Professor
Ryan Lannan
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2021 - Lannan was a new teacher this quarter, so there is room for improvement. However, he wasn’t that great of a lecturer since he was just reusing Pham’s (the original teacher) slides. Quite frequently the slides would confuse him, and he would just stop and stare at them for a few minutes while the students just sat there. Explanation-wise, he also wasn’t that great—mostly given how disorganized he was when talking. He would also introduce ideas for projects and such but keep scrapping them as things turned up (likely more of an issue given he was a very new teacher). His exams were fair, but he was very unforgiving on them. As a test taker, I tend to make quite a few minor mistakes that I usually only get marked a few points off for. Lannan would mark you down almost all the points on the problem, which is what brought down everyone’s test grades (from what I understand talking to other students--the test averages were typically in the low 70s). The time crunch on the midterms was also a factor in that. The tests were also the majority of your grade. Furthermore, our original extra credit was through Mentimeter and discussion attendance. However, he realized he couldn't track students through Mentimeter and exchanged the participation-based extra credit with a very intensive group video project. These two extra credits (Mentimeter vs. group video) were not equivalent, and the amount of effort was not work it for the percent boost it gave. Even despite that, he graded these group projects very harshly (where Mentimeter was going to be for participation)--my group spent a long time on ours just to get an A-. He was very nice, passionate about the subject, and tried to be accommodating to students, but I just don’t really recommend him. TL;DR: new teacher + bad lecturer + manageable tests, but harshly graded (There are more reviews for this class on his PEERS entry since 14C was just added to his profile)
Fall 2021 - Lannan was a new teacher this quarter, so there is room for improvement. However, he wasn’t that great of a lecturer since he was just reusing Pham’s (the original teacher) slides. Quite frequently the slides would confuse him, and he would just stop and stare at them for a few minutes while the students just sat there. Explanation-wise, he also wasn’t that great—mostly given how disorganized he was when talking. He would also introduce ideas for projects and such but keep scrapping them as things turned up (likely more of an issue given he was a very new teacher). His exams were fair, but he was very unforgiving on them. As a test taker, I tend to make quite a few minor mistakes that I usually only get marked a few points off for. Lannan would mark you down almost all the points on the problem, which is what brought down everyone’s test grades (from what I understand talking to other students--the test averages were typically in the low 70s). The time crunch on the midterms was also a factor in that. The tests were also the majority of your grade. Furthermore, our original extra credit was through Mentimeter and discussion attendance. However, he realized he couldn't track students through Mentimeter and exchanged the participation-based extra credit with a very intensive group video project. These two extra credits (Mentimeter vs. group video) were not equivalent, and the amount of effort was not work it for the percent boost it gave. Even despite that, he graded these group projects very harshly (where Mentimeter was going to be for participation)--my group spent a long time on ours just to get an A-. He was very nice, passionate about the subject, and tried to be accommodating to students, but I just don’t really recommend him. TL;DR: new teacher + bad lecturer + manageable tests, but harshly graded (There are more reviews for this class on his PEERS entry since 14C was just added to his profile)
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2021 - BruinWalk hasn't added Professor Lannan under Chem 14C yet, so I'll write this review here instead. Here is the grading distribution for the class this quarter: 22.5% MT1 22.5% MT2 40% Final 15% Problem Sets - (2.5% EC for attending 8/10 discussion sections) (2.5% EC for optional video project) (0.25% mid-quarter TA feedback) LECTURE Unfortunately, lecture was the weakest part of the course. Professor Lannan’s slides were almost a direct copy from Pham’s old slides and, as a result, he often got confused while lecturing. Sometimes he would pause and stare at the slides trying to figure out a concept for minutes on end while trying to understand the slide. Many of my friends ended up not going to lecture frequently and taught the majority of the course to themselves (and ended up understanding the material way better than me). In addition, we ended up skipping over entire concepts like CNMR and peptide bonds/amino acids. Instead of buying and using iClicker, Prof. Lannan hoped for us to use a free software called Mentimeter for participation. By the second lecture this plan had fallen apart and the original participation points were now a group extra credit video project that we had to complete outside of class. This video project could be about pretty much anything covered in the class but was pretty much busy work. In addition, there was a campuswire for the class for people to ask questions on and he often held office hours late at night and uploaded lecture recordings which I appreciate. DISCUSSION Discussion was not mandatory but we had the chance to get 2.5% extra credit for attending 8/10 of the classes. I really enjoyed my discussion section with my TA, Thomas. I’m sure many students can agree that Thomas was a great TA to have and honestly saved the class for me. Since it wasn’t required, we could do pretty much anything we felt necessary during discussion. Sometimes Thomas would lecture on topics from class or we would work on that week’s problem set. Thomas’ explanations were always super helpful and his flexibility was much appreciated. Also, the problems that he created for the problem sets were genuinely really thoughtful and helped us to understand the material at a deeper level. PROBLEM SETS There was around one problem set due each week during the quarter. It was graded on completeness except for one question the was graded on correctness. These problem sets were generally helpful, not too time consuming, and had questions very similar to ones on the exam. EXAMS Overall, the exams were definitley not as challenging as other 14C ones that I have seen. BUT WITH THAT BEING SAID, the vast majority of the class are second-years that, up until now, had not taken any in-person college exams up until this quarter. We also had not covered the same material as the other 14C exams. Having to re-adjust to the pressures of an in-person test is difficult regardless of the material ESPECIALLY when exams are worth 85% of your grade. Lannan’s tests tended to be extremely unforgiving as well. By the final, he had shifted away from reasoning/explanation questions to “circle the x that” questions with no partial credit. There were 3 dedicated in-person review sessions before each exam. The ones for the midterm were run by the TAs while the one for the final was run by Professor Lannan himself. Also, Professor Lannan did end up curving the tests by around 3-6% each time and accepted regrades, which I appreciated. The class itself is graded on a standard scale. Note that the other section with Ow had their tests completely online. OVERALL At the time of enrollment, Pham was the listed professor for both sections. Around a week before the quarter started, Pham was switched to a different class and Lannan became our prof. Professor Lannan seems to really care about teaching and chemistry, but the sudden change of classes made him unprepared for the quarter.
Fall 2021 - BruinWalk hasn't added Professor Lannan under Chem 14C yet, so I'll write this review here instead. Here is the grading distribution for the class this quarter: 22.5% MT1 22.5% MT2 40% Final 15% Problem Sets - (2.5% EC for attending 8/10 discussion sections) (2.5% EC for optional video project) (0.25% mid-quarter TA feedback) LECTURE Unfortunately, lecture was the weakest part of the course. Professor Lannan’s slides were almost a direct copy from Pham’s old slides and, as a result, he often got confused while lecturing. Sometimes he would pause and stare at the slides trying to figure out a concept for minutes on end while trying to understand the slide. Many of my friends ended up not going to lecture frequently and taught the majority of the course to themselves (and ended up understanding the material way better than me). In addition, we ended up skipping over entire concepts like CNMR and peptide bonds/amino acids. Instead of buying and using iClicker, Prof. Lannan hoped for us to use a free software called Mentimeter for participation. By the second lecture this plan had fallen apart and the original participation points were now a group extra credit video project that we had to complete outside of class. This video project could be about pretty much anything covered in the class but was pretty much busy work. In addition, there was a campuswire for the class for people to ask questions on and he often held office hours late at night and uploaded lecture recordings which I appreciate. DISCUSSION Discussion was not mandatory but we had the chance to get 2.5% extra credit for attending 8/10 of the classes. I really enjoyed my discussion section with my TA, Thomas. I’m sure many students can agree that Thomas was a great TA to have and honestly saved the class for me. Since it wasn’t required, we could do pretty much anything we felt necessary during discussion. Sometimes Thomas would lecture on topics from class or we would work on that week’s problem set. Thomas’ explanations were always super helpful and his flexibility was much appreciated. Also, the problems that he created for the problem sets were genuinely really thoughtful and helped us to understand the material at a deeper level. PROBLEM SETS There was around one problem set due each week during the quarter. It was graded on completeness except for one question the was graded on correctness. These problem sets were generally helpful, not too time consuming, and had questions very similar to ones on the exam. EXAMS Overall, the exams were definitley not as challenging as other 14C ones that I have seen. BUT WITH THAT BEING SAID, the vast majority of the class are second-years that, up until now, had not taken any in-person college exams up until this quarter. We also had not covered the same material as the other 14C exams. Having to re-adjust to the pressures of an in-person test is difficult regardless of the material ESPECIALLY when exams are worth 85% of your grade. Lannan’s tests tended to be extremely unforgiving as well. By the final, he had shifted away from reasoning/explanation questions to “circle the x that” questions with no partial credit. There were 3 dedicated in-person review sessions before each exam. The ones for the midterm were run by the TAs while the one for the final was run by Professor Lannan himself. Also, Professor Lannan did end up curving the tests by around 3-6% each time and accepted regrades, which I appreciated. The class itself is graded on a standard scale. Note that the other section with Ow had their tests completely online. OVERALL At the time of enrollment, Pham was the listed professor for both sections. Around a week before the quarter started, Pham was switched to a different class and Lannan became our prof. Professor Lannan seems to really care about teaching and chemistry, but the sudden change of classes made him unprepared for the quarter.
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2022 - Many people are upset with Ryan and the way he ran 153A this quarter. I think that, to a point, it is warranted, but it has kind of gotten out of hand. 153A is meant to be a tough class, and will require hours upon hours of studying and memorizing. If you cannot put in the necessary time and dedication to do well in this class, it is entirely on you, and I think people were unhappy with this to say the least. I will admit that at some points, he made the class more confusing or difficult than it needed to be. That being said, we all saw Ryan grow as a professor this quarter. His lectures started out muddled and confusing, and the first midterm was graded incredibly harshly. As other reviews have stated, the first midterm required that you use very specific wording in order to be granted points. Oftentimes, some of these terms were not communicated to the class during lecture. The class felt like the midterm did not accurately reflect our understanding, we brought up our concerns to Ryan, and he LISTENED! Ryan gave everybody some points back for questions that were unclear/unfair, and I really don't think enough people are giving him credit for this. Midterm 2 and the final were very fair. People need to remember that this is his first time teaching 153A, and that he only had a several week notice to prepare all the slides, homework, and content. As the quarter went on, the lectures became less disorganized and very engaging. I can confidently say that Ryan is an outstanding lecturer when he is not held back by his own disorganization. He knows biochemistry like the back of his hand, and communicated all the content thoroughly and clearly by the end of the quarter. I do not have a strong affinity for biology or biochemistry, but Ryan actually made biochemistry intriguing. The assigned homework was weekly, and I thought it was quite manageable and beneficial. A lot of the concepts on the homework appeared on exams. If you did not understand a problem, Ryan would help you in office hours and explain everything clearly until you understood. There were several quizzes throughout the quarter, and yes, they were based on rote memorization, but I think that these are just free points. As you can see, the assigned work was very fair, and I think the class structure ended up being beneficial for everybody. One of my favorite parts about this class was Campuswire. He incentivized participation by granting .25% of extra credit to your final grade if you asked meaningful questions and answered people's questions. Do not skip out on this. I cannot tell you how many times looking at a Campuswire post or having my question answered by a fellow student facilitated my understanding of the material. Overall, I would recommend Ryan as a professor. I think that we were kind of his guinea pigs this quarter, but he definitely grew and understands how to better run 153A for future quarters. Come into it with an open mind, and understand that this class will take up a significant chunk of time. Biochemistry is NOT easy, and it simply isn't fair to berate Ryan and threaten his job for some of the shortcomings of the class. Do all the extra credit that adds 2% to your final grade, go to office hours, pay attention in lecture and write down terms that he repeats and emphasizes, do the homework thoughtfully, and you will be fine in the class.
Winter 2022 - Many people are upset with Ryan and the way he ran 153A this quarter. I think that, to a point, it is warranted, but it has kind of gotten out of hand. 153A is meant to be a tough class, and will require hours upon hours of studying and memorizing. If you cannot put in the necessary time and dedication to do well in this class, it is entirely on you, and I think people were unhappy with this to say the least. I will admit that at some points, he made the class more confusing or difficult than it needed to be. That being said, we all saw Ryan grow as a professor this quarter. His lectures started out muddled and confusing, and the first midterm was graded incredibly harshly. As other reviews have stated, the first midterm required that you use very specific wording in order to be granted points. Oftentimes, some of these terms were not communicated to the class during lecture. The class felt like the midterm did not accurately reflect our understanding, we brought up our concerns to Ryan, and he LISTENED! Ryan gave everybody some points back for questions that were unclear/unfair, and I really don't think enough people are giving him credit for this. Midterm 2 and the final were very fair. People need to remember that this is his first time teaching 153A, and that he only had a several week notice to prepare all the slides, homework, and content. As the quarter went on, the lectures became less disorganized and very engaging. I can confidently say that Ryan is an outstanding lecturer when he is not held back by his own disorganization. He knows biochemistry like the back of his hand, and communicated all the content thoroughly and clearly by the end of the quarter. I do not have a strong affinity for biology or biochemistry, but Ryan actually made biochemistry intriguing. The assigned homework was weekly, and I thought it was quite manageable and beneficial. A lot of the concepts on the homework appeared on exams. If you did not understand a problem, Ryan would help you in office hours and explain everything clearly until you understood. There were several quizzes throughout the quarter, and yes, they were based on rote memorization, but I think that these are just free points. As you can see, the assigned work was very fair, and I think the class structure ended up being beneficial for everybody. One of my favorite parts about this class was Campuswire. He incentivized participation by granting .25% of extra credit to your final grade if you asked meaningful questions and answered people's questions. Do not skip out on this. I cannot tell you how many times looking at a Campuswire post or having my question answered by a fellow student facilitated my understanding of the material. Overall, I would recommend Ryan as a professor. I think that we were kind of his guinea pigs this quarter, but he definitely grew and understands how to better run 153A for future quarters. Come into it with an open mind, and understand that this class will take up a significant chunk of time. Biochemistry is NOT easy, and it simply isn't fair to berate Ryan and threaten his job for some of the shortcomings of the class. Do all the extra credit that adds 2% to your final grade, go to office hours, pay attention in lecture and write down terms that he repeats and emphasizes, do the homework thoughtfully, and you will be fine in the class.
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