<p>Are the professors and teachers at Purdue generally good at teaching? Are there any issues with the quality of teaching that one should be aware of?</p>
<p>It’s just like everything else in life…there’s the good and the bad. Some of my instructors have been amazing and have really cared about their students’ understanding of and learning of the material. Other instructors just go through the motions (PowerPoint slides from the textbook) and teach because they have to. When you have no choice in choosing an instructor that isn’t motivated, then it is up to you, unfortunately, to learn the material however you can…by extra reading/extra problem sets, attending student study groups, tutoring, getting help from the TA, etc.</p>
<p>While I wouldn’t call this “an issue with the quality of teaching,” I have had experiences with teachers whose native language is not English. When I was a freshman, I took Math 304 (Diff EQ/Nonlinear Systems). I absolutely could not understand the instructor! This was a hard class and I really did need to hear explanations.</p>
<p>I always use Rate My Professor and *******…WITH A GRAIN OF SALT! You are able to get a feeling from other students about a particular instructor’s teaching methods and potential language barriers. I don’t just choose the instructor with the easiest grading policies or the lightest homework loads. Sometimes, the hardest grading instructors with the heavy homework loads are the best in terms of learning the material.</p>
<p>Are the majority of teachers passionate or at least somewhat interested? Also, are there only a few professors difficult to understand or is this issue pretty common? Thanks for the response!</p>
<p>Luconi, you’re going to have good and bad professors ANYWHERE. That being said, all of my professors have been passionate and interested in their work (though the students aren’t sometimes xD). The professors might have an accent, but I’ve only heard of a handful where it’s horrible. Usually you can talk with them/ email them questions and they’ll clear up any confusions they have.</p>
<p>To add, I <strong>think</strong> your choice of major will influence how many non-native, English-speaking instructors you might encounter. I am an engineering major. Many of the instructors have accents, but all speak English well enough to lecture. Usually, your ear gets use to each’s accent, resulting in understandable lectures. If you are, say, an English or sociology major, you probably won’t come upon as many instructors with accents.</p>