Learning Objectives • Bonus • Course Design • Challenges • Safe space • Workload • Contributions • Venue • Satisfaction • Extra events • Teachers • Expectations • Value • Changes • Future • Final comments
Course Design
The planning of the course (lessons, extra lectures, workshops, your own time) was relevant to the stated contents of the course.
1: I do not agree at all / 10: I agree completely
Comments
I thought the structure was just the right amount of rigor and break time to enjoy each other’s company’s, get some fresh air if we needed it, or fuel up on fika:). I never felt too stressed or exhausted from the schedule. I was mostly excited and energized by the atmosphere and the courses.
Först på måndag morgon i matsalen var det lite oroande lugnt (tror vi hade lite lång rast) men sedan bar det av i ett ständigt intressant och intensivt flöde och som jag skrev tidigare, som en gåva. Jag gillar när det är högt tryck.
Som jag uppfattar det med begränsad erfarenhet av trolleri, så var alla de olika kursdelarna bra och helt relevanta.
Teorin är mycket bra och på lagom nivå i detta skede (kurs A).
Matpauserna är många men viktiga för att orka hålla tempo.
Fredagens egentid på eftermiddagen/kväll var mycket viktig för att hinna/kunna utveckla något eget och en inte har något färdigt i bagaget.
I think the course design was great. There were enough breaks so that the brain didn’t get over heated and the lessons didn’t stop too early.
I felt that everything was in place and the construction of the course was coherent and in line with the course contents.
The course was well designed and executed. Any comments I have are not criticisms and should be viewed as ideas for improvement.
The opening session should lay out the expectations of staff and performance expectations of the participants. (while this was done, I recommend more clarity on the performance expectations. It appears that participants are screened before acceptance and word of mouth is the principal driver for applying for the class. While there is nothing wrong with that technique, classes of a longer nature will require specific qualifications for attendees, or they will require the modification of curriculum to apply to attendees with little or no experience.)
It was not clear to me what the prop making session was going to produce. While I very much enjoyed the session, I made a wand (which I never use in performance – except when I am doing chop cup or cups and balls), and refreshed my lathe skills. It may have been advantageous to go into that class will a goal of making something specific, which I could use in my final demonstration. Moving the prop making class to earlier in the week will give participants the encouragement to do a better job of selecting a project. Also, due to humidity, the stained and lacquered wands were slow to dry.
This was an incredible opportunity to discuss and work on magical concepts, essentially uninterrupted. The extra lectures were most welcome because they were very relevant to the material we were discussing. Future “optional” lectures would be well served to be demonstrations of material learned that day.
In terms of free time, there was sufficient flexibility in the course flow and timing to allow me to take breaks when needed. The only problem was I did not want to miss anything!
I feel like the woman’s group, I was a little confused as to what was going on, but I didnt feel like it was time wasted…there just wasn’t any structure. I liked that Paulina shared her PhD findings with us and I liked what the women had to say. I dont think we needed the outside attendee there, as we were bonding with the other women in the other courses and she wasn’t there and we werent sure why she was there…but all that said, it wasnt a waste of time. I liked it in the end.
The course was very well planned and organised. The workshops were just the right length of time, except perhaps the Prop Making workshop where 90 minutes just wasn’t enough.
One small criticism would be that there was bottlenecks in the prop making process, use of the lathe, sewing machine, which might be resolved by showing all the props to be made first and then splitting the group into smaller groups to work on Prop 1 2 or 3. Tim Star was an amazing instructor and was so incredibly patient with everyone. I am astonished at the professional quality of the items that I have made and thoroughly enjoyed this workshop – Can we have 2 days built into Conjuring B for next year?
I feel that the course was very well constructed. Theory mixed with exercises leading to applying the learned concepts in our own work. The extra lectures were very interesting and added tremendously to the course. The 3D printing lecture was fantastic and very relevant and timely. I feel that the process of magic is not often discussed, and thus Horret’s lecture on the creation of a move was eye opening.
The fact that the course was organised in a folkhögskola made the free time meaningful as well. We would all hand around in the same space and not scatter about as happens in many congresses.
It was laid out nicely. The flow naturally led into the next lesson and then into the evening extra activities.
I haven’t been to anything like this so it’s hard to compare to what it could have been. But I think I would have liked more time to practice everything. It felt strange to just perform a routine that for the most part wasn’t that good. I think I would have preferred at least two hours of practice. Although I’m not sure this is the most efficient way, I guess you learn faster if you fail faster but it took a lot of energy to fail that many times in that short amount of time :).
Absolutely. The time we got to spend with Hakan, our instructors, our peers, and ourselves was key in driving home the concepts. I didn’t just learn concepts and take notes like I would in any other class – I used concepts so that I could use them again in the future.
I cannot find anything I would adjust I think the schedule was perfect and also there was lots of breaks for food and brainstorming with friends.
I preferred the length of the sessions better this year. Also the documentation hour was important in order to stay social later in the day as the social battery needs to be changed every now and then. It’s amazing how well we managed to follow the schedule as my experience of magic workshops is that the schedule is there just for promotional reasons. Being able to see what will be covered beforehand helped me to get a better understanding of the content in advance which made understanding the theory in class easier.
Eating is important in order to the brains to function. Even at the last session of the week I was full of energy, thanks to the fikas and delicious food served.
Yes! I liked a lot that now classes were 90 min. instead of 1 hour as it was last year. Tom and Leif did great job and I also loved Tim, Håkan and Horret’s lectures.
It sure was relevant and everything we were supposed to cover or have time for – we did.
The planning was really good, and the fact that I didn’t get tired or worn out within 6 days was quite something.
I really liked the time to document, it is well needed given the tempo.
All the parts of the course happened just like they were planned. The schedule was not too tight and all the lessons happened on time.
I would have loved to have an extra workshop/lecture on Monday night.
I found the class hours very full yet still we benefited from extras in the evenings. I agree that these additional lectures, jam sessions Nandi performances were relevant to fostering an environment of creativity and inspiration.
Yes, there was enough time to discuss what was learned with others.
This year I liked the one hour free time we had at the end of the day. I felt some contents of the workshops were a bit samey as last year, but gold nonetheless.
Att ha egen tid är så viktigt och laddes in på rätt tidpunkt under kursen.
The ‘Intro to 3D printing’ class was very slow. Some of us – including me – could hardly find relevance to the course. My personal opinion about 3D printing is that I cannot really understand why they call it fast prototyping when printing a thimble for eternity.
I think the did not manage to show the bright side of the 3D printing business.I am writing it because in contrast, when I attended the A course 4-5 years ago, there was a young guy, who managed to nail it. He showed several aspekts of 3D printing which was very relevant to magic. He also showed the automatic cutter and how he used it to duplicate signature and stuff.
That was a brilliant lecture!
Two extra events is enough. I really like the free time at the evenings so one can do things with other magicians.
There could have been more time to prepare for the saturdays performance
Yes, and I liked that they were optional. As some I were more interested in than others and I wanted to spend my spare time working on my act. I think when we get to Connuring C level we want more time to work on our own material and some evenings I chose to work rather than attend the extra events. However the events I did attend were wonderful. I particularly enjoyed Horret Wu’s session. It’s great to discover course attendees performance style and watch them work as it’s something to aspire too.
Jag vet inte vad som skulle vara annorlunda men på onsdagen var jag så fullmatad med allt så min hjärna orkade inte ta in mer. På torsdagen var det tillverkning så då blev det återhämtning vilket var bra.
The planing felt a bit more thrown together than in the earlier courses. If and if so how, it had any relevance for reaching the stated goals of the course is hard to say.