How to be a better teacher: ‘madness’ and media mash-ups

I am a current student at the London School of Economics and Political Science who has had the privilege of studying under Dr Shakuntala Banaji. In some ways, the institution has delivered what I was expecting, and in other respects, it has disappointed me. It is highly bureaucratic, entirely unaccountable, and bloated with administrative staff whose performance does not appear to be measured. However, I could not fault the institution’s teaching quality. I have learned so much during my year here and have been challenged by every academic that I’ve interacted with. In particular, my experience at the LSE has been enriched by Dr Banaji. During her lectures and seminars she has consistently broken theory down into engaging and accessible terms, and fostered a classroom dynamic that few others could manage. I am very glad that her commitment and dedication to teaching has been recognized – and if more academics could take cues from her, higher education would be better for it.

I am a Chinese student invovled in Dr. Banaji's programme MSc in Media Communication and Development (MCD), this is the best choice that I have made for doing MCD at LSE. As I see it, Dr. Banaji sometimes is willing to help and will be always there whenever you are in need. I am quite impressed how she could manage so much work as she has been spending plenty of time with students. Specifically, Her bookable office hours is always booked quickly to full and drop-in session normally sees a long queue outside of her office. In the class, Dr. Shaku gives everyone voice to express their opinions, especially thoes who are not confident enough. I hope my English could have been better, then I could have contributed more in lectures and seminars.