Student Response to Instruction
UMass Amherst SRTI, five-point scale, undergraduate and graduate sections taught as instructor of record. Each section is compared against all participating courses in the same department, drawn from several recent semesters.
| Course | Responses | Explained material clearly | Stimulated participation | Overall instructor rating | Overall course rating | Amount learned |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| COMM 121Introduction to Media & Culture Fall 2025 · Sec. 02 · First-year RAP cohort |
26 / 2893% response | 4.8COMM 4.3 | 4.9COMM 4.5 | 4.9COMM 4.2 | 4.4COMM 3.9 | 3.9COMM 3.8 |
| DACSS 601Data Science Fundamentals Summer 2025 · Sec. 01 · Graduate, fully online |
12 / 3040% response † | 4.9DACSS 4.4 | 4.8DACSS 4.2 | 4.8DACSS 4.4 | 4.5DACSS 4.0 | 4.0DACSS 3.8 |
| COMM 226Social Impact of Mass Media Spring 2025 · Sec. 02 |
13 / 2454% response | 4.8COMM 4.5 | 4.7COMM 4.6 | 4.9COMM 4.4 | 4.1COMM 4.1 | 3.8COMM 4.0 |
| DACSS 601Data Science Fundamentals Summer 2024 · Sec. 01 · Graduate, fully online |
13 / 2945% response † | 4.8DACSS 4.4 | 4.7DACSS 4.1 | 4.7DACSS 4.3 | 4.2DACSS 3.9 | 4.2DACSS 3.7 |
| DACSS 601Data Science Fundamentals Summer 2024 · Sec. 02 · Graduate, fully online |
7 / 2924% response † | 4.7DACSS 4.4 | 4.6DACSS 4.1 | 4.9DACSS 4.3 | 4.3DACSS 3.9 | 4.1DACSS 3.7 |
| COMM 260Public Speaking Spring 2023 · Sec. 03 |
8 / 2532% response † | 5.0COMM 4.4 | 5.0COMM 4.5 | 5.0COMM 4.3 | 4.8COMM 4.0 | 4.5COMM 3.7 |
| COMM 260Public Speaking Fall 2022 · Sec. 04 |
21 / 2584% response | 4.9COMM 4.4 | 4.9COMM 4.4 | 4.7COMM 4.3 | 4.6COMM 4.0 | 4.4COMM 3.7 |
Filled bar is the section mean. The vertical tick is the comparison mean reported by UMass for all participating courses in that department, pooled across several recent semesters and matched on section size. Bars span 3.0 to 5.0 rather than 0 to 5, so the differences are readable. Headline figures are means of section means, not weighted by enrollment.
† UMass flags these sections as potentially unrepresentative due to a low response rate. They are included here rather than omitted.
Full evaluation reports, including every item and all open-ended responses, are available on request. Please contact me directly for evaluation data.
Open-ended responses
Recurring themes across 81 open-ended comments from seven sections, with a representative response for each.
provided a very safe environment which encouraged class-participation
always available for additional help and questions
the modules clearly show the course structure and weekly progress
I liked how participatory the class was.
I always got through feedback on assignments which was helpful
public speaking being one of my biggest fears and now leaving feeling so much more confident
used so many real life examples that we have probably experienced
little to no interest in the subject, but professor always made it interesting
