CMSC722 | PlanetTerp

Information	Review
Dana Nau CMSC722 Expecting a B- Anonymous 05/19/2023	Really need at least B for this class for my graduation requirements. The midterm score was low and said probably would change the cutoffs. However, final grades are not curved at all. Haven't seen a class that is not curved in computer science department in my whole undergraduate years. Probably the number of people taking this class is not worth a curve (under 20).
Dana Nau CMSC722 Anonymous 05/23/2015	As CamelCase says, his teaching style is to read over his lecture slides (which, granted, are packed with information) pretty much word for word. I found in-class lectures pretty pointless unless you managed to immediately digest and comprehend information at the (pretty quick) rate at which he presents it, and ask tons of questions. You’d be better off pulling up the lecture slides on your own and working through the examples during class time.
Dana Nau CMSC722 Anonymous 05/22/2015	WARNING: Please avoid taking this course unless you are a RA for Prof. Dana Nau. There are so many great classes in UMD CS but this one is the worst even though Prof. Dana Nau is an AAAI fellow, outstanding researcher in this field, but it does not indicate that he is a great teacher. The reasons are as follows: 1. You can HARDLY learn anything new if you have taken an undergraduate level AI course except for fancy words that defines fancy planning and acting engines & models. You will NOT learn optimization techniques for AI planning but some bad framework that you will NEVER use. 2. Unfortunately, Prof. Nau and the TA Dr. Vikas Shivashankar READ slides all the time. 3. The book draft is not consistent from section to section and full of flaws. 4. The grading is a SUBJECTIVE procedure with no room for rebuttal. Worse still, the TA has the power to grade the exams as he wishes. 5. The professor simply IGNORES the students’ questions on Piazza nor email and seldom response in time. 6. The professor once was LATE for over 10 minutes for one Ph.D. student’s preliminary oral exam and everyone waited him. 7. The professor and the TA are MEAN to students and don’t recognize your previous efforts except for the raw subjective score, which is reasonable for undergraduate level class but definitely not for graduate level class. And this class limits A to a score of 93. 8. The professor’s lecture often EXCEED the time by 15 minutes or less than. 9. The professor never grades your homework nor explain homework very well. 10. The syllabus and the actual schedule are NOT consistent. However, every coin has two sides: 1. Prof. Nau is a famous professor in this field. Taking his class and getting an A will make your resume more remarkable to AI people. 2. You can learn how to formulate things and make ordinary programming style extraordinary using what is learnt in class, which most papers do. 3. Prof. Nau gives us a good example of teaching lessons. 4. Though you cannot get a much higher score from your projects, don’t worry because it does not hurt your final score.

Dana Nau
CMSC722

Expecting a B-
Anonymous
05/19/2023

Really need at least B for this class for my graduation requirements. The midterm score was low and said probably would change the cutoffs. However, final grades are not curved at all. Haven't seen a class that is not curved in computer science department in my whole undergraduate years. Probably the number of people taking this class is not worth a curve (under 20).

Dana Nau
CMSC722

Anonymous
05/23/2015

As CamelCase says, his teaching style is to read over his lecture slides (which, granted, are packed with information) pretty much word for word. I found in-class lectures pretty pointless unless you managed to immediately digest and comprehend information at the (pretty quick) rate at which he presents it, and ask tons of questions. You’d be better off pulling up the lecture slides on your own and working through the examples during class time.

Dana Nau
CMSC722

Anonymous
05/22/2015

WARNING: Please avoid taking this course unless you are a RA for Prof. Dana Nau. There are so many great classes in UMD CS but this one is the worst even though Prof. Dana Nau is an AAAI fellow, outstanding researcher in this field, but it does not indicate that he is a great teacher. The reasons are as follows: 1. You can HARDLY learn anything new if you have taken an undergraduate level AI course except for fancy words that defines fancy planning and acting engines & models. You will NOT learn optimization techniques for AI planning but some bad framework that you will NEVER use. 2. Unfortunately, Prof. Nau and the TA Dr. Vikas Shivashankar READ slides all the time. 3. The book draft is not consistent from section to section and full of flaws. 4. The grading is a SUBJECTIVE procedure with no room for rebuttal. Worse still, the TA has the power to grade the exams as he wishes. 5. The professor simply IGNORES the students’ questions on Piazza nor email and seldom response in time. 6. The professor once was LATE for over 10 minutes for one Ph.D. student’s preliminary oral exam and everyone waited him. 7. The professor and the TA are MEAN to students and don’t recognize your previous efforts except for the raw subjective score, which is reasonable for undergraduate level class but definitely not for graduate level class. And this class limits A to a score of 93. 8. The professor’s lecture often EXCEED the time by 15 minutes or less than. 9. The professor never grades your homework nor explain homework very well. 10. The syllabus and the actual schedule are NOT consistent. However, every coin has two sides: 1. Prof. Nau is a famous professor in this field. Taking his class and getting an A will make your resume more remarkable to AI people. 2. You can learn how to formulate things and make ordinary programming style extraordinary using what is learnt in class, which most papers do. 3. Prof. Nau gives us a good example of teaching lessons. 4. Though you cannot get a much higher score from your projects, don’t worry because it does not hurt your final score.

Reviews for CMSC722