Reflections on Student Evaluations
In chronological order, oldest to most recent (except large courses)
- Math 112-College Algebra w/ Trigonometry
- Stat 100-Introduction to Statistics and Probability (Summer)
- Math 113-College Algebra w/ Matrices (Summer)
- Stat 100-Introduction to Statistics and Probability
- Large Courses- Various Calculus courses
As my first course I'd ever taught, it was reassuring to get such positive feedback from my students. If you choose to look at the raw data, you'll find I came out above the college average in all categories except "Well-prepared for class" . This was actually more evident from the evaluations of my earliest section which did not have enough to be statistically significant. As a valid criticism it has been something which has required my attention in most of my subsequent courses, leading me to spend significantly more time preparing lesson plans and examples.
Selected Comments:
"Instructor Schmitt was a really fun teacher, I enjoyed his class and he made me enjoy math again, which was definitely good."
"He's a very funny teacher, and sometimes gets caught up in it. However, he always manages to get through the lesson, and teaches it effectively, and wont quiz you on homework the very next day. There are a lot of quizzes, but if you attend every class, and work the problems out then they're usually easy. "
"I liked the professor... Although, the lectures were not great, the professor always made time to explain the math concepts to his students on an individual basis and I know that helped me a lot when the course load was more difficult towards the end of the semester."
Stat 100 -- Introduction to Statistics and Probability (Summer)
My first opportunity to try preparing all the material and focus on being prepared I was faced with a course for which I'd only learned about half the material previously. This was nicely stated in one of my student's comment:
"For the first half of the course Karl was very prepared for class and taught the subject well. But, as the class moved into the second half of the semester, he was not well prepared for class, making more mistakes on the board and making problems up as he went. This was not conducive to our learning of the material since this is when the material actually became somewhat challenging. Overall, Karl is very friendly and extremely flexible with students by being available for help before and after class and via email. I feel that Karl would be a better teacher if he took more time to prepare before class and if he familiarized himself with the material better before class time so he would be able to answer questions more effectively."
Basically they found that I was excellent for the material I knew, and when I hit the 2nd part of the semester (material I was learning frequently the day before due to a summer "intensive" course style) it became more confused. This motivated me further to teach some courses which I did know the material better.
Math 113 -- College Algebra (Summer)
My next opportunity came the following summer. Due to the small class, and know material I was able to deliver a much improved course. While there were only 4 responses, all the students were fairly pleased with my teaching and prepared-ness.
"Great teaching style, approachable, fun, while also commanding respect from students. Professor cultivated a good learning environment in which students were comfortable asking questions, and were not intimidated by him or by the material. Professor was patient with students with unfortunate/health circumstances, as well as students who has persisting questions with the material. Will make a great professor should he continue in the teaching field. "
This course gave me my first chance to experiment with more active learning techniques and begin to develop my personal teaching philosophy. This is reflected in some of the materials I developed for the course such as the "Algebra in Everyday Life" worksheet.
Stat 100 -- Introduction to Statistics and Probability (Spring 2012)
My most recent teaching experience was a chance to revisit Stat 100. I felt more prepared for the actual material and thus spent a lot of time trying to experiment with course style and components such as group-work, flipped classrooms, and learning projects. My in-experience in developing projects was very clearly highlighted in the evals, as was the fact that I experimented with different styles. While many of the comments included both negative and positive comments, I was consistently considered concerned with their learning, and having put forth significant effort for the course. I feel that practice developing course material and making more use of a teaching mentor and peer evaluation of materials should really help resolve some of the development aspects. Throughout the semester I solicited verbal feedback from students about which styles were effective and which were not. The style I ended the semester on seemed to be satisfying most of the students, a mix of providing sample problems and then allowing them to work out similar samples in pairs and small groups.
"...Karl is a great lecturer and I definitely understand the material when he's teaching."
"I've jumped around various sections for this course, and the atmosphere seems to be a little different between sections. Karl is among the better TAs in terms of teaching with clarity and genuinely caring for the students"
Afterwards, wanting to understand better the student's take on my pedagogy experiments I solicited some feedback directly from some students, here's their responses: Student Feedback
Large Courses -- Calculus I & II
These results are overwhelmingly positive, with all scores well above the college means. One student quote highlighting this is:
"...Discussions were very useful. I liked how our math TA went over practice problems from the homework, which also prepared us for the quiz we were taking that day...."
As an additional measure, during one semester we did a mid-semester evaluation, which included several items about the mathematics TAs (myself and another graduate student):
Calculus II for Life Sciences:
Again, largely positive. An earlier section had some lower evaluations.
A portion of a student comment dealing with the mathematics TA's:
"... The TAs would also make sure their students were comfortable with the materials. For instance, Karl set up an exam review session which took place outside of his standard office hours..."