Skip to main content

Student Opinions

I've been teaching at a local university for 2 years now.  Over that time I've received 3 student feedback surveys containing 92 responses.  These are some of my favorites.

All of these are 100% authentic.


What were the instructor's major strengths?
He was enthusiastic and really self-confident. Very used-car-salesman.
>>> I've actually never sold used cars, though at one point I sold sandwiches. 

Defense against the dark arts, potions, history of magic
>>> This is actually accurate, though we don't usually get to it by the end of the semester.



What were the instructor's major weaknesses?
At times, a little distracted.
>>> Probably true.  This is a common one.  Years of watching MTV as a kid has killed my ability to pay attention to any one thing for longer than 6.4 seconds.

Uses a Mac. Has extreme distaste of PHP, no PhD
>>> This one really isn't fair - everybody hates PHP.

was too good looking. it was distracting
>>> I'm about 99.99999% confident this was somebody being a smartass, especially since I'm no longer tied with James Franco in the hotness score on RateMyProfessors.com.  Still funny though.

Transmogrification, charms, care of magical creatures
>>> I really need to invest some time working on this one.

He never took responsibility for having very unrealistic ideas of what the class should cover.
>>> True story.  Unrealistic Expectations is my middle name.  Side note: it's hard to have your initials put on something when you have 4 of them.


What aspects of this course were most beneficial to you?

I learned java? This question sucks.
>>> Probably my favorite answer ever.  I like that it's in the form of a question, like on Jeopardy.  Did you learn Java in my Java course?  I sure hope so.  If you learned PHP instead the class couldn't be in the CS department anymore.

I learned what not to do when teaching a course. As a PhD myself i found this very valuable.
>>> I'm actually teaching CS883: Things Not to Do When Teaching a Course in the fall.  Look for it coming to a university near you.


What suggestions do you have to improve the course?

Eh, I like that its easy even though its ridiculously easy
>>> I never claimed to be hard.  "Easy" and "learning" shouldn't be mutually exclusive.

use C++ instead
>>> I can't do that, I actually like my students.

More kittens
>>> Extremely accurate.  The class is lacking in both kittens and turtles.  Will work on this for next semester.


couldn't understand Mr James (no PhD) at all.
>>> I'm going to start putting no PhD at the end of my name on my business cards.
If you're interested in subjecting yourself to the horrors of my teaching and want to know what you're getting yourself into, you can see my full survey results here.





watch my videos on youtube follow me on twitter view my pictures on instagram view my profile on linkedin view my google+ profile

Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Gobbler from Arby's

Stop.  Stop what you're doing and go to Arby's. Right. Now.  Have them make you a Gobbler .  This is not something you'll regret. Go. Eat this thing. Look at that bacon. Go. Arby's has a new sandwich.  It's called "The Gobbler" and as far as I can tell it's two things: a vehicle for their new deep fried turkey, and an attempt at a Thanksgiving themed sandwich.  It's also a third thing: magically delicious. move over Lucky, there's a new holiday mascot on the block Unwrapping: this actually looks like a sandwich.  It looks appetizing.  It looks like something I want to eat.  It doesn't look like the promo photo above, but it doesn't look like someone was flailing around and accidentally smashed up a sandwich, either. sexy Instagram caption goes here First bite: Wow.  I mean, "WOW."  Holy h*ck this is good.  The turkey has a really bold, meaty flavor.  It tastes a lot like turkey sliced fresh from your...
Post a Comment
Read more

Sheetz Sandwich Standoff: El Gringo vs Twisted Swiss

My wife left me alone for dinner tonight so I decided to check out the latest GetGo offerings... but to my great chagrin, they have no promotional subs. My travels led me to the local Sheetz, where I'd be able to keep eating the best gas station sandwiches around. To keep tradition alive, I picked the two most outrageous "Burgerz" on the menu: El Gringo and Twisted Swiss. The ingredient list is promising: Twisted Swiss is the burger with topped with swiss cheese, cole slaw, pickles, bacon, and whatever "Boom Boom Sauce" is on a pretzel bun.  El Gringo is the burger topped with pepper jack cheese, chili, Doritos, and BBQ sauce on a regular old bun. I unwrapped them both and stood back to admire the majesty before me. They're not pretty, but they do look a lot better out of the wrapper than many fast food burgers I've eaten. Twisted Swiss I expected this sandwich to be an awful mess.  It just seemed like a bunch ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Interviewing: Tell Stories

Softball questions  are questions the interviewer asks to try to find out about your personality, your history, your level of enthusiasm, and your experience.  While technical questions evaluate your skills or your knowledge, softball questions are meant to have you talk about less quantifiable abilities.  An interviewer might ask a dozen or more softball questions to determine what you're like outside of an interview room. The word to remember for interviews, especially the softball questions, is: STORIES .  People who are good storytellers tend to be good interviewees. Technical questions are important - you need the skills to be able to do the job.  However, often interviewers are convinced by your answers to softball questions - then they spend the rest of the interview trying to convince themselves why they should hire you, instead of spending the rest of the interview trying to convince themselves why they shouldn't. A great strategy for prepa...
Post a Comment
Read more