Student Evaluation of Instructor Fall Semester 2006

Andrew Young School of Policy Studies
Student Evaluation of Instructor
Course:	85175 ECON 4930 MATHEMATICAL ECONOMICS
Instructor:	Shelby D. Frost
Distribution:	Online
Enrollment:	11
Respondents:	5
Percentage:	45.5%

	5 - Strongly Agree
	1 - Strongly Disagree
	0 - N/A
		5	4	3	2	1	0	Inst	Sect	Crse	Dept	Coll	StdD
1.	The instructor followed the plan for the course as established in the syllabus.	0	3	0	0	1	0	3.3	3.3	3.3	4.2	4.3	1.5
2.	The instructor gave assignments relevant to the goals of this course.	1	1	1	0	1	0	3.3	3.3	3.3	4.1	4.2	1.7
3.	The instructor explained the course grading system clearly.	3	1	0	0	0	0	4.8	4.8	4.8	4.1	4.2	.5
4.	The instructor was willing and able to answer students' questions.	3	1	0	0	0	0	4.8	4.8	4.8	4	4.1	.5
5.	The instructor was receptive to students' and others' opinions.	2	2	0	0	0	0	4.5	4.5	4.5	3.9	4.1	.6
6.	I learned a lot in this course.	1	0	1	1	1	0	2.8	2.8	2.8	3.7	3.8	1.7
7.	The overall structuring and sequencing of topics in this course facilitated learning.	2	0	1	0	1	0	3.5	3.5	3.5	3.8	3.9	1.9
8.	Tests in this course required creative and original thinking beyond mere memorization of material.	1	1	1	0	1	0	3.3	3.3	3.3	3.9	4	1.7
9.	Test questions clearly related to course content.	2	1	1	0	0	0	4.3	4.3	4.3	4.1	4.1	1
10.	The instructor communicates effectively.	2	1	1	0	0	0	4.3	4.3	4.3	3.7	3.9	1
11.	The instructor was well prepared.	2	1	0	0	1	0	3.8	3.8	3.8	4.1	4.2	1.9
12.	The instructor demonstrated extensive knowledge of the subject.	1	2	0	0	1	0	3.5	3.5	3.5	4.2	4.3	1.7
13.	The instructor stimulated me to intellectual effort beyond that required by most courses.	1	0	2	0	1	0	3	3	3	3.7	3.8	1.6
14.	The instructor's teaching methods aid students in understanding the material.	2	1	0	0	1	0	3.8	3.8	3.8	3.7	3.8	1.9
15.	The instructor was accessible to students outside of class.	1	2	0	0	0	1	4.3	4.3	4.3	4	4.1	.6
16.	I am pleased with how much I learned in the course.	1	1	1	0	1	0	3.3	3.3	3.3	3.6	3.8	1.7
17.	I would recommend this instructor to anyone who is planning to take this course.	2	1	0	0	0	0	4.7	4.7	4.7	3.7	3.8	.6
18.	All things considered, the instructor was very effective.	2	1	0	0	1	0	3.8	3.8	3.8	3.8	3.9	1.9
19.	Generally, how many hours per week did you spend outside of class preparing for class?	Total	%
	0-2	1	25.0
	3-4	2	50.0
	4-8	1	25.0
	9-14	0	0
	15 or more	0	0
20.	What is your expected course grade?	Total	%
	A	2	50.0
	B	2	50.0
	C	0	0
	D	0	0
	F	0	0
21.	What is your grade point average at GSU?	Total	%
	3.75-4.00	1	25.0
	3.50-3.74	1	25.0
	3.00-3.49	0	0
	2.5-2.99	1	25.0
	below 2.5	1	25.0
22.	For undergraduates only, which best applies to you?	Total	%
	freshman	0	0
	sophomore	0	0
	junior	0	0
	senior	4	100.0
	other	0	0
Course strengths.
1.	Covers a lot of material concisely. To explain my answers to #6, 13, and 16 above, I am also a math majour, and little of this material was new or difficult for me. As a result, I couldn't honestly say "I learned a lot," although I imagine the vast majourity of the other students did.
Instructor strengths.
1.	Shelby has a great strength with regards to energizing the class to care about material where other professors might fail to do so. I mean, "Mathematical Economics" probably doesn't set the average heart aflutter. Additionally, she did a great job of refreshing materials that I had only seen once or twice, or had seen long ago, like Hessian matrices or linear programming techniques. I also liked the way Shelby would explain why she "liked" or "disliked" problems; it gave students an insight into the way math-minded individuals approached math (and I often "liked" the same problems). On the DEAMUN grading scale, I would give Dr. Frost a strong "A"cceptable; the course would get an standard "A"cceptable from me, in that it was mostly reviews for me, but I also expected it to be review.
Course weaknesses.
1.	The weaknesses for this course would largely be due to it being review for me. I don't think it had any glaring weakness, material-wise, it just comes off a little easy. I don't think I could build a concensus around this opinion, and again, the other students seemed to genuinely care about getting the material, which has not been a given in my classes. I really liked that. I think the text could have had more examples; maybe Larson's "Brief Calculus" would be a better text (but it has its faults as well--- perhaps a combination of the two texts). Old copies of Larson generally cost a buck or two.
Instructor weaknesses.
1.	I personally think the "money" grading system is a little more confusing than it's worth, but I guess it works for other students, and I didn't consider it to be too intrusive. I disagree with Dr. Frost about her method of implementing the final exam extra credit assignment-- it seems it would be better to assign the fake finals earlier, giving her time to review them and post what she considers relevant. She and I discussed this already.
Course suggestions for improvement.
1.	See above about "Brief Calculus." It seems that if there are ever two sections of this course, it would improved by taking math placement test results or previous math experience into account to divide the sections. This would be very un-GSU, however; I don't see it happening.
Instructor suggestions for improvement.
1.	I don't think believe that Dr. Frost had any glaring flaws as an instructor.
Comments on classroom environment (for example: temperature, audio/visual equipment, visibility, etc.).
1.	Fine, save for the tiny desks. Please put desks in that accomodate bigger people; we may be incidentally discriminating (as a society) against giants. The potential result: a race of oversized cretins who are peeved about not having a place to sit. Watch out. :)