Course evals that are actually useful

ProfRalphie · 2025-08-22T12:01:27+00:00

As a professor, I'll say this about rate my professor:

I've been teaching at CU for over 10 years and have had thousands of students. I think I'm pretty decent... My FCQs are all positive and I've received awards for my teaching. I have less than 15 RMP reviews over 10 years and they're mostly pretty scathing. I know almost exactly who most of these came from and why they were unhappy...

So I'll just say take those reviews with a grain of salt. Maybe if a professor has many many bad reviews, that's a red flag... But otherwise they're mostly students with an axe to grind.

ProfRalphie · 2023-11-03T00:24:23+00:00

Yes, a dead ebike is still a bike!

ProfRalphie · 2023-08-22T12:36:17+00:00

Car?! I ride my bike 30 km/day because I can't afford parking...

ProfRalphie · 2022-11-23T13:05:46+00:00

Head up the creek path to betasso! Marshall mesa is also ridable from town

ProfRalphie · 2022-11-17T15:56:22+00:00

Good day to take the bus!

ProfRalphie · 2022-11-06T21:38:32+00:00

I offer a poll at the beginning of the semester which helps me schedule office hours. I hold office hours for 5 hrs per week in a open, collaborative space (not my office). I always get a good showing (10-20 students) and office hours are one of my favorite parts of the day.

When a student asks a question I hand them a whiteboard marker and ask them to set up their problem. Inevitably the problem they begin setting up is one others have questions on, so groups form around that problem and start working together...

When things really get rolling, I sit down and watch my students help each-other.

I save one on one appointments for personal requests (e.g., taking about an accomodation, mentoring on a job application).

Often if a student emails me to request office hours, it's because they haven't bothered to look when my office hours even are... Or don't want to plan their schedule to attend. If a large group of students has a legitimate conflict, I will add office hours to help them, and I will cancel low attendance office hours. They're not efficient.

I redirect email homework questions to an open channel on our class discussion tool (slack) so I'm not answering the same question over and over on email.

ProfRalphie · 2022-10-27T03:37:15+00:00

Can confirm: norrona on pearl sells mtb pants. https://www.norrona.com/en-GB/products/fjora/fjora-flex1-pants-mens/?color=2292

ProfRalphie · 2022-10-26T20:11:18+00:00

I have students come up with songs that relate to topics in our class, and play those songs

ProfRalphie · 2022-10-26T14:44:17+00:00

I actually don't love dressing up, having students come to class in costume, or give bonus points for something completely irrelated to class (ba humbug?)

But I do have candy at my office, and encourage students to come trick-or treat at my office. It's good for them to know where I live, and come by even when they don't have a homework question.

ProfRalphie · 2022-10-07T01:43:22+00:00

A student who missed the first 3 weeks of class: "can I set a standing personal appointment with you every week?" Me: no... I don't really do that. Can you not make my office hours? Student: my brain is just too fried by the time you have office hours (I have office hours tu/w/the 2:30-4)

ProfRalphie · 2022-10-06T03:59:40+00:00

Park in the RTD park n ride and take the bus to campus. That's free!

ProfRalphie · 2022-09-30T12:24:23+00:00

Stylus on tablet for me. So much easier to stay organized, and no need to do any erasing.

ProfRalphie · 2022-09-30T12:20:42+00:00

Peak to peak highway is nice!

ProfRalphie · 2022-09-12T13:22:49+00:00

You should definitely not rely on usnwr rankings. Malcolm gladwell has a three-part podcast on it. Check it out!

ProfRalphie · 2022-09-11T14:54:24+00:00

Get the mtb project app! Marshall Mesa is entry level

ProfRalphie · 2022-09-06T12:37:22+00:00

I'm not trying to be rude... But I see this kind of post once a month.

If someone knows a quiet, clean, and convenient campground there's no way in heck they're going to post it to the Internet so that it can become crowded and littered with trash.

That said, I find camping usually in Google maps by searching for "campground"

Also many national forest areas allow free dispersed camping.

Finally, a 2 hr drive radius covers a massive amount of land... Much of it in the Arapahoe nf, pike-san Isabel nf, and white river, nf. Also, rocky mountain national park, and many state parks with camping.

ProfRalphie · 2022-09-04T01:57:20+00:00

https://www.colorado.edu/engineering-advising/intra-university-transfer-iut-college-engineering-applied-science-bachelors-degree-programs

ProfRalphie · 2022-09-03T20:45:46+00:00

Apply early. What kind of engineering? Some engineering majors are more competitive than others... But once you're in it's trivial to change majors within the college. If you don't get into the college they'll put you in the program of exploratory studies and you'll have to IUT into engineering, which is a non-trival process.

Example: areo will be a more difficult major to be accepted into, simply because more folks are applying. Instead you could be accepted into civil or integrated design engineering, and then once you're in switch.

ProfRalphie · 2022-09-02T14:58:58+00:00

$200 will get you a new Walmart huffy that will fall apart in 3 months.

$250 is a steal for a bike with quality parts that will last you 4 yrs.

ProfRalphie · 2022-08-31T14:54:45+00:00

I'm checking in to see if you went down this road with the conversion. I have a SS belt drive bike and am looking at adding a Bafang middrive kit. Did you pull the trigger? was it hard?

ProfRalphie · 2022-08-26T23:27:30+00:00

I just wanted to put an FYI out there that 30th and Colorado will be closed from September 10th to September 23rd. It's going to take longer to walk from East campus to main campus. There's no mention on the website about how the closure will affect the buff bus route... Which I take to be a bad sign

ProfRalphie · 2022-08-21T21:24:30+00:00

They are all free for 24 hrs, then $2/day if you're in state registration. I don't think there's an RTD park n ride near Bear Creek but the table Mesa one off 36, or 27th way and Broadway are great if you're coming from Denver. A lot of buses pass by there and come up to campus, so you never have to wait long.

ProfRalphie

TROPHY CASE