Taught by: A/P Don Favareau
Content (Structure/Organization): -
The entire module is centered upon the idea of perception, and is organized around three main 'doors' - biology, technology and culture. When I took the module, biology took up the first 6 weeks, while the 2nd half of the semester was split between culture and technology. Dr Don knows what he's doing and has a clear class schedule already up in the module description on the USP website, so you can check that out for more details. He usually keeps his class schedule a little flexible, so that he can pivot a bit depending on how the class progresses and what the class seems to be more interested in.
For the biology part of the module Dr Don spent most of the class time lecturing, with a few breakout room discussions interspersed here and there, while for the culture and technology parts of the module much of the class time was dedicated towards student presentations/class facilitations on the readings.
Accessibility and Assessment: 5
Pretty accessible - module is structured around three main themes - biology, culture and technology, and it's unlikely that you'll already have knowledge about all three.
Manageability of Workload: 2
I would say the workload for this module is consistently heavy.
Starting in Week 1, each lesson has around 2 readings making up 30-40 pages in total. On the bright side, most of the readings are not TOO hard to read and understand, although some of them might not be your cup of tea.
There were also plenty of assignments and tasks given to us throughout the semester, like mini group presentations, two main tests that need to be studied for (he does tell you exactly what to study though), class facilitation, final group presentation and final write-up. Some of these honestly took up quite a bit of time to do. That said, I believe that the assignments and tests are structured in such a way so as to enhance your learning, and not just for the sake of testing, which aligns with Dr Don's philosophy of not caring that much about grades.
He also gives quite a bit of freedom to explore for some of the assignments (e.g. for one of them u could choose to do research on the perceptual abilities on any animal you want, similarly the final presentation can be on anything related to perception not covered in the module)
Ease/Difficulty of Attaining Grades:
If you put in consistent effort into the module you should be able to walk away with a decent grade - Dr Don is quite lenient in grading. There are many assessment components of different styles so you do need to be consistent though.
In any case, Dr Don doesn't really care for the idea of grades in USP and he'll tell you that himself, so I would really suggest not having a grade oriented mindset in his class. You should be fine as long as you make an effort to learn and explore new ideas in the mod.
Presence of Technical Learning:
Well, you'll definitely walk away with a better understanding of the biological underpinnings of perception. I think it's also fairly likely that one or more of the readings may tangentially relate to your major, given how broadly the module covers the idea of perception. hmm...I would say take the module so long as the subject matter interests you.
Learning Value/Recommendation: 5
Perception is something that anyone can personally relate to, so I think this mod definitely makes you think about things you might ordinarily take for granted. Personally, I really enjoyed some of the readings/ideas introduced in this module, and found them interesting and eye-opening. Given the numerous ideas/theories/readings in this module I'm sure you'll encounter something you personally find interesting.
About the Instructor:
Dr Don is a really amazing prof - he's super dedicated and cares a lot about your learning. He's also really experienced, knowledgeable and passionate about the subject matter.
That said, I feel like he would probably be better in person as compared to over Zoom, cause of the possibility of greater interactivity. The lessons can sometimes feel a bit like a monologue and lack engagement, cause with a class of 30 people over Zoom there's not a whole lot of interactivity.
Additional Comments/Word of Advice:
tl;dr take it if you're interested in better understanding the concept of perception from various perspectives, but workload can be heavy. (although it might be due to e-learning semester i'm not sure)