Teaching

"I really liked that he always asked us if we had questions or needed help on anything. He presented and structured the course a very manageable and easy to understand way that made my fears about this class go away. Having the lecture slides and homeworks be the same structure throughout the course also helped me a lot because I knew what to expect every week. I also like that he asked for our feedback throughout the semester instead of just at the end."

"Professor Shahbazian is the best professor I have had during my time at Virginia Tech. He came to each class well prepared with slides and examples to aid learning. He explained the subject matter clearly, and was able to break complex topics down in a very helpful manner. Professor Shahbazian's teaching was instrumental in sparking my interest in the subject, and he also facilitated this interest through office hours and providing further opportunities. Moreover, he provided us with the tools to succeed before, during and after class, including posting completed class notes as well as providing in-class quizzes that gave us an opportunity to solidify our learning. His tests, homework, and grading were very fair, and he also provided practice tests prior to the exam, which were extremely helpful in success during exams."

"He was really good at explaining the material and I feel as if his teaching style really reached me. He cared about us all as students which also helped me push myself to do better despite how hard the material was."

"Made himself extremely available for all of us if we had questions or concerns and always provided us with more than enough resources to excel in the course."

"He went through the lecture slides clearly and always stopped for questions. His slides were detailed and the examples were similar to the homework questions so it was easy to complete them. He also gave practice tests before each exam so that we got an idea of how the test will be like. Additionally, he was very accessible outside of class by responding to his emails fast whenever I had a question about the homework."

"He teached the subjects in a very clear manner and always gave in depth answers to questions."

"He was available during office hours and made time to help me every week, whether it was over zoom or in person. He made sure everyone was understanding the difficult concepts during class. He paused and asked us if we had questions several times during classes. He wanted to improve the class by giving us survey's and caring about our opinions. He gave us feedback that was helpful for our homework assignments and exams. He also helped us during quizzes if we were confused. Most importantly, he understood the content well enough to teach, answer questions, and explain topics differently. He gave us opportunities for bonus points during the Game Theory section, knowing it was difficult for us because it is a new topic for most of the students."

"He explained the material very clearly and would always pause for and encourage questions. It is clear he cares about making sure we, as students, really understand the material."

"Held office hours regularly, and was always available for questions. Easily the most outgoing and best professor I have ever had all four years at VT."

"Everything in the class was designed for us to succeed in the class. I would say the biggest thing that helped me was the daily quizzes at the end of class, I know for a lot of people class can be difficult to internalize, but having the quizzes, made it so that you had to follow the material and made it so that you had to perform the material you just learned, making the exams and homeworks so much easier."

"Professor Shahbazian provided ample resources for exam preparation and material review, which was very helpful for the exam. In particular, he was very open to receiving emails regarding homework or exam review. This was very helpful and showed his care for students' success."

"The quizzes at the end of each class that count towards attendance and a quiz grade were helpful because they gave the students a chance to use the new material on their own."

"I liked that the notes were a follow along style and that we had access to them. I also appreciate that he would give us examples in the notes of what the problems on the homework were going to look like. I also really appreciated the exam review lectures."

"He is the best teacher I have ever met at VT. What has helped me the most is that his teaching method is really well-organized and highly efficient. Every week, he would issue an announcement, clearly stating the topics to be learned that week, the assignments to be submitted, and the overall arrangements. For a student like me whose native language is not English, this is particularly helpful because I can get a rough idea of what I will learn this week and what the new concepts are in advance. This way, I won't be completely at a loss in class and my understanding will be much smoother. He is also very clear when explaining things in class. He can make some originally rather abstract content very specific, and the expressions he uses are all quite simple, making it very easy to understand. Basically, after covering each new knowledge point, he would provide several example questions to make the content more intuitive and easier to understand. The quiz at the end of each class is also very useful. It tests the most basic content of the day and allows you to immediately know if you have kept up. This also makes me more focused in class and less likely to think about catching up later. Otherwise, if I study by myself after class, it's very easy to waste time and not understand clearly. Besides, he grades his homework very carefully and gives feedback in a timely manner. This is also very helpful for understanding his own problems. Overall, this course itself is somewhat challenging, but under his teaching, it becomes clearer and easier to keep up with."

"He understood the content very well and answered every question in class. He provided good study materials for the exams and you could tell he wanted everyone to do well in the class."

"He talked about each topic in depth and he clearly labeled what would be on each test, since the subject matter is challenging."

"I really appreciated the homework assignments, as they were clearly structured to teach students the material. There were always less than 10 questions, and they all directly related to the class material of the week."

"He worked through problems at a pace that was simple to follow. He overexplained every step, which I see as a good thing as there was no confusion whatsoever with his solution process."

"The professor was very communicative and quick to respond to emails with any questions. He would go out of his way to send screenshots of examples to help me understand any problems that I was having difficulty understanding."

"Professor Shahbazian made himself very available to help his students. He consistently asked for questions in class and made time between concepts for us to reflect and digest the material."

"I had to take a lot of personal time off from class this semester with unfortunate family issues, and Professor Arin was extremely supportive in helping me make sure I was staying on top of material that I'd missed."

"Very structured classes that were straight to the point and made sense. Very clear instruction."

"I think the quizzes in class really helped me in learning the material because I was able to check my understanding of the material while in class, which would allow me to determine how much help I needed to understand the material."

"Provided the class with a recording of the lecture and also the lecture power point with notes. I have been working full time during this course, and during the actual lecture time I can only listen to it. So having the ability to watch the lectures and follow along with the notes, after a full day of work, has been a huge help to me!"

"Posting his class notes from each class and having a very organised Canvas really helped navigating through the course easily. Having quizzes at the end of each class was very helpful in clearing any doubts from that day's class."

"I liked that the power points were posted before class and then I could work along with the professor as we went through problems. This way I didn't have too worry about making sure all information was copied and I could just focus and listen on the content."