Although teaching evaluations are known to be flawed, I feel that there is some insight that can be gained from it. Given I pride myself on how I approach teaching, I think it is only fair to share the students perspective on my practices.
Quick directs on this page
- ENGR320 Winter 2023 Statistics (Tutorials and a Laboratory)
- ENGR458/558 Winter 2023 Stastics (Marker)
- ENGR320 Winter 2022 Statistics (Tutorials and Laboratories)
ENGR320 Winter 2023 Statistics
The tutorial was designed to be more of a lecture format where the TA would stand at the front of the class and solve one or two problems per tutorial session. I used this time to not only solve the pre-described problems, but also have a mini-lecture format covering all of the content the students will need to solve problems of the nature. I would often also explain operating principles, and the logic behind equivalent circuits which we would analyze. Each tutorial would be ~20 minutes of this introduction, followed by solving the required problem. To make the problem solving as useful as possible to students, I made sure to move slow and explain each step in detail. I would often prod the students with questions pertaining to the problem to allow for active participation in the problem solving.
Below are some of the statistics collected from the teaching evaluation, by my estimation ~12% of students responded to the survey. There was no reward or additional incentive to fill the teaching evaluation.
Below are some comments made by students at the bottom of the evaluation survey, this was an optional section for students to fill. There were no negative comments pertaining to my teaching. Please refer to the full teaching review below for the full list of comments.
Jared understands why certain topics can be confusing and does an amazing job explaining them in different ways to help us understand. He makes it clear what concepts are important and presents them in ways that are easier to grasp compared to the content in lectures He goes out of his way to help students, staying late after labs and tutorials to answer questions and cover important content. He just genuinely cares, it doesn’t seem to matter whether it’s paid time for him or not, he wants every student to succeed
Jared is one of the best TAs ever. He custom makes every tutorial to review the concepts in class and makes sure everyone is in the loop before doing a practice problem. When going through the problems, he involves the class to make sure people are following along.
It was clear that Jared was passionate about the content and really took time to make the tutorials comprehensive and engaging. Concepts were presented very clearly, and it was always easy to learn during each tutorial.
Jared really explained concepts in a way that I understood how the motors sync machines, or generators… worked. The summary he gave was really great before doing the question, a really good teacher. He was also helpful in explaining motor design and patience. Would be a great prof
Jared is the best TA I have had at ubco by far. He goes above and beyond and even makes his own notes. Other TA’s should be required to attend one of his tutorials to know how to properly help students
Jared is always prepared for tutorials with a review of material that is very helpful for understanding the material associated with the tutorial questions. He encourages questions and works with students to reach the correct answer. Best TA I have ever had and made this tutorial incredibly helpful and worth attending.
Amazing TA! He was super helpful in answering questions and explaining concepts in tutorials.
For full transparency, the full teaching evaluations for my tutorials can be downloaded below.
2023W ENGR320 Tutorial Evaluations (PDF download link).
I additionally was the TA for a single lab section with 8 students. The feedback results are extremely positive, however, the sample size is too low for me to reasonably include. Nonetheless, the results can be downloaded and viewed below.
2023W ENGR320 Laboratory Evaluations (PDF download link).
ENGR458/558 Winter 2023 Statistics
ENGR458/558 - Power Electronics is a class focusing on the basics of DC-DC power electronic converters. I was the marker and did not lead tutorials or labs, however, I did interact with students to mainly answer questions and help with marking issues. Teaching evaluations of a marker are not valuable so they are kept brief.
Below are some of the statistics collected from the teaching evaluation, 19% of students responded to the survey. There was no reward or additional incentive to fill the teaching evaluation.
For full transparency, the full teaching evaluations can be downloaded below.
2023W ENGR458/558 Evaluations (PDF download link).
ENGR320 Winter 2022 Statistics
ENGR320 - Electromechanical Systems is a class focused on electrical systems that integrate with mechanical systems. This includes three phase systems, transformers, DC motors, synchronous motors, and induction motors. During this term I led four lab sections and three tutorial sections.
ENGR320 Tutorial Evaluations
Below are some of the statistics collected from the teaching evaluation, by my estimation ~23% of students responded to the survey. There was no reward or additional incentive to fill the teaching evaluation.
Below are some comments made by students at the bottom of the evaluation survey, this was an optional section for students to fill. While I would like to be thorough, there are too many comments to list below; please refer to the full teaching review below for the full list of comments.
Jared showed great interest in supporting student learning. His tutorials were very helpful in understanding course concepts. Jared was the best TA we had all semester.
Jared was very helpful with all of the course content and answered almost every question clearly and effectively. He marked very fairly and was also very understanding towards students. I can honestly say I’ve never had a better TA.
There are no words to describe the amount of help and support I have received from Jared. I would strongly say that he is the best TA that I have ever had the pleasure of being taught under. What ever he wants to do with his career I know he will be successful. I normally don’t write evaluations but I feel compelled to tell you how great this man is.
Jared was great, well prepared and thorough always more then willing to help everyone.
Jared was great at teaching the content for this course. Going to the tutorials was very useful as I learned a lot from him. He helped explain concepts by breaking them down and giving examples. Whenever there was a question being asked, he knew how to answer the question with a clear and understandable answer. I would say his teaching is on par with the prof. I feel like I learned more from him than the prof. He was good at being the TA for this course. His enthusiasm and appreciation definitely helped with the course.
Very prepared. Put in lots of time to teach concepts clearly. Best TA I have had so far in engineering
Jared has been one if not the best TA I have had. He taught the material in tutorials with expert levels of understanding, highlighting key concepts and giving thorough descriptions of tutorial questions. He answered any questions or concerns relating to the questions or concepts with great explanations. He came to classes with his own notes clearly displaying and explaining difficult concepts and provided us access to them to use for studying. Overall Jared was and excellent TA and I hope I get the opportunity to see Jared in future classes.
Jared is amazing, I personally think he is better than any prof or TA I have ever had. He prepared his own little cheat sheets with equations for us to view and study. He broke everything down into simple terms so we could understand and he answered all of my questions
Very involved with his students, always does his best to ensure those that attend the tutorial are best prepared for their exams. He has said he wants to work to become a professor and he absolutely should.
Jared is easily the best TA I’ve had my entire undergrad. Encouraged tutorial participation. His notes on course material before he starts solving problems is actually helpful and improved my understanding. Explained why he was solving a question the way he was. Very often gave us study tips and tricks and told us how he liked to remember/think about high level concepts. These were the most valuable tricks. Always encouraged us to email him with questions. He quite often mentioned how, when he was reviewing material in preparation of a tutorial, he found AB and C confusing and then explained these concepts in a way we could easily understand. Everytime he found something confusing in prep and spent an extra couple of minutes explaining it in class, it was a topic I ended up getting confused about when studying the course material and being able to refer back to his notes and what he said helped me understand those concepts. Without his explanation I would have spent so much more time trying to figure stuff out. 10/10. I wish he could TA all of my courses.
Jared is very approachable and makes tutorials engaging. He encourages students to ask questions and provides clarification where needed. He also brings some humor to class which is really appreciated.
The best TA I have had. I really liked how he would do a little introduction for each section and made it so I wasn’t just going through the lectures slides again the tutorial. That it was another place outisde of lecture that I could understand the concepts better. Also I liked how he explained things very clear and easy to understand. I could always ask questions and I learned a lot in his tutorials. Overall was super nice and helpful and I really appreciated all the work he put into each session.
Thank you to the students for all of the kind words, it warms my heart. For full transparency, the full teaching evaluations can be downloaded below.
2022W ENGR320 T2A Evaluations (PDF download link).
2022W ENGR320 T2B Evaluations (PDF download link).
2022W ENGR320 T2C Evaluations (PDF download link).
ENGR320 Lab Evaluations
The labs involved a quick introduction then supervising the students performing the lab tasks.
Below are some of the statistics collected from the teaching evaluation. There was no reward or additional incentive to fill the teaching evaluation.
Below are some comments made by students at the bottom of the evaluation survey, this was an optional section for students to fill.
As a mech student with very little interest in electrical content, I can say that Jarred made this course a much better experience than I anticipated it to be. He showed genuine interest in both the course itself, as well as the students taking it. 10/10 TA, would make for a great 320 professor some day
Jared was very helpful throughout the labs and helped explain certain parts of the lab if help was needed. Also, he sometimes didn’t answer the question directly in order to make us think for ourselves to help try and understand the purpose of what we were trying to accomplish.
The instructor clear explained the material and answered questions with thorough description. I believe the instructor did a great job.
“… literally the best TA ever. He is the TA by which all others are measured.”
For full transparency, the full teaching evaluations can be downloaded below.
2022W ENGR320 L2C Evaluations (PDF download link).
2022W ENGR320 L2D Evaluations (PDF download link).