The following were provided anonymously from 70 undergraduate students in Econ. 200: Basic Economic Issues from Pre-Session 2000 (pre-session runs for 3 weeks, meeting 5 days a week for 3 hours, and counts for semster credit):

Question: What is your overall rating of this instructor's teaching effectiveness?

Scale: 5=almost always effective, 4 = usually effective,...,1= almost never effective

Mean Rating: 4.83

Question: What has the instructor done especially well in this course section?

"Overall, Mary is the best teacher I have ever had.  Period."

"She explains everything very well and seems very interested in helping her students succeed."

"Mary Rigdon is an EXCELLENT teacher."

"She was incredibly organized everyday and she had lots of examples and activities planned to help with the duration of the course.  She had excellent reviews, and I feel she has prepared me very well in this subject."

"She explains the material well and makes the 3 hours of presession fly by."

"Great job making difficult material palatable.  Exams were hard but fair.  Labs helped break up the material well."

"Mary has made things very clear when teaching concepts.  She is also good at relating concepts in class to things in everyday life."

"Her lectures are very well organized and she takes pride in what she does."

"Mary is a great communicator and really seems to be passionate about what she teaches."

"Always willing to help; knows the material; approachable."

"She spoke very clearly and made the information easier to understand.  She applied real life situations to the material--which made it very helpful and enjoyable."

"Mary has done especially well in this course-section. Kudos."

"Everything well."

"Lectured extremely well.  Made great use of the board."

"She was always organized and prepared."

"She takes time to go through the material!"

"Returned papers timely, gives wonderful examples that helped."

"She didn't have to stop during the middle of lecture to consult her notes."