At the end of every term, we ask students in classes with prefects to evaluate prefects and their sessions.  These evaluations are from fall term 2007.

When asked, “What did the prefect do that was particularly effective?” students responded with comments like these:

• “Ask questions of students—encouraged students to explain concepts in own words.”
• “Had classmates explain key issues in the course.”
• “Let us lead the topic.”
• “Have us all discuss the questions together and come to a consensus on what was the right answer.”
• “Didn’t tell us the answers but suggested strategies so we could get the answers ourselves.”
• “She would make us participate in the problem solving process.”
  
• “Ask us what we wanted to go over.”
• “She spent more time on what was troublesome and less time on what wasn’t.” “She drew examples for me on paper.”
• “Asked for our questions.”
• “Asked us exactly what questions we had and answered those. Also went over all of topics that could be on the exam.”
• “Summarizing the different topics on the midterm in an organized way was v. helpful.”
• “Help us understand concepts.”
• “Went through material slowly and drew on the board.”
• “Go through solutions as a class.”
• “Had us ask & answer our own questions.”
• “Going over the sheets together.”
• “Strategies for approaching problems.”
• “Lots of synthesis and repetition of important concepts.”
• “Made us work on problems first b/4 explaining.”
• “Broke down each problem into steps.”
• “Having students explain the answers.”
• “Encourage us!”
• “Lots of student participation—it’s hard to get people to volunteer, & they did a great job.”
• “Went through all the mechanisms thoroughly.”
• “Work sheets helpful, going over problems on board, snacks.”
• “Was friendly, approachable, and fun. Made the material less intimidating and made sure people understood the first idea/problem before moving on. Once piece at a time. Went slowly, never felt rushed.”
• “She was clear and concise about material.”
• “Ask us questions.”
• “Practice problems, having people come to the board.”
• “Practice problems” and “Practice exam.” (Numerous instances of these comments.)
• “They went over stuff slowly so I could understand it.”
• “Go through concepts again.”
• “Asking us comprehensive questions.”
• “Good test questions, were able to give overview of what test would be like.”
• “Diagrams! Very, very helpful.”
• “Just was very nice, helpful & supportive.”
• “Double sessions before tests.”
• “Diagramming on whiteboard.”
• “Took time to answer questions thoroughly.”
• “Went over problems…but had us solve them, not her.”
• “Made us draw graphs and explain concepts.” “Student participation.”
• “Ask us to work out problems.”
• “Had students run it.”
• “Involved students.”
• “She encouraged students to explain the material.”
• “Have students explain concepts.”
• “Explain graphs & go over problems.”
• “Just going over the problem sets was very helpful.”
• “Worksheets were very well planned out.” (There were numerous versions of this comment.)
• “Listened for class input.”
• “Made her own study/review questions for us! Good to do practice problems.”
• “Forcing students to try & work out a problem before explaining it to them.”
• “She went through everything thoroughly.”
• “Going over problems step-by-step.”
• “The visuals on the board.”
• “She made her own chem problems and went over them in depth. She also encouraged student participation.”
• “Engaged us (made us go up and write on the board, etc.).”
• “Facilitate discussion/questions. Came prepared with worksheets of example problems.”
• “She broke things down to the basics and helped us understand why what we were learning made sense. She also gave us great practice problems.”
• “She explained content thoroughly and was [receptive] to questions.”
  
• “…she really knew her stuff!”
• “Going over what we wanted.”
• “Made us work out problems on the board.”
• “He was friendly and had the answers. That’s effective.”
• “Go over q’s on problem sets.”
• “Working on individual questions.”
• “He was good at explaining Econ…”
• “He gave me guidance in choosing future economic courses.”
• “Went over the problem sets and gave similar examples to them.”
• “Talked over similar problems.”
• Talked closely w/the students.”
• “Used examples.” “Helped w/homework.”
• “A power point on Freud.”
• “Give outlines.”
• “She helped us study for exams and with the format of our paper.”
• “She employed different kinds of teaching methods.”
• “Study guides + practice quizzes.” (There were numerous instances of this remark.)
• “Made it fun.”
• “She used role-playing activities to engage us.”
• “Work sheets and humor about the Freudian stages (helped me remember).”
• “She was very friendly and accessible.”
• “Was well prepared, answered questions, uses diagrams.”
• “Study guides + sense of humor. The relaxed atmosphere was awesome.”
• “Humor, powerpoints, and practice tests. Practice texts to review before exams were particularly helpful as well as test-taking strategies…”
• “Group games/questions/practice quizzes.”
• “Had us try & answer peers’ questions & then she clarified/augmented.”
• “Had us answer other people’s questions.”
• “She asked for our input for what to review.”
• “[Facilitated] discussions among students.”
  
• “Make and go over practice tests, quizzes, etc.”
• “She had powerpoints and quizzes.”
• “Sample quiz questions & games.”
• “Let students ask questions.”

When we asked students if their prefects made the course subject matter more accessible, and, if so, how, students replied:

• “Yes, by explaining it well and building on what the professor taught.”
• “By engaging us in a dialogue about the subject matter, she helped us figure out keys to building problem solving skills.”
• “The methods from the session I went to for a problem set helped me solve other problem sets later on” and “She led the group in the right direction rather than explaining outright—a good thing.”
• “She gave certain visuals that helped me understand certain abstract concepts.”
• “It helped me a great deal—it gave me an accessible outline for my questions and a way of getting clarity on the material” and “She brought a further degree of explanation, small group help, etc. “The prefect helped me when I got stuck and had good insights.” “Yes, I took a different look at how subjects in class were explained.”
• “She taught [us?] to draw what the homework said. It’s so helpful.”
• “Definitely helped me understand the material—nice to ‘slow down’ when class moved quickly” and “Willing to meet frequently & patiently explain concepts.”
• “The study session I went to made me realize that the problems just take a lot of time and concentration to solve – I was less frustrated with the problem sets after that.”
• “Yes. She always made handouts on subjects we went over.”
• “She always made really helpful worksheets.”
• “Yes—easy to ask questions, see extra examples, good review.”
• “Yes, simplified it, broke it down.”
• “She made worksheets and put them in course folder.”
• “Yes, the prefect knows her stuff and had lots of patience.”
• “Yes because she was always reminding us she was open for one-to-one [tutoring].”
• “Yes, just by going through material a little bit more slowly, giving practice problems, and sometimes explaining things in a new way.”
• “Yes, good explanations.”
• “Yes, answered questions and had one-on-one sessions.”
• “Yes, he answered most of my questions well, and he has given me many valuable advice regarding the major.”
• “Yes, he worked at the possible confounding questions.”
• “Yes, used examples that helped.”
• “[I] was able to ask more specific Qs.”
• “He offered a different way of explaining things which was good.”
• “Available during the week for private sessions. Explained things patiently…”
• “Yes, had practice problems very relevant to class topics & very flexible in conducting sessions.”
• “Yes. She showed me the textbook website which is very useful.”
• “Somewhat—information was presented well in class, but Laura’s going over it again was useful.”
• “Powerpoints, anecdotes, in depth explanations.”
• “Yes—just discussing it as a group and going over things made it easier to understand.”
• “Yes, by bringing in outside resources.”
• “Yes→good study guides, quizzes to help prepare.”
• “Yes, she always had handouts.”
• “Yes, she brought concepts together.”
• “She was able to make fairly complex material fun and interesting to review.”
• “Sure, by explaining/classifying.”
• “Yes, by going over problems from post tests that the professor had put in the shared courses folder.”
• “Yes. Again, Jake was great.”
• “Yes, very good at explaining econ in a sensible manner.”
• “Yes--informal style was helpful.”
• “Yes—went more slowly, explained things in an order that made more sense to me.”
• “Yes, by answering simple questions and boosting confidence.”
• “Yes, he would explain it differently than the text and/or the professor.”
• “It was more a function of group study.”
• “Just having her in class lent another perspective to how it was being taught.”
• “Yes, she gave us advice on assignments.”
• “Yes, she helped me understand the meaning behind the different statistical tests I used.”
• “Yes, the prefect made the information more accessible through explaining concepts to me through email.”
• “Yes. She sent us a copy of her poster for PoliSci, and told us to look at it for things like font size.”
• “She helped explain a lot.”
• “Yes, she answered questions, emailed out sample posters, and was generally very helpful.”
• “Yes, showed me how to apply classroom lessons.”
• “Yes, by finding manuals & other lit (other than class handouts) so I could understand certain aspects of the course better.”
• “Yes—through games, practice quizzes/exams.”
• “Yes, she explained things I may have missed during class.”
• “Yes→practice tests.”
• “Yes…made problem sheets (practice tests), showed us videos, etc.”
• “Yes; there were a few concepts that were fuzzy to me and the perfect helped explain them.”
• “Yes, would more fully explain things we didn’t have time to go over in class.”
• “Yes—by repeating explanations.”
• “Definitely, by going over it more slowly and clear than we did in class.”
• “Yes. She explained it.”
• “Yes. Went over things that were glazed over in class for a better understanding.”
• “Yes. She would synthesize material for me.”