Ep. 23: What I Learned From Student Evaluations as a First-Year Professor

What did my students teach me about teaching?

This week, I’m reflecting on my first semester as a full-time professor and what I learned from finally reading my student evaluations. Can you tell the semester is fast approaching? I’m talking about why teaching really is an art, why my students wanted less lecturing and more hands-on learning, how they somehow ended up wanting *more* assignments, and I’m still committed to high expectations while meeting students where they are. And how that is NOT the same as lowering expectations (especially in an AI reality).

Chapters

00:00 — Teaser: Why I’m Tired of the “Students Just Use AI” Conversation

00:22 — Where I’m Finding Grounding

03:35 — What I Learned From My First Teaching Evaluations

08:50 — Students Don’t Want to Just Be Talked At

12:35 — They Asked for MORE Work???

18:30 — Where Students Wanted Me to Ease Up: Attendance & Hard Readings