INST154 | PlanetTerp

Information	Review
Dennis Frezzo INST154 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/20/2024	He's a very passionate and friendly teacher. Very interested in the content and tries to engage everyone in the class. The class was great with several activities and games played between the semesters, and he often let us go earlier to enjoy the nice weather. The class is quite easy, show up to class (participation, but he drops like a week's worth of class discussion grades) and do the discussions. There are two graded quizzes every week but they're quite easy to get by. 2 major assignments and they both were quite interesting and easy. This class is a cakewalk for any major as long as you put in some effort. I genuinely enjoyed learning in this class and it was something I looked forward to. Professor Frezzo has been one of my favorite profs at UMD, and he made the class a joy. The grading is lenient and half the class gets an A. If you are looking for an easy class to fulfill gen eds, this is it.
Dennis Frezzo INST154 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 04/15/2024	The class itself was pretty easy, you just had to go sit there, listen to the lecture, and answer questions on elms by discussing with your groupmates or whoever you're sitting with. It's a low-effort class, the main assignments are a case study, a website, and the final paper (2000 words). Dr. Frezzo is pretty easygoing, his classes are fun, and often it feels like a break after all of my tedious classes. It satisfies DSHS and SCIS, and if you do good, it's a great GPA booster. He also has a single-question quiz before each of his classes, which takes maybe a google search or 10 minutes of reading to answer.
Dennis Frezzo INST154 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/23/2023	The class was somewhat tedious (there's something due every single class, and attendance is mandatory) but the actual assignments are fairly easy, and the grading is pretty lenient. The class content itself is quite interesting, regardless of your major, and I don't regret taking it at all. He seems like a nice dude too, and he's very passionate about the history of aerospace.
Dennis Frezzo INST154 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/18/2023	He is very passionate and informed on the subject so it is interesting to listen to his lectures. The course is very STEM-heavy so if you're not interested in STEM or Apollo you will probably get pretty bored of the content. There are homework assignments due every class that take a long time but are otherwise pretty easy. Attendance isn't mandatory because you can make up the discussion questions in every class. There are no midterms/finals but a few papers and projects that aren't graded very hard.
Dennis Frezzo INST154 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/18/2023	Frezzo is a really smart professor who you can tell is passionate about what he teaches. There was little work outside of class, just a quiz that had to be completed before each one. There were graded discussions during class but I didn't mind showing up because his lectures were thought out and interesting. Every few weeks we would have a decently large project due which required a good bit of work outside of class but besides these the class was easy. The final paper was definitely the hardest assignment (obviously) and has a large workload but, he provides ample resources and time for you to complete it. I didn't use these resources and procrastinated so the final was pretty hard for me but that was my fault, not his. Overall, this class is really interesting and Frezzo is a teacher who cares about the subject as well as his students. His TAs were also great and were almost always available to help with assignments.
Douglas Oard INST154 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/28/2022	inst 154 is one of the best gen ed I have ever taken. take this class for gen ed is a good choice. it is about actually have fun in the class and get good grades (super ideal for a pure stem student as myself). Dr Oard is very good at telling stories and everything is based on facts. the class is very chill, simply to listen to all those fascinating stories, and discuss within the discussion table. sometimes Dr Oard or his ta swing by and sharing thoughts which is indeed interesting process. there are routinary readings but most are able to do skim through (all good readings but some bit long). if there was no time, missing several (7-ish as i recall) readings would not affect grade (will be dropped) (anyway reading quizs super easy). there was only three important written assignments: case study, group paper, final paper. help is always provided and since they made everything interesting, completing these is not difficult at all.
Douglas Oard INST154 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/19/2022	Pros: -Interesting lectures and material. -Relatively easy (no tests, quizzes were literally one online multiple choice question each and a fifth grader could answer them since they were common knowledge half the time and somewhat specific dates/numbers found in the readings the other half). -Classes were laid back. Cons: -Long writing assignments. -Some dense readings (2ish per week). -To get a good grade you need to put in the work. Overall: It's a very interesting class but a lot of work. You don't need to memorize anything which makes it easy.
Douglas Oard INST154 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/05/2022	Extremely well knowledged. Lectures are very interesting. Class is not a lot of work unless you are doing one of the three projects throughout the semester and those are still quite reasonable. Is very helpful during office hours.
Dennis Frezzo INST154 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/17/2022	Excellent guy and a great professor. I always found his lectures super informative and entertaining. Not only does he know the history of Apollo well, but he also combined it with his own personal experiences as an engineer to give more context to some of the engineering challenges. This was a STEM-heavy class, so a lot of the work and lectures naturally gravitated towards STEM topics. Despite this, I think he did a great job trying to diversify the lectures to focus on the non-STEM aspects of the Apollo program too. He also values student feedback and participation, and he encourages his students to participate in discussions if they have questions or comments. Furthermore, he is very accommodating and approachable, which really helped me when I got sick during the semester. I 110% recommend this class and Dr. Frezzo!
Dennis Frezzo INST154 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/06/2022	I don't think I've ever had a teacher care as much about student learning as Dr. Frezzo. The man spends hours preparing for his lectures and it really pays off. He is approachable, gives constructive feedback, and creates a welcoming environment. He openly welcomes student feedback, and he really knows his stuff. He is an engineer, so he tends focus a lot on the science-heavy parts of the course. Since I'm a STEM major, I appreciated that, but I know some of my liberal arts classmates found the science stuff difficult to understand. That said, you could understand literally zero about the science stuff and still get a perfect grade in this course. All of the projects were great too, except for the one group project which wasn't even his own design. Loved this class and really appreciated Dr. Frezzo.
Dennis Frezzo INST154 Expecting an A Anonymous 04/28/2022	Dr. Frezzo is very knowledgeable and a funny guys. The class isn’t hard and has no exams, only projects and papers. Overall a good class selection but can be boring if you aren’t super interested in Apollo already.
Douglas Oard INST154 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/24/2021	Dr. Oard is extremely knowledgeable about the space program and makes lectures quite interesting. No exams, just homework quizzes based on readings (sometimes videos), weekly discussion posts (on ELMS), and three papers through the term. The second paper is done in a group of three, which makes it much easier to handle.
Douglas Oard INST154 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/04/2021	Great teacher and very nice guy. Class had a very easy workload and was mostly writing assignments. Lectures could get a little boring if you're not completely interested in Apollo and space missions but it wasn't bad. Highly suggest taking this especially if interested in engineering and or space missions.
Douglas Oard INST154 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/23/2021	This class was great. A typical week for the online class looked like: 2 reading quizzes, about an hour for the "reading" if it's a video and ~15min if its an actual reading 1 discussion post based on async. lectures Then, 3 papers throughout the semester. Overall, very easy class and super interesting. I really recommend it. Other than the one group project paper, the other two papers are scaffolded. For example, you submit the topic or outline for 2 points, then the draft for 2 points, so by the time the final paper is ready, it's almost a guaranteed 100% if you correct the paper based on feedback.
Douglas Oard INST154 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 01/20/2021	Doug loves teaching about Apollo, and the material can get technical at times but is almost always interesting. Doug can answer virtually any question imaginable, and makes the class fun. There's no tests, only writing assignments which aren't super long.
Douglas Oard INST154 Expecting an A Atm19 01/12/2021	Fascinating course for those interested in the Apollo program. Classes were fairly engaging, 3 major grades one of which is a group project but it doesn’t require a lot of collaboration. No tests Professor Oard is very knowledgeable on the topic and very helpful, wants you to succeed.
Douglas Oard INST154 Anonymous 12/20/2020	The 3 major grades are 2 papers and one group project. They aren't hard per se but you will have to put in the effort. You'll also have to do readings for quizzes but no exams to worry about. Overall, it's a good class experience.
Douglas Oard INST154 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 01/20/2020	Doug is clearly passionate about what he's teaching which makes class enjoyable. Lectures are pretty much a 50 minute monologue on the space program/ background of Apollo with a 25 minute table discussion. Personally, I found the lectures to be fascinating but the discussions were fairly useless. The class overall is fairly easy. There are 3 essays and as long as you follow the rubric you'll get an A. Readings are a mixed bag; some are really interesting, others, not so much.

Dennis Frezzo
INST154

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/20/2024

He's a very passionate and friendly teacher. Very interested in the content and tries to engage everyone in the class. The class was great with several activities and games played between the semesters, and he often let us go earlier to enjoy the nice weather. The class is quite easy, show up to class (participation, but he drops like a week's worth of class discussion grades) and do the discussions. There are two graded quizzes every week but they're quite easy to get by. 2 major assignments and they both were quite interesting and easy. This class is a cakewalk for any major as long as you put in some effort. I genuinely enjoyed learning in this class and it was something I looked forward to. Professor Frezzo has been one of my favorite profs at UMD, and he made the class a joy. The grading is lenient and half the class gets an A. If you are looking for an easy class to fulfill gen eds, this is it.

Dennis Frezzo
INST154

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
04/15/2024

The class itself was pretty easy, you just had to go sit there, listen to the lecture, and answer questions on elms by discussing with your groupmates or whoever you're sitting with. It's a low-effort class, the main assignments are a case study, a website, and the final paper (2000 words). Dr. Frezzo is pretty easygoing, his classes are fun, and often it feels like a break after all of my tedious classes. It satisfies DSHS and SCIS, and if you do good, it's a great GPA booster. He also has a single-question quiz before each of his classes, which takes maybe a google search or 10 minutes of reading to answer.

Dennis Frezzo
INST154

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/23/2023

The class was somewhat tedious (there's something due every single class, and attendance is mandatory) but the actual assignments are fairly easy, and the grading is pretty lenient. The class content itself is quite interesting, regardless of your major, and I don't regret taking it at all. He seems like a nice dude too, and he's very passionate about the history of aerospace.

Dennis Frezzo
INST154

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/18/2023

He is very passionate and informed on the subject so it is interesting to listen to his lectures. The course is very STEM-heavy so if you're not interested in STEM or Apollo you will probably get pretty bored of the content. There are homework assignments due every class that take a long time but are otherwise pretty easy. Attendance isn't mandatory because you can make up the discussion questions in every class. There are no midterms/finals but a few papers and projects that aren't graded very hard.

Dennis Frezzo
INST154

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
12/18/2023

Frezzo is a really smart professor who you can tell is passionate about what he teaches. There was little work outside of class, just a quiz that had to be completed before each one. There were graded discussions during class but I didn't mind showing up because his lectures were thought out and interesting. Every few weeks we would have a decently large project due which required a good bit of work outside of class but besides these the class was easy. The final paper was definitely the hardest assignment (obviously) and has a large workload but, he provides ample resources and time for you to complete it. I didn't use these resources and procrastinated so the final was pretty hard for me but that was my fault, not his. Overall, this class is really interesting and Frezzo is a teacher who cares about the subject as well as his students. His TAs were also great and were almost always available to help with assignments.

Douglas Oard
INST154

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/28/2022

inst 154 is one of the best gen ed I have ever taken. take this class for gen ed is a good choice. it is about actually have fun in the class and get good grades (super ideal for a pure stem student as myself). Dr Oard is very good at telling stories and everything is based on facts. the class is very chill, simply to listen to all those fascinating stories, and discuss within the discussion table. sometimes Dr Oard or his ta swing by and sharing thoughts which is indeed interesting process. there are routinary readings but most are able to do skim through (all good readings but some bit long). if there was no time, missing several (7-ish as i recall) readings would not affect grade (will be dropped) (anyway reading quizs super easy). there was only three important written assignments: case study, group paper, final paper. help is always provided and since they made everything interesting, completing these is not difficult at all.

Douglas Oard
INST154

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/19/2022

Pros: -Interesting lectures and material. -Relatively easy (no tests, quizzes were literally one online multiple choice question each and a fifth grader could answer them since they were common knowledge half the time and somewhat specific dates/numbers found in the readings the other half). -Classes were laid back. Cons: -Long writing assignments. -Some dense readings (2ish per week). -To get a good grade you need to put in the work. Overall: It's a very interesting class but a lot of work. You don't need to memorize anything which makes it easy.

Douglas Oard
INST154

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/05/2022

Extremely well knowledged. Lectures are very interesting. Class is not a lot of work unless you are doing one of the three projects throughout the semester and those are still quite reasonable. Is very helpful during office hours.

Dennis Frezzo
INST154

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
05/17/2022

Excellent guy and a great professor. I always found his lectures super informative and entertaining. Not only does he know the history of Apollo well, but he also combined it with his own personal experiences as an engineer to give more context to some of the engineering challenges. This was a STEM-heavy class, so a lot of the work and lectures naturally gravitated towards STEM topics. Despite this, I think he did a great job trying to diversify the lectures to focus on the non-STEM aspects of the Apollo program too. He also values student feedback and participation, and he encourages his students to participate in discussions if they have questions or comments. Furthermore, he is very accommodating and approachable, which really helped me when I got sick during the semester. I 110% recommend this class and Dr. Frezzo!

Dennis Frezzo
INST154

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
05/06/2022

I don't think I've ever had a teacher care as much about student learning as Dr. Frezzo. The man spends hours preparing for his lectures and it really pays off. He is approachable, gives constructive feedback, and creates a welcoming environment. He openly welcomes student feedback, and he really knows his stuff. He is an engineer, so he tends focus a lot on the science-heavy parts of the course. Since I'm a STEM major, I appreciated that, but I know some of my liberal arts classmates found the science stuff difficult to understand. That said, you could understand literally zero about the science stuff and still get a perfect grade in this course. All of the projects were great too, except for the one group project which wasn't even his own design. Loved this class and really appreciated Dr. Frezzo.

Dennis Frezzo
INST154

Expecting an A
Anonymous
04/28/2022

Dr. Frezzo is very knowledgeable and a funny guys. The class isn’t hard and has no exams, only projects and papers. Overall a good class selection but can be boring if you aren’t super interested in Apollo already.

Douglas Oard
INST154

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/24/2021

Dr. Oard is extremely knowledgeable about the space program and makes lectures quite interesting. No exams, just homework quizzes based on readings (sometimes videos), weekly discussion posts (on ELMS), and three papers through the term. The second paper is done in a group of three, which makes it much easier to handle.

Douglas Oard
INST154

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/04/2021

Great teacher and very nice guy. Class had a very easy workload and was mostly writing assignments. Lectures could get a little boring if you're not completely interested in Apollo and space missions but it wasn't bad. Highly suggest taking this especially if interested in engineering and or space missions.

Douglas Oard
INST154

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
05/23/2021

This class was great. A typical week for the online class looked like: 2 reading quizzes, about an hour for the "reading" if it's a video and ~15min if its an actual reading 1 discussion post based on async. lectures Then, 3 papers throughout the semester. Overall, very easy class and super interesting. I really recommend it. Other than the one group project paper, the other two papers are scaffolded. For example, you submit the topic or outline for 2 points, then the draft for 2 points, so by the time the final paper is ready, it's almost a guaranteed 100% if you correct the paper based on feedback.

Douglas Oard
INST154

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
01/20/2021

Doug loves teaching about Apollo, and the material can get technical at times but is almost always interesting. Doug can answer virtually any question imaginable, and makes the class fun. There's no tests, only writing assignments which aren't super long.

Douglas Oard
INST154

Expecting an A
Atm19
01/12/2021

Fascinating course for those interested in the Apollo program. Classes were fairly engaging, 3 major grades one of which is a group project but it doesn’t require a lot of collaboration. No tests Professor Oard is very knowledgeable on the topic and very helpful, wants you to succeed.

Douglas Oard
INST154

Anonymous
12/20/2020

The 3 major grades are 2 papers and one group project. They aren't hard per se but you will have to put in the effort. You'll also have to do readings for quizzes but no exams to worry about. Overall, it's a good class experience.

Douglas Oard
INST154

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
01/20/2020

Doug is clearly passionate about what he's teaching which makes class enjoyable. Lectures are pretty much a 50 minute monologue on the space program/ background of Apollo with a 25 minute table discussion. Personally, I found the lectures to be fascinating but the discussions were fairly useless. The class overall is fairly easy. There are 3 essays and as long as you follow the rubric you'll get an A. Readings are a mixed bag; some are really interesting, others, not so much.

Reviews for INST154