foot pedal. You can do transcriptions without them. Lots of book chapter readings.

11. The instructor makes good use of examples and illustrations.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.8 5 0.45 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (20%) 4 (80%)

12. The instructor puts material across in an interesting way.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.6 5 0.89 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (20%) 0 (0%) 4 (80%)

13. The instructor seems to enjoy teaching.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.6 5 0.55 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 2 (40%) 3 (60%)

14. The instructor was able to explain concepts clearly and effectively.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.6 5 0.89 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (20%) 0 (0%) 4 (80%)

15. The instructor was effective in meeting the objectives of the course.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.6 5 0.89 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (20%) 0 (0%) 4 (80%)

16. The instructor treated students fairly.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.6 5 0.89 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (20%) 0 (0%) 4 (80%)

17. The instructor seems well prepared for each class.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.4 5 0.89 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (20%) 1 (20%) 3 (60%)

18. How can the instructor improve the teaching of this course?

I would have liked to learn about different modes of analysis. This was the toughest part of writing my research proposal (for ANTH 711 last semester), as there is no class where you really learn different ways to analyze the data collected. smaller final paper It was a terrific course. However, there are two areas where I feel there could be some improvement. (1) Better integration with students' pre-existing projects. Given the scale of the project, and it would be ideal if people could incorporate materials (e.g. interviews) that were already done). Right now, I am highly recommending this to my colleagues, but with the caveat that they should either take the class when they are beginning a research project, preferably in Hawaii, or when they are not engaging in independent research. There's just too much to do otherwise. (2) Planning. There were a few instances where Dr. Golub gave us new readings at the last minute or changed course plans (e.g. presenting the final paper drafts as optional activity to be engaged in between students, and the next week telling us we had to email him with the drafts). He was flexible and so this was not a major problem, but it can be a source of added stress for busy grad students. Have more ethnographic journal articles and less book chapter readings.

19. What two or three single words best describe this instructor?

engaging, challenging, intelligent sarcastic intelligent, eclectic, pragmatic Interesting and articulate.

20. The TA appears to have a thorough knowledge of the subject.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   N/A   0.0 5 0.0 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 5 (100%)

21. The TA is friendly and accessible.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   N/A   0.0 5 0.0 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 5 (100%)

22. Other comments:

Overall, I thought the course was well-organized and run. I think that Professor Golub's choice of ethnographies made a class that would normally be fairly dry into a much more pleasant experience. His ability to recall examples from other works and to conjure up insightful comments in response to the students' discussion is pretty incredible. Stellar seminar overall.

Alex Golub: ANTH 300, Spring 2011     Back to top

Campus:	University of Hawaii at Manoa	Department:	Anthropology
Course:	ANTH 300 - Study of Contempary Problems	Crn (Section):	86566 (001)

1. Class Level (pick one)

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Freshman   Sophomore   Junior   Senior   Grad   Other   3.33 27 0.62 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 2 (7%) 14 (52%) 11 (41%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%)

2. Course

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Elective   Required   1.59 27 0.5 Freq(%) 11 (41%) 16 (59%)

3. The instructor demonstrated knowledge of course content.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.48 27 0.7 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 1 (4%) 0 (0%) 11 (41%) 15 (56%)

4. The instructor fulfilled the goals of the course.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.41 27 0.69 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 3 (11%) 10 (37%) 14 (52%)

5. The instructor communicated effectively.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.15 27 0.86 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 2 (7%) 2 (7%) 13 (48%) 10 (37%)

6. I gained a good understanding of concepts/principles in this field.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.23 26 0.91 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 2 (8%) 2 (8%) 10 (38%) 12 (46%)

7. I learned a lot in this course.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.3 27 0.95 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 2 (7%) 3 (11%) 7 (26%) 15 (56%)

8. I felt that this course challenged me intellectually.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.44 27 0.93 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 2 (7%) 2 (7%) 5 (19%) 18 (67%)

9. Which aspects of the course were most valuable?

Not a whole lot, just a lot of homosexuality and how people don't know how to agree I appreciated the class discussions and being able to hear other people's ideas on the issues we discussed. In depth discussions that went beyond comprehending the reading open conversation, group discussion, the professor's input. Good topics. The most valuable aspects of this course were the in class discussions. I learn better and am more engaged through discussion. the readings I really valued the class discussions and opinions of the other classmates. It was good to get varying perspectives on the multiple topics we went through and this also helped with my own understanding and view point. the discussions were the most valuable The group discussions were a great way to interpret and better understand the ideas and issues brought up in the readings. cosmopolitism Taking a side on the difficult arguments. I really admired the intensity of the course. Personally, reading/comprehension is my weakest subject area and with all the pdf files and assigned readings, I was able to work at this weakness. I also enjoyed that most of the assigned readings, besides being long, were entertaining and interesting to read. The discussions Group discussions and Professor Golub's ability to lead discussions whenever there was a conversational roadblock. The readings were interesting and the method of question creation/discussion/evaluating allowed me to have different perspectives on the same material. The conversation by group organization played a most intricate and vital role to the learning environment of the class. I believe the utilization of this teaching style made myself and other student well aware of very important details in the readings that can be easily missed. i enjoyed the small group discussions on the readings The class discussions were helpful because some of the readings were very difficult. It was nice to read it, but then the next day in class go over the reading in more debt. I greatly enjoyed the reading material chosen for the class. They were very interesting and not too difficult to handle. I definitely liked the idea of group participation. It gave each group a chance to really analyze the articles and discuss the content. I definitely preferred this group work over any type of testing. I think I learned more from it rather than trying to memorize something only to forget it a short time later. The format of the class really engaged everyone and help us all learn at a level that some people weren't used to at the beginning of the semester. discussions, but i felt because of the size of the class it was hard to do the fish bowl method, might like to see a little change some how in that with a class that size. I think the round-table discussions were the most valuable. With the constant flow of new ideas from each text, we began to critically asses not only the claims of the authors, but also our on thoughts and positions we took. I found critical thinking to be fun again. I found the most value in the Socratic Method of teaching, critical on the spot thinking developed our understanding in a very natural and progressive way. Group and class discussion/participation were most valuable. Assigned readings learning to work in groups and giving presentations

10. Which aspects of the course were least valuable?

Becoming very opinion-oriented. I didn't appreciate that the course did not allow for direct answers, explanations, or clear understandings of the ideas we discussed. Similar content for quite a bulk of the course. could vary more some of the dense readings, i couldn't comprehend. I would have appreciated covering more topics than homosexuality and human behavior. I wish we had covered more ethical dilemmas that are occurring in contemporary anthropology. nothing The group collaborations were useful, but may have seemed a little redundant because we were always discussing the issues within class as well. the fishbowl method. I think there would be more easier discussion if it was just general discussion. i think the fishbowl creates a sense of pressure that really should not be there. None Group work. None. n/a I do not think there were any aspects of the course that were least valuable. The method of instruction was one of the best I have ever had in my college experience!! I really felt that I was taking part of a group learning environment and that real education was going on (not just memorization)! Everyone gets to speak and listen and critically think about what we are learning and then how everything were learning about can be applied to real world situations. It wasn't just like here is a bunch of information that you are going to have to memorize... now here is a test to see how much of this overwhelming information can you regurgitate. Every class should be taught this way. the fish bowl method made it hard and stressful to speak your mind sometimes in class. smaller groups would have encouraged more discussion and lead to more people speaking their mind. There were a few readings that were a little boring and repetitive. Doing the fishbowl was good, but then when it came to having group questions/answers/evaluations it got boring towards the end. I don't really know. It's weird how you can not really enjoy a class while in it but in hindsight actually enjoyed it. group meetings over the weekend were terrible, and most other group meetings we didn't seem to get much done. I found the first few weeks the least valuable. I found myself questioning my own opinions, self value, intelligents, and ability to speak the English language, while simulaniously wanting to drop the class the whole time. Spending too much time focusing on sexuality when there are a lot of other contemporary issues to explore...eg Human Terrain project and should anthropology be employed for gathering military intelligence. Class discussions not too hard to hide somewhere in class and never have to talk unless you're presenting. some people talk a lot and shy people can't cut in but that's part of group discussions

11. The instructor makes good use of examples and illustrations.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.15 27 0.86 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 1 (4%) 5 (19%) 10 (37%) 11 (41%)

12. The instructor puts material across in an interesting way.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.22 27 0.85 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 1 (4%) 4 (15%) 10 (37%) 12 (44%)

13. The instructor seems to enjoy teaching.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.26 27 0.81 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 6 (22%) 8 (30%) 13 (48%)

14. The instructor was able to explain concepts clearly and effectively.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.31 26 0.74 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 4 (15%) 10 (38%) 12 (46%)

15. The instructor was effective in meeting the objectives of the course.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.19 27 0.83 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 1 (4%) 4 (15%) 11 (41%) 11 (41%)

16. The instructor treated students fairly.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   3.81 27 1.08 Freq(%) 1 (4%) 2 (7%) 6 (22%) 10 (37%) 8 (30%)

17. The instructor seems well prepared for each class.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.22 27 0.7 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 4 (15%) 13 (48%) 10 (37%)

18. How can the instructor improve the teaching of this course?

Stop being so aggressive on putting his views on other people. And there are other problems that he didn't address such as homelessness which is a serious problem in Hawaii. Also, put up rubrics before hand instead of after so students have something to fall back on. I think something that many students in the class didn't appreciate was the condescending tone that he would use towards certain students ideas. Some students became quieter during the course because they feared their ideas would not be accepted, considered, or that they would be criticized. the class discussions are very effective in fulfilling our oral communication credit. Allowing the students make interpretive question, to talk it out, and evaluate allows us to understand the materials that we read. Sometime I do feel that it would help if Professor Golub, would explain in detail at the end of discussion about the articles. Some days I feel that we could talk about the articles we read over, and we can grasp an even better understanding of them. Allow for amendments in groups, non-group based grading. Its difficult to coordinate as college students wit many other courses/jobs/activities some of the readings where tough, a good challenge, but sometimes i couldn't or didn't want to finish some of the more dense readings because i wasn't understanding it anyway. maybe Alex could shorten, summarize, or change/rearrange a couple of the really bad articles. maybe at least during the beginning of the semester. I thought this course was taught well. stop indirectly forcing people to contribute I think group grading is a great idea to push to make individuals want to participate and enhance the grade they could receive. The problem is that because it is a group grade, some group members may be put under more stress than others because of the unfair distribution of work and effort. If there was some way to make group grading based more on individual performance, that would entice students to work harder within the group. don't talk condescendingly towards students. It really does not make it helpful when you are asking a question and you respond with a snide remark. Groups should probably be, instead of random, assigned to people who have similar (typically) free time to be able to meet with their groups. When it is required to meet out of class to participate in class, it would be better to assign better-working groups. None Reject students ideas in a polite manner. No suggestions, as his current teaching methods were great. Be more neutral on his positions Encourage students instead of belittling(so students will be more open to sharing their thoughts) n/a Hmm... this is a hard question. Perhaps it would be good not to make the whole semester about groups and the groups having to make questions and answers. Our group found it very difficult to meet every that frequently. All of our schedules were different. I didn't think the group interactions had been explained very well in the beginning so there was a bit of a rocky start. Afterward I thought it ran rather smoothly. The only real problem was lack of discussion in the class even though the class was meant to revolve around discussion. I felt kind of stupid a lot of the time in class due to answers to some of my own comments, which made me a little hesitant to speak. However, the idea of group discussion is a very good one and I think should be continued. instead of out side the class group meetings maybe take a free read day and turn it into a group meeting day. Less intimidation in the beginning of the semester. When you say "there are no wrong answers", mean it. Class discussions attempt to follow a certain mode of instruction, yet they become haphazardly unstructured and ultimately unhelpful in gaining a better grasp or viewpoint of the readings. Because the discussions are conducted by students, the content of the readings frequently become misinterpreted by students in the fishbowl, which follows with the professor spending the next portion explaining the error. Numerous classmates have noted this contrived form of oral presentation and sharing is unhelpful. it's fine

19. What two or three single words best describe this instructor?

Opinionated, Pushy --- intellectual and demanding Personable, bubbly, intelligent fair, intelligent. great instructor inspiring Opinionated, passionate, provoking. knowledgeable Witty Anthropologist Motivated and dedicated Direct, Outspoken, Tough intellectual, humorous, helpful intelligent bias Knowledgeable, Entertaining, Eloquent Alex Golub is very into molding the minds of student to think for themselves and not just to take what is being said at face value, but to really understand what the information is and where the information is coming from. To take a side and know what side you are choosing when you decide. Funny, intelligent, and captivating knowledgeable, arrogant, fair Socrates, Aristotle nice, smart Entertaining, Stimulating articulate, precise, particular "An intellectual Jew from Northern California" aka someone who says substance is more important than appearances, but then uses heuristics to judge others. funny nerd nice

20. The TA appears to have a thorough knowledge of the subject.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   N/A   4.04 27 0.98 Freq(%) 1 (4%) 0 (0%) 6 (22%) 10 (37%) 10 (37%) 0 (0%)

21. The TA is friendly and accessible.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   N/A   3.81 27 1.13 Freq(%) 1 (4%) 2 (7%) 7 (26%) 7 (26%) 9 (33%) 1 (4%)

22. Other comments:

It would have been nice to receive our grades promptly. It's the end of the semester and we still don't have all of our grades back. Overall great class but less on homosexuality and maybe other interesting aspects of indigenous cultures. This class was a challenge, it's great that professor Golub does warn us the first week of class that his class is not an easy course. I feel that maybe if he took one of the days and taught us the content during free discussion along with the student it would help. Thanks. N/A I enjoyed the class. Great class that challenged me intellectually. The class really pushed me to thoroughly understand every reading and participate in class discussions. There were no stupid answers, but Professor Golub made sure people were informed, corrected claims and minimized tangents during discussions. You were put on the spot, but it wasn't intimidating as other discussion classes. Fantastic class. Great class! Thank you. The day that the TA took Alex's spot when he could not be there was a very unproductive day. She did not know how to keep discussion going like Alex does. A lot of awkward silences and she did not seem like she was enjoying leading the class. The TA seems very knowledgeable in her field and it would have been interesting to learn more about her work. Contemporary issues run the gamot and to focus too much on sexual relations is just a waste of time when there is a Sex and Gender class being taught. If we wanted a course on sex or gender we would have taken that, or a WS class.

Alex Golub: ANTH 417, Spring 2011     Back to top

Campus:	University of Hawaii at Manoa	Department:	Anthropology
Course:	ANTH 417 - Political Anthropology	Crn (Section):	88447 (001)

1. Class Level (pick one)

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Freshman   Sophomore   Junior   Senior   Grad   Other   3.36 11 0.67 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 1 (9%) 5 (45%) 5 (45%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%)

2. Course

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Elective   Required   1.27 11 0.47 Freq(%) 8 (73%) 3 (27%)

3. The instructor demonstrated knowledge of course content.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.91 11 0.3 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (9%) 10 (91%)

4. The instructor fulfilled the goals of the course.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.91 11 0.3 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (9%) 10 (91%)

5. The instructor communicated effectively.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.6 10 0.7 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (10%) 2 (20%) 7 (70%)

6. I gained a good understanding of concepts/principles in this field.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.45 11 0.52 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 6 (55%) 5 (45%)

7. I learned a lot in this course.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.82 11 0.4 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 2 (18%) 9 (82%)

8. I felt that this course challenged me intellectually.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.91 11 0.3 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (9%) 10 (91%)

9. Which aspects of the course were most valuable?

discussions the books were very interesting The fluidity of the readings and the format in which the class is designed. This was my first time participating in the melbourne method, and it challenged me to focus on the readings and evaluate my thoughts as well as others. the most valuable aspect of the course was the text, liquidated. in combination with the supplemental articles, the book gave me an introduction into the the world of finance. Being able to sit back and listen to the discussion when evaluating, and the context of the content (the "political" part of Political Anthropology) The seminar-style of asking questions, answering, and critiquing. Dr. Golub did a good job of guiding discussions when they fell flat or veered off-topic. I loved that structured discussion. Not only do I feel that I greatly improved my ability to ask analytical question, but I also enjoyed hearing how other people had interpreted the reading. Many lecture classes make participation difficult, but this method not only made students feel comfortable expressing themselves, it also made class more engaging. Furthermore, the discussion style of the class encouraged students to interact outside of class, because we often left having more that we wanted to say to each other. I felt the discussions of the text deepened my understanding of the material covered.

10. Which aspects of the course were least valuable?

the fish bowl, should just bring them in everytime The articles at the end of the class weren't very valuable I don't think. I feel they did not fit in well with the other readings. They were more debates which I disliked and not enough discussion. i do not feel that i learned much from the zaloom book choice. The pressure of "needing" to speak a certain number of times during each session. Terrible. Didn't need that. Sometimes the method of counting participation -- writing one tick mark for each comment seemed unfair to students who think through their ideas more before speaking, or say a smaller number of longer comments rather than more quick ideas. Generally I found this this class thoroughly enjoyable, but I wasn't sure that I liked the melborne method, just because the observers seemed to serve little purpose. I felt all the topics we covered in this course were relevant.

11. The instructor makes good use of examples and illustrations.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.0 11 0.89 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 4 (36%) 3 (27%) 4 (36%)

12. The instructor puts material across in an interesting way.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.55 11 0.52 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 5 (45%) 6 (55%)

13. The instructor seems to enjoy teaching.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.64 11 0.5 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 4 (36%) 7 (64%)

14. The instructor was able to explain concepts clearly and effectively.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.64 11 0.5 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 4 (36%) 7 (64%)

15. The instructor was effective in meeting the objectives of the course.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.73 11 0.47 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 3 (27%) 8 (73%)

16. The instructor treated students fairly.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.36 11 0.67 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (9%) 5 (45%) 5 (45%)

17. The instructor seems well prepared for each class.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.73 11 0.47 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 3 (27%) 8 (73%)

18. How can the instructor improve the teaching of this course?

maybe call on quiet students at the begging of the semester in order to get them used to talking in class. Somehow change the way the discussions are structured. Many times there were certain people taking over the discussion, while some others were more quiet. Review the main points and ideas of the class more often so distraction doesn't occur as much. he could try to be a little less critical in tone. Stop judging students' opinions so forcefully. Not sure what can be improved about the actual course. I think the readings could have been more interesting, especially "Moral Mazes." Professor Golub could improve the teaching of this course by providing more comments on the questions. It's hard to say what could be covered since the instructor of this course in the future may not address the politics of financial markets.

19. What two or three single words best describe this instructor?

knowledgeable, quirky, nice intellectual, feminine, comical knowledgeable humorous guiding condescending, academic!, hilarious Informed, judgmental, self-aware (that's probably the standard for anthropologists, though) Argumentative, knowledgeable, (at times) condescending Interesting, enthusiastic, knowledgable Informed instructor.

20. The TA appears to have a thorough knowledge of the subject.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   N/A   3.0 10 0.0 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 2 (20%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 8 (80%)

21. The TA is friendly and accessible.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   N/A   3.0 10 0.0 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 2 (20%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 8 (80%)

22. Other comments:

Really enjoyed this class and Professor Golub's obvious passion and knowledge of the subjects. This is a person UH should be proud to have employed. Somehow change the way the discussions are structured. Very interesting and intriguing course. By far my favorite class, the ability to share ideas and theory with like minded peers and a knowledgeable mentor is the ideal classroom setting and Alex Golub has achieved that balance. overall i enjoyed the course and learned a lot. determining where you stand with him as a professor is a bit tricky as he is quite scrutinizing - fair and across the board to everybody, though. this could be a positive attribute in that it teaches you to be quite careful with what you say. in the discussion centered class structure, it might have inhibited more sensitive/shy people from contributing.

Alex Golub: ANTH 341, Fall 2010     Back to top

Campus:	University of Hawaii at Manoa	Department:	Anthropology
Course:	ANTH 341 - Anthropology of Virtual Worlds	Crn (Section):	77333 (001)

1. Class Level (pick one)

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Freshman   Sophomore   Junior   Senior   Grad   Other   3.41 27 0.69 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 3 (11%) 10 (37%) 14 (52%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%)

2. Course

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Elective   Required   1.26 27 0.45 Freq(%) 20 (74%) 7 (26%)

3. The instructor demonstrated knowledge of course content.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.48 27 0.64 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 2 (7%) 10 (37%) 15 (56%)

4. The instructor fulfilled the goals of the course.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.37 27 0.56 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (4%) 15 (56%) 11 (41%)

5. The instructor communicated effectively.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.37 27 0.63 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 2 (7%) 13 (48%) 12 (44%)

6. I gained a good understanding of concepts/principles in this field.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.37 27 0.56 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (4%) 15 (56%) 11 (41%)

7. I learned a lot in this course.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.37 27 0.74 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 4 (15%) 9 (33%) 14 (52%)

8. I felt that this course challenged me intellectually.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.37 27 0.74 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 1 (4%) 1 (4%) 12 (44%) 13 (48%)

9. Which aspects of the course were most valuable?

I appreciated the research paper. The research project, obviously, was the most taxing part of this course but I felt it was also the most useful. The opportunity to conduct individual research on the topic of our choosing, and particularly in such depth, was a very enlightening experience. I also appreciated the push toward class discussion rather than lecture, particularly for the Dibbell book; I feel the discussions for that book were far more active and interesting, possibly because more people read it than did the Boellstorf. I really enjoyed that we were able to do fieldwork in this class. It really helped me to engage in the material and understand the concepts that were being taught better. I really enjoyed the teaching style of this class and the instructor really made it fun and interesting. the research paper, even though it was hard and long I learned many things about this course from writing it. studying a non traditional culture through anthropology the topics were interesting and discussions were fun. First, the research project on virtual worlds was absolultely awesome. It really gave me an opportunity to conduct some sort of fieldwork. By drawing on the first part of class when we read and studied to ethnographies on the virtual worlds, I was able to learn a whole lot to aid me in completing the project. Second, the other readings on American Culture was very eye-opening and drew many parallels to my other anthropology classes. Some of the readings I have never even knew. Great selections. the way how it relates to me directly doing fieldwork, the readings The overall material was very interesting, and was easily relatable to American Culture. i enjoyed the personality and openess of the teacher as well as the class, as well as the in depth view of topics many people look over or disregard. Learning about other people who play the virtual world also. Understanding the connection between RL and virtual worlds is very useful. You learn that every plain of human interaction has value, rather than just dismissing video games and things as merely games. Learning how to do an ethnography, including how to do research in the field. The research project was very fun. Professor helped us, step for step, how to write it. Also learning about Google documents. It's a cool tool to use. I think the group discussions really helped with the papers. i enjoyed the class discussions virtual worlds are becoming more realistic research project Theory and field work The in class discussions and the thought provoking questions for our readings/papers Writing the ethnography and all that it entailed. Referring to readings, doing participant research, etc. Mostly the way it was structured. I got to talk a lot and express my views while learning the views of other people.

10. Which aspects of the course were least valuable?

The readings need to be more easily decipherable for students. Or at some point explain them in more detail. Simply put, Coming of Age in Second Life was boring, dry, and dense and that certainly pushed me away from reading the assigned section several times. The same may have happened with other students, which may explain the decline in discussion participation. I recognize the necessity of the text and the inevitability of such dry, academic texts being used but perhaps more could be done to engage students in the text from your end? In any case, that section of the class needs work; I felt that it was a waste of class time that could have been spent on something more engaging and thus more educational. I recommend reducing the amount of time spent on that book if possible. I can't think of anything that i didn't like. quite a few readings not directly tied to virtual worlds the 15 page paper... when it's not a WI... Everything had a purpose in this class and without each piece I don't think it would have been as successful as a course. nothing the field diary and some of the socratic-style discussions. it felt like we got more done when we worked on specific questions in small groups. the lectures were good though. sometimes it's easier to understand things when we're just told the information, instead of trying to guess it ourselves... none i didnt enjoy the massive 15 page paper at the end ( and the fact that it had such a heavy impact on my grade) and the expectancy to finish it. however, it was not impossible and he neither made it impossible to complete. Learning about religion and what to make of it. Large group discussion. I would have learned the material better if we broke up into smaller groups to discuss the material. I think sometimes the format of just asking us to answer questions made me feel like i got alot of opinions but never really learned all that much. Maybe a little bit more lecture would help. i thought there were slightly too many readings. it was hard to keep up. nothing Early deadline on the fieldwork; some of the "how to write/conduct enthography" readings Nothing, everything had value Critiquing the WoW book. While I can appreciate the value of critique and learning for it, I don't think that it worked in this instance. Maybe if we'd dissected it more. The second life book that we read, in my opinion, didn't seem to fit in with the other course material. It was a really boring read and gave more information than insight.

11. The instructor makes good use of examples and illustrations.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   3.78 27 0.93 Freq(%) 1 (4%) 1 (4%) 6 (22%) 14 (52%) 5 (19%)

12. The instructor puts material across in an interesting way.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.41 27 0.69 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 1 (4%) 0 (0%) 13 (48%) 13 (48%)

13. The instructor seems to enjoy teaching.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.37 27 0.63 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 2 (7%) 13 (48%) 12 (44%)

14. The instructor was able to explain concepts clearly and effectively.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.07 27 0.68 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 5 (19%) 15 (56%) 7 (26%)

15. The instructor was effective in meeting the objectives of the course.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.33 27 0.55 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (4%) 16 (59%) 10 (37%)

16. The instructor treated students fairly.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.11 27 0.8 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 1 (4%) 4 (15%) 13 (48%) 9 (33%)

17. The instructor seems well prepared for each class.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.04 27 0.9 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 3 (11%) 1 (4%) 15 (56%) 8 (30%)

18. How can the instructor improve the teaching of this course?

Help explain the readings more. By potentially lessening the amount of time spent on Coming of Age in Second Life or finding some new way to engage students in the text more effectively. Maybe if sometimes we were put into smaller groups to discuss the readings we had to do for homework more people would talk and engage in the answers. I think it's just hard for some people to speak out in front of the entire class. use more illustrations and visual aids In class demonstrations of a virtual world early in the course might be interesting. smaller paper He can improve by perhaps outlining key concepts about virtual worlds throughout the course. But in my opinion, there wasn't really any need to outline the concepts because they are presented in such a manner where you could be looking at 3 different concepts and not realize which one to direct your focus. He allowed us through class discussions draw out these concepts for ourselves from the readings so that we would learn it better. It worked. However, some people do lag behind and have no clue after having read some things. Participation then becomes important for those people to ask questions. Alex Golub invites that from everyone in class, some students just choose not to speak up. keep doing what hes doing The discussions seem two go in two directions either really well or very quiet. I know it can be the students, but if there is a way to not only just doing discussions it may help improve the class. space out more assignments throughout the semester Open up more slots for one-to-one discussion Perhaps finding more contemporary examples of virtual worlds; LambdaMOO is super old, and I would argue that Second Life is somewhat less influential now than it was years ago. His World of Warcraft book was, I think, most effective out of all the books we read. Do 1:1 student meetings about the research projects, most students felt that the project was too fast or didn't know what they were doing when the deadline was approaching quickly. A bit more lecture, as well as a bit more guidance in tying the readings together because im still not sure why we read some of them. to provide reading materials more early It was difficult to gauge his reactions. We often couldn't tell if we were giving useful answers. Sometimes didn't seem to get the point we were trying to get get across, and we were unsure whether he was summarizing our statements inaccurately because we didn't properly communicate, or because our statements weren't correct/useful. We recieved mixed signals. For example, he would encourage class discussion, but would come down on us if we got too excited/chatty (which is understandable, to an extent, but it's hard to maintain a high energy level that early in the morning). He was great! I think it's pretty much fine the way it is.

19. What two or three single words best describe this instructor?

---- Interesting, colloquial, charismatic? I would like to add that this is a HORRIBLE question and that I believe it should be stricken from the evaluation. I did not go through 12 years of English learning to craft rhetoric just to use single words out of context when it came time to get my points across. involved knowledgable interesting open minded! Informed, engaged Fair Knowledgeable Straightforward funny smart enjoyable, intelligent, interesting funny, open Informative and funny Knowledgeable, clear. Interesting and knowledgeable. witty, condescending, knowledgeable kind friendly Knowledgeable, funny, unreadable Knowledgeable, funny, intelligent Enthusiastic. Engaged. Intelligent and Interesting...yeah...

20. The TA appears to have a thorough knowledge of the subject.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   N/A   2.6 26 0.89 Freq(%) 1 (4%) 0 (0%) 4 (15%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 21 (81%)

21. The TA is friendly and accessible.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   N/A   2.6 26 0.89 Freq(%) 1 (4%) 0 (0%) 4 (15%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 21 (81%)

22. Other comments:

I enjoyed the class. It greatly challenged me. I struggled through it, not because I didn't complete the work but rather I never fully grasped the concepts that we were supposed to grasp. The first part of this course was a large part of what prompted me to change majors to Anthropology, simply because it was so intriguing and intellectually stimulating. I didn't know we had a TA have a good holiday! we have a TA? This class was awesome and Alex is a great professor. I would enjoy taking other classes from him. // It was interesting class. Useful class; I enjoyed it. Perhaps schedule later in the day, or in the afternoon? Amazing class!

Alex Golub: ANTH 449, Fall 2010     Back to top

Campus:	University of Hawaii at Manoa	Department:	Anthropology
Course:	ANTH 449 - Anth of Melanesia	Crn (Section):	79223 (001)

1. Class Level (pick one)

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Freshman   Sophomore   Junior   Senior   Grad   Other   3.44 16 0.81 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 2 (13%) 6 (38%) 7 (44%) 1 (6%) 0 (0%)

2. Course

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Elective   Required   1.31 16 0.48 Freq(%) 11 (69%) 5 (31%)

3. The instructor demonstrated knowledge of course content.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.69 16 0.6 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (6%) 3 (19%) 12 (75%)

4. The instructor fulfilled the goals of the course.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   3.94 16 1.29 Freq(%) 1 (6%) 1 (6%) 4 (25%) 2 (13%) 8 (50%)

5. The instructor communicated effectively.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.19 16 1.22 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 3 (19%) 1 (6%) 2 (13%) 10 (63%)

6. I gained a good understanding of concepts/principles in this field.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.25 16 1.24 Freq(%) 1 (6%) 1 (6%) 1 (6%) 3 (19%) 10 (63%)

7. I learned a lot in this course.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.38 16 1.02 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 2 (13%) 0 (0%) 4 (25%) 10 (63%)

8. I felt that this course challenged me intellectually.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.19 16 1.28 Freq(%) 1 (6%) 1 (6%) 2 (13%) 2 (13%) 10 (63%)

9. Which aspects of the course were most valuable?

the discussion. just listening to peoples reasonings and learning how to dissect the text I love the way that Golub teaches. I don't think I learned as much in my 4 years as I did in just his one class. He has actual discussions about the material we read and he doesn't just take over. The challenging complexity of the readings and the occasional intensity and frequent comedy of the in class discussions. There were many different terms that I learned in this class that I did not know before. I learned a lot about different societies in the PNG. I read the most challenging book in my life in this class. The ethnographies that were read were very interesting, and were thorough in the field of Papua and Papua New Guinea. I was impressed by how Professor Golub ran the class discussions. He consistently challenged the students to take their analysis to the next level, which was not always easy, to take their time to work out the point they were trying to make, and to voice these expressions in anthropological terms. I found it helpful, but not condescending, when he would paraphrase things we had just said in a more concise way using higher level vocabulary. I think our class discussions became more articulate and thoughtful for his efforts. I also was surprised by how helpful the videos we watched were. They definitely helped me visualize the material, seeing what the setting really looked like and how customs were put into practice. The conference with Bashkow was also a great idea. Our class actually got the unique opportunity to talk back to the author and ask why he choose this method or why he didn't include material on that particular subject. Lastly I was glad Prof. Golub choose challenging readings. Having tackled Bashkow's book I feel more confident about taking on even more difficult ethnographies in the future. the knowledge and understanding that was presented throughout the assigned readings. Specific knowledge of a few communities in Papua and PNG. Critical terminology for evaluating anthropologic writing. Because this course was a seminar there was a lot of stimulating discussion. I learned a lot about how to read dense texts and extrapolate key points in addition to learning discussion skills. The challenging course material, class structure/discussion methods, Alex guiding us along the way The only thing I found valuable about this course was that it offered me a lot of insight specifically to a few tribes that live in Papua New Guinea. Group discussions and active involvement with the readings. Learning to break down the ethnographies and look at the material from various perspectives. I liked the focus on that the two main books provided on specific tribes in Melanesia.

10. Which aspects of the course were least valuable?

the fact that this class is called Anthropology of Melanesia, I was hoping we would have hit more of the countries involved in Melanesia rather than just Papua New Guinea and West Papua. I dont think that there was any aspect of the course that was invaluable. There were certain conversations that were boring to me, most of them were when we got off subject and people began to rant on about irrelevant stuff. The class is very dependent upon your oral performance, yet it is not classified as an oral communication class. Also, I would have liked to learned about more areas within Melanesia. I don't think anything about this course was organized or taught poorly. True, we only covered a very specific portion of Melanesia, but I think Prof. Golub made very conscience decisions on what to leave and what to include as well as how to structure class discussion. i thought that everything had a purpose. The fishbowl discussion format in that it often fails to keep a discussion on track and is a subjective way to evaluate participate. There were certain setups for the discussion that I thought were not helpful. The tapping out method was unnatural and made it difficult to speak. n/a The pressure I felt to talk so much. I am a quiet person who learns better by just listening and straight lecture. I would not have taken this course if I had known it would be almost completely based on Oral Communication. No where in the course description did it say that it was. Also, the Course was titled 'Anthropology of Melanesia' but the ONLY thing we learned about was a small area of Papua New Guinea. So, to offset this, the instructor said that he would give up a really quick map quiz, to cover the uncovered. We have yet to take it, and it is the last week of classes. I would have liked to learn more than JUST a small area of Papua New Guinea. It should have been called 'Anthropology of Papua New Guinea' instead. The grading system.

11. The instructor makes good use of examples and illustrations.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.53 15 0.64 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (7%) 5 (33%) 9 (60%)

12. The instructor puts material across in an interesting way.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.27 15 1.16 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 2 (13%) 2 (13%) 1 (7%) 10 (67%)

13. The instructor seems to enjoy teaching.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.47 15 1.06 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 2 (13%) 0 (0%) 2 (13%) 11 (73%)

14. The instructor was able to explain concepts clearly and effectively.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.33 15 0.98 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 1 (7%) 2 (13%) 3 (20%) 9 (60%)

15. The instructor was effective in meeting the objectives of the course.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.0 15 1.2 Freq(%) 1 (7%) 0 (0%) 4 (27%) 3 (20%) 7 (47%)

16. The instructor treated students fairly.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   4.47 15 0.64 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (7%) 6 (40%) 8 (53%)

17. The instructor seems well prepared for each class.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   3.87 15 1.19 Freq(%) 1 (7%) 1 (7%) 2 (13%) 6 (40%) 5 (33%)

18. How can the instructor improve the teaching of this course?

he could provide the readings earlier in advance. its hard to plan my homework schedule when i dont get the assignment until 7pm the day before its due. I know you have kids but that wouldn't be an excuse for us so it shouldn't be an excuse for you either. Probably making those of us who don't talk as much as others talk a little more. Although, you can't force people to talk. With that being said, I think he does a great job. I cant think of a way. There were certain terms in class that were used and assumed that all student understood, maybe break down those terms so everyone can participate. A map test would have been very beneficial because I was a little confused about where all these different people were from and how they were connected to one another. Give more assignments to obtain participation points, and not rely solely on oral performance. Also, provide more abstract data for the bigger picture of Melanesia, not just ethnographic accounts of single villages. The fishbowl method was the only thing that didn't seem to go as smoothly as hoped as a few people rarely participated. I think it would help to give out updates on where people stood on points earlier in the semester, say the half way point. Giving students this information more than 2/3 of the way through the semester was really too late. have the map quiz of melanesia earlier on. By diversifying the aspects of Melanesia we focus on. Telling us the first day that PNG is a highly diverse area, but then is somehow a good representation of all of Melanesia (that was the topic of the class) is somehow contradictory. Although the students understand that he is a busy man, it would be helpful to get discussion questions earlier, so that when we do the reading early we can direct our research. Lots. I felt like this course should be an oral communications course. No where in the course description was did it say that public speaking would be a part of this course. It was designed for more outspoken people, almost like a debate style, where the students communication was a huge part of their grade. I did all the readings, and understood them, but being required to share my opinions made me feel stupid at times, because half the time I felt stupid, after hearing what others had to say. Contrary to popular belief, it's not always helpful. He should also broaden the area to include ALL of Melanesia, not just one specific part. I think the course should include more parts of Melanesia or be changed to Anthro of Papua/Papua New Guinea. Even if it does not cover all of Melanesia I think you could still tie in the larger more "Melanesian" type discussions using Papua as a platform. Maybe instead of focusing time on a book about how to read ethnography devote that time to looking at more general Melanesia concepts, or even the creation of such division etc... Probably by having quizzes of the students knowledge rather than just points for talking. I think next time there should be a more broad coverage of Melanesia. I feel like I still don't know what Melanesia is overall. How did it come to be, what's going on politically and socially in most of the country. The course too much on a couple of tribes and not enough on 'Melanesia'

19. What two or three single words best describe this instructor?

engaging, knowledgeable, intelligent educated, informative, fun Funny, Interested, Insightful Passionate and hilarious Scholarly, yet unfriendly Articulate Enthusiastic Inspiring. Creative. Knowledgeable Flaky and unprepared. Intelligent, eloquent, funny Knows Papua New Guinea (sorry, that's four) Amusing (in a positive way), sarcastic, multifaceted fun, smart, interesting Humerous, intelligent

20. The TA appears to have a thorough knowledge of the subject.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   N/A   3.75 15 0.96 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 2 (13%) 1 (7%) 1 (7%) 11 (73%)

21. The TA is friendly and accessible.

Mean N-Size Std Dev   Strongly Disagree   Disagree   Neutral   Agree   Strongly Agree   N/A   4.0 15 1.15 Freq(%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 2 (13%) 0 (0%) 2 (13%) 11 (73%)

22. Other comments:

Favorite course of the semester,and not just because of the subject matter, was both interesting and fun to participate in. Great class! I will definitely take more of his classes! I would not recommend this class to someone looking for an anthropology elective, but would if they were extremely interested in ethnographic accounts of Papua and Papua New Guinea. Great job! This was definitely my favorite class all semester. Keep on challenging your students, you've already proven they are capable of rising to meet your expectations. Really great course. I cannot wait to take more classes from Alex Golub. Thank you for a great semester. I thoroughly enjoyed this course and will highly recommend it to other Anthropology majors or those interested in Melanesia. I hope to take more of your courses in the future. I don't think I will ever take a class from this professor again. Even if it is one I have/really want to take. I'll have to wait until someone else teaches it. Which sucks. I think Alex does a great job and has a high standard for students. I also believe his class has students very engaged and present. All of which are extremely important for actually learning to occur. I think that in his effort to always help students improve he does sometimes come off some what passive aggressive and slightly arrogant, though I believe this is often unintentional. As much as helping someone pronounce a word right or telling them that there questions about the reading is irrelevant to the piece as a whole may help some students excel, I think there is a slight nuance that could be found in his wording that if changed wouldn't offend/embarrass them in the process. That all being said I still think he is one of the best Professors at UH. He understands that education should be about engagement and challenge and creates a classroom that does exactly this. looking forward to your other courses.