often in the course evaluations provided below. This visualization represents my attempts to
center students’ experiences in the classroom.
Recent Course Evaluation Scores
| Fall 2021 (ENGL 10600 DIS) | Spring 2022 (ENGL 106 DIS) | Summer 2022 (ENGL 23800 DIS) | Spring 2023 (ENGL 23800) | Summer 2023 (ENGL 10600 DIS) | Spring 2024 (The Movies) | Summer 2024 (The Movies DIS) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| “The course is well organized.” | 4.8 | 4.8 | 4.9 | 4.9 | 4.8 | 5 | 4.7 |
| “The instructor communicates clearly.” | 4.9 | 4.8 | 4.8 | 4.9 | 4.8 | 5 | 5 |
| “The instructor effectively answers students’ questions.” | 4.9 | 4.8 | 4.8 | 4.9 | 4.8 | 5 | 4.5 |
| “The instructor seems to care about my learning in this course.” | 4.9 | 4.8 | 4.9 | 4.9 | 5 | 5 | 4.7 |
| “The instructor created an inclusive learning environment.” | 4.9 | 4.7 | 4.9 | 4.9 | 4.7 | 5 | 4.5 |
Student Responses
Classroom Environment
“Alex is a great teacher! You can tell she takes the time to make the class engaging and relevant for students, regardless of their major. Alex’s immense knowledge and love for the subject are undeniable. I’m appreciative of her support and grace moving through the semester. Alex, please continue to spread your kindness and love for reading with others!”
“[Alex] really cares about her students and has helped me become a way better writer.”
“[Alex] is a great professor, and I would recommend taking this class under her instruction to anyone!”
This was my favorite class this semester bar none, and Alex was by far my favorite instructor that I’ve possibly ever had.
“She found ways not only to teach about fiction in ways I’d never thought of before, but she found such wonderful books that I never would have read on my own, yet enjoyed thoroughly anyways. She created a very casual learning space, where everyone could openly and freely speak their mind, yet held all assignments and conversations to a very professional standard. I could spend hours raving about how wonderful she was, and I hope she teaches every fiction/English class that literature enthusiasts ever take.”
“Alex makes sure class is a collaborative space where discussion and sharing ideas are heavily encouraged.”
“Alex is literally amazing! I loved having her as my professor for this class. You guys should pay her more! I know so many people that have had other intro to fiction professors and have not enjoyed this class as much as I have. I genuinely read all of the novels in the class. Alex is not afraid to challenge students by asking them critical questions. The texts that Alex chose were interesting and brought social issues such as racial inequality, feminism and classism to light and challenged potential biases we may have.”
“[Alex] is understanding and wants her students to succeed.”
“Professor Anderson is absolutely amazing at making you feel welcomed and comfortable in her class.”
“This instructor is very considerate of their students. They are willing to go out of their way to make sure their students are performing well in their course and provides supplemental help if necessary. They are also very understanding of extenuating circumstances that may put additional strain on students.”
“She is always willing to help and answer every question. She makes it known that she will always be here for us and it shows how much she cares about us. She also would go out of her way to get to know us individually.”
“The individual meetings for projects were super helpful. It gave us the platform to express our opinions and thoughts without being in front of the entire class. Also, [Alex] took the time out of class to check in on us during the difficult semester. She really showed compassion for us as students and knew exactly when we needed breaks and help.”
“Alex was a wonderful instructor. I appreciated the time and effort dedicated to the class.”
“Alex is the best!!!! She is very helpful and communicates clearly. The book choices were spot on for our class, and they kept us engaged. She did a great job at including everyone and offering different activities each class. I am not typically a reader, but this class helped me realize that I do like to read. Everything we talked about in class was applicable and relatable which made it easier to engage.”
“The instructor is always so willing to help, and is always very prompt. She is very fair when grading, and genuinely wants her students to do well in this course.”
“Alex is the sweetest teacher and she made everything so fun! I liked being able to ask the class questions about the books we were reading for my Exploration Presentation, and it was interesting to participate in others’ presentations as well.”
Online Teaching
“This is the best online course I have taken at Purdue. I appreciate how organized the class calendar was and the weekly announcements/emails for reminders.”
“Alex did an amazing job keeping class entertaining and engaging even though it was all online. I’ll miss not having such a good professor next semester.”
“[Alex] provided everything needed [for students] to succeed.”
“I don’t even have words to explain how wonderful Alex was as a professor, even with having half of our classes online. She consistently displayed enthusiasm and oftentimes asked us how we’re doing as humans, which is a rare sight to behold…in a STEM major.”
“Alex Anderson is great at communicating with students and organizing work in effective ways. I find that our weekly emails and the digital calendar [were] highly effective.”
“This instructor is extremely understanding to their students, and despite this class being fully online, it was very engaging and was able to speak with peers during discussion posts. While the instructor is very understanding, they still push their students to work hard and do their best.”
“The personalized reminder emails sent by her help a lot to keep track of the upcoming
deadlines, making an asynchronous course easier to complete.”
“Although we never got to meet, thank you for a great semester! Even with this being an online course, it is evident that you care about the success of your students. I think you did a great job in having us work together and give each other feedback. You also did a great job in communicating all that is required of us with your weekly emails. They were well organized and easy to understand.”
“I always appreciate how organized Alex’s course is. I also love how willing she is to answer questions and make an online course feel like I know her and my classmates in person!”
“She was very helpful and lenient if I ever fell back or missed an assignment and always tried to keep us on track. Many instructors do not really care about the students on an individual level, but I knew that this one did. I feel like she saw me as a person.”
“She does a very good job at creating a schedule. The work is laid out in a nice pace and it is easy to remember what is due each week.”
“She is very understanding of students’ schedules and offering extensions when needed. Her course is very organized and she is one of my favorite instructors this semester.”
“I think she did an amazing job at teaching the course fully online. If you aren’t able to engage the students well enough and make sure you are precise with assignments, it’s very easy for students to get lost/confused. She was super well organized and willing to help her students through whatever problems they had. She gave me great feedback that actually benefited me in my future writing, and I would highly recommend her to other students!! :)”
“Alex gives great and detailed feedback on all assignments, she genuinely wants her students to get the most out of her class even if it’s an asynchronous class, and she pushes her students to think critically.”
“This class has been very immersive and wonderful! I have enjoyed the creative writing aspects where we can work on our understanding of terminology by flexing our writing muscles versus writing a regular boring post.”
Alex M. Anderson, PhD 