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Last kind words from students

These testimonials are from the last cohort I taught in 2020 for ‘Research Methods’ to B. Social Work students. After 20 years of service, teaching 10,000+ students in total, they were lovely words to leave with. I hold onto them because my last university did not want to recognise this contribution. One of the two white women deciding my academic progression said “it’s good to be bold but don’t you think you’re being too bold?” and the other said “I can’t see what you’ve done since last promotion” as she held my 30-page application that took me a year to write. White women are the greatest beneficiaries of ‘DEI’ (diversity, equity, and inclusion) but can become the foot soldiers of racialised patriarchal capitalism. What they couldn’t see was how much money I had brought to the university, which is all they were scanning for. My denied promotion to a level that was beneath what I should have been applying for at that stage in my career (i.e. Associate vs Full Professor) led to a moral injury where the symptoms overlap with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and where I discovered that less than 2% of women of colour are promoted to Professor. Denying this overdue earned title is how universities quickly signify to others whose knowledge should NOT be taken seriously and paid for. It’s a particular slap in the face when some people are employed as Professor without a PhD - something that grotesquely occurs in Australian universities. The shocking racist sexist gaslighting of these two women caused me to build this site.

  • “I am extremely happy with my experience”

  • “Pooja is definitely a huge asset to the Griffith teaching team.”

  • “Providing the exemplars for the research proposal assignment was incredible and a saviour!”

  • “Loved the lecture recorded videos. Much better than sitting through the usual pre-recorded ones.”

  • “The lectures were online, allowed me to self-pace and not become too overwhelmed with the content.”

  • “Big credit to Pooja for the way she organises and delivers the course. She made it enjoyable and interesting.”

  • “Thank you so much for a very interesting and informative unit. Even though we didn’t get to meet it was a pleasure listening to you.”

  • “This course content is well developed and concise. It is easy to access each week lecture and tutorial/workshop via online, anytime anywhere.”

  • “She is one of the amazing lecturer, who has been there for me. Her way of delivering the course material is excellent because I can re listen to it again and again.”

  • “Pooja’s weekly recordings were so in-depth, I never felt as though I was missing out and I found it very easy to keep up to date with all the course information.”

  • “The lecturer presented the information well and is enjoyable to listen to. The person who teaches the course can really make or break it and she makes it enjoyable.”

  • “I really enjoyed Pooja as a teacher. She is fun and energised. I am used to falling asleep and HATE listening to lectures but I listened and enjoyed every one of hers. she is engaging.”

  • “Pooja provides a lot of time and energy to the students – via emails regularly updating and encouraging us; through the discussion board by answering questions and encouraging discussion, and "in person" to multiple campuses and in multiple formats (i.e. online collaborate tutorials, normal tutorials).”

  • “Prerecorded lectures for the both online and on-campus cohort is appreciated as an online student. It is an easy way to learn and there is no wondering if you missed something that was said on campus but not told to online students. It is much better than watching a recorded on-campus lecture.”

  • “She was one of the best teachers I ever had. She was very organised and clear on her teaching. It was very easy to follow the course because of her teaching style and friendliness.”

  • “No improvement, the content was so well delivered. For what could be a very difficult (dare I say dry!) subject, the content was engaging and clear, I could listen to those lectures, again and again, Pooja was so engaging.”

  • “I actually really enjoyed the set up of this course. The lecture videos coupled with the ‘tutorial time’ was a fantastic format for the delivery of this course. The content and its logical delivery was another thing I really enjoyed.”

  • “The best part about this course was Pooja. This was a very difficult course for me, but she was very efficient and thorough in her responses to all my questions on the discussion board. I also really liked the format of the course content. Having recorded videos where you can see the lecturer is much more engaging and helped me to completely understand the content.”

  • “Pooja remained eternally optimistic that we could all get through this course and never doubted any of us. I really valued her belief in us all, positive energy and boundless encouragement. She explains the content thoroughly and well - even with the poor sound on the online lectures, the content is very straight forward to follow. Pooja, you are one of my favourite lecturers! Xx”

  • “The course content was well structured and easy to follow each week. I enjoyed being able to watch the lecture online before coming to class. The lectures were very informative. At the beginning I thought I may struggle without it being face-to-face but I was able to consolidate the learning and ask Pooja questions in the workshop/tute.”

  • “Pooja has a great breadth of knowledge and was open to supporting students around concepts they did not understand. Also I found the assessments though challenging really worth the work as I learnt so much. Probably one of my favourite courses. Lectures were outstanding and easy to understand and the online delivery made it even more easier to stop pause and re-listen to ensure the content was understood.”

  • “This course has been amazing, I feel I’ve learnt so much and have been inspired to pursue research, no matter the outcome of the assignment and exam. You have a wonderful presence and make the course really enjoyable. I also wanted to say the online lectures were amazing as it gave me time to actually digest all the content. I don’t feel academics get the praise they should for all the hard work they put in and the passion the show for teaching.”

  • “Pooja was hands down AMAZING!! I cannot fault her teaching and passion for research. It was wonderful to see someone who is so intelligent be able to teach (what can be a very dry subject), to novice students. Pooja showed perseverance and patience in her teaching and went the extra mile to assist any student. She was always more than happy to help and was truly set on helping us achieve the best results. She has a great sense of humor and did an outstanding job of making a 'dry' subject interesting and engaging. She was also very quick to answer emails and would provide lengthy feedback and answers to questions. Thank you Pooja. I really appreciate your passion and attention to detail in your teaching methods. I am grateful to have had you this semester and hope we cross paths again. * Please recognise the lengths that Pooja goes to for her students”