Professor
Laurence Smith
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Most Helpful Review
professor smith was very entertaining. his lectures were straight forward and he has a great sense of humor (even when he found out that he forgot to zip up his pants). the only problem with the class was not him, but his ta's. they were horrible. i would definitely recommend him, but he needs to get a new set of ta's.
professor smith was very entertaining. his lectures were straight forward and he has a great sense of humor (even when he found out that he forgot to zip up his pants). the only problem with the class was not him, but his ta's. they were horrible. i would definitely recommend him, but he needs to get a new set of ta's.
Most Helpful Review
I took the class as a GE and expected it to be pretty easy. Being a person who cannot take multiple choice tests, I completely bombed his first midterm because he writes the most confusing questions. I ended up having to take it P/NP just so it wouldn't affect my gpa. His lectures drag on and I had a hard time paying attention. Don't take this course if you expect an easy A
I took the class as a GE and expected it to be pretty easy. Being a person who cannot take multiple choice tests, I completely bombed his first midterm because he writes the most confusing questions. I ended up having to take it P/NP just so it wouldn't affect my gpa. His lectures drag on and I had a hard time paying attention. Don't take this course if you expect an easy A
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Most Helpful Review
Course: Geography 119 (ignore 599 above; the class I took wasn't in the drop down) I just took his new class, Geog 119, "Biophysical and Social Transformations in the Northern Regions." Although the title is a bit of a mouthful, the class was absolutely fantastic. He decided to structure it in an "experimental" way, with no exams. The focus was on two presentations each person did: a "student presentation and discussion," which was a powerpoint given with a partner intended to incite discussion with the class, and the final presentation in a larger group (4 in our case) on the last day on a topic related to the course but branching out in some way. The weekly class discussions took up at least half of the lecture period and were very fun and thought-provoking. There were weekly quizzes intended to make sure you did the reading, but if you're like me, you will WANT to do the reading. The professor teaches mostly from his own book ("The World in 2050"), which is written for general audiences so it presents information in a colorful and intriguing way. It is a significant amount of reading, but it's really worth it if you are interested in the material. So, if you're at all interested in the environmental, economic, and social future of northern countries (like Canada and Russia) and the coming changes to the arctic itself, I highly recommend this class. Just to be clear, even though there were no exams, it was not an "easy A" class. The weekly quizzes were actually quite detailed (the professor was still working on writing good questions that weren't too difficult), and we had to turn in a weekly discussion statement about what we read (<1 page). So, reading is definitely a must. Of course, the prof is still working out the structure of the course, so any of these details could change.
Course: Geography 119 (ignore 599 above; the class I took wasn't in the drop down) I just took his new class, Geog 119, "Biophysical and Social Transformations in the Northern Regions." Although the title is a bit of a mouthful, the class was absolutely fantastic. He decided to structure it in an "experimental" way, with no exams. The focus was on two presentations each person did: a "student presentation and discussion," which was a powerpoint given with a partner intended to incite discussion with the class, and the final presentation in a larger group (4 in our case) on the last day on a topic related to the course but branching out in some way. The weekly class discussions took up at least half of the lecture period and were very fun and thought-provoking. There were weekly quizzes intended to make sure you did the reading, but if you're like me, you will WANT to do the reading. The professor teaches mostly from his own book ("The World in 2050"), which is written for general audiences so it presents information in a colorful and intriguing way. It is a significant amount of reading, but it's really worth it if you are interested in the material. So, if you're at all interested in the environmental, economic, and social future of northern countries (like Canada and Russia) and the coming changes to the arctic itself, I highly recommend this class. Just to be clear, even though there were no exams, it was not an "easy A" class. The weekly quizzes were actually quite detailed (the professor was still working on writing good questions that weren't too difficult), and we had to turn in a weekly discussion statement about what we read (<1 page). So, reading is definitely a must. Of course, the prof is still working out the structure of the course, so any of these details could change.
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