Professor: Witman Course format: Seminar Number of respondents: 7 Total Enrollment: 6

Class Composition Froshs: 0 Sophs: 0 Jrs: 1 Srs: 2 Concs: 3 Non-Concs: 3 Don't Know: 1	Instructor Average: 1.69 Course Average: 1.53

Biology 193, "Experimental Design Ecology", is a seminar which is intended to give students an opportunity to design experiments and perform statistical analysis on them. Nearly all of the members of the class recommended that prospective students have a solid background in both ecology and statistics.

As this course was taught as a seminar, Professor Witman's primary role was to assign topics and facilitate discussion. Students described the classroom atmosphere as fun and relaxed, and most felt that the discussions were good. Class members found that the professor was very knowledgeable, but that he could have been more organized.

The workload of this course consisted mainly of reading primary literature and preparing presentations on it. Each student's grade was based half on class participation and half on a term paper. There were no problem sets or exams. According to one student, "If you like talking, you're golden."

All of the students who took this course found it to be worthwhile, though they felt that a prospective student's enjoyment of the course would depend on the student's motivation and interest in the material. Class participants felt that they learned a great deal of useful information, and they also enjoyed the relaxed setting of the class.

View BI/0193 in the Brown Online Course Announcement.