Professor
Robert Wayne
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2019 - Pretty chill weekly lectures, many people from Wayne Lab as well as guest speakers are present in the class giving information on their involvement in biodiversity studies and ecology so this could be a great way to make connections if you're interested in the field. However, the main focus of the class was the weekly field trips on almost every Saturday morning (the first and last of which are mandatory, and you're required to go to at least one other field trip) where we got to go to interesting natural habitats around LA, hike around, collect some environmental DNA, and take pictures using the iNaturalist app to record what biodiversity we saw. The field trips are absolutely FREE, and honestly I would have gone to almost all of them if I could, as they were all extremely interesting and sometimes let you go some cool natural areas that you wouldn't be able to access individually (like the Carpinteria Salt Marsh Reserve, which has a really nice beach). If you don't know what you would do on Saturdays as a freshman otherwise, and you're interested in biology and nature, this class is definitely worth a shot. There are some slight downsides, and that includes the weekly assignments, which often require you to watch some videos or read articles, sometimes followed by creating a doc to record some information about what you learned (one week we learned about ecosystems, the other about geology, etc.) I personally felt that these could be somewhat tedious for a 1 unit class, and often the lectures that were supposed to follow up on them felt slightly disorganized, even if you did do the assignment. An iClicker is required for participation during class. Since it's a pass-fail, there's almost no danger of you getting a bad grade, but it did lead to some awkward moments during lecture when the professor asked us about what we learned. Plus, it's initially a bit confusing to understand how exactly to collect the environmental DNA and record the samples on the field trips, so you kind of have to figure things out on the spot in the first field trip (and have the TAs lowkey carry you). Also there's a lab notebook entry and trip survey you have to work on after every field trip so it's not all fun and games. All things considered though, the overall workload is relatively light, the professors are eager to chat if you want to learn more, and you'll get to enjoy some interesting trips. At worst, at least there are no tests/final.
Fall 2019 - Pretty chill weekly lectures, many people from Wayne Lab as well as guest speakers are present in the class giving information on their involvement in biodiversity studies and ecology so this could be a great way to make connections if you're interested in the field. However, the main focus of the class was the weekly field trips on almost every Saturday morning (the first and last of which are mandatory, and you're required to go to at least one other field trip) where we got to go to interesting natural habitats around LA, hike around, collect some environmental DNA, and take pictures using the iNaturalist app to record what biodiversity we saw. The field trips are absolutely FREE, and honestly I would have gone to almost all of them if I could, as they were all extremely interesting and sometimes let you go some cool natural areas that you wouldn't be able to access individually (like the Carpinteria Salt Marsh Reserve, which has a really nice beach). If you don't know what you would do on Saturdays as a freshman otherwise, and you're interested in biology and nature, this class is definitely worth a shot. There are some slight downsides, and that includes the weekly assignments, which often require you to watch some videos or read articles, sometimes followed by creating a doc to record some information about what you learned (one week we learned about ecosystems, the other about geology, etc.) I personally felt that these could be somewhat tedious for a 1 unit class, and often the lectures that were supposed to follow up on them felt slightly disorganized, even if you did do the assignment. An iClicker is required for participation during class. Since it's a pass-fail, there's almost no danger of you getting a bad grade, but it did lead to some awkward moments during lecture when the professor asked us about what we learned. Plus, it's initially a bit confusing to understand how exactly to collect the environmental DNA and record the samples on the field trips, so you kind of have to figure things out on the spot in the first field trip (and have the TAs lowkey carry you). Also there's a lab notebook entry and trip survey you have to work on after every field trip so it's not all fun and games. All things considered though, the overall workload is relatively light, the professors are eager to chat if you want to learn more, and you'll get to enjoy some interesting trips. At worst, at least there are no tests/final.
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2021 - Be aware of a heavy workload if you want to take this class. There are videos/readings to watch/read and a quiz before each lecture. The topics are pretty interesting and lectures are engaging, but the requirement for participation can become draining. The most tedious and difficult part of this class was writing the midterm and final papers. Directions were a bit unclear and it was extremely difficult trying to come up with topics that could be tested with the data available. Also, since the course was online this quarter, we didn't have any data to use for the final paper, which made everything pretty confusing. Overall, this was an interesting class, but it's probably a lot more work than you would expect.
Winter 2021 - Be aware of a heavy workload if you want to take this class. There are videos/readings to watch/read and a quiz before each lecture. The topics are pretty interesting and lectures are engaging, but the requirement for participation can become draining. The most tedious and difficult part of this class was writing the midterm and final papers. Directions were a bit unclear and it was extremely difficult trying to come up with topics that could be tested with the data available. Also, since the course was online this quarter, we didn't have any data to use for the final paper, which made everything pretty confusing. Overall, this was an interesting class, but it's probably a lot more work than you would expect.
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Most Helpful Review
Professor Wayne is a really nice guy, and he's a very good lecturer. But he teaches this class expecting his students to know how to do LS4 work, such as calculate heritability and loss of heterozygosity. This isn't a requirement for the class, and I have never taken LS4 before, so on the second midterm when he asked us to bring calculators to class and expected us to know how to do these calculations, I was completely lost. He does curve the class which is nice. The reading he assigns us is very long and a lot of fluff with not a lot of content. Lastly, we have weekly quizzes on articles that are read in discussion. They say that they won't ask questions that are extremely detailed, but THEY DO! This class is not at all what I thought a conservation biology class was going to be about. It took me by surprise for sure.
Professor Wayne is a really nice guy, and he's a very good lecturer. But he teaches this class expecting his students to know how to do LS4 work, such as calculate heritability and loss of heterozygosity. This isn't a requirement for the class, and I have never taken LS4 before, so on the second midterm when he asked us to bring calculators to class and expected us to know how to do these calculations, I was completely lost. He does curve the class which is nice. The reading he assigns us is very long and a lot of fluff with not a lot of content. Lastly, we have weekly quizzes on articles that are read in discussion. They say that they won't ask questions that are extremely detailed, but THEY DO! This class is not at all what I thought a conservation biology class was going to be about. It took me by surprise for sure.
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Most Helpful Review
This class was for : EEB 116 (choice was not offered...) This professor always held review sessions before the exams, which was nice of him. However, it is a Q and A session. Which also can be not helpful at all. There will be a lot of silent moments. He tells everyone to read the book for the class. But if you ask him material from the book, he won’t really know what it is. So, I suggest not really wasting time reading the book for the class. His lecturing style is a little dry. He tends to talk more about the mathematical models of conservation biology, which can be dry anyways. Also, his slides are totally unorganized. He tends to have a lot of pictures along with the information that he talks about. These pictures are important for the exam, as he will ask for an example about a topic, which will be from that one picture that shows up on the slide. He also includes several important names on his lecture slides, that he won’t provide notes with. They will always be on the exam. What is nice is that he gives you equations, so you don’t need to memorize MOST of them. There are some equations he “forgets” to give you and that you should be familiar with. For the final exam, he gave no equations yet we needed one to answer a question. But in all, the exams were more difficult than I expected. They marked me off 3 points for naming a seal, instead of an otter even though I knew the concept. I thought that was pretty stupid. Although his lectures are considered very disorganized. If you actually plot them out into an outline, they do make sense. It just doesn't make sense in powerpoint format.
This class was for : EEB 116 (choice was not offered...) This professor always held review sessions before the exams, which was nice of him. However, it is a Q and A session. Which also can be not helpful at all. There will be a lot of silent moments. He tells everyone to read the book for the class. But if you ask him material from the book, he won’t really know what it is. So, I suggest not really wasting time reading the book for the class. His lecturing style is a little dry. He tends to talk more about the mathematical models of conservation biology, which can be dry anyways. Also, his slides are totally unorganized. He tends to have a lot of pictures along with the information that he talks about. These pictures are important for the exam, as he will ask for an example about a topic, which will be from that one picture that shows up on the slide. He also includes several important names on his lecture slides, that he won’t provide notes with. They will always be on the exam. What is nice is that he gives you equations, so you don’t need to memorize MOST of them. There are some equations he “forgets” to give you and that you should be familiar with. For the final exam, he gave no equations yet we needed one to answer a question. But in all, the exams were more difficult than I expected. They marked me off 3 points for naming a seal, instead of an otter even though I knew the concept. I thought that was pretty stupid. Although his lectures are considered very disorganized. If you actually plot them out into an outline, they do make sense. It just doesn't make sense in powerpoint format.
Most Helpful Review
EEB 116 Conservation was an incredibly interesting class that I would highly recommend taking. However, it is not very easy as lectures are slightly unorganized and random. No one that i know did very well on the tests, either, but it is not as bad as everyone from the years past say.
EEB 116 Conservation was an incredibly interesting class that I would highly recommend taking. However, it is not very easy as lectures are slightly unorganized and random. No one that i know did very well on the tests, either, but it is not as bad as everyone from the years past say.
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