Student Evaluations

Quantitative Student Evaluations
(Based on the courses I designed and taught in Spring 2020 and Spring 2021)

6.0 = Strongly agree; 5.0 = Moderately Agree; 4.0 = Slightly Agree; 3.0 = Slightly Disagree; 2.0 = Moderately Disagree; 1.0 = Strongly Disagree.

Evaluation Criteria	Department's Median	My Course
The instructor used class time well.	5.80	5.90
The instructor communicated the course material clearly.	5.80	5.90
The instructor supports student learning in this class.	5.70	5.90
The instructor is effective in teaching the course materials.	5.60	5.90
The instructor challenges me to think.	5.70	5.90
The instructor treats students fairly regardless of their ethnic, cultural or gender backgrounds.	5.80	5.90
Help was available for students.	5.80	6.00
The instructor is available during office hours.	5.80	5.90

Evaluation Criteria	Department's Median	My Course
Course content is interesting to me.	5.60	5.80
The course is intellectually stimulating.	5.60	5.90
Course material is presented enthusiastically.	5.70	5.90
Concepts are presented in a manner that helps me learn.	5.30	5.80
Important points are clarified with good examples.	5.60	5.90
The assignments, readings and activities facilitated student learning.	5.80	5.90
Assessment (such as quizzes, papers and exams) aligned with course objectives.	5.80	5.90
The class encouraged me to ask fundamental questions about human values and experiences.	5.60	5.80

Evaluation Criteria	Department's Median	My Course
The work assigned by the instructor is worthwhile and helped me learn the course material.	5.50	5.60
This course has improved my ability to read critically.	5.30	5.40
I have improved my ability to understand different cultural value systems.	5.70	5.80
I would recommend a course taught by this instructor to other students.	5.60	5.90

Qualitative Student Evaluations

Elementary Sanskrit | Summer 2021 | SASLI, University of Wisconsin–Madison

The instructor is great. Very patient with students but also pushes us to engage with and understand the material. I never feel judged for getting an answer wrong and that makes it easier for me to learn.

The instructor is the best language instructor I have ever had. He takes time to walk through the logic of each of the exercises word by word with each student, he takes the time to support us outside of class. The materials are carefully selected and designed for us to immerse in Sanskrit and get a feel for the language. I enjoy that he brings the Indian way of learning Sanskrit into our Western academic space. The instructor’s pedagogy is excellent. I have no complaints. He is constantly keeping an eye on what to do to improve, and I do not see anything that he needs to do to improve. I will always look back on starting my Sanskrit journey as the best start I could have had because of the instructor.

The instructors were excellent, providing many resources much deeper in understanding than found in our textbook primer. This made the learning experience more rich and I believe especially for those who might specialize in different areas of language study in the future have much greater understanding of how and why regarding the language structure. Their compassion and commitment to students' mental health was extremely heartfelt and they gave excellent advice.

A great introduction to Sanskrit! I feel confident in the knowledge I have as well as my ability to find the answers to questions that come up. The course was challenging but both instructors made coming to class each day less daunting. I hope to keep up with both the instructors in the future as I continue my Sanskrit studies.

The instructors rank among the most helpful, most inspiring, most knowledgeable, most perceptive instructors I have EVER had.

Asian Humanities: India | Spring 2021 | The University of Iowa

I really enjoyed this course – I feel like I came out with a much deeper understanding of South Asia and South Asian history and culture. I really appreciated the time that you gave in class to let us ask questions about concepts that came up that we didn’t understand. I never felt like we were rushed or that we glossed over anything. Everything we covered was covered thoroughly.

Pranav, you are wonderful!! Please never stop being such a kind and amazing professor. You have never judged any question asked, and it always felt like you were willing to hear and listen to us.

I really enjoyed having him as a teacher! He made sure to fit the syllabus to our needs and changed it as he saw was best for us as opposed to what most classes do.

The readings and discussions we had were really helpful. I especially enjoyed Dr. Prakash’s lectures, which incorporated and expanded upon the readings, and he gave plenty of class time to ask questions to ensure we all understood the key terms and concepts.

Prof. Prakash made sure that we always understood everything we were talking about! His slides were very informative. He was able to add in personal stories and background which made the class even better!

Living Religions of the East | Fall 2020 | The University of Iowa

I really enjoyed being in your class and felt that you were great at making every student feel comfortable talking about really difficult topics. I would highly recommend your classes to any of my peers.

I would like to let the teaching assistant know that his wealth of knowledge on the course material and its alignment with his life experiences was a joy to see relayed through his teachings. I think when it comes to this subject matter of religion and religious studies, its hard to interpret religion itself as well as the culture that surrounds it without having someone who actually experienced it to help effectively relay that. The TA and the professor both have gone about their ways in learning these religions and cultures around the world and that’s what I value about this course: The instructors’ experience portrayed through their teachings.

Pranav was very open to questions and explaining any concepts we were confused on. He also valued high engagement between the class and made sure everyone was participating. He was always available for support and was helpful overall. He helped us to engage with the material on a very deep level and it ultimately helped on exams and writing assignments as we were prepared through the discussion.

I really liked the breakout rooms because they “forced” people to talk and actively participate in discussion. I also found it very helpful that Dr. Prakash sent important documents in the chat when they were relevant, because it made participating much easier.

Introduction to Buddhism | Spring 2020 | The University of Iowa

I was so glad that I got Pranav as my teacher this semester. He is very enthusiastic about teaching Buddhism and tries to make sure that everyone understands the material. A very kind, understanding, and fair professor.

Dr. Prakash is an excellent professor that makes sure his students understand everything and opens his office for questions and discussion. The atmosphere is one that promotes learning and engagement. No one in the classroom, especially the professor, makes fun of people for asking for clarification on topics. Students and the professor seem interested in learning more than just the minimum of what's required.

Professor Prakash chose extra material for discussion that really helped place the lecture material in real life, if that makes sense. He gave a lot of examples of people who turned to Buddhism and learning about their journey helped me furthermore understand it.

Being in Professor Prakash's class was very enlightening and educational. He was an amazing instructor and you could tell he was passionate about what he was teaching. He made sure that we understood the material, with short reviews of the previous lecture every meeting. The transition to Zoom class was an interesting experience for all of us, but I think it went smoothly. I wish I was able to complete the course with face to face lectures because it was a joy to learn from him.

Living Religions of the East | Fall 2019 | The University of Iowa, Iowa City, US

I think Pranav was very effective at forcing students to present their views by directly confronting them. This approach is somewhat unique among TA's that I have experienced, but I feel this approach is way more effective than waiting for students to volunteer their responses (which often results in some students not participating in the discussion at all; this seems VERY common in my exprerience). I think this was Pranav's greatest strength as a TA, however he was always very well prepared for the discussion sections and it was obvious he had spent a lot of time studying the concepts covered in this course. I also felt he was very articulate in his responses to students' questions and in covering course material, being very clear what his response was intended and not intended to mean.

Pranav is obviously very knowledgeable about most of the ideas taught over the course of this course – being from India will help with that – but what really sells him for me is the passion he brings. Pranav is one of those guys that you can tell deeply cared about what he's doing. Sometimes at the University, you will encounter TAs who are clearly interested in the subject material, but not so much in the teaching of the said material. Not so with Pranav. The dude learned English, moved here from India, and even after God-knows-how-long is still putting in massive amounts of effort and energy. To my recollection I have not seen him miss a single lecture, and he certainly was never anything but full of energy for discussion. Even when the professor had to leave for Denmark on a family emergency, and left Pranav to teach the class, it was on par with or even better than the professor's offerings. Really good guy, and clearly cares a lot - which is honestly the most important thing in a TA or professor IMO. Even fifty years down the line, I don't think Pranav is going to be putting any less energy in working to improve himself and his presentational material. I think his skill ceiling is incredibly high, and I think he has the energy and passion to keep striving for it for a very long time.

He was very good at explaining things in depth. He provided valuable details on topics that we were learning. He was very good at getting people to think critically. He communicated his expectations clearly.

Pranav is one of the best TAs I have ever had. He is extremely knowledgeable not only about the course content, but also about effective pedagogy. I wish I was not graduating so I could take his course next semester!

Classical Mythology | Spring 2015 | The University of Iowa

I very much enjoyed our TA’s enthusiasm to think critically and apply multiple learned concepts to new information; building on our knowledge and relevant understanding, rather than simply recalling it.

My TA was exceptionally good. He really challenged us to critically think about questions and pushed our minds to the limit. The overall vibe of it gave it a “I want to know more” feel.

The review sessions helped a lot. I enjoyed short assignments. I felt they were well suited to help us critically think about the subjects we were reading.

I am genuinely interested in this topic, so the instructor did a good job going into more detail about relevant mythological information that gave me a greater appreciation for the topic.

Judaism: The Sacred & The Secular | Fall 2014 | The University of Iowa

Strengths include use of humor, while remaining watchful and an ability to uncover deeper connections to ancient texts. [His discussion sections] were not just rehashing of lecture topics. Every discussion was more of an existential exploration of deeper themes and experiences. Pranav knew everyone by name and expected participation from everyone.

He always had a strong understanding of the text and created good questions about the text.

I liked the way Pranav was able to facilitate our opinion while also giving us information that was missed in my reading.

Pranav was a great TA. I loved our discussion because he really challenged us and got excited about discussion. I only missed for illness. I liked him because he has great background knowledge and a well rounded understanding of what we were talking about…Great conversation in each class kept me thoroughly engaged. Pranav has high expectations but he is very motivated to help.

Sanskrit | Summer 2014 | American Institute of Indian Studies

It was such a pleasure to have class with Pranav-ji. He was extremely thorough in his approach to all of the classes. I never left class with any questions or doubts about the material covered. I felt like I learned something new in every class! While he was serious about his expectations for his students this did not prevent him from being lighthearted. There was much laughter in class!

Pranav has a very specific style, but it works very well. He is very meticulous, and we only spoke in Sanskrit – it’s rare that I ever heard him speak English during school hours. He definitely helped me ten-fold with my listening skills, and he provided a fun and challenging approach to language study.

Pranav is truly an incredible Sanskritist, and a wonderful teacher.

Living Religions of the East | Spring 2011 | The University of Iowa

It was a real discussion section and not a TA-giving-answer section. He pushed people to argue points and didn’t say answers were correct or incorrect but made points to engage discussion on different view points.

I liked that there were multiple teaching tools/methods used–large group discussion, small group discussion, visual media, and even a game we could experience.

He was always prepared and had a great knowledge of the topic. He is personable, and I looked forward to coming to the class.

The discussions of the course material was really helpful. With the readings, it was challenging to pick out the important points but he made it clear and related them to the course.