So the last day of school has come upon us (UBC Students). Time for the first Miss and Diss of 2005 Winter Semester. I believe that I had a pretty good semester this term. I didn't fail any midterm exams, so that's a good start. Final exams is coming up soon and I am not in the position to say whether I am to pass or fail them at this moment because I haven't started studying. Miss and Diss is a "category" of this blog where I would like to talk about the course and professors I've had this past semester. Anyway, let's start:
CPSC 101 (
Holger Hoos) - This guy was a good teacher at the beginning of the term. He was very clear in what he wanted to express and I didn't have much problems understanding him. However, he was very slow with his answers to questions and emails from students. Whenever he is asked a question, he would just tell the student to think about it ourselves. Well, if we knew the answers, we wouldn't have needed to ask the question. Overall, the course covered easy materials of computing science, you would never have to open the book once as long as your paid attention in class. You were never required to write code, just read and understand it. It's a pretty Artsy class; stuff they had on the exams were more trivial than I had expected (ie. Who made the first computer graphics drawing?)
CPSC 111 (
Kris De Volder) - Kris was a nice guy, no doubt - but he can't teach. He tries really hard to be a good teacher by doing in-class surveys so he can understand what students are having trouble with. But because the surveys slowed down the class so much, some topics covered in other classes of CPSC 111 weren't covered in ours (ie. Sorting). You can tell he tries his best to explain to students the concepts, but most of the time he ends up repeating himself, which basically makes him go around in circles. CPSC 111 wasn't a bad course. If you're interested in programming I would definitely recommend this class. Infact, I found it to be pretty fun.
MATH 180 (
Jesse Goodman) - Jesse was a really nice guy. Very smart and knows his Math really well. When I was in Grade 12, so many teachers told me that I was going to get screwed over in university if I didn't take Calculus 12. Well, I didn't take Calculus 12, which is why I had to take MATH 180 instead of MATH 100. However, Jesse made calculus understandable. He was really good at explaining the concepts and I actually understood most of the stuff that was taught in class. And if we happen to come by a topic that I still don't understand after class, reading the book definitely helped. MATH 180 makes you go to class for 4 hours a week instead of the usual 3, but it is well worth it if you have a teacher like Jesse.
PHYS 101 (
Frances Bates) - Fran was the head of the Physics department at UBC. She definitely knows her Physics, but she's not always good at explaining the theory behind it. She speaks too quietly in class, so it's sometimes difficult to hear her. And the mic/speakers at Hebb Theatre doesn't help either (they give off way too much feedback). Anyhow, Fran isn't the greatest teacher, but she's not THAT bad either. Before midterms she'd spend a day to give us a mock midterm for us to practice. It was very useful. I thought PHYS 101 was difficult at first because I didn't know what was going on and it was difficult understanding her. Once having the first midterm, I felt a lot more confident.
** If you have any teachers you would like to talk about, feel free to post them in the comments **
