MU Chemistry 2050 - Introduction to Organic Chemistry - Fall Semester 2011

CONSUMER INFORMATION, SB 389, QUESTIONS
1. The course content, including the lectures, syllabus, grading standards, and student responsibilities, was presented clearly.
2. The instructor was interested in student learning.
3. Considering both the possibilities and limitations of the subject matter and the course (including class size and facilities), the instructor taught effectively.

QUESTIONS
1. List the strong and weak features of the lecturer and include suggestions for improvement.
2. Compare the lecturer to other you have had (especially with those in science courses at this level.
3. List the strong and weak features of the overall course (not the lecturer) and include suggestions on how its quality might be improved.
4. Compare the course with the others you have taken.
5. Your overall rating of the course (circle letter grade). A B C D E
6. My approximate GPA prior to the current semester was ____.

Student #1
1. Strong- makes subject matter interesting (gives molecules personality). Weak- moves a little too fast, (doesn't always re-emphasize important material).
2. Is very excited to teach students, but moves quickly and doesn't always clarify complicated.
3. Good important ideas emphasized about Organic Chem., good organization in regards to difficulty and functionality, but more application to careers could be implemented/emphasized.
4. Demands a lot of time and doesn't always practical [sic], but interesting concepts preserved.
5. B
6. 3.2

Student #2
1. Really enthusiastic always tried to help us undersand the subject, sometimes went out of his way to help us learn better like extra review sessions
2. Very Good!! One of the best!!
3. There was a lot to learn
4. Okay
5. A
6. ~3.48ish

Student #3
1. Slow down- make two semesters. Too much detailed info to absorb. It is an intro class.
2. Knowledgeable, good natured, very extreme expectations
3. Too much information to digest with other commitments (classes)
4. Not hard material, just too much
5. D
6. 3.00

Student #4
1. Really enthusiastic. Not always easy to follow where he is going with what hi [sic] is lecturing.
2. Liked his enthusiasm for materials compared to others.
3. Don't like the written tests.
4. Harder than many other classes
5.
6. 3.07

Student #5
1. The lecturer is very enthusiastic, but has trouble explaining some subjects in a way that is easy to follow.
2. I like this lecturer a lot. He has a great personality and genuinely loves his subject. He is one of my favorite chemistry teachers.
3. There was too much material covered for one semester, Also, the tests were rather difficult. Possibly include more multiple choice. Also, maybe include more visuals, maybe videos.
4. This class was very challenging; it was the hardest class I've taken yet.
5. B
6. 3.6

Student #6
1. Strong: knowledge and elaboration of organic Chemistry. Weak: Sometimes difficult to follow, but still has effective answers. When asking questions don't be afraid to look students in the eye to obtain a quicker response.
2. The best I have had yet.
3. Twas a strong course
4. The most fun I have had with chemistry.
5. B
6. 3.5

Student #7
1. Strong: concern for student success; excellent practice tests, helpful review sessions, fair exams.
2. My other professors in chemistry did not care if students succeeded or not; they had difficult unfair exams and very few review sessions, their lectures were also very hard to follow
3. Less content would be helpful. It was not possible to complete all 15 or 16 chapters of the book.
4. It was excellent! I felt like I actually learned something useful.
5. A
6. 3.88

Student #8
1. Extended time if needed or gave make-up when students didn't learn enough
2. Great and happy
3. Does not allow enough time for the material needed to be known
4. Difficult
5. A
6. 4.0

Student #9
1. More examples would be helpful because the same examples were in the book/notes/practice test and then on the test it was stuff we hadn't seen before.
2. Read almost completely off PowerPoint and then when the test average was low, blamed us for not studying.
3. Maybe more practice problems would help.
4.
5. C
6. 4.0

Student #10
1. Strong: he kept my interest and was passionate about the subject. Weak: little practice with learned equations and little clarity on what to expect on exams.
2. I wish he provided time for practicing variations of synthesizes we learned rather than showing it to us and wanting us to simply memorize it.
3. Weekly review sessions 1-2x a week would have helped. We had those only before exams with not enough time to cover all necessary material.
4. I learned a ton and dedicated myself more to this class than I have for others.
5. B
6. 3.67

Student #11
1. Strong: very good at explaining the mechanisms. Weak: sometimes hard to understand because of accent.
2. Good compared to other science lecturers.
3. Strong: well organized. Weak: Tests-hard
4. Good
5. B
6. 3.53

Student #12
1. Slow down-too much material is covered with out clear explanation.
2. Too much material; too little time
3. Very interesting but because of too much material I am not able to fully understand and take great advantage of material.
4. Very difficult
5. D
6. 3.4

Student #13
1. Strong: enthusiastic. Weak: tries to cover too much in a short amount of time; doesn't make expectations for tests clear.
2. He was as knowledgeable and more enthusiastic, but didn't care as much about student learning.
3.
4.
5. C
6.

Student #14
1. Strong: got me very interested. Also loved how he did the powerpoints and went along with the book at the same time. It was very helpful when studying. Also review sessions were really good. Suggestions: maybe use the bored in lecture sometimes to help explain, kind of like he did in the review sessions.
2. Very good! One of my favorites.
3. Good course, liked the topics and the flow. DNA stuff is really cool.
4. Good
5. A
6. 3.7

Student #15
1. Strong: enthusiasm, wants us to understand not just memorize. Weak: has some difficulty explaining, could use more models in class or demonstrate on board.
2. Much better at working with students to help as many succeed as possible; not out to fail people.
3. There could be more practice of reactions in class to show is how things happen, not just talking about it.
4. Requirements and expectations very clear.
5. A
6. 2.9

Student #16
1. Strong: enthusiastic. Weak; explanations that are simply understood demonstrations lacking. 2. Lecturer showed general interest in students success and always available to help. 3. Strong: information covered. Weak: lab relation 4. Much more enjoyable than chem. 1302. 5. A 6. 3.99 Student #17
1. Clear presentation of material, but a powerpoint is not substitution for drawing mechanisms out.
2. Great knowledge, but unreal expectations of time spent out of class.
3.
4.
5. C
6. 4.0

Student #18
1. Very willing to help, took time out to conduct 2 review sessions before each test.
2. Chem dept seems very willing to spend extra time to help student understanding.
3. I really wish he would have given out weekly worksheets to go with lectures. It would help students keep up.
4.
5. A
6. 3.2

Student #19
1. Strong: he is very willing to spend extra time outside of the classroom to help us understand. Weak: in lecture there could be more examples geared to the types of questions we will see on tests.
2.
3. Strong: the lab section helps your grade. Weak: it is very difficult course even if you try extremely hard.
4. Much harder
5. C
6. 3.9

Student #20
1. Slides were confusing sometimes. Need more reaction examples that we would see in tests. Too much focus on the theoretical stuff.
2. Not as great. Needs more examples to practice with fore test.
3. Needs a recitation day to work problems we might see on test.
4.
5. C
6.

Student #21
1. Great instructor. Obvious enthusiasm and care for subject and student learning. Reviews very helpful. Suggestion: solutions manual for class. (answers to book problems is extremely helpful)
2. This review was more helpful
3.
4.
5. A
6. 3.7

Student #22
1. Strong: very enthusiastic, caring and helpful
2. Very good in comparison
3. It is a lot to throw at students. It needs to be better organized and broken down.
4. Much more challenging
5. B
6. 4.00

Student #23
1.
2. Very enthusiastic and a great guy. I really liked the way he taught.
3. LOVED the review sessions, maybe 1x a week would make it better
4. Challenging
5. A
6. 3.28

Student #24
1. The lecturer is very enthusiastic, but the lectureswere not completely easy to follow
2. The lectures weren't as organized as Tanner's in Chem II
3. There was not adequate time to learn the material in the last unit and to be tested on it.
4.
5. B
6. 2.7

Student #25
1. Strong: lecturer was very interested in student learning and wanted criticism of exams. I found his lectures very interesting, although subject matter was very difficult. The review sessions were MOST helpful and it was nice that he took time out of his schedule to hold these sessions.
2. Probably the best! He was great and cared about students and added humor into his lecture!
3. We covered A LOT of material and it was difficult. Took a lot of time but was not impossible.
4. One of the hardest and most time consuming.
5. B
6. 3.0

Student #26
1. Strong points were that he has a profound knowledge of the topics and was very willing to help students learn and understand. Weak points were that it was hard to view Relations, may draw them out.
2. Very good
3. Labs sometimes were too long for time allotted
4. Ok
5. B
6. 2.8

Student #27
1. Strong: very enthused about the material. Weak: the tests were too hard and too long - it was hard to finish on time.
2. He was just as enthusiastic but the tests were too hard.
3. Very hard course
4. Very hard
5. B
6. 3.4

Student #28
1. He was very knowledgeable and knew all of the material well. I had trouble following this course. Some suggestions I have include making all exams like the make-up exams or giving us a list of items needed to be known for the exam. I think this could boost students' confidence and therefore boost the grades.
2.
3. The lab definitely saved my grade in this course and I was glad to have the extra points.
4. This course included challenging content that needed a lot of outside class time.
5. C
6. 3.89

Student #29
1. Strong: does hold practice reviews outside of class, does provide practice exams/answers to help. Weak: tests were way beyond scope for beginning organic class (ask the TAs) too much material too quickly.
2. Most have more reasonable exams. Most also hold review sessions.
3. Too much crammed into 1 semester.
4. Did not enjoy
5. D
6. 3.75

Student #30
1. He didn't answer questions, didn't show steps, he didn't teach clearly or where students understood. His tests were impossible.
2. He did't explain the steps for reactions/problems nor did he answer questions.
3.
4. It sucked
5. D
6. 3.6

Student #31
1. There was a lot of material covered per test so things were very fast paced which would be confusing.
2. Seemed very knowledgeable of subject matter.
3. This didn't seem like an introduction course a lot of prior organic knowledge was needed.
4. Difficult
5. B
6. 3.2

Student #32
1. Test very confusing, unfair, and too long. Professor assumed we knew much more and did not teach well. Review sessions did not help because he made students feel uncomfortable.
2. Did not teach as well as previous professors.
3. Weak features: test. Strong: Labs
4. One of the hardest yet because was not taught well.
5. E
6. 3.0

Student #33
1. Was very enthusiastic and really tried to help us learn. Study sessions were pretty nice.
2. For the course material he taught very well. It is just hard to understand for me.
3.
4.
5. C
6. 3.5

Student #34
1.
2.
3.
4. Very bad
5. D
6.

Student #35
1. The strong points were the reviews. Weak points were lectures. He did much better when teaching with examples in the reviewer.
2. Good
3. Weak: lectures boring/confusing. Strong: labs were good. Good reviews
4. Alright
5. B
6. 3.2

Student #36
1. Very enthusiastic
2.
3. Very difficult
4. Very difficult
5. C
6. 3.7

Student #37
1. Explain things slower. Hard to follow sometimes
2. He is a good teacher just hard to follow sometimes
3. Wish he wrote out examples of problems and didn't just have them on a powerpoint.
4. Good quality overall.
5. B
6. 3.2

Student #38
1. Strong: he was truly interested in student learning and gave time for reviews. Weak: his lecture was not taught as effectively as reviews.
2.
3.
4.
5. B
6. 3.94

Student #39
1. He's too smart; the subject matter is really hard.
2. Nicer, but smarter, can't really dumb things down
3.
4. Hard
5. B

6. 3.2 Student #40
1. It was harder to understand some processes because we didn't spend a lot of time on them.
2. Good teacher, better than chem. 1320 teachers
3.
4.
5. B
6. 3.5

Student #41
1. Very enthusiastic and helpful. It's a difficult subject and he always tried to help us however he could.
2. He's much more accommodating and helpful. Very interested in student learning
3.
4.
5. A
6. 3.7

Student #42
1. Strong features include knowledge of subject matter, but could not effectively explain it.
2. Average compared to others.
3.
4. Very difficult compared with others, was expected though.
5. C
6. 2.8

Student #43
1.
2.
3. Course was great except for Lab- - always seemed chaotic. It was not clear and prepared before labs, and handouts for each lan not always clear.
4.
5.
6.

Student #44
1. Was enthusiastic and would help people if they had troubles
2. Much more interesting and motivating to learn from
3. More consistency with lab grades!!! Rather than one TA always give 25 and another give 20s
4. Really good/informative
5. A
6. 3.21

Student #45
1. Strong: enthusiastic and prepared for classes and tried to make class understand. Weak; hard to follow.
2. Similar to other science classes I have taken.
3.
4.
5. C
6. 3.2

Student #46
1. Add more examples in lecture when explaining reactions, etc.. The practice tests help a lot!
2. Very interested in student learning and was willing to mold class to students' abilities.
3. Better organization of lectures.
4. Fair
5. B
6. 3.7

Student #47
1. Sometimes he should present concepts a little simpler or dumb it down a little.
2. His lectures were pretty good.
3.
4. It's hard - a lot to memorize
5. B
6. 3.5

Student #48
1. Knows a lot of info. Stick to the subject we need to know, real world stuff is neat but don't spend 5 minutes on it.
2. Tests were too long
3.
4.
5. C
6. 3.67

Student #49
1. Lecture= Difficult to follow, have actual words on your slides- points you think are important. Don't just say things!
2. Worst by far, I taught myself everything out of the books.
3. It's fine, book is very helpful.
4. Hardest class I've ever benn [sic] in, roughly.
5. B
6. 3.75

Student #50
1. Strong: very organized, genuinely cares about how well we do 2. He's actually focused on teaching and not just on his research. Smart, nice guy.
3. It's a hefty course but I don’t see how it would be made easier. Maybe provide to us the pre-labs so we don't have to waste time doing it ourselves. It's never proven to be useful.
4. One of the hardest.
5. A
6. 3.5

Student #51
1. I feel like we need more examples. Tell us useful homework that would help us study, we have 1 in class then the practice then the test.
2.
3.
4.
5. B
6. 3.00

Student #52
1.Really good at explaining and smart. Just wished we worked problems on the chalkboard more.
2.
3.
4.
5. A
6. 3.3

Student #53
1. Excited about Chem as a whole but needs to make lectures more student understanding relate more to what he wants us to take from the class lecture and exams not always coinciding.
2. Average on other scales
3. Add assignments ?lab/lec. Separate
4. Average
5. C
6. 2.7

Student #54
1. Strength: really cared about student learning. Weakness: tests were very difficult and included topics or molecules sometimes not discussed in class
2. Much more difficult
3. Very difficult course; a lot of material to get through; very rushed.
4. More difficult
5. C
6. 3.75
Student #55
1. Couldn't understand him; he expected too much
2. Not good. Others explained better
3. Didn't explain stuff and acted like everything was our faults.
4. Glad to be done with it.
5. C
6. 3.5

Student #56
1. Weak; talks fast, accent sometimes is hard to understand. Need to work problems in class instead of only lecturing.
2.
3.
4.
5. B
6. 3.59

Student #57
1. Strong-helps in any way he can. Weak-some lectures are confusing.
2. Strong knowledge of the subject and really wants us to learn.
3. Weak-very difficult
4. B
5. 3.85

Student #58
1. Add more explanation about important concepts. Tests were helpful in learning process.
2. Needs to explain concepts more
3.
4. Decent
5. B
6. 3.5

Student #59
1. Very interested in material and taught in good order. Needs to explain/draw more in class like in the reviews
2. Much better explanations and easier to follow
3. A lot of info. Very fast. Interesting
4.
5. B
6. 3.0

Student #60
1.
2.
3.
4.
5. E
6. 3.8

Student #61
1. Give more examples so that problems on the test are something we've seen before, blamed us for poor grades on tests when over 50% of the class got less than 50%.
2. Reads mainly off of the power points
3.
4.
5. B
6. 3.83

Student #62
1. Strong: knew what he was talking about, review sessions were very helpful. Weak: manage time a little better, don't spend so much time on less important material.
2. Best chem. Professor I have had thus far!
3. Course was difficult, but once I put in a lot of work and practice it became really easy and kind of fun!
4.
5. A
6. 3.5

Student #63
1. Has very high knowledge of subject matter. Tests could be easier to improve class average.
2. Far superior
3.
4. Much better
5. A
6.

Student #64
1. He needs to teach basics instead of assume we already know them.
2. I felt this class took a lot of teaching myself material instead of him teaching it.
3.
4. Hardest class
5. C
6. 3.825

Student #65
1. Strong: explanations subject matter. Weak: his pronunciation of words.
2. Best
3. Strong: visuals
4. Best
5. A
6. 3.319

Student #66
1. It was easier to learn the material/it made more sense in the review sessions before tests.
2. Good teacher, better than others that I have had.
3.
4.
5. A
6. 3.28

Student #67
1. Some subjects are discussed very quickly it is hard to keep up with you sometimes. Maybe focus on less things and spend more time on those.
2. Much easier to follow. Material presented were relevant. Great job
3. Too much information. Focus more on things we will need for biochem
4. Good-hard but enjoyable
5. A
6. 3.8

Student #68
1. Very enthusiastic and interesting, wanted students to succeed
2. Compared to my physics 2750/2760 teachers, he is much better. I was awake and learning for most subjects presented.
3. Overall pretty good, wish we could spend more time on sugars and lipids.
4. Much better than all of my Physics and Chem classes
5. A
6. 3.98

Student #69
1. Strong: attempted class involvement. Weak: perceived level of knowledge of class was too high, assumed we knew a lot.
2.
3. NEED more guided practice. Post suggested practice problems on Blackboard then post answers.
4.
5. C
6. 3.65

Student #70
1. Everything was semi straight forward. If you were lost you were left behind.
2. He was awesome!
3. Don't move on so quick, stay behind day or week of exams.
4.
5. D
6. 2.9

Student #71
1. He didn't show us how to go from point A to point B. he didn't explain topics clearly. He was enthusiastic about the subject.
2. Has great enthusiasm but did not show concepts, only told.
3. Don't use power point. Make concepts on test match concepts emphasized in class.
4. Teaching inclear, topics not explained clearly.
5. C
6. 4.0

Student #72
1. Lectures were hard to understand. Slow down the rate of presentation and don't present something the day before the exam and expect us to know it.
2. He was one of the hardest teachers to learn info from.
3. Slow down rate of info.
4. Very difficult
5. C
6. 3.43

Student #73
1. Good at flowing through topics. Sometimes couldn't understand our questions.
2. He was nice and approachable but did not give great explanations.
3. Too hard, we couldn't fully learn the amount of information.
4. Awful
5. D
6. 3.3

Student #74
1. He was really interested in organic chemistry which made it easier to follow the lectures.
2. He is mediocre when it comes to overall science teachers. I've had better, I've had worse.
3. The course has a lot of information, which made it difficult at times.
4. Fairly graded and interesting.
5. A
6. 3.5

Student #75
1. Strong: knew knowledge well. Weak: not a great teacher of
2. About same
3. None
4. Good
5. B
6. 3.41

Student #76
1. Better notes and more time between tests
2. Not great but I did learn a lot from him.
3. The course jumps around and you combine orgo 1 and 2 into 1 class
4. It was one of the hardest I've taken
5. D
6. 3.2

Student #77
1. Clear, but sometimes hard to follow
2.
3.
4.
5. B
6. 3.2

Student #78
1. Goes off topic a lot. Knows information
2. Harder
3. Tests should be multiple choice
4. Harder
5. E
6. 2.56

Student #79
1. He was quite descriptive and informative.
2. Best one so far!
3. It was a rather fun and challenging course.
4. I've learned the most in this course.
5. A
6. 3.05

Student #80
1. Good enthusiasm. Hard to follow sometimes
2. One of the better ones
3. Well balanced
4. About the same
5. B
6. 3.3

Student #81
1. Make sure everybody understand the basics of the topic before you g on to more complicated things
2. Didn't clarify things as much, but clearly knows the subject
3.
4.
5. D
6. 3.3

Student #82
1. Weak: some words tough to understand. Strong: very energetic and entertaining.
2. He was more energetic
3. Strong: make tough topics manageable to learn. Weak: cram so much into one semester.
4. Better course
5. A
6. 3.56

Student #83
1. Strong: very knowledgeable about the subject.
2. He is better than other ones
3. Strong: very interesting. Weak: almost too short of time to go over this caliber of material.
4. Awesome
5. B
6. 3.5

Student #84
1. Slow down the pace of the course. Make submitting the practice exams worth points.
2.
3.
4.
5. C
6.

Student #85
1. Did a good job of knowing when the students needed more time on a certain topic. Tests needed to be at a better level for this class. Often extremely too difficult.
2. Very helpful
3. Better tests
4.
5. B
6. 3.4

Student #86
1. Very kinds, does his best to help his students. Very enthusiastic and passionate about his subject.
2. A lot of information but it was taught well.
3. Weak: SO much information.
4.
5. B
6. 3.81

Student #87
1. Enthusiastic about it. So more physical examples not just powerpoints
2. Great
3. Lab and class don't overlap much
4. Not bad
5. B
6. 3.4

Student #88
1. Clearly needs to change something- average grades were quite low
2. How was fine
3. Strong: good lab section. Weak: difficult and confusing.
4. It was fine
5. B
6. 3.0

Student #89
1. Very enthusiastic. At times hard to follow
2. Much better than Chem. I and Chem. II lectures.
3.
4.
5. B
6. 3.3

Student #90
1.
2.
3.
4.
5. A
6. 3.93

Student #91
1. Great powerpoints but needs more example questions.
2. Better
3. Good powerpoints
4. Better
5. B
6. 3.0

Student #92
1. No huge weak features. Very challenging yet makes class interesting.
2. Tougher, but more interesting.
3. Very hard course. Very different.
4. Definitely hardest class thus far.
5. B
6. 3.778

Student #93
1. Sometimes hard to follow: Simpler language.
2. Overall Good.
3.
4.
5. B
6. 3.4

Student #94
1. He was very interested in the content matter and was extremely knowledgeable.
2. Love him!
3. Course as a whole was affectively taught
4. I enjoyed this course very very much (potentially thinking about changing my major!).
5. A
6. 3.98