New Media
‐ the challenge for traditional media,
advertisers and communicators ‐
Erasmus Course Evaluation
Lecturer: Ana ADI
Session 2010/2011
Semester 2 – May 2011

At the end of the New Media course, the 14 participating students were asked to
take a survey in order to evaluate the New Media course together with the lecturer’s
method, approach and enthusiasm. The evaluation survey was accessible online
leaving students with the option of taking it at their own pace and in the absence of
the lecturer. To avoid bias, students were asked to submit their answers before their
final grades were delivered. 13 out of the total of 14 participating students in the
course took the survey, offering responses from 92.8%% of the course participants.
The survey’s structure of the previous semesters has been maintained.
Overall, 71% of the students (10 out of the 13 respondents) found the course, the
overall content and the overall teaching effectives as “very good”. All other answers
recorded rated the course as “good” or “excellent”.
1. Overall course evaluation results
Asked to evaluate specific aspects of the course or the teaching process, the
students responses confirm the high evaluations of the overall course as most of
their answers provide “excellent” or “very good ratings”. The lecturer’s enthusiasm,
the lecturer’s use of technology and the Skype online live video guest lectures
obtained most of the “excellent” ratings from the students followed by the lecturer’s
availability to answer questions, the lecturer’s answer to the students’ questions and
the integration of other lecturers and guests within the course. This could indicate
that providing some diversity in the way content is delivered has a potential to
maintain the students’ interest in the course.

2. Specific course elements evaluation
As with previous sessions, two online live video guest lecturers were set up. While
the connection to the USA via Skype was successful, technical difficulties were
encountered with the connection to Bahrain. This led to the Bahrain guests
continuing their interaction with the class via chat and Twitter.
Similar with the previous sessions, the online live video lectures were regarded as a
novelty as well as a great way to integrate new media in the class.

3.Online video guest lecture evaluation
Among other aspects of the course evaluated were the use of the class time (46.15%
very good), the relevance and usefulness of the course content (53.84% excellent)
and the balance between theory and practice (53.84% excellent).
4. Other course dimensions evaluated
With regards to attendance, all responding students attended all classes. Almost half
of the responding students (6 out of 10) expect to receive an A.

Three qualitative questions were part of the survey as well. They aimed to determine
the areas that students most liked or disliked as well as identify elements that
students would have wanted the course to cover. Even with the course covering 7
sessions at a total of 24 hours of contact, some students suggested the course to
take even longer or to be scheduled in such a way as to provide them with some
decompression and/or reflection time.
Other suggestions included more examples and practice with new media tools and
platforms (beyond micro‐blogging, blogging and social media analytics tools) as well
as more business related examples. These suggestions ill be taken into account for
future deliveries of the course.
5. New course elements wanted
One the changes suggested makes reference to the new media impact on journalism
day and practice. Taking into account that most students in this semester had a
background in business and/or business administration, their suggestion reflects
their different subject interests as well as their little impact with journalism.
However, discussing about creative industries and new media production and
influence without making reference to journalism, citizen journalism would depict an
incomplete picture. In order to incorporate the students’ suggestions, the journalism
exercises will be redesigned to include a more business angles.

6. Suggested improvements
Finally, among the things the students liked the most were the practice‐based‐days,
the discussions they generated and the final project.

7. “What did you like more about this course” answers
Observations and Conclusions:
All the answers given to the questions asked are in the higher positive range – from
good to excellent.
The areas marked the students as being excellent (obtaining also the majority vote)
were:
• The lecturer’s use of technology (100%)
• The lecturer’s enthusiasm (84.6%)
• The
The practical aspects of the course were mentioned as strong points of the course
and good learning experiences. It should be noted that this semester featured one
individual assignment and two teamwork assignments including the final team‐
project. To showcase the student’s assignments the students chose wordpress as
their showcase platform:
http://kathonewmedia.wordpress.com
The students final projects will also be shown on in this space.

It is notable that many of the students indicate as an important factor the lecturer’s
enthusiasm and support. As with previous semesters, this shows reiterates the
potential, if not the need, for courses to be delivered in a more interactive way
where students are constantly given challenges to solve together with the lecturer.
Having a problem‐based learning approach in this case is perhaps the best solution,
ensuring the students apply and/or discover the content they need in order to fulfil
their tasks.
When it comes to the use of technology, even three years since the course was first
offered, the online live video guest lectures obtained still a very positive evaluation
even from a group who is accustomed to using online live video streaming platforms
for personal uses. As with the previous semester, the responses indicate that the
transfer of knowledge, dialogue as well as learning objectives could be achieved
regardless of the presence in class of the lecturer. Furthermore, the good evaluation
the online live video lectures received show that students appreciate contact with
industry experts and other lecturers that live and operate outside their countries.
Recommendations and suggestions:
Taking into account the students’ observations and in an attempt to make a link to
the areas determined in the course evaluation as having a potential for improvement
it is suggested:
• A redesign of the journalism related exercises to be more relevant to
business students
• The introduction of more practice days related to other technologies and
platforms
• The presentation of more new/social media statistics and inforgraphics as a
way of showing changes in media consumption behaviours
• The introduction of more discussions and debates about the future of
internet, the impact of internet on cultural and political dialogue, privacy and
security
• An expansion of the New Media course to local students as well (not
necessarily in the same classroom).