Someone once told me that during my academic job search, I should make all my teaching eval data available online.

This page displays the quantitative and qualitative evaluations on all my teaching to date (except those for which the module leader forgot to perform evaluation). Each module was evaluated with a questionnaire part-way through term, consisting mostly of statements scored for agreement from 1 (worst) to 5 (best), with a couple of qualitative comments at the end. For each module, there's a bar chart of the mean score on each quantitative measure, and then a subheading for each qualitative question with all of the comments quoted underneath. n is the number of students who filled out the survey.

Before all that, here are two comments left anonymously by students outside of the official evaluation process. The second student nominated me for an award:

The most positive aspect was my experience in seminars. Some recognition needs to be given to Hugo Heagren. He has been by far the best teacher I have had to date at King's. He has made the work understandable but also academically challenging through always providing detailed, specific and tailored feedback.

Hugo has been an amazing teacher. Always prioritising his students and going above and beyond during his seminars. He has provided me with tailored advice to improve my essay skills and philosophy knowledge and has someone who has never studied philosophy before, this is something I much appreciate.

Methodology

What have been the positive features of this module up to this point?

Tutor is very knowledgeable and able to explain the content of the course

Hugo has promoted stimulating Philosophical discussions within the Methodology seminars, enhancing my interest in the subject and pushing me to learn more and be more engaged with the topics

Hugo always explains everything very well and goes through his thought process, which I find very useful. Hugo doesn’t view himself above the students which I appreciate very much and he’s makes things very clear.

There is a clear structure to the seminars, but there is still flexibility to ask questions and discuss topics

Hugo helps link the information of methodology with other areas of philosophy which I found great as it helped my knowledge for not just this module but for the other modules I’m doing. It’s also very clear that he’s an expert on the subject as he not only answers the questions very well and clearly but also stimulates discussion on quiz questions that are ambiguous.

Very interesting to think about and discuss - challenging but in a good way.

Your knowledge of the topic and the ability to answer questions about not always relating topics is impressive.

Explains every question with clarity and receptive to questions that may stray outside the scope but is still relevant to what is required of the module content,

Seminar leader is great and chill. Explanations of concepts go deepr than the lectures, gives other interesting/convenient options to tackle certain problems not mentioned in lecture slides which I like. Going over the exercises is a nice structure and usefull for exam preperations, tho kinda boring.

well structured, effective class, clear explanation

Seminar leading is very well prepared and answers questions effectively. Is good at balancing exam content with interesting non exam content.

Seminars have been informative, really helped me understand each weeks content more. Also Hugo is friendly and a very good communicator.

Clearly explained process in terms of how we arrive at a specific question and clears up any confusion about that that process.

Seminars have been informative and lectures engaging

The seminar leader maintained control over class discussion in a way that allowed for sufficient coverage of the set exercises each week and encouraged productive discussion about confusing or debated concepts and issues. He provided clarity on important subject matter covered in lectures using helpful examples and consistently encouraged students to question widely accepted philosophical views and voice their own opinions.

Hugo is clearly very knowledgeable on this subject and has always been able to incite interest by introducing philosophical ideas that haven’t been covered in lectures. He also has a knack for clarifying concepts that are harder to grasp. He’s been extremely helpful.

Structured seminar that always feels purposeful. Seminar leader is a natural teacher.

Its very interesting yet is also clear about examinability

Were there any negative features of this module up to this point? What aspects of the module might be improved?

A bit more explanations on the logic notations, if were required to know them for this module

He could give some more background information on the logic symbols and terminology that he uses in class as I have never done logic before (leading me to feel a bit lost when he does mention them).

My 'neurals' during the stimulation question are results of the topic and structure of the course. In comperison to discussion heavy subject it is more important to form a set of language. I prefer controvertial debates, but you do as much of them as possible.

good enough for me

no

Not really. Maybe pick on people to answer questions sometimes - we all chose to be there so I think you’re well within your rights to pick people rather than a few of us answering everything!

Any other comments

Number 1 seminar leader in all of Kings college.

Thank you very much for teaching us!

Keep up the good work and have a good reading week !

Advanced Topics in Philosophy of Mind

What have been the positive features of this module up to this point?

The office hours - very helpful and informative. attending every week has boosted my confidence

Good class discussions and the seminar leader is able to answer all relevant questions

The content has been interesting however challenging yet, Hugo has a great way of explaining all the advanced stuff.

I find it helpful to have questions sent by my seminar leader regarding the readings as they allow me to guide myself whilst reading. The questions also allow me to test my understanding of the reading.

interesting reading

Hugo is always very encouraging of open discussions, and has a good rapport with the students in my seminar. Most students are confident in contributing to these discussions regardless of their confidence in understanding at the start. Hugo always answers questions making sure that we can fully clarify understanding.

The different views discussed on topics. It’s also nice that our seminar lead is enthusiastic about the topics we discuss.

The seminars are really useful for understanding the readings.

Interesting seminars

Enjoyable

Were there any negative features of this module up to this point? What aspects of the module might be improved?

the lectures. more slides explaining the concepts will make it easy to follow through

Ensure work is done before class so people can discuss

Essay options I'm not a great fan of, it seems the one I'm doing Bill has already fully answered making it hard to gage my own opinion on it

Not something that's easy to resolve, but the timing of the first lecture makes it a bit difficult for people to get to, as well as the location being Strand. But in the lecture recording, the sound is usually a bit quiet.

no

No.

I think that the readings are a bit too complex to understand for students not doing a philosophy based degree and who haven't experienced this level of philosophy before.

Readings can be difficult

The lectures at 9am are hard to get to

Introduction to Philosophy: Logic

What have been the positive features of this module up to this point?

The tutor displayed commendable effort in actively involving the students and addressing their inquiries. It is worth noting that he maintained a friendly demeanor, treated students with respect, and made genuine attempts to involve as many students as possible.

Hugo honestly explains everything in an incredibly straightforward way that makes my life so much easier. And he's so flexible and patient and good at teaching

The topic was new and interesting

The way that information is presented is fairly digestible

Were there any negative features of this module up to this point? What aspects of the module might be improved?

The tutor often conveyed a sense of hesitation which left students feeling uncertain about his confidence in providing in-depth responses to questions. His explanations tended to be swift, with transitions between topics occuring hastily, which hindered the students' ability to follow each step of a problem. While it was evident that he grasped the subject matter, his teaching approach did not effectively facilitate student comprehension.

I have a hard time understanding the lectures sometimes but Hugo is great at explaining!

The final two Logic Topics were very difficult to understand during the lectures, thus many I know couldn't complete or submit the exercises.

Any other comments

Loved Hugo, he was great and engaging!

Neuroscience and the Mind

What have been the positive features of this module up to this point?

Good weekly structure, well-organised!

Interesting to think deeper about topics I've never considered.

The contrast it has compared to the biological sciences gives me a different view point in understanding

The readings have been very interesting - seminars are informative and increase my understanding of the difficult concepts - Hugo explains and summarises things clearly in a way that’s easy to understand

The seminar leader did a really great job and make me understand the topic a bit more than just by reading it myself.

Were there any negative features of this module up to this point? What aspects of the module might be improved?

Could be more discussion in seminars.

Any other comments

I think Hugo goes through the discussion points as if we’ve completely understood the content but most of the time a few us don’t have a complete grasp on it- when we ask he explains them well but I think it would be helpful if he gave a brief overview of the reading and philosophical theories before we discussed.

Great job, I really like the flow of the content and reading the articles, kinda of opens my mind to what other people might think