Professor: Malone Course format: Lecture w/section Number of respondents: 112 Total Enrollment: 127 Class Composition: Froshs: 15 Sophs: 40 Jrs: 34 Srs: 33 Concs: 15 Non-Concs: 80 Don't Know: 17

Instructor Average: 1.74 Course Average: 1.72

As its title implies, "Technology and Material Culture in America: The Urban Built Environment" strives to provide students with a basic understanding of the American city’s evolution, using technology as the central focal point. In delving into this subject area, class members analyze the man-made environment surrounding them, viewing architecture and infrastructural development as both historical and cultural evidence for such societal revolution. Although this course technically entails no prerequisites, some respondents indicate that a general knowledge of United States history would be helpful prior to entry.

On the whole, survey participants offered rather positive remarks regarding Professor Malone’s instructional performance. By most accounts, he was an extremely efficient and organized lecturer, injecting a certain degree of enthusiasm to every topic covered throughout the course of the semester. The majority of students make particular mention of his use of slides as a means of visually illustrating the concept currently being discussed. In addition, Professor Malone’s anecdotal style of presentation brought an added degree of fervor to class discourse according to most. However, many respondents maintain that in an effort to cover a vast amount of material, he often ran out of time before getting through the scheduled subject matter. Continuing along such contention, he would tend to move at a very fast pace and cram a lot of the information in at the end of lecture. Nevertheless, almost every correspondent makes it clear that Professor Malone was particularly responsive to individual needs and concerns, more than compensating for the speedy nature of presentation.

In terms of the required workload, this course consisted of one five-page midterm paper, a two-hour final examination, and an optional paper. The majority of class members found these assignments to be manageable given a sufficient time commitment, but many note that they would have preferred several smaller assignments as opposed to a few larger scale projects. As for the required readings, students convey that most were extremely useful, many particularly mentioning "The Great Bridge" as being exceptionally intriguing.

Prospective students can anticipate spending anywhere from two to three hours per week on work attributable to this class. A large amount of respondents stated that this more or less corresponded to their initial expectations. In summation, survey participants urge students with even the remotest interest in the subject area to take this class, as it is extremely informative and on the low end with regards to workload.

View AC/0152 in the Brown Online Course Announcement.