Rutgers University Student Instructional Rating Fall 2010

 01 640 250 02   07579       Zeilberger Doron  
         ENROLL=   36       RESP=  23 (63%)     STRONGLY                    STRONGLY  # OF     MEAN    MEAN  MEAN   MEAN       
                                                DISAGREE        NEUTRAL       AGREE     NO      OF      OF    OF     OF      
PART A: UNIVERSITY-WIDE QUESTIONS:                   1      2      3      4     5   RESPONSES SECTION COURSE DEPT   LEVEL   

  1. The instructor was prepared for class and     
     presented the material in an organized manner   0      0      3      4    16       0      4.57    4.31  4.21   4.32
  2. The instructor responded effectively to       
     student comments and questions                  0      0      0      4    19       0      4.83    4.29  4.03   4.24
  3. The instructor generated interest in the      
     course material                                 0      0      2      3    18       0      4.70    3.90  3.90   3.99
  4. The instructor had a positive attitude toward 
     assisting all students in understanding       
     course material                                 0      0      1      2    20       0      4.83    4.31  4.20   4.33
  5. The instructor assigned grades fairly           1      0      5      7    10       0      4.09    4.05  4.08   4.14
  6. The instructional methods encouraged student  
     learning                                        1      1      0      5    16       0      4.48    3.93  3.77   3.96
  7. I learned a great deal in this course           1      1      0      6    14       1      4.41    3.97  3.74   4.08
  8. I had a strong prior interest in the subject  
     matter and wanted to take this course           1      0      8      4     9       1      3.91    3.66  3.33   3.86
  9. I rate the teaching effectiveness of the      
     instructor as                                   0      1      1      5    16       0      4.57    3.97  3.81   3.99
 10. I rate the overall quality of the course as     0      1      2      8    12       0      4.35    3.92  3.71   3.95

What do you like best about this course?:

The professor was highly involving with use of student participation in lecture and gave great feedback through regularized quizzes through grades and solutions.

professor zeilberger was always available for extra help and i really appreciated his extra tutoring sessions. great review problems for the exam

Dr.Zeilberger is an excellent professor who encourages one to learn.

The professor is light hearted, funny, and very lively durring his professor. Not only is he hard not to pay attention to and even be entertained by at times, but he also learned everyones names and strongly pushes class participation calling each student. The work requirement was consistant with quizes on the same day each week. And his attendance quizes force a mental summery of the days lecture.

Dr. Z was very nice, but his teaching was very non-linear. He got some important points across, but I realized after watching MIT's free open course-ware videos that I had missed certain things. So unfortunately, the best thing I liked about this course was this... http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/mathematics/18-06-linear-algebra-spring-2010/video-lectures/

How the review sheets really focused on the material on the exams. They were very helpful.

Dr. Z is very passionate about linear algebra and math in general. His classes are fun to attend and he is good at motivating people to do well.

the professor

Dr Z's attitude toward the subject and his students

lots of examples, notes were clear and concise

Dr. Z is the most awesome professor I have known. He makes the course a more interesting and enjoyable environment to learn.

Dr. Z

The material covered in Linear Algebra will be extremely useful in many areas from business to medicine to quantum mechanics. I like the fact that it is the stepping stone for other, greater things.

entertaining

I thought the professor was more interesting than the class itself.

If you were teaching this course, what would you do differently?:

It's my personal opinion that attendance is never mandatory in a college class, but I have never regretted a professor who does not allow the stupid choice.

Nothing it's a great course with a great professor.

I don't think I could do much different. If I ever teach a course I want to teach it just like he does.

Provide more pictures and a more holistic view of what linear algebra is about: the 4 fundamental subspaces.

Make my notes on the board a little neater and organized. I would also make the proof and true/false questions worth less points on the exam. They can really hurt a students grade.

Take out the theoretical problems on the exams.

I'd be more organized and make an A a 90 and above

None, prefect the way it is.

less quizzes. grade fairly

Less proofs

I would not do anything differently. In fact, everyday I find myself trying to adopt the mindset of Dr. Zeilberger. He is truly a genius and knows how to not only generate interest in the class material, but to keep it from fading and to actually allow for complete understanding.

In what ways, if any, has this course or the instructor encouraged your intellectual growth and progress?:

made me enjoy math

Makes me want to be a better mathematician.

He pushed the students who did poorly on the first exam to do additional work and improve their grades in exchange for him dropping their first test grade. He encouraged the students who did well on the first test to tutor other students. And the most improved tutored combination won a box of chocolate. And every time a student corrects the professor he gives them a penny.

The professor often provided fun anecdotes to problem solving.

I learned a lot in this course and will continue math courses and Dr. Z had a big influence on this.

Make me want to learn more about linear algebra.

Very motivated and excited to teach, made me feel excited to learn.

Dr. Zeilberger is an amazing person, and to say that he is a great teacher would be an understatement. He is very passionate about whatever he is talking about whether it is course material, anecdotes, stories about life, and applications of the course material. He is also very widely known for his research in combinatorics, specifically Alternating Sign Matrices. More professors should be like Dr. Zeilberger.

Other comments or suggestions::

This is the single best math professor I've ever had. If I could, I would take him for every math class again until I graduate.

Keep being funny and enthusiastic! i always enjoy going to this class!

Awesome class :D

Dr. Zeilberger is a genius. He made the course material extremely easy to understand when in fact the book or other professors can make it more complicated than it needs to be. All the while, he did not simplify the material to such an extent that we would be unable to solve problems outside of class or apply it to special-case scenarios. I can truly say with confidence to anyone asking me about Linear Algebra after this course is over that I know what constitutes it, and I am also able to explain the concepts to someone who may not understand. I wish Dr. Zeilberger would teach more upper-level electives.

i don't like how you check notebooks.

Easily the best professor I've had at Rutgers so far.