TA Review of Student Feedback (Episode 1)

31 Jul 2022

At the end of every term, students receive a survey and they get to give feedback to the instructors that taught them. In this post, I will cherry-pick a few of the responses from each class that I have TA’d for in the past two terms, based on how interesting I thought they were, or how funny the response was.

CPSC 110, Term 1

My very first term as a TA, where I got thrown into the deep end, and had to handle leading a lab, teaching the material, and administration all on my first day, without any guidance from more senior TAs, plus the fact that all my labs were held online over Zoom. Not the best experience, but I think I turned out fine as a TA.

"I appreciate how he put up with me despite taking a long time to go through problems, often needing to go beyond lab time to finish up solutions because I was constantly struggling. He was very considerate and took the time to answer any of my questions, which I highly appreciated :)"

Although I would very much prefer students that understood the instructions and just worked away, students that are willing to learn and listen come as a close second. That said, going beyond lab time is not something that I’m particularly proud of, since I think students should both be aware of their progress and comfortable with asking the TA questions, such that we can strive towards finishing the lab during the alloted lab time.

"Boris was very friendly and came well–prepared for each lab session. He made sure to help students when they needed assistance without giving them the direct answer (to encourage them to think deeper and arrive at the answer themselves)."

This is somewhat directed towards the TAs, but I feel like once the TA is fed up with the class, they often just want to give away the answers and end the lab as soon as possible. It is quite important as a TA to not get frustrated, and keep a cool head throughout the term, even when faced with students that simply refuse to learn.

CPSC 110, Term 2

While the term started online, we returned to in-person instruction after 4 weeks. Both Zoom labs and in-person labs had its pros and cons, but in-person definitely made conveying ideas a lot easier.

"Boris explains concepts in a clear and concise manner. He is patient, professional and always willing to answer any additional questions :))"

"Boris did a great job in answering questions when I was stuck on problems, was supportive during Problem Set long grading, and was overall great to work with. Thanks Boris! :)"

Yes yes, I am glad I could remain “patient”, “professional”, and “supportive” without going insane. Part of this might be due to that this lab is on Monday, and therefore it is the first lab of the week for me.

"9.5/10 great TA, wished sometimes you could simplify some of your explanation but you are really good at TAing"

"Boris does very well in troubleshooting questions quickly, although his responses are sometimes a bit complex so they take a while to fully understand. He gives good constructive feedback which is usually very helpful in either fixing or knowing how to improve the function for the next time."

"Very well prepared and clear understanding of what he is talking about. Has a tendency to talk quite fast leaving me a little confused on what was just stated Also leaves an intimidating presence when asking questions."

In stark contrast, this lab is on Wednesday, and being the third and last lab of the week for me, I am fresh out of “patience” and “professionalism”. It is also quite interesting to see the favourable percentage over 5 different categories (well-preparedness, helpfulness, consideration of students, ease of understanding, effectiveness as an instructor) all having a minor downward trend over the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday labs.

"Boris clearly knows what he's talking about, and he did a great job of helping me find the answer on my own instead of just giving it to me."

"He was very well prepared and was always ready to answer any queries."

"Very kind and knows the material well. very helpful and leads the lab really well. great ta that really knows how to teach students who are confused or struggling."

I don’t know if this is just me reading too much into these comments, but what kind of TAs have you all been having for the other courses if “well prepared” and “knows the material well” became a merit for a TA? I always thought it was just the basic requirement.

Science One (SCIE 001)

Perhaps my favourite class, Science One students were almost always a joy to teach, and since there is a dedicated space for the students, it was much easier to interact with them.

"Boris is single–handedly the only reason why I have not failed physics this year! His enthusiasm makes me enjoy the subject, even when I am absolutely lost in the material."

You might be giving me a little bit too much credit here :)

"Boris was a very effective TA and always gave helpful feedback when contacted both during and outside of OH."

Ah, the joys of Discord. Since 95% of my spare time is spent online, I am almost always reachable, the only exception being classtime and time occupied by other obligations (such as busy TA’ing another course). I think this arrangement has increased my value as a TA by magnitudes, and makes up for some of my weaknesses when compared to Rio and Annudesh.

"I really liked your flexibility and ability to answer all questions. From going to your office hours, I was actually able to understand the music unit!"

"The explanations on the physics of music were really clear and the review sessions were super helpful."

The very first time I looked into intervals and tuning systems was when I was in grade 6. I spent hours on the Wikipedia page for the list of musical intervals, listening to the differences between a tritone and a diminished fifth, and understanding what a “limit” is in terms of tuning. I am very fortunate to be a physics TA under a professor that explicitly wants to teach something that I just so happened to read about many years ago as an aspiring musician.

"– Great TA that knows his stuff :) Though I noticed a lot of his explanations are very theoretical, and I wish he could talk a bit more on exam strategies to answer questions properly."

I almost always want to prioritize understanding over regurgitation, and hence my explanations might come off as more “theoretical” rather than immediately “exam-applicable”. However, I do believe that knowledge about a subject is completely different from skills required for exams. Good feedback, will take that for next year.

"Super helpful and good at explaining physics! Appreciated the late night OH and the super long OH before finals. Thank you so much :)"

I owe this one to Rio. When I was in Science One, Rio always held his office hours on Monday evenings, which I thought were the best time for me personally; I always had time to digest both the material I learnt and the dinner I just ate. Same goes for the long office hours before finals. I think Rio had 9 hours of office hours over the 3 days before finals, and the sheer amount of times that some topics were repeated allowed me to drill the concepts into my mind.

"Boris is very helpful and really takes the time to make sure we understand! He is also very kind and respectful and I never feel embarrassed to go to him with stupid questions/when i can't find my stupid mistakes. I've also loved just getting to talk to him because he is in the major that I am planning on doing next year, and so it's just been really nice to get to hear from someone who is doing what I will be doing next year. Thank you Boris for always being so kind and so willing to chat :)"

And of course, thank you all very much for a great year!