In week four, 2026, in anticipation of a potential refresh and redesign of the website, I asked students to come up with a couple of comments or observations on the lectures and what worked for them about the website, and what could do with some improvement. At least one of these comments had to be positive, and one negative.
My Summary and Response
Many thanks for these comments. I am very grateful that most of you have positive things to say about the website. In what follows I will focus on the suggestions for improvement, but I am indeed happy that almost all of you are finding it easy to find what you need to find, and to make your way around. In my specific responses below, I sometimes point out things you may seem to have overlooked, for instance the fact that there is a link to the relevant conversation video with each lecture video.
One thing I do note is that many people find the website overwhelming at first, though they come quite quickly to get used to it. But I still do worry about that first impression, and that it may put prospective students off–one of you even admitted that they almost dropped the class! I am looking for a way to provide all the information you need straight up, without it being too much.
For what it’s worth, this was the purpose of the user’s manual video, which came from a student suggestion when I taught this course before. I also thought that the description of a typical week would help, but I do recognize that the more explanations I provide, the more they threaten to be counterproductive, and instead to come to be even more overwhelming!
Another repeated comment is about integration with Canvas. I am not against this, but I am not sure how feasible this is. Not least because all of you have different assignments (i.e. blogs) and different due dates, depending on the contract you have made, and the books you have chosen. This is similarly an issue with providing a weekly “to-do list” or similar: everyone’s to-do lists will, at least potentially be different.
But as I say, I have a meeting set up with web designers and developers at Arts ISIT and CTLT (I myself have no great technical or design skills!), and I am sending them your comments (and also the ChatGPT summary and recommendations, below). In that meeting, I hope to see what is possible, and how the website can be improved to be less overwhelming, clearer where necessary, and more useful.
In the meantime…
- One thing I realized I could perhaps (help to) fix immediately. It is indeed difficult to find a specific blog post (your own or someone else’s) once it has been posted. In an effort to make this a little less difficult, I have now increased the number of posts (from ten to fifteen) that appear on each page under student blogs. I hope this makes things easier.
- I have also added a search function to the student blogs page. And I will look into whether it is possible to make the blogs authors clickable links. I am not sure how much more can be done to help you search among your blogs… again, however, this is where tags (and categories) can come in handy, which is why I am encouraging you to use them.
- I have also made more space on the front page (for an added line of links to posts and pages). As I regularly change and update what is on this main page, this means that just about anything and everything you need in a given week should be on the front page: you simply have to scroll down, and do not have to go looking for it.
- Near the top of the front page (under where it says “Welcome to RMST 202”) I have added links to key introductory information. (Note you will not see this if you are looking at the site on your phone.) These links were featured on the front page during the first couple of weeks of the semester, but now I am highlighting them and making them even more visible.
Anyhow, again, many thanks for your comments and suggestions, and i will see how many of them I can put into practice. Note, I doubt that you will see many if any changes during this semester (though there may be some). However, you will have helped future students!
ChatGPT Summary and Response
As I say in the course’s AI policy, I am not necessarily against all AI on principle, and think that there may well be a place for it: “I dream of a day in which we have a reliable and effective AI to which we can consign the tedious, semi-intellectual bureaucratic labor in which we see no inherent value: filing taxes, writing reports, filling out forms, university admin, and so on.” I therefore thought that the task of summarizing such a diverse range of comments might be something that ChatGPT could do, with perhaps helpful results. So here is what happened when I asked it to summarize and respond to your comments…
Context:
In week 4 of 2026, students were asked to give positive and negative comments specifically about the RMST 202 course website — what works well, and what might need improvement — with at least one of each.
👍 Positive Feedback (What Students Liked)
1. Navigation & Organization
• The top navigation bar (tabs like Home, About, Syllabus) makes the site easy to move around.
• Tag categories help students find content by theme or topic.
• Clear syllabus and course schedule layout that gives week-by-week structure.
• Having a central hub for lectures, texts, videos, blogs, and resources in one place is appreciated.
2. Course Content & Flexibility
• The site makes it easy to access lecture videos and course information without passwords or a learning management system.
• Student blog interaction and creativity is encouraged, and being able to see others’ blog posts — including from past semesters — was mentioned as a positive feature.
3. Visual & Practical Elements
• Graphics and a dynamic front page, which updates weekly, were highlighted as helpful for finding lecture material.
👎 Negative Feedback & Suggestions for Improvement
1. Navigation & Usability Challenges
• Many students find it hard to locate specific content at first — especially blog posts or pages like First Week Tasks.
• Some navigation labels and links (e.g., finding conversation videos) are confusing or buried under unexpected sections.
• There’s a learning curve, especially for students expecting a Canvas-style layout.
2. Blog & Content Management
• It’s difficult to find a specific student’s blog post without lots of scrolling, and the current order doesn’t solve that.
• Suggestions include adding filters, search, or categorization by term/week, as the blog area can feel cluttered.
3. Clarity on Assignments & Tasks
• Assessment details (like midterm/final optionality within the contract framework) aren’t clearly stated on the site even though they are discussed in class.
• Some wanted a “to-do” list or clear weekly task list to make contract deadlines and expectations more visible.
4. Information Overload
• Some students find the site overwhelming with lots of linked content, especially if they haven’t yet internalized the navigation logic.
🛠 Instructor (Jon’s) Immediate Response
From the feedback page itself:
• He already increased the number of blog posts shown per page (from 10 to 15) to make blogs easier to find.
• He acknowledges navigation issues and expresses interest in continuing to improve clarity.
🧠 My Interpretation & Response
Overall, students appreciate the centralization of course information, accessibility of materials, and creative learning structures the site provides. However, recurring themes in the suggestions are about usability and clarity — especially for students encountering the site for the first time or seeking specific tasks and blog content.
🔹 Key Areas for Improvement
• Navigation Help for New Students
• Consider an “Orientation” or “Start Here” page that lays out the structure of the site and how to find core content like blogs, assessments, and weekly tasks.
• Task & Deadline Visibility
• A weekly “to-do list” on the homepage or syllabus — especially for new students — could reduce confusion around variations in individual student contracts.
• Enhanced Blog Filtering
• Add features like search and filters (by student username, week, or book) to help students locate specific blog posts more easily.
• Link Clarity
• Reevaluate how key content like conversation videos is nested and ensure labels accurately reflect what students are looking for.
| Positive | Negative / Suggestions for Improvement | Other | Jon’s comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| It has texts uploaded. I only have to access one or two tabs, the text, author, student blogs page, and syllabus. |
It’s hard to navigate in the first few weeks; there’s a learning curve to the website. | ||
| Navigation tab at the top (“Home, About, Syllabus…”) makes using website easy. Tags and categories are useful for navigating. Good job! I like it! |
Assessments aren’t explained clearly: In class it was said midterm/final are optional (if you stick to contract), but this isn’t said on the website. | On the page on assessment, I say (in bold) “your letter grade will not change, whatever your performance on the exams, so long as you keep to your contract over the semester.” But I have now also added, to the page on the final exam, the observation that “for most students the final exam is optional.” Similarly, the page on the midterm now makes it clearer than ever that “for most students the midterm exam is optional.” | |
| Extensive info on course–very helpful. Fun to see everyone’s blogs and interact. |
Overwhelming to navigate at first. Some info can only be accessed through certain links. Example: I could only find “first week tasks” through the email sent to us. |
The page on first week tasks was on the front page for several weeks (until week three, I think); you just had to scroll down. But I can look to find ways to make it more visible, at least in the early weeks of the course. | |
| Course schedule/syllabus clear and easy to understand (and the “week in the life” page was helpful at the beginning of the term. It’s nice that the frot page updates each week so I can easily find the lecture for the week and what that week’s topic is. |
There’s a lot of information on the website, so it can be overwhelming at times, including old blogs and stuff from past years. | ||
| It’s nice it’s a website, easy to navigate to from browser. Website has nice graphics. |
I think the lecture videos should be in order and have the specific week number on them. I find it a little more difficult to find the page with book descriptions: so many buttons called texts. |
Because different texts are taught in different years (and in different years they may be in different weeks), I’m not sure I can include week numbers there. But they are in fact listed more or less in order, with the next lectures you will need to watch at the top of the list. I will look to see if there are too many buttons called “texts”: This is the principle one, linked from the top menu on every page. |
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| All in all it’s good to use and definitely better to use than Canvas discussions. | The only thing I could think of is that in the beginning it felt like there’s a lot of information, so it was a little hard to navigate, but it gets easier. Another area of improvement is maybe making the blogs based on the year or term: you can see everyone’s blogs since the course started, so filing them ight be nice. |
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| TBH the website is clear and nice overall. 🙂 | It’s a bit hard to check… in 2026 / in the past. But not a big problem. | ||
| Great lecture videos, easy to access as it is [on the] homepage. Allows students such as myself to use blog as a thinking space: drives creativity rather than structured essays. |
Too cluttered, hard to navigate, hard to locate blogs without scrolling down. | ||
| I like that the website is well organized into authors, videos, student blogs, etc. I think there is a lot of useful info. |
One thing that confused me is when I try to find the conversation videos. I tried pressing lecture, didn’t show up. Now I know I have to click authors then its part of it. | On the top menu (on every page) there’s a pull down link (under Videos) to all the conversation videos. Also there’s a link to the relevant conversation video (via the link “conversation”) on every page devoted to a lecture video. (Plus on YouTube, at the end of every lecture video, there’s always a link to the relevant conversation video!) | |
| I really like the Choose Your Own Adventure tab! I think those little summaries should also be in the “text” tab for each author! | Maybe add a “this week’s books” and “next week’s books” note on main page? Add note about comment moderation and how to use/add categories and tags for the blogs. Maybe make weekly “look,” a chart: week 1, bla, blah; week 2, bla. |
I think the weekly “look” is the syllabus. And disabling comment moderation plus the use of categories and tags are detailed on the page explaining and giving instructions for blogs. But I think I like the idea of a note on “this week’s” and “next week’s” books on the main page. I will think about how to do that. | |
| I like the week by week schedule. I like the pages dedicated to each book: videos, text, lecture, author information with a blog. All great. 🙂 |
Could be a bit clearer on assignment descriptions: midterm, final, blog response, blogs. | The older pages clutter it up a bit, but it’s manageable to find the recent relevant material. Just have to know where to look. | OK, I can try to work on clarity of description! |
| The “choose your own adventure” page is great for navigating weekly read as it gives me easy access to the book and the gist of them. It’s great that you can access things from different pages, like you can find the author, lecture and things even if you start from a different point/page. |
It’d be nice if the conversation video were attached to the lecture video page. | There’s a link to the relevant conversation video (via the link “conversation”) on every page devoted to a lecture video. | |
| I like the headings/subheadings, they are very clear. | I would enjoy having a “to do” bar, which would make it clearer what the weekly tasks are. Maybe change the color (too blue). |
Each student’s tasks are potentially different, depending on their contract. But I do try to outline a typical week. | |
| I like how the website is a centralize hub for everything about the course. | However, it is a bit cluttered, especially the layout of the blogs page. Not saying this is the only way to improve it, but it would be nice to have more blogs on a page, each taking up less space. Thank you! | I will look into this suggestion, and see what can be done. | |
| I like how we are able to see blog posts from other students from past semesters. | It would be good if there were an easier way to access each week’s lecture/readings. | I do try to make sure that the current and next week’s lectures (and conversations) are on the main page wherever possible. Otherwise, the syllabus is a week by week schedule. | |
| Lots of information–which is good. | More clear categories (main categories are fine), subcategories need work, some information is the same in two different spots. More clear path for students to follow. |
I realize there is some repetition, but this is in fact because I realize students may take different paths, and I feel it is good to have different paths to the same information. | |
| I like how there is the menu on the left with options (aims and objectives, classroom etiquette, AI policy etc.). I think this is great because it looks pretty organized. | I think everything is great but it’s a bit confusing in the sense that when I click a typical week I see everything but there are links we need to click on to get redirected to new places (first week), and I wish it was all in one place. Also I wish syllabus was the first thing that popped up, cuz I did struggle with that a bit. Otherwise great! |
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| I like how things are categorized on the top: that part is pretty clear on where to click, so I wouldn’t change much of that. | Some parts are definitely very lengthy and initially can be confusing. If info would be concise or perhaps the use of visual diagrams to add into, that’d be easier to look at and understand. | I think if people attend the first classes where you explain the site, it’s understandable. However, if someone joins now it’s tough to understand how the site is designed, and some will expect it to be on Canvas. So suggestion: creat an “instructions” page for people to refer to if they’re confused on how to navigate the page. | I will think about how to do this, though I should say that my user’s manual video (in fact a suggestion from a previous student!) is an attempt to explain as much as possible as concisely as possible. |
| I have had no issues with the RMST website. I like how we can view everybody’s blog posts easily on the blog page. I have been having much trouble with the WordPress settings for comment moderation, but I know that isn’t an issue with the UBC site. The website is easy to use, and no issues. | |||
| The website categories and layout are very organized, with is helpful. In particular, the syllabus and the weekly reading pages. It makes it easy to find things. Lots of extra info and details are nice (concepts, playlists, etc.). |
Though everything is helpful, it’s also a bit overwhelming to look at and confusing to navigate at first. | ||
| I like the website because it feels like everything related o the class is stored on one site in one place. It’s easy to access everything. | If I had to make a recommendation, I’d say it can be improved by making it a bit more organized because when I first saw it, to be honest, it sort of felt overwhelming, but it’s easy to get used to. 🙂 | ||
| Helpful tabs, lots of resources. | A bit messy, hard to find specific pages | ||
| It’s nice to also I guess have a lot of resources. | I don’t like how it is not in a “syllabus” form. Hard to navigate certain resources as it seems like there is too much information. |
I’m not sure I know what a “syllabus” form looks like. | |
| I like how the syllabus is clearly laid out. Everything is outline and organized: you can find the texts, lectures, etc. very quickly. | I would find it easier if there were a way to find your own post or a specific post by just searching it up. It can be a bit annoying scrolling through all the posts to find the right one. | I agree that it is tough to find a specific student blog post if you are trying to do that. I’m not sure how to fix this, but I will look into it. | |
| I like the huge tabs (?) section on the home page. | A bit overwhelming at first, takes time to get used to. I think it’s better to organize the lectures by week, and have a tab for each week. At first it was a bit hard to find the conversation videos as well. |
Because different texts are taught in different years (and in different years they may be in different weeks), I’m not sure lectures can be organized by weeks. On the top menu (on every page) there’s a pull down link (under Videos) to all the conversation videos. Also there’s a link to the relevant conversation video (via the link “conversation”) on every page devoted to a lecture video. (Plus on YouTube, at the end of every lecture video, there’s always a link to the relevant conversation video!) |
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| I like it now: there is lots of info but it is actually organized very nicely. I really like that I can go to the texts and click on the link to the book. |
Initial thoughts: I was so overwhelmed and confused, I almost dropped the class. This was partially because I looked at it on my phone, and it does not work well on a phone. | ||
| Having a search function on the blog page would be very helpful. Also maybe have some function to arrange the blogs from dates (old-new). Also most commented to least. Maybe to categorize the blogs on the main page [?] by weeks? Now it’s like a bit messy? |
At present the blog posts are arranged from most recent (i.e. newest) to oldest. I think it would be cool to be able to arrange them in some other way (I do like the idea of most/least commented), but think this is probably impossible (not least because the comments are not on this website, but on your own blogs). | ||
| I like how all the lecture videos are in one place. | I find it tough to go to specific student blogs. Tough to navigate in and out of all the different sections. I wish it was organized for each book, e.g. the video lecture, conversation, etc. all for just one book. |
I agree that it is tough to find a specific student blog post if you are trying to do that. I’m not sure how to fix this, but I will look into it. If you look at the author pages, you will find that in effect everything is organized around each particular book, like you are suggesting. |
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| It’s my first time having a course using a website, but I like it. I don’t think I have further questions or concerns on this. | |||
| Having all the texts and links to PDFs is very helpful. Syllabus tab is helpful, too. |
Maybe having the lecture video linked to the text would also help. | ||
| I think everything is very clear. | The only thing I think can be changed is ordering the lecture and conversation videos into the weeks. | I’m not sure I understand this comment. Isn’t this what the syllabus page does? | |
| Other things are good!! | I found it’s difficult to find a link quickly, because many are under multiple layers of the link, for example the conversation. Maybe important information could directly appear on the front page??? |
On the top menu (on every page) there’s a pull down link (under Videos) to all the conversation videos. Also there’s a link to the relevant conversation video (via the link “conversation”) on every page devoted to a lecture video. (Plus on YouTube, at the end of every lecture video, there’s always a link to the relevant conversation video!) I do try to make sure that the current and next week’s lectures (and conversations) are on the main page wherever possible. |
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| Blogs autopost. | Could be nice to have everything for the week on one slide. Maybe we already do, I’m just bad with tech. | If you look at the author pages, you will find that in effect everything is organized around each particular book, like you are suggesting. | |
| I like the multiple lecture formats, which are easy to find. | I have issues finding specific info, especially with no real navigation info. | I don’t mind the student blog page: it’s okay. | |
| The text layout and syllabus is useful and easy to find. | The information seems muddled / too much information, so I got overwhelmed in the beginning. But I understand the website now and it works. Some links could be put together, like a link to the texts from the syllabus. |
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| Everything has links, *click* and it takes me where I need to go. Easy to use, clear tabs. Love the multiple lecture options available online. |
When I post early (which helps TAs), my blog post doesn’t get a lot of traction. | I get it about early blog posts getting lost in the mix. Not sure what can be done about that. | |
| Organized tabs! Very clear where material is in the webpage. | I actually really like the website, but it would be nice of the syllabus and assignment due dates would be more clear at the start of the course. | I like how different it is from Canvas. (This is my [?] so it’s nice!) | Each student’s tasks, and so due dates, are potentially different, depending on their contract. But I do try to outline a typical week. |
| Comprehensive resources: lectures, blogs [?] book list good |
Centered on the weekly books, but missing is the comparing b between weeks/novels, e.g. how is the prose different? I would like a discussion online about prose/[?]. Syllaubs [?] for videos. |
Comparison between the text is important, but on the other hand each student has, at least potentially, read a different set of books, so not everyone is in a position to make similar comparisons. | |
| A plus is I absolutely love that you proved all the books, their description and author background history–maybe add a designated section for this altogether. | Although the website contains all information and due dates, I find myself really having to dig to find specific info. Maybe somehow make it more simple to the eye when formatting? Tags seem to be an issue for a lot of people. I recommend making a system to section off the books. |
I think that rather than tags, you are talking about the categories for each author? I’m not entirely sure how to come up with a different system that would achieve the same thing. | |
| Thank you for putting all the texts on the website. My wallet thanks you, too. | I would recommend linking the important parts of the the website inside Canvas. Filter the videos by dates, e.g. if we’re discussing Bombal in the upcoming week, the video should show up first. Group the lecture video and conversation video [?]. |
I’m not against duplicating some of the information on Canvas… but what are the “important parts.” I don’t want to be painting both Canvas and the website, as this doubles my work! I do try to make sure that the current and next week’s lectures (and conversations) are on the main page wherever possible. And the lecture videos are in fact listed more or less in order, with the next lectures you will need to watch at the top of the list. Also there’s a link to the relevant conversation video (via the link “conversation”) on every page devoted to a lecture video. |
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| I like that everything is in the one place and (fairly) easy to find without too much clicking. | I wish there was a way to search within the website, not within all of UBC. It’s hard to find a specific blog post or that kind of thing. I’m always worried I submitted something wrong or something will go wrong on the blog website and I’ll break my contract–maybe some confirmation? |
The search bar on the main page (on the right) searches specifically this website, and only this website. Confirmation that your have successfully posted your blog post would be nice, I agree, but I am not sure this is possible. On the other hand, we try to be pretty quick when we think things have gone wrong, and we give you a chance to fix them if it’s a technical error. |
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| At first, I thought the website was confusing because I had a hard time figuring it out and was not used to it. Now, it’s cool to see the feature where we can see the latest blogs that are posted. It makes it easier to find which ones that I want to comment on. | |||
| The tabs and sections are clearly marked. | One thing I miss from Canvas is the “upcoming assignments” tab. It’d be great if we could have reminders for assignments or readings, etc. | Each student’s tasks, and so due dates, are potentially different, depending on their contract. But I do try to outline a typical week. | |
| Concise. Has a lot more information than a typical Canvas site would and a lot of resources. | Categories to make it easier to find things. A bit confusing as I’m used to the typical Canvas page with modules and files, so this website was kind of hard to navigate at first as there was a lot going on. |
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| There is a lot of information all in the same place, which is helpful. I like being able to view other students’ blogs, especially from the past few years to see what differences people have when they read the books. |
If we could use Canvas like link the information (tasks, blog post due dates) so it can link up with my Canvas calendar, that would be really helpful. My biggest thing would be linking to Canvas and maybe also an introduction to the website so it’s less overwhelming. |
Each student’s tasks, and so due dates, are potentially different, depending on their contract. But I do try to outline a typical week. I will think about how to implement a guide to the website, though I should say that my user’s manual video (in fact a suggestion from a previous student!) is an attempt to explain as much as possible as concisely as possible. |
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| The website overall is wonderful and I don’t have any complaints. | This is sort of a nitpick: I don’t love the category “video” being different than “lectures” when they are essentially the same thing. The “videos” category only has three items, and 2/3 are in “lecture.” That’s it. | I guess I’m trying to differentiate between “lecture videos” and “conversation videos.” I also have a long-term plan to have more “behind the scenes” videos, but first I need to complete all the conversation videos! | |
| I like the format of this website. For what we need in this class, it is quite easy and straightforward to find things, especially with the headings of each page. Thee is a lot going on on each page, which I could see overwhelming people, but personally I’ve been navigating the pages just fine. | But maybe simplifying the pages of condensing them might make them more clear and aesthetically pleasing. | This is what I hope to be able to do! | |
| An updated “Syllabus 2026” would be helpful, since right now only two syllabi, title 2024 and 2022 are available. A section on how to submit the blogs because I wasn’t sure at first. |
The syllabus is the current one, for this year! The page on blogs tells you how to set them up and submit them to me (and when). Also for the first few weeks, on the main page was a link to week one tasks, which tried to explain your initial tasks as simply and concisely as possible. |
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| Everything has a category, so if I need texts, lecture videos, I can easily find it. The discussion component is similar to Canvas, even though we need a separate blog website. |
Because I joined late, and had little guidance, it was hard to navigate website to find what I need to do. Information was spread out rather than in one section on homepage. | We certainly did our very best (with multiple emails etc.) to provide guidance to those coming to the class late! Also for the first few weeks, on the main page was a link to week one tasks, which tried to explain your initial tasks as simply and concisely as possible. | |
| I think the RMST 202 website is very informative, and it’s really nice that I don’t have to log in every time (as with Canvas). Not only that, it’s well organized for how much content thee is. So far, I don’t have anything to complain about. 🙂 |
