Alfred Guzzetti, Osgood Hooker Professor of Visual Arts, dedicates the final session of VES 52R: Introduction to Non-Fiction Videomaking—where students spend the term creating one nonfiction film on a subject of their choosing—to a class-wide postmortem discussion about all course elements.
Unlike online course evaluations that close with students’ responses to questions, Guzzetti’s postmortem is a two-hour, informal dialogue: “I ask, ‘Why do you think that? Was it worth spending two weeks on the introductory assignment? What did you get out of it?’ It’s a conversation.” The inclusive discussion allows him to address student critique about course structure and specific assignments, as well as the advantages, disadvantages, and motivations for potential changes.
For reasons both logistical and pedagogical, it’s not possible to implement all student suggestions. For example, one request for more introductory exercises at the start of the semester would have left less than half the term for work on the final project: “That would result in a rush job where things are put together in haste. I want students to use all 13 weeks to make the most extensive project they can and explain that they need to ‘learn on the job’ throughout the semester.”
Guzzetti finds the postmortem conversation the most meaningful way to close the course, exchange feedback, and provide a critical reflective moment for both students and instructor. He finds grades less valuable than this conversation for student learning: “The best thing I can say about the grades is that they’re irrelevant.”
