CMSC116 | PlanetTerp

Information	Review
Hal Daume CMSC116 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 11/23/2024	The topic that this course covered (AI) was honestly really interesting. I think Professor Daume seemed very interested in teaching the course and tried to teach a decent amount. However, with that being said, the HW got redundant, each week we had to read several sources and then submit an assignment to go along with it. At some point, while the sources were interesting, it just got boring and tiresome to weekly go over these sources. Each exam was open note, so at least that made things less high stakes. Additionally, the in class situation was pretty disorganized. I understand that it is a new class, but it felt like there were no course objectives and going into class, I didn't really know what to expect. He would occasionally have guest speakers who were fairly interesting, but sometimes that was disorganized and he wouldn't even show up to introduce them and help them set up. Overall, his course lacked structure and, while interesting, was not very valuable. I think a lot of the other reviews summed up the specifics as well.
Hal Daume CMSC116 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 06/13/2024	His lectures are way too complicated for an introductory AI class that is not even designed for CS students. However, the class workload is nothing, with a few in-class quizzes every other week that focus on the readings you have to do each week. The real hard part of this course comes in the form of the midterm and the final, which is cumulative based on all the readings you have done leading up to them. It is open note/book though. I did not even go to class after two weeks and relied on one of my commuter friends in the class to tell me if there was an in-class quiz or not, and still got an A+. An absolutely easy gen-ed if you can take this.
Hal Daume CMSC116 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/27/2024	classes were not interesting at all. i kept zoning out in lecture. there were no discussions, but there was an individual final project, a team final project, and a final exam (all due within a week/week and a half of each other), which i think is a little too much. he’s an accommodating professor overall, but the class in general (especially towards the end) got boring since there were just constantly guest speakers coming in and no actual lecturing done by him.
Hal Daume CMSC116 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/16/2024	Pretty nice guy. Assignments were fairly easy. But that's as far as the good points go. Syllabus and exams were written by AI, TAs gave us no guidance on exams, professor didn't do half the things he said we'd do (midterm review, group project organization, etc). Professor also didn't teach half the course (guest lecturers) or was absent. How are we supposed to be tested on stuff when nobody involved seems to know what was taught in the first place?
Hal Daume CMSC116 Anonymous 05/06/2024	Hal makes assignments due at the most inconvenient hours like noon or at 6 pm. The class and content felt poorly structured altogether, as if he'd just wing the content on the day of the class. The class was not engaging at all and you'd much rather take a different gen-ed instead.

Hal Daume
CMSC116

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
11/23/2024

The topic that this course covered (AI) was honestly really interesting. I think Professor Daume seemed very interested in teaching the course and tried to teach a decent amount. However, with that being said, the HW got redundant, each week we had to read several sources and then submit an assignment to go along with it. At some point, while the sources were interesting, it just got boring and tiresome to weekly go over these sources. Each exam was open note, so at least that made things less high stakes. Additionally, the in class situation was pretty disorganized. I understand that it is a new class, but it felt like there were no course objectives and going into class, I didn't really know what to expect. He would occasionally have guest speakers who were fairly interesting, but sometimes that was disorganized and he wouldn't even show up to introduce them and help them set up. Overall, his course lacked structure and, while interesting, was not very valuable. I think a lot of the other reviews summed up the specifics as well.

Hal Daume
CMSC116

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
06/13/2024

His lectures are way too complicated for an introductory AI class that is not even designed for CS students. However, the class workload is nothing, with a few in-class quizzes every other week that focus on the readings you have to do each week. The real hard part of this course comes in the form of the midterm and the final, which is cumulative based on all the readings you have done leading up to them. It is open note/book though. I did not even go to class after two weeks and relied on one of my commuter friends in the class to tell me if there was an in-class quiz or not, and still got an A+. An absolutely easy gen-ed if you can take this.

Hal Daume
CMSC116

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
05/27/2024

classes were not interesting at all. i kept zoning out in lecture. there were no discussions, but there was an individual final project, a team final project, and a final exam (all due within a week/week and a half of each other), which i think is a little too much. he’s an accommodating professor overall, but the class in general (especially towards the end) got boring since there were just constantly guest speakers coming in and no actual lecturing done by him.

Hal Daume
CMSC116

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/16/2024

Pretty nice guy. Assignments were fairly easy. But that's as far as the good points go. Syllabus and exams were written by AI, TAs gave us no guidance on exams, professor didn't do half the things he said we'd do (midterm review, group project organization, etc). Professor also didn't teach half the course (guest lecturers) or was absent. How are we supposed to be tested on stuff when nobody involved seems to know what was taught in the first place?

Hal Daume
CMSC116

Anonymous
05/06/2024

Hal makes assignments due at the most inconvenient hours like noon or at 6 pm. The class and content felt poorly structured altogether, as if he'd just wing the content on the day of the class. The class was not engaging at all and you'd much rather take a different gen-ed instead.

Reviews for CMSC116