An obviously biased selection of some nice things students (and others) have said about Matrixology.

Sources: course evaluations and emails.

Fall 2016:
  • Email: "I literally feel like I am getting to be in a classroom with the MJ #23 of teachers."
  • a lot of fun!
  • Was very clear and thorough with material. Easy to learn material with this instructor
  • Challenging concepts but prof. Dodds makes it interesting and fun.
  • In class the concepts were very well explained. Professor Dodds very clearly has a love for the material and his excitement is contagious.
  • I loved Professor Dodds and would like someone as enthusiastic as him to teach all of my classes.
  • Used humor effectively to teach topics
  • Very organized and prepared for classes. Always capable of answering any questions competently and clearly.
  • Loved the teaching style this professor had. Very approachable and super helpful in office hours. I have recommended this professor to everyone I know who needs to take this class.
  • Answers and solutions were always posted, which is super helpful when looking back to see how to do things.
  • There were plenty of resources given to students by the instructor who is clearly passionate about the material and wants his students to succeed. The textbook was a valuable resource and easy to understand. The videos and online notes put out by the instructor were extremely thorough and outlined what was expected of students.
  • Excitement from the instructor was infectious and all material in class was readily available. Great instructor!
  • Professor Dodds was by far the best math professor I have had at UVM so far. He is so passionate about the subject and wants to make sure all students understand the material. I loved the outline of this course because he would post lecture videos on the material for the class. This was great because I could watch the lecture as many times as I wanted to or rewind on parts that were confusing. He was very quirky which made the class so fun! He made me truly love the subject.
  • The instructor wanted all the students to succeed
  • Professor Dodds is amazing. This was the most creatively structured course I have ever taken, which made it much more entertaining. He does a phenomenal job of getting his point across and providing us with the help we need, he was extremely accessible and friendly. It was very clear that he cared about us and how we were doing beyond just school work.
Spring 2015:
  • "Peter Dodds' Matrixology course approaches the Feynman limit of awesomeness in teaching" —Maximilian Shich.
    Original post here.
  • Email: "I just wanted to formally thank you for the past semester. The energy and passion that you brought to teaching the subject of linear algebra was refreshing. Each class was interesting, and very funny, and I really enjoyed my time as your student. You teach by far the most entertaining math class I have ever attended. Thank you so much for that." [Ed. You are most welcome!]
  • I can't believe this guy. Amazing teacher who goes above and beyond the call of duty to make sure all 72 of us have a firm grasp on the course material. I would even go so far as to say his enthusiasm for teaching is unparalleled by any other faculty member in CEMS.
  • Very enthusiastic, knowledgeable, and funny. Makes a dry subject interesting through silly metaphors and jokes about monks suffering. He was very helpful and very approachable. Great guy, upbeat, nice.
  • His use of technology was awesome - posting youtube videos for homework help was definitely helpful!
  • He breaks down the math to its roots Kept everything interesting, entertaining, all the side comments are great Really good examples He give a way for student to go back to see the lecture again as much as you can understand.
  • Made class interesting with his personality
  • He does everything in a neat, straight forward way that makes it much easier to learn.
  • The pace of the class seemed set at a very steady, reasonable pace. Also, he goes over multiple examples to increase our understanding.
  • Keeps it interesting, uses colors, has good info on his website I liked his enthusiasm and his way to make math fun. His jokes really lightened the mood, and made class more interesting. Really enjoyed my time in the class.
  • Wrote out what he was teaching while teaching it and gave example to the concepts. Injects humor into all of the lectures to keep the students' attention
  • He's very funny which makes class more enjoyable. He always posts videos of the lectures online and sends out email and twitter updates of any changes to normal class / homework procedures.
  • great teaching style really knows how to keep students engaged very entertaining
  • I like his enthusiasm about math, which makes learning it easier
  • He made the information available to us in many different forms, pdf notes, youtube videos, and in - class lectures. He is always willing to answer any questions you might have with a quick tweet or a conversation.
  • He made sure to make Linear Algebra fun and relevant and each topic we covered built upon the last, which was helpful in mastering the information.
  • Did not ramble on in a boring manner. Keeps things interesting, gets excited about the material. Also posts all lectures as videos online, so if you miss lecture you can still get exactly what you missed.
  • I liked how he taped all of this lectures and was very active on his website. Posting lecture videos online. He makes it fun and mixes up his teaching style so the work doesn' t become monotonous or boring.
  • I like his general lecture style and format. I really like how he records the lectures and post them Engaging, posts videos
  • Very enthusiastic method of teaching He made sure everything was documented so if anything was missed you could go back and see
  • I thought Prof Dodds was one of my best professors yet. I appreciated his ability to relate some very complicated subject matter in terms that were easily understood. He was always engaged and could explain it well because he really understood what it all meant. I liked the fact that he encouraged attending his office hours. He was extremely clear about his expectations. Providing pictures of the notes online was extremely helpful.
  • Dodds has really good energy and is excited about the material I enjoyed how enthusiastic and clear he was in his explanations. He went above and beyond in posting lectures online to help. Very good professor. Very enthusiastic and excited about what he teaches - enjoyable to listen to. Very available outside of class.
  • Favorite professor that I have ever had! He would show applications almost on a daily basis. He was very friendly in class and approachable. He obviously knew what he was talking about. preparation
  • Prof. Dodds was generally full of energy and he always showed up ready to teach every day. He had so many ways to get help. His office hours were so helpful and I used his lecture videos all the time. I liked his sense of humor. It made boring classes more fun.

Fall 2011:
  • "Very enthusiastic, excellent at keeping the material as interesting as possible."
  • "Incredibly funny and approachable."
  • "He gets super excited about the subject."
  • "Made a dry subject interesting."
  • "His humour is appreciated especially since most of the math seems irrelevant to engineers this semester. His office hours are by far the best that I have ever attended. I also liked the weighting of homeworks vs. exams, the homeworks are harder and therefore are also worth more."
  • "Funny, upbeat man who clearly loves his subject."
  • Really passionate about numbers in boxes.
  • "Prof. Dodds was really personal and funny. He made the lectures interesting even though linear algebra is very difficult to understand."
  • "Friendly and open. Very knowledgable. AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE OI OI OI."
  • "He kept things lively, and always had some quirky comment that made things always interesting and fun entertaining."
  • "I think the instructor presents the material in a very realistic fashion and relates it to real life. His personal traits are reflected in his teaching - that being humorous and having the ability to present difficult material in a less stressful enviornment the practice exams are very helpful."
  • "Different colors of chalk is always awesome. Also kept the subject interesting, never seemed boring or tedious."
  • "Great professor and helpful. Gave clear expectations for exams."
  • "Challenging theoretically not algebraically."
  • "New way of thinking about math."
  • "Solving systems of equations is a breeze now---thank you! It has helped me to organize multiple systems and understand subspaces and quick matrix tricks and short-cuts."
  • Liked: "Professor Dodd' s mannerisms."
  • Liked "How it relates to many things our generation uses."
  • "I liked that now I can look back and realize how amazing matrices and Ax = b actually are. ... it's amazing how at the end everything we learned made sense and fit together."