Recent student testimonials
The following anonymous comments were written by students in courses I taught asynchronously online in 2020-21, during the pandemic:
"This course was wonderful and very refreshing. I really appreciated the content, the teaching style, and the assignments. It was also comforting to have so much agency in course structure and assignment form. Additionally, this course really facilitated student learning, fostering the formation of ones own perspective and position, while maintaining notions of thoughtfulness and equity."
"The instruction was innovative, compelling, and deeply educational. I was frankly amazed by the superb quality and
appropriateness of the multi–layered teaching in this course."
"Prof. Garrett was extremely helpful in ensuring that we had all the materials and explanations we needed to engage with the
material and complete the assignments. Her empathy and professionalism are truly first rate."
"I've taken a lot of technical courses but, none of them have had delivered anything close... Walking outside, taking pictures, recording footage, etc. these were all very creative and fun aspects of the course. Despite having lived in my neighbourhood for so long, I never really realized the beauty of the creek trail nearby until I took this course!"
"I had the busiest week last week (especially the second half of the week), nearly drowning in tests and quizzes and them all having the same deadline. When I remembered that you mentioned on the Quercus page that deadlines are guidelines and not necessarily set in stone, I felt immensely relieved. I want to personally thank you for that flexibility but more truthfully, the generosity. I can honestly say that chance to rest over the weekend really allowed me to put 100% of myself into this journal and get more out of it than I could ever expect to. Once again, I would like to thank you for this because submitting work I am proud of is the most rewarding feeling, worlds away from checking an assignment off a list of many."
"It has been a joy to get this class under way – the structure of the course is a breath of fresh air amongst my other ones; the readings less dense and intellectually draining; more playful and exploratory along with the practical component, which I think really gives me more energy to keep up with my other responsibilities."
Voices from a 2019 course on Interdependence
In Fall 2019 I taught a third-year undergraduate course called Interdependence. I discuss the course in its planning stage in a podcast interview, and you can listen to students discuss their experiences in the course six months after it concluded in the audio compilation below.
“I wasn’t just learning about interdependence, but I was learning also about myself.” Xinran Huang
“I had an incredible sense of gratitude and awe at what my body was and what it gives me. It was pretty powerful. Sam Keravica
“I found out that memory isn’t real, it’s practiced.” Sally Andrews
“I’m struggling to articulate the kind of bodily realization of how we are intimately connected with each other, even beyond thoughts.” Richard Wu
“We have to open our circle of concern for this collective self that we’re trying to protect.” Aaron Marshall
