The following is a summary of evaluations for courses I have designed and taught at Georgia State University. As a doctoral student on an assistantship I was given the opportunity to teach stand-alone courses to undergraduates. I had autonomy in planning the syllabus, creating lectures, developing class activities, and preparing course exams. In Spring 2014, after teaching for eight semesters, the GSU Department of Communication awarded me the Carol Winkler Outstanding Teaching Award. This annual honor recognizes an exceptional graduate student’s teaching efforts.
The quotes from students provided below are representative of three recurring themes in the written feedback I have received on formal evaluations. My efforts are most commonly described as follows: I am passionate about the material, I am enthusiastic about teaching, and I genuinely care for my students.
Fall 2014
Film 2700 HONORS History of Motion Pictures, Class of 25
Rating of Overall Teaching Effectiveness 4.9/5
“Went into Film 2700, knowing nothing and not even was remotely interested. Just wanted the class to satisfy the requirement. After taking Ms. Boyd, I would recommend her and her class to everyone. She knows her material and makes film history interesting. Learned a lot from her!”
“Ms. Boyd asked for constructive feedback all year long and adjusted well to it. Overall this class was challenging and fun to learn about. Thanks for the memories!”
Film 4210 Critical History of Radio/TV, Class of 40
Rating of Overall Teaching Effectiveness 4.6/5
I came into Ms. Boyd class not knowing anything about the history of radio and television. I am leaving her class knowing way more than I did and have become interested in television. Ms. Boyd is an excellent teacher and a great representation of Georgia State University. I love her passion for what she does which made it so easy to relate to her and made it just as easy to understand the reading material that was given to us. Again I can’t stress enough how much I really really enjoyed this class.
Spring 2014
Film 4200 TV Analysis, Class of 40
Rating of Overall Teaching Effectiveness 4.7/5
“As always class with Professor Boyd has been great. This is my second class with her and I think she is a fantastic teacher. I would highly recommend taking her classes to anyone interested in learning about television. She knows her stuff.”
“Academic as well as progressive. Tackled important issues such as gender and race.”
Fall 2013
Film 4210 Critical History of Radio/TV, Class of 40
Rating of Overall Teaching Effectiveness 4.8/5
“She is very passionate about the subject and made me care about the class and made me think about what it is I want to do when I graduate and made me think about attending graduate school.”
“Did very well for her first time teaching this course.”
Film 2700 History of Motion Pictures, Class of 120
Rating of Overall Teaching Effectiveness 4.9/5
“Professor Boyd was awesome! Her film class has really made me want to consider some type of career in that field. Her notes were well organized and thorough, helping us map out of the history of film from start to where we are now. She also gave in class assignments, study exam reviews, and guided reading sheets; all combined, it really helped the material stick with being so repetitive. She was always funny and inserted her own film stories into lectures, so as to help us relate to the material. She was very understanding and the most helpful professor I’ve ever had. She did everything to make sure we succeeded in this class and I truly appreciate that. Her project was so much fun to do, we got to watch an old film and pick out the ways in which it beat the Censorship codes at that time. It was just really cool to see how everything that was going on in the world affected film at that time, and how she pointed out and gave examples from movie clips, all the cool artistic things we had never noticed before. I seriously loved this class, I enjoyed it every day and I will really miss going to it. Professor Boyd was incredible, I wish every professor was like her, and I wish her nothing but the best in all her future endeavors.”
“Her enthusiasm for an 8AM class was remarkable. I loved it when she was overly excited for a certain genre of film, that glee would spread to the rest of the class and make everyone else just as excited for the material.”
Film 4910 Senior Seminar, Class of 25
Rating of Overall Teaching Effectiveness 4.9/5
“Ms. Boyd taught this senior seminar on reality television. At first I was upset because reality is terrible. But, as the semester unfolded this class definitely grew on me. You don’t have to like reality television to enjoy and benefit from all of the anthropologic/sociologic studies related to the genre. Ms. boyd is a very sweet lady and is probably more passionate about reality television than any professor in North America 😉 Really though… She also relates to students really well and always gave me laugh during class. I commend her for turning a class I thought I’d hate into one of my favorite classes this semester. Finally, we were allowed to choose a project (production) as our final instead of a paper, and i found this great for production track students. I had a great time doing it and actually am leaving my senior year with an awesome piece of material.”
“Great professor. Fun, interesting, engaging. Actually made class fun while stimulating my mind and making me think critically. Covered an array of topics with interesting and though provoking readings and amazing class discussions.”
Summer 2013
Film 2700 History of Motion Pictures, Class of 66
Rating of Overall Teaching Effectiveness 4.5/5
“Professor boyd is a good teacher, but she packed way too much content into the course for a summer semester. Also I feel her tests were not fair in that there were only 25 to 27 questions on the firts 2 test, so if you missed one you received an -A. And her third test, which is the final was not that representative of the study guide she gave. But overall I feel professor boyd is a good teacher and is really passionate about what she teaches and shows an interest in her students.”
“The teacher did a great job with the course. The review for the final was not all that helpful when it came to the final test”
Spring 2013
Film 4200 TV Analysis, Class of 40
Rating of Overall Teaching Effectiveness 4.6/5
“Every class was full of new information that was explained well through engaging discussions. Participation was required, but for once it felt as though students’ input was actually appreciated and evaluated in the moment to add to discussion. All of the assignments were well thought out and it was made clear how they were going to be evaluated. Everything that Ms. Boyd did specifically made it more likely for students to not only receive a good grade, but to come out of her class gaining knowledge and insight they may not have gained on their own.”
“One of the best teachers I’ve had at Georgia State University. I learned a lot things that will have me pursue my career in the film and TV industry. Another plus was Professor Boyd always making herself available to meet with her students, helping us with our various projects.”
Fall 2012
Film 4280 Reality-Based TV Genres, Class of 32
Rating of Overall Teaching Effectiveness 4.7/5
“Despite how much I THOUGHT I hated reality TV, a semester in this class made me look at reality TV in a different light. The screenings were great. I loved most of the readings. I felt that in class I may have been a bit withdrawn (because it was the end of the day) But your vibrant personality motivated me to want to know what’s going on this week. The first test was a bit confusing because I wasn’t sure of the format. I think for future classes, there should be at least 3 tests that way students can know what you’re looking for and have the security of that “in between” test to make a good grade in class.”
“Ms. Boyd is an AWESOME professor ! She is a master of her subject and knows the ins and outs of it–I love how she also knows the sociological concepts behind Reality TV! she communicates very effectively and makes the subject interesting, even for people who have not experienced the subject matter. The course was taught in a way that all students can relate and find ways to apply it to their daily lives (especially film majors who would one day want to jump into the television business).”
Film 2700 History of Motion Pictures, Class of 108
Rating of Overall Teaching Effectiveness 4.4/5
“It definitely took me a while to warm up to this class, but once I did, I loved it. Boyd is an excellent teacher, who really cares about her students though it shows that she’s inexperienced in class. She often lets students walk over her. Overall I really liked the class and would want to take her again if I were a film student. Wasn’t a fan of the weekly reading assignments as they seemed a bit high school.”
“I’m going to miss this funny lady. I have to admit although we had plenty of talkers Ms.Boyd had control of such large class. Thanks for everything”
Spring 2012
Film 4200 Television Analysis, Class of 40
Rating of Overall Teaching Effectiveness 4.7/5
“Prof. Boyd was very knowledgeable about her subject and effective explained the concepts. Passionate and friendly, her class was fascinating.”
“Course was very well taught and I could understand everything the teacher was taking about and everything that came up in readings became clear after listening in class”
Film 2700 History of Motion Pictures, Class of 120
Rating of Overall Teaching Effectiveness 4.4/5
“I expected to enjoy this class because film sounds fun, and you really taught it in a great way! I have nothing bad to say, you were my best professor thus far in college. I think its great that you don’t just present the power points, you actually really explain them and have clips! You’d make a great full time teacher. Glad I signed up for your class, never thought I’d have a college professor so accommodating. Thanks again for a great year!”
“This instructor is obviously passionate about the subject matter. As a student, I could tell that she really enjoys film and is knowledgeable about them. Her main problem is that she seems inexperienced teaching wise, or maybe she was uncomfortable with such a large class. She often seemed flustered and out of control, especially when it came to using the classroom technology (after we moved classrooms, she was much more capable with the technology). She also had a problem with misspelling important words on her powerpoint slides and sometimes seemed confused or overwhelmed while teaching. She is very passionate and seems concerned about her students; Ms. Boyd just needs more experience teaching.”
Fall 2011
Film 4780 Special Topic: Television Analysis, Class of 26
Rating of Overall Teaching Effectiveness 4.9/5
“Ms. Boyd is an exceptionally good instructor. I really appreciated the transparency in grading, and the clear and detailed instructions she provided students for assignments. She was very organized which allowed me to focus on learning rather than administrative issues. And I greatly appreciated her passion for the subject matter, which really did motivate and energize me to learn.”
“Enjoyed this class very much. She even took the time to work with us and adjust the way the class was being taught because this was her first time teaching non-freshman. The class was fun and informative. I wish there had been a screening time so that we could have focused more on the content in class sometimes because a screening took up most of the class sometimes.”
Film 2700 History of Motion Pictures, Class of 35
Rating of Overall Teaching Effectiveness 4.4/5
“liked this class. I really like how the teacher gave us guided reading sheets and straight forward study guides. The power power points and film clips were great. The movie choices were interesting. I would suggest that she fully explains on the weekly writing assignments why she deducts points so the student can know what they did wrong. She should also fully explain what she considers to be a good thesis statement.”
“I thoroughly enjoyed this course. Ms. Boyd connected very well with the students and made the material much easier to learn than if we had only used to required eBook.”
Spring 2011
Film 2700 History of Motion Pictures, Class of 30
Rating of Overall Teaching Effectiveness 4.7/5
“Ms. Boyd was a great teacher, she was always available for questions, and was very easy to talk to. She definetely wanted you to do the best that you could”
“I would want to believe Ms. Boyd is going to be a great instructor in the future. She has a lot of interest in the success of her student and avails time to them. Her email response time is great.”
Film 2700 History of Motion Pictures, Class of 30
Rating of Overall Teaching Effectiveness 4.4/5
“Awesome teacher. Funny and on time to class every day. Knows a lot about the subject and relays information well in the class. Highly recommended teacher all around.”
“very enthusiastic and informative”
mariasuzanneboyd 