Some quotes from the teaching evaluations for my MATH 220BL1 Calculus I, Fall 2005. (Large class, from 250 to 230 students.) These are not all the comments, and certainly not representative, just a few quotes. The original grammar is preserved.


What are the major strengths and weaknesses of the instructor?

The lectures were more in depth and informative than any other math class I've taken. This class taught me why things are the way they are, not just how to do the problems.

Lectures were terrible! Tests did not measure knowledge of material.

strength: knew the material
weakness: none

Extremely boring and spent too much time on proofs instead of example problems.

Good jokes.

Hard to understand, does not explain clearly, too complicated. Willing to try to explain.

The instructor is very knowledgable and usually explained things well.

The professor's accent was kind of hard to understand at first but once I got adjusted to it, it wasn't too bad. The professor has a really good grasp on the concepts and knows what he is talking about.

Strength - it really helps to learn the definitions. Very precise, always ready to answer questions, asks questions to involve the class. Weakness - a bit hard to understand.

bad explanations bad at answering questions

clear explanations sense of humor

Cool music.


What aspects of this course were most beneficial for you?

The sledgehammer!

Online homework was nice when it accepted answers.

Definitions Hard to remember but necessary to learn.

Learning w/o a calculator helped understand the material better.

How calculus relates to the real world.

Learned a lot.

I liked the online homework because the examples help you solve the problem & you know your grade immediately.

I enjoyed the course very much. I learned a lot!

Online homework was very helpful.


What do you suggest to improve this course?

Shorten online homework.

Add more personality to the instructor.

More discussion time? Less material to be covered?

Warn students that some privacy service applications may block portions of online homework.

Less online homework, more book work.

Do not teach proofs. They are useless. Teach what needs to be done on the homework and tests.

No definitions! It is irrelevant to memorize definitions of limits or of derivatives for a MATH course... Any one can memorize...


Comment on the grading procedures and exams.

4 exams, C'mon, too many I think. And to have one before the finals. But hey, maybe it is beneficial.

I liked the curves for the exams.

The grading was very fair.

Unfair & rediculous.

I love the 76=A

Almost every online homework had at least one problem w/o an equation, which hurt my grade. Also, exams have too much def, and not enough math.