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Donald Browne
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Based on 15 Users
Let's be honest. No one likes this class. It is, however, one of the two classes that satisfy the ethics requirement for engineers--and from what I heard from friends in 183, this class (185) is much better.
I took this class in Fall 2016, which was the first time that Don co-taught with Jon Fong, a guest lecturer of sorts who worked in industry for 30 years. While Don gives half the lectures and talks about ethical case studies (which are an absolute snooze-fest), Jon gives business-type lectures which help immensely with the group project. The group project (5-6 people per group) is a quarter-long project which essentially has you design a consumer product that fulfills an unmet customer need, and go through all the technicalities of it as if you were part of a start-up (feasibility, detailed specs, financials, risks, etc). Although this group project is a pain in the arse because Don and Jon give little to no direction on how to do it or even what they want, by the end of the quarter, I felt that I had learned something from it. That's the difference between 183 and 185; 183 is ALL ethics stuff, while 185 is half ethics and half business for engineers. Jon and Don are still working on their partnership and I think by next quarter or the quarter after, it has the potential to be a pretty neat class (well, Jon's business lectures at least). For now, it's an absolute disaster, with no concrete deadlines, no guidance as to what exactly they want, assignments getting submitted into the black hole of CCLE without ever getting a grade or feedback, and other annoying events.
One important point: TAKE NOTES. Our final was a (surprise) open note final, and I had stopped taking notes early in the quarter, so I regretted that. Don posts most of his lecture slides but there are hardly any words on them, so write down what he says.
TL;DR: frustrating class, and Don is an extremely boring lecturer, but it's better than the 183 alternative and you might actually learn something about business.
This class suuuuucked. Granted, it was during the COVID quarter. However, this was the most disorganized class I have ever been a part of. Browne stopped posting lectures week 2, and didn't tell us why until week 9, leaving us in total confusion for most of the quarter and forcing us to catch up in the two weeks before the final. Jon was a little better, but still not helpful whatsoever. You don't really have a choice in taking this class, though, so good luck. From what I've heard, 185 and 183 are equally bad.
Let's be honest. No one likes this class. It is, however, one of the two classes that satisfy the ethics requirement for engineers--and from what I heard from friends in 183, this class (185) is much better.
I took this class in Fall 2016, which was the first time that Don co-taught with Jon Fong, a guest lecturer of sorts who worked in industry for 30 years. While Don gives half the lectures and talks about ethical case studies (which are an absolute snooze-fest), Jon gives business-type lectures which help immensely with the group project. The group project (5-6 people per group) is a quarter-long project which essentially has you design a consumer product that fulfills an unmet customer need, and go through all the technicalities of it as if you were part of a start-up (feasibility, detailed specs, financials, risks, etc). Although this group project is a pain in the arse because Don and Jon give little to no direction on how to do it or even what they want, by the end of the quarter, I felt that I had learned something from it. That's the difference between 183 and 185; 183 is ALL ethics stuff, while 185 is half ethics and half business for engineers. Jon and Don are still working on their partnership and I think by next quarter or the quarter after, it has the potential to be a pretty neat class (well, Jon's business lectures at least). For now, it's an absolute disaster, with no concrete deadlines, no guidance as to what exactly they want, assignments getting submitted into the black hole of CCLE without ever getting a grade or feedback, and other annoying events.
One important point: TAKE NOTES. Our final was a (surprise) open note final, and I had stopped taking notes early in the quarter, so I regretted that. Don posts most of his lecture slides but there are hardly any words on them, so write down what he says.
TL;DR: frustrating class, and Don is an extremely boring lecturer, but it's better than the 183 alternative and you might actually learn something about business.
This class suuuuucked. Granted, it was during the COVID quarter. However, this was the most disorganized class I have ever been a part of. Browne stopped posting lectures week 2, and didn't tell us why until week 9, leaving us in total confusion for most of the quarter and forcing us to catch up in the two weeks before the final. Jon was a little better, but still not helpful whatsoever. You don't really have a choice in taking this class, though, so good luck. From what I've heard, 185 and 183 are equally bad.