student feedback

Mentorship and Student Support

“Krysten Stein was by far one of the most inspiring professors I was honored to have during my time at UIC. She was a great mentor, as she was sure to always put her students first and made sure that each one of her students got the help they needed. She was very positive and always communicated openly with us on what she expected for our class. What I personally appreciated was her willingness to build relationships with her students outside of the classroom. She was always willing to make time to meet with us one-on-one or in a group when we had questions or needed help with our work. Whether we needed help with schoolwork, other classes, or just life advice, she was always sure to be there for us, guiding us, and giving us confused college students advice. Krysten Stein’s teaching approach was one of the best I’ve seen so far at UIC, and I hope more professors use her approach as it will lead to better relationships with their students now and in the future to come.”
“Ms. Stein is hands-down the best instructor I’ve had the privilege of learning from at UIC. Not only did she teach me how to feel calm when presenting speeches in a communications class, but she also taught me how to be calm in the chaos of life. When I reached out to Ms. Stein for help during a very traumatic time in my life, I was overcome by such a warming feeling of support and care. She helped me through my situation by just being real with me. She is an incredible mentor in the ways that she values mental health, self-care, and advocacy. Ms. Stein offered me her support while also offering me her kindness and empathy. She helped me stay on top of my schoolwork and responsibilities while I was dealing with my situation. What felt impossible at the time soon became my reality, and I am so thankful that I had Ms. Stein to give me the push I needed. Her hands-on approach and genuine compassion for her students is what sets her apart from the rest. Ms. Stein is a gem, and I am so glad that I got to be both her student and mentee.”
“Professor Stein is one of the best people I have ever met. I wish she was teaching next semester. She doesn’t know, but she would completely turn an awful day around for me. She is such a kindhearted woman.”
“Krysten has already said that she’s not going to be teaching for the spring semester, but if you have the chance to get her again in the future, DO SO. She was incredible. Available, kind, understanding, flexible, respectful, a fantastic teacher, and always willing to go the extra step for us. I really, really enjoyed having her as a professor.”
“Krysten was always available for questions and I could relate to them a lot. She made me feel seen in our discussions.”
“I just wanted to reach out to you and say thank you for helping me with my capstone project! I presented the project last Monday, and it went really well! I ended up taking your advice on looking at girlhood through coquette, and I actually enjoyed working on it. I don’t know if you remember, but I struggled to navigate the project, and your guidance helped me figure things out! Anyway, I just wanted to thank you again, and I really appreciate you taking the time to help someone you didn’t know. I added some event pictures along with the link to my board. I haven’t finished the paper, but I’ll send it to you when I’m done. Thank you!”

Classroom Atmosphere and Engagement

“I was one of the lucky students to be in a communication class taught by Ms. Stein in her first semester as a professor at UIC. It has been by far my favorite class, and it was because Ms. Stein would go beyond, connecting with her students. She learned our names, she would ask us what our thorns and roses were at the beginning of every class, and she made us feel comfortable reaching out to her if we ever needed help with an assignment or simply chat with her. It was a class filled with positivity, super engaging. She made sure we weren’t with the same people all the time. She wanted for all of us to get to know each other, gain different perspectives by occasionally switching seats. Ms. Stein is very dedicated to her work, and that warmth and high energy are what I believe helped the class feel motivated and eager to learn.”
“Professor Stein, it was such a pleasure being in your class. You really helped develop one of the best class atmospheres in my college career. It was such a safe space that was simultaneously academically stimulating. I will be mentioning that in my course review!”
“The introduction games and activities which the professor conducted helped a lot in lifting my mood and making me adjust to the new environment. I remember calling my mom afterward and telling her that this class was by far my favorite.”
“Whenever I finished writing the outline for my presentation, it gave me a boost of confidence because the process made me understand how I was going to deliver the presentation. Second, the encouragement from the professor helped me feel comfortable and confident. I can clearly remember every time we finished a presentation, the professor would say, ‘Okay, you did it.’ And then we would cheer together. Such a process made me feel empowered and enthusiastic. She said what I wanted to say in my heart the most.”

Teaching Approach and Instructional Strategies

“Professor Stein catered to her students’ needs and was clear about her expectations for the class. She was a great professor and someone I would love to have again!”
“She recognized that I was a visual learner and created a visual structure for my speech outlines. Since then, I have been utilizing the house outline steps for all my base paragraph structuring.”
“The instructor was an amazing teacher and gave great guidance. I always felt comfortable asking questions, and she would give extremely helpful advice. I especially liked the way she would lay out her assignments and the rubric for it so we knew exactly what she was looking for. Overall, she is an amazing professor who every student seems to love.”
“Professor Stein was very good when it came to communication and showed enthusiasm in seeing me succeed in her class. She is very understanding and very kind; I wish this was not an online class and I could see her in person every week. She was very knowledgeable, which helped me in my own learning and development.”
“Krysten is a great person and a great teacher. She offers support and explanations for all the content in the course. Not only that, but she was very direct with the grades we received, which helped us improve as speakers and students.”
“The course was very well planned out. I really enjoyed this class, and it was definitely my most looked forward to class of the week. Krysten has been the best teacher that I have interacted with so far! She is always so fun and upbeat it makes me want to come to class! Also, the material in the book is very plainly put and easy to understand. I have learned a TON about writing outlines and giving speeches that I never knew before taking this course.”

Personal and Academic Growth

“Coming into this class I was nervous to do constant speeches, but Professor Stein was very understanding and believed in her students. I appreciate the feedback that was given in my presentations/speeches and look forward to using all the knowledge I learned in this amazing class onto future courses and in real-life situations such as job interviews, and much more. This class taught me how to be confident and strive for my goals no matter the circumstances.”
“This class has helped build my confidence and allowed me to understand what I really wanted, which was to become a nurse. So thank you so much for this class atmosphere, Professor Stein. I am thankful that I was able to take this class with you!”
“I really benefited from Krysten’s enthusiasm and willingness to go over things a million times if it meant it would help us understand something better. She was very patient, understanding, thorough, and effective in teaching.”
“At the very beginning of this course, I knew nothing about the organization of a speech. Due to this, my self-introduction speech was not that good. But then, I had a Zoom meeting with the professor, in which she explained to me in-depth about how to build my speech. She told me to compare my speech to the structure of a house. She further explained that the introduction of a speech needs to be solid like the foundation of a house, the body should act as the middle of the house, where all the action takes place, and finally, the conclusion should finish the speech with a bang, as an icing on a cake, strong like the roof of a house. Comparing the speech with such an easy structure helped me a lot to understand it more precisely. With more practice and usage, I was finally able to crack the code of how the organization should be in a speech. I was then able to use an appropriate pattern of organization for the given topics. Now, I can definitely say that I know how to organize a speech from scratch.”
“Throughout this semester I became a way stronger public speaker, and I owe it all to this class. This class helped me in every aspect I needed help in, and Professor Stein was definitely the nicest, most helpful, and most understanding professor I have had this semester, and I thank her a lot for all she did in the past few months. I hope to carry these skills through my other classes and presentations, and I will always look back and remember what I learned from this class.”
“I found it to be extremely beneficial the energy that Krysten brought to the class each and every morning. Her passion and energy in the classroom encouraged me to actively participate in the class. I wasn’t too enthused about taking this course in the beginning, but Professor Stein quickly changed that, and this became one of my favorite courses.”

Communication, Accessibility, and Support

“Krysten was absolutely wonderful. She has helped everything go smoothly, and being an online student, I really appreciate that. She always responds to my emails quickly, sometimes in just minutes. She checks up to see how I’m doing and is always a wealth of knowledge. I couldn’t be happier! I can’t stress enough how helpful and pleasant she is to work with. The best for sure.”
“She was very accommodating with technical issues or general life issues as long as she was contacted beforehand.”
“Professor Stein was very comforting and always wanted to genuinely help.”
“She was very clear and concise in the material that was due, as well as sending reminder emails.”
“Krysten was very understanding about any issues that came up with assignments or deadlines.”
“Professor Stein was effective in communication with students and was attentive to their needs (fast and responsive emails). Class discussions were fun, and the atmosphere of the classroom was enough to brighten my day.”

Classroom Inclusivity and Student-Centered Learning

“Krysten accepts my individuality. She makes me feel very comfortable when asking questions and increases my self-efficacy as a student. She is very knowledgeable, very patient, concerned for the student’s academic well-being, and is a very nice person.”
“The course was designed to be adaptable, and it was evident Professor Stein cared about the well-being of the class. This helped the class bond and learn better! The amount of collaboration helped everyone share ideas and tackle theories most of us had not used.”
“Krysten was very warm and welcoming to the students of her class, which allowed the discussion to be fun and interactive.”
“She created a safe and engaging classroom environment.”
“She was very understanding and sweet. Also, she was always willing to help out students and answer any questions.”
“The amount of collaboration helped everyone share ideas and tackle theories most of us had not used.”

Enthusiasm, Energy, and Student Connection

“Public speaking is such a big fear of so many people, and to have a teacher actually get the class excited about speaking is amazing! I loved this class and Professor Stein.”
“Krysten was very enthusiastic and nice to be around. She taught the material very well, and I always felt comfortable asking questions.”
“Her passion and energy in the classroom encouraged me to actively participate in the class.”
“Krysten is a great teacher. She came to class every day with a smile and was enthusiastic about EVERYTHING! Having such an enthusiastic teacher made me enthusiastic about the course.”
“She was very effective and a great leader for the hard conversations we had.”
“Loved her amazing conversations; they were always interesting.”

Feedback, Resources, and Practical Application

“I also cannot thank Professor Stein enough for the endless resources that she provided us with.”
“She gave constructive feedback and always pushed us to do our best.”
“The rubrics were well laid out and made the expectations of the students very clear.”
“I liked the feedback from Professor Stein in her emails with thorough explanations and advice.”
“Professor Stein was extremely kind and helpful through all of the assignments and all of the classes.”
“The examples as well were nice to see… She also provided excellent reading sources.”
“Professor Stein was very good at keeping people engaged with the course content and always stopped to make sure everybody understood.”
“The video examples and outline templates were relatively helpful for me to work on the speeches. I also like how we discuss as a class about the next required speech, and what needs improvement for better performance next time.”
“Loved the presentations/lectures. Krysten was very good at keeping people engaged with the course content and always stopped to make sure everybody understood the material. It was also always very helpful that she made it clear what was expected of us, which helped with doing assignments. She also took a lot of time to help explain the speech assignments individually to those who needed it.”
“The assignments were focused on students’ own, personal perspectives, which I think was a great way to introduce and analyze this topic.”
“I really liked the presentation slides, especially because they would outline the important components that needed to be included in our speeches and in general, important communication concepts. Professor Stein was really sweet and would be willing to meet with you if you needed help with your speech or needed clarification. She gave constructive feedback and always pushed us to do our best.”