The best features of Angela Finch's teaching

I strive for excellence in my teaching, to make connections with my students that encourage them to engage with the subject matter I teach and develop their critical thinking and professional skills. I achieve this in the following ways. (i) My passion for the discipline of pharmacology and my experience in molecular pharmacology research and drug discovery influences my teaching in both the content I deliver and the manner in which I deliver it, and this is appreciated by the students. (ii) I develop authentic learning activities that challenge and develop the students’ skills, allowing them to achieve their best. (iii) I always aim to provide high-level constructive feedback to my students, this takes the forms such as written constructive comments on assignments, the development of scaffolded assessment tasks that allow students to close the feedback loop and feedback podcasts for exams and tests.

I have a mean MyExperience score for the past 3 years of 5.53 ± 0.22 and 97.5 ± 3.2% agree. The courses I convene have an overall satisfaction score of 4.87 ± 0.27 and 89.8 ± 5.6% agree (2019-2022).

MyExperience. The best features of Angela Finch's teaching were:

PHAR3101 Term 3 2022 (Lectures per-recorded, pracs and tutorials in person)

easy to understand and provides helpful answers to questions, also very friendly
She is very passionate and bubbly about the content she teaches, and seems she really enjoys teaching. Her explanations are concise and she is patient and nonjudgemental.
How involved she was with the students.
Engaging and understanding (especially in tutorials)
every part of the study was good
She relates to students and routinely checks up on students during tutorials and pracs.
Very encouraging, made an effort to learn students' names, gave very in–depth responses to questions which really helped clarify our learning
Very engaging with the students and strongly encouraged class participation
Encouraged student participation very much, very approachable and friendly
She is passionate about the content and continually motivates everyone to stay on task, overall a lovely lecturer and mentor to learn from!!
Supportive and attentive to each individuals needs. She set up tutorial times to support students on midterm and gave good advise for the final exam.
Very passionate about the subject, which makes lab classes more enjoyable
Checking up on lab groups during lab to ensure they are performing the steps correctly or if they have any issues
Lectures were really done and really helped me understand the content well.
She was always available for help and was enthusiastic in her approach
Great lectures, great tutorials! Thank you so much for everything this term!
very approachable and supportive; i didn't understand the pracs and Angela took the time to help me which i really appreciate
angela is the best in phar courses
easy to talk to and ask questions
Her teaching methods were excellent.
Light and jovial tone when delivering content helped stay engaged.

PHAR3102 Term 1 2022 (Lectures per-recorded, pracs and tutorials in person)

Encouraging active participation, providing feedback to quizzes and midsem, weekly announcements of what is required to do for that week plus additional information on eLN laboratory work, emailing students individually about studying techniques
Very kind and willing to help any student that needs it. It is obvious she is passionate for the course and this does come across in her teaching
She's super passionate about this course and you can really tell she loves the topics in practical classes. Makes me want to do well in this course because of her energy. Angela's lectures were also easier to follow than other topics in this course, which is a breath of fresh air for me
Angela is very good at structuring her lessons which I appreciate.
great mentor and provides great support to students in need, enthusiastic and genuinely passionate about the course.
Forced me to think and challenged me to learn more
the chats and interactions in journal club
Encouraged student participation, explained everything really well – was generally great! Thank you :)
I love how helpful and patient they are towards the students.
She was so supportive and open, very clear she wanted us all to do well. Lectures were easy to follow
Bubbly happy personality that made it clear she has a passion for the subject. It makes her explanations easier to explain because
she knows a lot
Very chill and easy to talk to– very helpful in f2f journal club, i feel free to ask many questions
Her lectures were explained really well. I could generally understand the content the first time I listened to the lectures.
Lively, engaging and helpful feedback
Very kind and always ready to help answer questions.
Enthusiasm and willingness to help despite her being so busy all of the time
Dr Finch is a very patient teacher when I come up with so many stupid questions
Anytime I had a question in the tutorials, I would feel free to ask any questions and be in a comfortable learning environment.
Overall great with the lectures and course coordinator too.
Enthusiasm and in–depth explanation of concepts. Application of the research she did in analysis of the results was engaging.
Everything

PHAR3101 2021 Term 3 (fully online)

Angela is a lovely teacher and can patiently answer our questions.
Her lectures were good, as well as tutorials, obviously in person would have been better and more productive for learning.
Angela gives great explanations in her lectures and was great at answering questions in the Q&A sessions.
Detail of content and commitment to student learning.
Her teaching was really engaging and I always found her lectures to be really interesting.
The podcast episode for reviewing the mid–term was really helpful. I would definitely say to continue with such a layout where Dr Finch steps through the question in parts.
concise and ready to help
Angela pushes you to do your best and to understand the content.
her providing opportunities for students to learn not just from lectures but also additional links for those more interested.
Articulate and intelligent.

PHAR3102 2021 Term 1 (fully online)

Her lectures were very methodical and always had a logical flow.
Her use of the laser pointer function in the recorded lectures made it easy to follow what she was saying.
She is entertaining and has a very likable personality which was refreshing over zoom calls.
She was my fave lecturer! She really knows her content well, and elaborates on everything very well. Super easy to make notes from her lectures.
I loved how organised the course was and the content was really interesting and well delivered. The tutorials and labs were also engaging which is hard to do online.
very creative and inspiring, encourage us to participate and communicate
The lecture content is clear and concise, and flows well from one to the other.
Angela held all of us to high expectations in learning this content. And while it was tough, it made for a more in depth learning
experience. Angela is very knowledgeable in this field and I was very appreciative in having her as a teacher.
Her lecture layout was really helpful. Also going through concepts a few types during the lecture really helped.
I really liked Dr Finch's thoroughness and work ethic to keep everything up–to–date and the course running smoothly. She is very responsive and put in a lot of effort to elevate my learning even beyond the scope of the course.
Awesome lectures that were relatively easy to understand. All new concepts were broken down into understandable chunks. The
lecture recordings were well–paced and the slides had a really good text/diagram balance such that I could annotate the lecture slides without having to pause every few seconds – the text supplemented the diagrams. I really enjoyed the tutorials and Q&A and especially the one face to face practical.
I loved Professor Finch! Her lectures are very engaging and she is so supportive and helpful especially during live practicals.
Explained things in a detailed manner
Angela was extremely welcoming and always quick to respond to any emails I sent. This was extremely helpful :)
She was very actively involved in her lessons, made sure to clarify things if anyone was having issues
Her passion and the way she explained concepts were really good
- clear explanations encouraging student participation
Very nice teacher! Let me have the courage to ask my dumb question in class!
To put it bluntly, Angela gave me the idea of a graduate student to study pharmacy!
The academic support. I appreciated Dr Finch consistently keeping in touch with the student body to ensure they are up to date and are on track.
Always on top of what's happening. eg. the weekly list of things to do.

PHAR3101 2020 Term 3 (fully online)

Angela is one of the best lecturers I've ever had at uni. Her lectures are always informative and interesting and her tutorials and practicals are always organised. She is very nice and understanding to her students, whether it be the complications of online learning, the difficulties of speaking in front of everyone in class, or plain student disorganisation, yet she encourages student participation and pushes us to think and learn for ourselves with her feedbacks, questions, and discussions with us. She is obviously very knowledgeable and wants what is best for her students. I've had the greatest pleasure benefitting from her teaching in the three pharmacology courses that I have taken.
She was able to speak in great detail about her experience with the experimental techniques that we were learning about in class which was useful in helping me remember the purpose of each technique and details about advantages and disadvantages of each.
Her enthusiasm for the subject and great attitude about online learning, her constant work to keep us all engaged and participating.
Lovely
Dr Finch is a world class instructor who takes time out her day to make sure students achieve their potential.
You are the best professor I have ever met, very careful and patient. I like your class very much.
Tried hard to make completing the course from home as engaging as possible.
Encouraging participation and discussion
Student participation encouragement
Angela always try to encourage students to participate. Angela also has a great sense of humour, makes classes fun.
Angela is a great teacher who focusses on creating a learning community.

PHAR3102 Term 1, 2020 (Switched to fully online in week 5)

Her care for her students – Angela remembered all of us individually and really made us feel supported and part of a learning community.
Good feedback in the tutorial and lab session.
Very quick to respond to needs of students. Explains concenpts thoroughly and in good detail. Encourages class discussion wherever possible.
The online elements. The face to face sessions were really helpful
She was very enthusiastic about teaching and constantly encouraged open discussion.
She really encouraged participation and engagement and was really good at using accessible examples to ground her lectures

PHAR3101 Term 3, 2019 (in-person lectures, practical and tutorials)

use of pictures to visualize concepts.
very in depth knowledge of topics , encourages participation in class and asks though provoking questions
ensuring all students have a chance to ask questions and explaining concepts in depth.
She's always happy to stop and explain if you look lost, you don't even have to ask she can read the room or the individual really well and will explain it (you saw I was confused in the lecture and stopped just for me for a second). She also has a thorough understanding of the content and how it links in with the course more generally which helps to orient what you are learning.
Clear and concise– Always able to answer my questions and concerns
Feedback and interaction with students.
The questions she proffered during lectures and tutorials enabled active thinking and application of knowledge. The feedback and advice she provided is also highly valuable.
Expertise and patience – Angela was very generous with her time in helping each student and this is to be commended. Angela genuinely enjoys teaching
Her passion for pharmacology comes across clearly when teaching, makes the subject more engaging and feels like its worthwhile
Keeps the class engaged by asking questions. Puts lots of relevant info on slides for reference after class. Very personable and approachable if concepts are unclear. Great teaching overall
she provides helpful feedback and always willing to help when students ask questions.
The feedback she provides is really helpful for development.
She is really passionate about teaching us. She expects us to do the work and keep up to date.
she engaged with the students well, provided thorough assistance in labs when called upon, provided feedback through electronic mail services in a promt manner.
honest and kind when in a good mood with a gentle motherly presence

PHAR3102 2019 Term 1 (in-person lectures, practical and tutorials)

- Enthusiastic and passionate
- Always encouraged and created discussions
- Always encouraged students to seek help with the course content and assignments
- Helpful above and beyond the requirements of her role as a course convenor
- Knowledgeable and up to date with the current literature
- Responsive to emails
Genuine compassion and care for student wellbeing and learning.
Very good with explaining the more difficult concepts, and presenting data to support her lectures. Angela was very organised and worked hard to provide detailed feedback, answer student questions, and run the entire course smoothly.
She liked to interact with the students when questions were asked and she answered all the questions that I had
Angela was great. She knew her subject matter so well and explained it to the point where it was easy to understand, Furthermore she provided very detailed feedback on exams, and what (sic)
very open to answering student questions–engaging personally with each student
So helpful and knowledgeable about topics. Gives great feedback on assessments. Very passionate which makes us more interested to learn. The devil works hard but Angela works harder
she was always fair and tried her best to help everyone understand
She cares about her students and the progress of their learning!
Explained concepts well and encouraged students to offer their opinions. Very passionate, which definitely makes it more interesting in a lecture. Learned everyone's names which makes her very approachable if you ever needed anything.
Angela is very passionate about her students and their learning. She encourages students to think critically which is well–integrated with the course content. It was also valuable and interesting to hear about Angela's professional academic work (seperate to the course content) which was well–integrated into the course and helped us learn.
Angela is very good at understanding what you don't understand. Sometimes it can be difficult to explain what about a concept you don't get. When asking Angela questions in both labs and CLS, I was always impressed at how easily she was able to see where I was making the mistake and correct it for me. Thanks Angela!!
presented lectures in a very inofrmative way. Always asked questions and answered them very well. Was very approachable and always trys to help students when possible.
Angela organised and ran the course very well. She provided excellent lectures and it showed that she was very knowledgable on the content presented and explained it in a way that helped further our understanding. She was very helpful in the tutorials and explained the concepts to us. She ran the labs very efficiently also.
Dr Finch is a very engaging and enthusiastic teacher.

PHAR3102 Semester 1 2018 (in-person lectures, practical and tutorials)

Her interactive lecture and her collaborative learning sessions
Clear and concise teaching, easy to follow and relevant. Very nice about answering questions
Always approachable, organised, on time. Spoke clearly, concisely, tangents were never irrelevant (always related back to research). Always explains concepts in detail, using interesting / easy to understanding analogies and contextualises everything. Explain current knowlegde ––> contextualises (relevance in the field) ––> these are the strengths and limitations ––> here's them next possible outcome / line of inquiry on this topic. Brilliant! I really enjoyed that all of her material was presented in this way + up to date with the literature. Just everything was awesome.
very engaging and fun
Her explanations are very clear
Her enthusiasm, and willingness to take time to explain everything in a way that can be understood. My favourite teacher I have experienced from my whole university career
Made hard concepts understandable and engaging.
SHe can give us feedback in detail.
Good communicator and explaining of content
taught be more than content by thinking skills as well which is unfortunately quite rare at uni. thought journal club was a really good idea and should be more widely implemented
Very thorough when explaining things.
she is a very motivate person and encouraged students to learn. She provided helpful feedback and really willing to answer question.
really enjoyed having angela – she was always helpful and easy to approach. she is probably the main reason i enjoyed this course so much
well prepared, engaging, thorough
Great delivery
Amazing! Everything Angela assigned has a purpose beyond just being another assessment task
Very encouraging and really wanted you to learn and improve. Made you feel comfortable asking questions and was always willing to provide help and advice to improve yourself.
Angela was extremely approachable and more than willing to set aside time to help with any aspect of the course. She was insanely knowledgeable about every aspect and great at explaining any concepts with which I would originally have no idea and they would then become crystal clear.
everything, was very satisfied.
Helped with explanations
She was very involved and explained concepts well
Thank you for the way you've structured this course! It has developed so many practical skills and deepened my knowledge!!
Her slides were always clear with nice diagrams.
Always prepared in the journal club CLS with a powerpoint with the figures. Always keen/ eager to help students and answer questions

PHAR3101 Semester 2 2018. (in-person lectures, practical and tutorials)

Lectures well organised and structured
Getting to know the students made you feel part of a learning community
I love the way Angela teaches us, the notes she provided is easy to understand and the way she taught us is enjoyable to listen to.
She was able to engage with the students and took the time to learn everyone's names. It made the course feel more welcoming
Love her teaching sytle and the effort she puts into providing feedback for our assignments. In particular her ability to produce assignment that improve our skills is really good.
She was very well organised and helpful. she encouraged learning and gave constructive feedback. she understood the content very well and was able to teach it to us in a way that gave us a comprehensive understanding of it. she was very engaging and helpful when she taught tutorials. Her lectures were very interesting and she taught the content in a way that helped us understand it better the moodle was nicely organised and the layout was logical
Everything. I love Angela. I want her to adopt me. I am SHOOK that she isnt a professor
engaging, knowledgable, responded well to student input/participation
Enthusiasm for teaching and willingness to assist students with a variety of questions
she would actively explain things in a simplified manner and improve understanding.. great personal relationships between students
Very clear and good at explaining
Extremely knowledgable, was very organised.
Enthusiasm for what she does and genuine interest in her students.
Her willingness to explain all concepts and make sure every student understood and was on the same page.
The lecture notes were clear and concise, very easily understood.
Angela is always passionate provide helpful and constructive feedback.
Very approachable and explained concepts very clearly
The questions she provided for the tutorials
Angela is amazing. She gives great feedback and clearly goes to the effort of reading student responses in depth.