INST201 | PlanetTerp

Information	Review
J Stephanie Rose INST201 Expecting an A Anonymous 11/22/2024	she literally doesn’t teach the class, she talks for 10 minutes and sits there for the rest of the class. and she’s rude.
Angela Rodgers-Koukoui INST201 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 11/11/2024	She's a very lovely professor and you should definitely take her if you can. The work is minimal and attendance is not required. A lot of her assignments are common sense and the most amount of work you need to put it in is for the final group project.
Madeline Georgevich INST201 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/22/2024	Chillest professor ever! I went to maybe 5 lectures and I got a 100% in the class. SO lenient.
Nicole Miller INST201 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/12/2024	Nicole is such an understanding professor who actually cares for her students. She is fairly young so she understands all the stress that we have and tries to make the class as easy, but worthwhile as she can. The structure of the class is an easy A and there are many opportunities for extra credit. Even though you could easily pass the class without attending lectures, she made them very interesting with her own examples, bringing in guest speakers, and overall being interactive with us. It was a decent-sized lecture hall but she still was able to get all our attention. I'd highly recommend taking this class if it is something you are interested in!
Nicole Miller INST201 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/09/2024	I would highly recommend Nicole to any student who needs to take INST201. She makes the course material very engaging and she cares very much about her students. Her grading is pretty chill; Online quizzes are very easy as long as you look at the posted slides, discussions do not take long to fill out, etc... Overall, this class is a very easy A+. Attendance is required (and graded) for all discussions, and you can honestly get away with not showing up to most of the lectures. She will post on the slides when there will be a "lecture check" where she infrequently checks/grades attendance (7 times the entire semester). Again, I would highly recommend Nicole as she truly cares about student well-being and grades.
Nicole Miller INST201 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/09/2024	This class is great and the professor is committed to your success in the course. It is just quizzes and discussion boards in the class and one small final project. Super easy and fun class. You do have to go to class and discussions for participation grade.
Nicole Miller INST201 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/09/2024	Really really cares, an incredibly kind person, but the class is almost too free? If you want a great environment but also some time to work on other work, this is your class. One note though: just because it is an IS class, does not mean programming is involved.
Nicole Miller INST201 Anonymous 05/09/2024	Really interesting class with light work load. She really cared about making the information and course palatable.
Courtney Douglass INST201 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/07/2024	Please avoid at all costs. Extremely unorganized, confusing quizzes that have nothing to do with class material.
Nicole Miller INST201 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/07/2024	Nicole was an amazing instructor. She was super understanding and lenient. She also found a way to add jokes to the lecture. It is a super easy class btw.
Dustin Smith INST201 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/07/2024	Honestly super laid back, and you can really tell that he's passionate. There are lots of readings but that's required and has nothing to do with the prof but he definitely makes them easier to swallow. Super slight class and no reason you should not get an A.
Nicole Miller INST201 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/06/2024	Nicole is honestly one of the most considerate professor who understands what it's like to be an undergrad. All of the assignments are easy with them being either weekly quizzes or discussion boards. There is no midterm or final but there is a final project. Her lectures are overall really interesting with her brining in guest speakers for whatever the week's topic is. I feel like you genuinely have to be doing no work to get an A in her class because there are about 30 extra credit opportunities which are relatively low effort. I would definitely recommend taking her if you can.
Nicole Miller INST201 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/06/2024	This class is really easy and Nicole makes sure to make it all the more easier. During the semester she does about five lecture checks but she usually lets you know the lecture before. All of the information is very surface level in relation to infosci but its very helpful. Major assignments are mostly just weekly discussion boards and quizzes. It's really hard not to get an A in this class because she offers A LOT of extra credit opportunities like extra discussion board replies, watching videos and writing about what they are. If I'm not mistaken there are about 30 extra credit points you can earn which is pretty nice. I would definitely recommend taking her if you can.
Dustin Smith INST201 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 04/24/2024	This professor was amazing. The class was very easy and simple. He would often give students the chance to complete assignments if they missed it. He actually made the effort to make the class engaging. He showed cared for his students. We worked on a semester long group project, and we have to write a long essay for it which is very simple if you follow directions. The professor and TA's give a lot of feedback and are always checking in on us. Very simple homework assignments as well and there was no exam. I highly suggest this professor!!
Courtney Douglass INST201 Expecting a C+ Anonymous 01/18/2024	Please please PLEASE beware of Dr. Douglass!! I am begging you, the other reviews are 100% true. Dr. Douglass is incredibly disorganized, her quizzes make no sense, and she never responds to her emails. High emphasis on the previous review that the semester long “project” could easily be completed in a day. Honestly the content of this class can be interesting for Info Science but with Dr. Douglass’s poor organization and her leaving mid-semester, the class content felt like a drag and everything was busy work with no assistance from the professor herself. Late grades, but she is lenient with a 50% rule that made up for her tardiness (not sure if this happened in previous semesters) but overall the class with Dr. Douglass was just unnecessary stress and scrambling for what’s an intro course. I registered for INST201 with another professor (because I read the reviews first) and on the first day of classes the professor switched to Dr. Douglass without warning - if this happens to you, please switch out!!
Kelly Hoffman INST201 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/09/2024	the nicest professor ever. class was super chill, just be careful who you choose as ur project partners! otherwise the best professor i wish i could take her again.
Courtney Douglass INST201 Expecting a B Anonymous 01/09/2024	The professor was gone for most of the semester and had the TA teaching. She is a harsh grader and the quiz questions and assignment instructions were sometimes confusing. The final project is pretty easy but is dragged along the whole semester. Discussion was required but often pointless.
Kelly Hoffman INST201 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/30/2023	Overall a very good professor. Always makes sure her students are all on the same page, is very clear and concise with her presentations, well-structured course. There was a 10-page final paper however, you work on it over the course of the semester so it's not bad at all. She responds quickly and in detail to her emails. Grading is very fair and honest. 100% would recommend her for INST201.
Courtney Douglass INST201 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/29/2023	If I had the ability to give 0 stars, I would. I took her over the Fall semester and she didn't even show up to most of her lectures, she made one of her TA's lecture the class. And when she did come to class she would just ramble on about whatever and leave everyone clueless. She is extremely disorganized and honestly makes me wonder if she even knows what she's teaching. To this day, I couldn't even tell you what I learned in the class. Her assignments and quizzes are unreasonable and her grading makes absolutely no sense. It's as if she rolls a die and just picks and chooses who gets what grade. She never puts in grades so you're left clueless as to where you stand in the class. Even if the quizzes were open note and the answers were literally on the slides, the answer would somehow still be wrong. While there are no midterms or a final, there are a few quizzes throughout the semester and a final deliverable. Like I said, the quizzes are unreasonable and made absolutely no sense. And the final deliverable made me feel like I was in fifth grade again cutting and gluing paper on to a trifold. I can go on and on about how horrible of a professor she is, but I think you got the idea. It is possible to get at least an A- in the class as long as you complete all the assignments and do the extra credit (extra credit is provided at the end of the semester). Overall, don't take her if you have the choice, save yourself some time!!
Lee Lipscomb INST201 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/26/2023	Low-stress class with generous extra credit (worth up to ~12%). No exams or presentations, light grading, and the group project is a straightforward research paper. Learn to skim readings and speed-watch lectures, and do groupwork early! She's initially unclear on due dates, so ask for clarification.
Kelly Hoffman INST201 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/12/2023	TAKE THIS CLASS WITH PROF HOFFMAN!!!! It is a requirement for Info Sci but if you need an elective I recommend this since it is easy. There are two zoom meetings a week that you have to be logged into because she grades the top 20 participation grades (it's only 50 mins its not that hard). Then there's an in-person discussion once a week but it only takes like 30 mins and it's just a group activity for participation and extremely easy it needs no thought. There are weekly content quizzes based on the lectures and assigned readings (I didn't read the readings and was just fine). There are also weekly discussion boards but those are easy as well and about 150 words which is like nothing. The final for this class is a group project on a topic (kind of given to you but you choose from a list) that is 10 pages long. HOWEVER, there are due dates throughout the semester like research review, then 2 weeks later is the outline, 2 weeks after that are body paragraphs, etc. These due dates gave us plenty of time and I feel like I spent no time at all writing it. We were also done the paper like 2 weeks before finals week so it's not stressful.
Kelly Hoffman INST201 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/11/2023	She is one of the nicest professors I have ever had. She is an amazing lecturer and makes sure to keep her lectures interesting. She is always willing to help you with something, set up office hours, and answer your questions. She also responds to emails quickly and the class itself is VERY organized. The class was a weekly discussion post, a weekly quiz, and a final 10-page paper which was not bad at all because you'll be working with a group on it and you'll be working on it over the course of the semester so it's not as bad as it sounds.
Zach Drake INST201 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/08/2023	Very easy instructore for INST201, he teaches 126 too but I haven't taken the course yet. Very easy overall, very acommodating, recommended professor if you don't want to stress. Though emails may take a few days to be responded to
Hananya Cohen INST201 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/03/2023	Took this class thinking it would be super fun since the reviews were all so positive. Unfortunately it ended up being the most boring class I've ever taken. There is only one real grade and its a group paper that Prof Cohen didn't seem to know much about. It was pretty apparent that he is a librarian and not prepared to teach this class nor did he seem to know much of what its about. He kind of just reads the readings he assigned during lecture. No one really goes anymore so you can skip every class. Prof Cohen is a SUPER nice guy just maybe not meant to teach an information science class.
Hananya Cohen INST201 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/01/2023	Seriously the most boring class Ive ever taken. Im really not complaining though, i just took this class for a gen-ed requirement. Professor (?) is pretty nice but extremely monotone and quiet. Half of the class doesnt even show up any more. Id take this class again, just skip out on the lectures you dont need them.
Matthew Patrick INST201 Expecting a C Anonymous 11/10/2023	Do not take. Very rude to students and generally aloof.
Lee Lipscomb INST201 Expecting a B Anonymous 10/19/2023	If you actually did all the readings (around 5 per week), watched every lecture (3 per week, 1hr each on average), and did all the assignments and quizzes (3 to 4 every week), you wouldn't have time for your actual major. I think she doesn't understand that almost no one in her class is taking this as a major requirement - it's a gen ed and she needs to chill. My group was only a couple hours late on one heavily weighted assignment and BAM we got a zero with no chance of pleading our case (we had a pretty good reason, trust). She just told us to do the extra credit work. Her extra credit opportunities are ridiculous (you'd probably spend several hours working on them) and they can't compensate for some of these assignments. I'm sure this class would be great with literally any other professor.
Kelly Hoffman INST201 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 07/18/2023	Professor Hoffman is probably one of the best and nicest professors i’ve ever had. I just switch majors to InfoSci and this is one of the first intro classes I’m taking and she’s extremely kind and helpful. For the online session, she does not have any exams because she understands how difficult it can be in terms of cramming and retaining the information. Her lectures are interesting and informative. All her assignments correspond to the readings and lectures. She’s extremely organized and has the modules posted by week so it’s really easy to see what you you need to do for the week/keep up with the due dates. She also makes sure the class understands why she does things the way she does which is something not a lot of professors do. Definitely recommend taking any of her classes!
Courtney Douglass INST201 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 05/21/2023	Her teaching style was actually interesting when we had lectures (she was gone for more than half of the semester). However, the material is quite boring. The TAs are incompetent but hope and pray she doesn't grade any of your stuff because she's not only harsh but also unfair. The class is really structured around a big "semester project" that my 7 yr old cousin can complete in a day hence she drags everything out to make up for the lack of more meaningful assignments. The quizzes are extremely weird. You can Command F the entire quiz based on the slides and end up with a 65. And to top things off, she doesn't adhere to her grading scale and ended up not posting assignments that were on the syllabus. Fellow terp, if you care about your well-being, please seek another class or professor.
Courtney Douglass INST201 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/17/2023	1. The class is extremely dysfunctional and assignments on the syllabus were either never created and loaded to canvas weeks late 2. Each Quiz was incredibly difficult and made for you to receive the lowest grade possible as she asked questions you couldn’t possibly prepare for or guess were relevant to the section. 3. Save yourself, do not take this class. The class content is enjoyable, but there’s no reason why I shouldn’t have an A.
Courtney Douglass INST201 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/16/2023	Just because someone has a Ph.D. does not mean they are a good teacher. Courtney was the worst professor I have had at UMD - little communication with students, harsh grading, warped and confusing quiz questions, unorganized, and switched between in-person and online lectures without sending announcements. The list of issues with her class is lengthy and she is not a real professor. I hope the INST college can look for some better professors because this is not worth anyone's tuition.
Courtney Douglass INST201 Expecting a C+ Anonymous 05/06/2023	Run! Don't do it! Everyone here pretty much gave a good summary of what she's like and how she organizes her class. So, word of advice, if you can, take this class with literally anyone else. This class is not hard but she makes it unnecessarily stressful. Getting a good grade on any assignment, except for discussions, is like a game of luck, regardless of how much you study.
Courtney Douglass INST201 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/02/2023	This class was incredibly unorganized and nobody responded to emails. Assignments and class format were confusing and unclear. She was nice enough I guess but she grades harshly and doesn't put grades in until very late. I'm honestly not even sure what my grade is going to be and we're two weeks away from finals week. This class may be the one the drop me GPA which absolutely blows my mind. The content isn't even interesting and it's overall just a tough class to get through. There's one big group project that she makes out to be much bigger than it actually is. The project is very annoying and is just not worth your time.
Courtney Douglass INST201 Expecting a B- Anonymous 04/20/2023	This professor is one the worst that I have ever encountered. The class is really disorganized with little to no communication from her or the TA's. She grades stuff really late so you don't know your actual grade until near the end of the semester. Her quizzes are meant for you to fail as they are more of a "gotcha" questions and don't really reflect the lecture nor the content.
Courtney Douglass INST201 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 04/13/2023	She is a terrible professor. Harsh grading and stupid quiz questions that don't make sense or reflect lectures.
Courtney Douglass INST201 Expecting a B Anonymous 03/09/2023	She is extremely unreliable with her rubric and grading and does not provide the opportunities for easy point earning she claims she gives. The actual content is easy to understand and the concepts can be grasped but for some reasons she makes it so difficult to do well. The tests are not over course material, and I have heard of so many people going through every single document available and still not finding concepts she mentioned. I do not understand what makes grades for this class so unattainable, as it sounds like an approachable class, but trust me. If you tend to get decent grades, this class will still pose you a challenge.
Courtney Douglass INST201 Expecting a B- Anonymous 03/06/2023	Omg PLEASE DO NOT TAKE HER. I’m sorry but the worst professor I’ve ever had in my entire life. She’s making this class so much more difficult that it should be, her grading is super harsh. Taking points off for the smallest reason. PLEASE PLEASE if you want a good gpa DO NOT take her!!!!
Courtney Douglass INST201 Anonymous 03/05/2023	Currently taking this class and she is terrible. The content is not hard or difficult but her wording on the quizzes makes them tricky and most of the time you will end with a poor score. She is also a very harsh grader and is also very strict about class. She doesn't answer emails and asks to be understanding for her needs but then goes to complain about us. I would avoid taking her at all and the only reason why I chose this class was because she was the only professor available.
Courtney Douglass INST201 Anonymous 03/03/2023	Worst professor you can ever have. Don't take her.
Courtney Douglass INST201 Expecting a B- Anonymous 02/20/2023	She refused to round from 79.7 to an 80 so I ended with a C+. She wasn't a bad professor just demanded people's attention throughout the class and yelled if someone was having a convo during the lecture. Attendance in lectures became mandatory because people weren't showing up. She also used the words "black folk" a lot during our lectures on certain topics.
Courtney Douglass INST201 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 01/27/2023	The other comments sum her up very well: - begs for pity but is the least understanding towards students - doesnt answer emails - her TAs dont do anything - will make you consider switching majors
M Sauter INST201 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 01/11/2023	Never watched a single lecture and you don't have to. There were weekly discussion posts, but you didn't really have to do any of the reading for them since you only needed 200-300 word responses. There were also lecture exit tickets, and you just had to say three things you learned from lectures and you could copy of the slides they upload. Weekly quizzes most weeks, but all the answers are online and you get 2 tries. Only big assignment is a group paper. It could maybe suck if you are placed in a bad group, but there are checks on the progress every couple of weeks that keep people in check and also count for a good amount of your grade. The paper was only like 3,000 words which really isn't that much for 5-6 people. Seemed to be graded pretty leniently. Great no-stress class, and honestly, some of the material on the slides did seem pretty interesting.
Christopher Dempwolf INST201 Anonymous 12/15/2022	Ok, so this teacher was basically none existent, still don't know if he's a real person. He had recorded lectures at the start, but then just started posting PowerPoints. The class itself is extremely easy. The biggest part of your grade is a group project where you have to write an essay about the topic you're assigned. Grading is extremely slow also. In the end, the class is an easy A but you won't learn anything from it.
Courtney Douglass INST201 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/06/2022	Please avoid taking this professor at all costs. I've never had a professor that is so unprofessional, rude, and just overall terrible at teaching ever. I would call myself a pretty good student and I attended all her painfully confusing and long lectures, go to office hours, and make sure to be on top of every assignment for this course. Dr. Douglass is incredibly unorganized and she constantly rambles about everything but what we're supposed to learn. If you ever need any clarification on anything for the class do not expect to get any CLEAR answers from her. She constantly talks in circles without ever getting to an actual point. She NEVER lets you forget that she has ADHD and its hard for her...statistically probably more than 1/4 of her students struggle with the same thing and I'm sure none would behave as awfully as her. Save yourself the confusion, headaches, and stress and just avoid taking her if you can. (The course itself is so easy, she just overcomplicates everything and her teaching style is just talking about things that don't relate to the material whatsoever).
Ryan O'Grady INST201 Expecting an A+ Naruto 11/28/2022	Had this guy for Inst201, and Inst311. He makes quizzes/exams so easy class probably averages a 90 percent on them.
M Sauter INST201 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 11/07/2022	Had class online during fall 2022. Lectures seemed decent enough but was able to do basically all the work without watching any of them. Main work on a weekly basis is discussion posts/replies, ELMS quiz, and a lecture exit ticket, all of which were always easy. Have group report due at end of semester for final with various progress checks throughout semester, was fairly easy for my group, we never even needed to meet in person. Would recommend for gen ed or if you have general interest,
Fabian Faccio INST201 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 10/29/2022	Goat prof, super nice and chill, take him if you can!
M Sauter INST201 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 09/15/2022	Uses They/Them pronouns. Their lecture is enjoyable and at times interesting. Although they are interesting I rarely attended class because they are all posted online and I am not an InfoSci major. There are no exams, only occasional 5 questions open note online quizzes based on the recorded lectures. The only thing that could downside is that your final project which is a random group of 5-7 people and if they meet deadlines the class is a breeze. You can get an A in the class literally spending less than 3 hours a week, submitting online assignments by skimming through the recorded lecture and do your part for your group without actually ever attending class.
Ryan O'Grady INST201 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 07/02/2022	Great professor! He is really understanding about any situation you are in. I would totally recommend his class
Fabian Faccio INST201 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/29/2022	He is a really great professor, he understands everyone's concerns and really takes the time to address those concerns, I took his class recently in Spring 2022, our class got pushed too online last minute with zoom lectures every Friday, the TA's are strict on grading but I believe that it is fair. Overall the class is really great and Fabian is a really great professor to have
Ryan O'Grady INST201 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/20/2022	Great class, easy and interesting. There's an end of the semester research project that is the only thing that was important. The assignments are just online ELMS quizzes and discussion boards that are also easy.
Ryan O'Grady INST201 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/19/2022	Awesome professor! His lectures are easy to follow, he explains concepts very well, and he gives many examples so that we know how what we're learning applies in the real world
Ryan O'Grady INST201 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/18/2022	Easy, class hope you get a good group. Work is so easy to do
Fabian Faccio INST201 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/17/2022	Fabian is a good professor. He gives a lot of office hours and he is able to help so much with assignments if you need it. However, the course load isn't too bad (or hard by any means) as long as you don't dedicate time to the weekly readings. The weekly assignments consist of saying three things you learned from lecture (recorded), a 5 question open-note quiz based on lecture, and a discussion board. His TAs were somewhat strict on grading, but not enough where you'll get below an A. The other con was the group paper that was a semester-long, working on with our group during Zoom discussion. He assigns the groups, but as long as you get lucky, then you can knock it out pretty easily. A good class despite being thrown together during the first week of classes.
Caitlin Christian-Lamb INST201 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/15/2022	Easy class. Regardless of who the instructor is, it was barely any work each week, so I'd recommend this class to last semester seniors.
Courtney Douglass INST201 Anonymous 05/15/2022	taken her class during Spring 2022, the worst Gen Ed class ever. The assignments are confusing, quizzes don't make sense even after studying her lectures. Also, the lectures are recycled. Useless discussions are graded harshly, and she grades them very late. The due date for assignments is moved without notice, so good luck rescheduling your assignments. She also always asks for sympathy for the super late grading in announcements, which doesn't seem really fair to me as she's paid by the university to give out grades at specific times. TLDR: Just avoid taking her class. It's just not worth it.
Courtney Douglass INST201 Anonymous 05/10/2022	Do not take INST 201 with this professor, especially if it's asynchronous. She records her lectures but about 1/3 to 1/2 of her lectures are reused from her summer classes, which made due dates confusing. And even though she records the lectures, they're usually much longer than they need to be because she pauses... several times... for minutes at a time... during the lecture. Also speaking of due dates, she moves them around with no warning. Discussion boards are a pain.
Caitlin Christian-Lamb INST201 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/02/2022	interesting class and i learned a lot. very easy class. nice teacher
M Sauter INST201 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/22/2021	Best professor I've had at UMD. They make the class interesting and give many opportunities for extra credit. This helps me a lot since I am not the strongest student on campus. There isn't a final exam, but there is a final paper that a group needs to write together. I would definitely take it again.
Elizabeth Bonsignore INST201 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 10/15/2021	Prof. B is an extremely nice, caring, and inspiring lady who truly enjoys what she does. I feel bad giving her such a bad rating, but her class was awful. It feels like our class was the last priority in her busy life. Also, the class contents were mostly common sense and really seemed useless. There was a semester long group project that was drug out for soooo long. It took months, but we could have gotten it done in one week. The class was extremely unorganized to the point it was obnoxious. The instructions of every single assignment was unclear. On top of that, our class were the test dummies for a Playable Case Study program that was extremely buggy and pretty much unusable. We had two lectures a week, the first 30 minutes of each 50 minute lecture was spent talking about assignments and off-topic things. Since she only had 20 mins each lecture to actually lecture, she never finished, so she had to take time out of our discussion section to finish. Needless to say, I stopped attended the lectures early on, I learned nothing, and I passed the class with a high A.. I would recommend prof B for other classes, but for this one, I would recommend getting your easy A from someone else.
Courtney Douglass INST201 Anonymous 06/16/2021	I am currently taking her online class. She is very harsh in grading.
Joyce Garczynski INST201 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/26/2021	The class is literally a free A. Weekly quizzes can be completed by just searching the readings with control + f. The discussions posts are very easy and the final project is not hard at all. I would recommend this class to people who are looking for a light 3 credit course.
Joyce Garczynski INST201 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/18/2021	She was always prepared at the beginning of the week with the course material and content. Easy grader and responsive to emails. Would take her again without hestitation.
Joyce Garczynski INST201 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/16/2021	This class was pretty much exactly what I signed up for. There was a relatively low workload each week, mostly discussion posts and a quiz covering a few articles we were supposed to read. There was plenty of extra credit (you could get 3.5 points out of 3 on any quiz, for instance, which is pretty much just +.5% to your final grade) which was nice, but wasn't really needed, I felt. The final group project was to try to make a meme go viral and then report on virality, which wasn't too difficult and I found the process fun.
Elizabeth Bonsignore INST201 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/15/2021	She's very nice and somewhat lenient about due dates (small late penalty per day late). However, the class is kind of disorganized. Seems to be a lot of busy work, even if it's easily graded. But, prepare to wait ages for your grades. Our final papers are due the 17th, and as of last night, the 14th, some groups still hadn't gotten their draft paper grades back yet. They were due a month ago. She also has this "playable case study" to teach us about cybersecurity, which in theory is cool, but the website is filled with glitches. It's some sort of research project... not sure what's being researched though. You don't have to consent to having your data used in her research, but I'm pretty sure the goal of having these assignments is for them to have free beta testers. Overall, the class is not a lot of work, you'll just be frustrated at times because in class activities are confusing, there's a lot of busy work, and you will wait for major grades.
Laria Rogers INST201 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 02/06/2021	Professor Rogers is great, very nice, and gave easy assignments for the fall 2020 version of 201. The research project instructions were also very clear, and she gave amazing feedback as well
Sydney Triola INST201 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 01/23/2021	The class had so much potential but this professor just really ruined it for everyone. It wasn't even her teaching style; she just graded things without any mercy. Forgot a period? -10 points. Citation off by a single indent? -25 points. Doesn't matter the quality of your writing I bet she wouldn't even read it unless the grammar and punctuation were 100% accurate.
Elizabeth Bonsignore INST201 Expecting an A+ eandoh 12/18/2020	Dr. B is a great professor. The class is slight if you put in some effort. I've got no complaints apart from the fact that she can go on a tangent sometimes but even that is related to the topic so it's not really a bad thing. Take her class, couple readings here and there but it's slight. Put in some work, easy dub.
M Sauter INST201 Expecting an A Anonymous 08/24/2020	Prof. Sauter is amazing. Their lectures are super interesting, comedic, and relatable. There are no exams, only occasional 5 questions quizzes based on the lectures. The only downside is that your final project (and many of the assignments throughout the semester) are with an assigned group of 4-5. I got stuck doing all the work. TAKE THIS PROFESSOR'S CLASS.
Lee Lipscomb INST201 Anonymous 07/18/2020	one of the worst professors ive ever had
Ryan O'Grady INST201 Expecting an A Anonymous 06/08/2020	Took online. Chill professor. Your grade vs the effort you put in will depend on a lot TA since TA grades a lot of the assignments.
M Sauter INST201 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/13/2020	was concerned since she had no reviews, but INST201 was interesting, and not that hard at all. i took it online, but her in person lecture is probably fine too. the quizzes and discussion boards were pretty easy, and you do a semester-long group project, for which i had a good group for. overall take her for inst201. she is nice and knowledgeable, and i feel she is on the same page as college students and is quite up to date on what's going around on social media and the world.
Renee Hill INST201 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/08/2020	She was the man. The class is a joke and while she tried to make it sound important, she also didn't assign dumb work or assignments. She grades easy, and is one of the nicest professors I have had here. She is a great person and I feel like if she had to teach an actual course she would do well too. However, this class was a joke, but she gets 5 stars for her combination of being a great person and not making a dumb class harder than it needed to be.
Sydney Triola INST201 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/17/2019	Do not take this class or at least with this teacher. She teaches based on her own political beliefs and if you disagree you will fail. She talks about having an “open and safe room” but if you end up disagreeing with anything she believes in she will correct you to make it her opinion. Every week you get assigned LONG readings that are so dull and dry and then you have to take an online quiz. She makes a huge PowerPoints and reads off the slides every class. Her grading for papers is all over the place and you really never know what you are going to get. No one in my class knew how to do APA citation and would mark everyone off significantly for not doing it. She linked Perdue owl to do the work cited on the class page but when you do it through Perdue owl (which she linked) she would say it isn’t correct APA? This was her first year teaching and it was quite obvious. She had good intentions but failed to properly run a class.
Sydney Triola INST201 Expecting a B- Anonymous 11/24/2019	I took inst201. It was very easy to tell she had favorites in class. Whoever was her favorite didn't have to do much work in the class and always received extra credit on every assignment. She maintains this cheery personality in class, but if you don't cite literally every sentence in your essay, she will say its false.
Sarah Gilbert INST201 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/28/2019	Dr. Gilbert is a kind instructor who really wants her students to do well in the class. She gives numerous extra credit opportunities that have a profound impact on your grade. In addition, she posts her lecture slides online if you miss class. While the class is a bit lecture-heavy, it is relatively easy to get an A in.
Jessica Vitak INST201 Anonymous 12/30/2017	Great professor she really does try to make things interesting for the class. She does make you do a meme group project. Her tests are easy and she doesn't make the class overly difficult.

J Stephanie Rose
INST201

Expecting an A
Anonymous
11/22/2024

she literally doesn’t teach the class, she talks for 10 minutes and sits there for the rest of the class. and she’s rude.

Angela Rodgers-Koukoui
INST201

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
11/11/2024

She's a very lovely professor and you should definitely take her if you can. The work is minimal and attendance is not required. A lot of her assignments are common sense and the most amount of work you need to put it in is for the final group project.

Madeline Georgevich
INST201

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
05/22/2024

Chillest professor ever! I went to maybe 5 lectures and I got a 100% in the class. SO lenient.

Nicole Miller
INST201

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
05/12/2024

Nicole is such an understanding professor who actually cares for her students. She is fairly young so she understands all the stress that we have and tries to make the class as easy, but worthwhile as she can. The structure of the class is an easy A and there are many opportunities for extra credit. Even though you could easily pass the class without attending lectures, she made them very interesting with her own examples, bringing in guest speakers, and overall being interactive with us. It was a decent-sized lecture hall but she still was able to get all our attention. I'd highly recommend taking this class if it is something you are interested in!

Nicole Miller
INST201

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
05/09/2024

I would highly recommend Nicole to any student who needs to take INST201. She makes the course material very engaging and she cares very much about her students. Her grading is pretty chill; Online quizzes are very easy as long as you look at the posted slides, discussions do not take long to fill out, etc... Overall, this class is a very easy A+. Attendance is required (and graded) for all discussions, and you can honestly get away with not showing up to most of the lectures. She will post on the slides when there will be a "lecture check" where she infrequently checks/grades attendance (7 times the entire semester). Again, I would highly recommend Nicole as she truly cares about student well-being and grades.

Nicole Miller
INST201

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
05/09/2024

This class is great and the professor is committed to your success in the course. It is just quizzes and discussion boards in the class and one small final project. Super easy and fun class. You do have to go to class and discussions for participation grade.

Nicole Miller
INST201

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
05/09/2024

Really really cares, an incredibly kind person, but the class is almost too free? If you want a great environment but also some time to work on other work, this is your class. One note though: just because it is an IS class, does not mean programming is involved.

Nicole Miller
INST201

Anonymous
05/09/2024

Really interesting class with light work load. She really cared about making the information and course palatable.

Courtney Douglass
INST201

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/07/2024

Please avoid at all costs. Extremely unorganized, confusing quizzes that have nothing to do with class material.

Nicole Miller
INST201

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
05/07/2024

Nicole was an amazing instructor. She was super understanding and lenient. She also found a way to add jokes to the lecture. It is a super easy class btw.

Dustin Smith
INST201

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/07/2024

Honestly super laid back, and you can really tell that he's passionate. There are lots of readings but that's required and has nothing to do with the prof but he definitely makes them easier to swallow. Super slight class and no reason you should not get an A.

Nicole Miller
INST201

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
05/06/2024

Nicole is honestly one of the most considerate professor who understands what it's like to be an undergrad. All of the assignments are easy with them being either weekly quizzes or discussion boards. There is no midterm or final but there is a final project. Her lectures are overall really interesting with her brining in guest speakers for whatever the week's topic is. I feel like you genuinely have to be doing no work to get an A in her class because there are about 30 extra credit opportunities which are relatively low effort. I would definitely recommend taking her if you can.

Nicole Miller
INST201

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
05/06/2024

This class is really easy and Nicole makes sure to make it all the more easier. During the semester she does about five lecture checks but she usually lets you know the lecture before. All of the information is very surface level in relation to infosci but its very helpful. Major assignments are mostly just weekly discussion boards and quizzes. It's really hard not to get an A in this class because she offers A LOT of extra credit opportunities like extra discussion board replies, watching videos and writing about what they are. If I'm not mistaken there are about 30 extra credit points you can earn which is pretty nice. I would definitely recommend taking her if you can.

Dustin Smith
INST201

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
04/24/2024

This professor was amazing. The class was very easy and simple. He would often give students the chance to complete assignments if they missed it. He actually made the effort to make the class engaging. He showed cared for his students. We worked on a semester long group project, and we have to write a long essay for it which is very simple if you follow directions. The professor and TA's give a lot of feedback and are always checking in on us. Very simple homework assignments as well and there was no exam. I highly suggest this professor!!

Courtney Douglass
INST201

Expecting a C+
Anonymous
01/18/2024

Please please PLEASE beware of Dr. Douglass!! I am begging you, the other reviews are 100% true. Dr. Douglass is incredibly disorganized, her quizzes make no sense, and she never responds to her emails. High emphasis on the previous review that the semester long “project” could easily be completed in a day. Honestly the content of this class can be interesting for Info Science but with Dr. Douglass’s poor organization and her leaving mid-semester, the class content felt like a drag and everything was busy work with no assistance from the professor herself. Late grades, but she is lenient with a 50% rule that made up for her tardiness (not sure if this happened in previous semesters) but overall the class with Dr. Douglass was just unnecessary stress and scrambling for what’s an intro course. I registered for INST201 with another professor (because I read the reviews first) and on the first day of classes the professor switched to Dr. Douglass without warning - if this happens to you, please switch out!!

Kelly Hoffman
INST201

Expecting an A
Anonymous
01/09/2024

the nicest professor ever. class was super chill, just be careful who you choose as ur project partners! otherwise the best professor i wish i could take her again.

Courtney Douglass
INST201

Expecting a B
Anonymous
01/09/2024

The professor was gone for most of the semester and had the TA teaching. She is a harsh grader and the quiz questions and assignment instructions were sometimes confusing. The final project is pretty easy but is dragged along the whole semester. Discussion was required but often pointless.

Kelly Hoffman
INST201

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/30/2023

Overall a very good professor. Always makes sure her students are all on the same page, is very clear and concise with her presentations, well-structured course. There was a 10-page final paper however, you work on it over the course of the semester so it's not bad at all. She responds quickly and in detail to her emails. Grading is very fair and honest. 100% would recommend her for INST201.

Courtney Douglass
INST201

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
12/29/2023

If I had the ability to give 0 stars, I would. I took her over the Fall semester and she didn't even show up to most of her lectures, she made one of her TA's lecture the class. And when she did come to class she would just ramble on about whatever and leave everyone clueless. She is extremely disorganized and honestly makes me wonder if she even knows what she's teaching. To this day, I couldn't even tell you what I learned in the class. Her assignments and quizzes are unreasonable and her grading makes absolutely no sense. It's as if she rolls a die and just picks and chooses who gets what grade. She never puts in grades so you're left clueless as to where you stand in the class. Even if the quizzes were open note and the answers were literally on the slides, the answer would somehow still be wrong. While there are no midterms or a final, there are a few quizzes throughout the semester and a final deliverable. Like I said, the quizzes are unreasonable and made absolutely no sense. And the final deliverable made me feel like I was in fifth grade again cutting and gluing paper on to a trifold. I can go on and on about how horrible of a professor she is, but I think you got the idea. It is possible to get at least an A- in the class as long as you complete all the assignments and do the extra credit (extra credit is provided at the end of the semester). Overall, don't take her if you have the choice, save yourself some time!!

Lee Lipscomb
INST201

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/26/2023

Low-stress class with generous extra credit (worth up to ~12%). No exams or presentations, light grading, and the group project is a straightforward research paper. Learn to skim readings and speed-watch lectures, and do groupwork early! She's initially unclear on due dates, so ask for clarification.

Kelly Hoffman
INST201

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/12/2023

TAKE THIS CLASS WITH PROF HOFFMAN!!!! It is a requirement for Info Sci but if you need an elective I recommend this since it is easy. There are two zoom meetings a week that you have to be logged into because she grades the top 20 participation grades (it's only 50 mins its not that hard). Then there's an in-person discussion once a week but it only takes like 30 mins and it's just a group activity for participation and extremely easy it needs no thought. There are weekly content quizzes based on the lectures and assigned readings (I didn't read the readings and was just fine). There are also weekly discussion boards but those are easy as well and about 150 words which is like nothing. The final for this class is a group project on a topic (kind of given to you but you choose from a list) that is 10 pages long. HOWEVER, there are due dates throughout the semester like research review, then 2 weeks later is the outline, 2 weeks after that are body paragraphs, etc. These due dates gave us plenty of time and I feel like I spent no time at all writing it. We were also done the paper like 2 weeks before finals week so it's not stressful.

Kelly Hoffman
INST201

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/11/2023

She is one of the nicest professors I have ever had. She is an amazing lecturer and makes sure to keep her lectures interesting. She is always willing to help you with something, set up office hours, and answer your questions. She also responds to emails quickly and the class itself is VERY organized. The class was a weekly discussion post, a weekly quiz, and a final 10-page paper which was not bad at all because you'll be working with a group on it and you'll be working on it over the course of the semester so it's not as bad as it sounds.

Zach Drake
INST201

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/08/2023

Very easy instructore for INST201, he teaches 126 too but I haven't taken the course yet. Very easy overall, very acommodating, recommended professor if you don't want to stress. Though emails may take a few days to be responded to

Hananya Cohen
INST201

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/03/2023

Took this class thinking it would be super fun since the reviews were all so positive. Unfortunately it ended up being the most boring class I've ever taken. There is only one real grade and its a group paper that Prof Cohen didn't seem to know much about. It was pretty apparent that he is a librarian and not prepared to teach this class nor did he seem to know much of what its about. He kind of just reads the readings he assigned during lecture. No one really goes anymore so you can skip every class. Prof Cohen is a SUPER nice guy just maybe not meant to teach an information science class.

Hananya Cohen
INST201

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/01/2023

Seriously the most boring class Ive ever taken. Im really not complaining though, i just took this class for a gen-ed requirement. Professor (?) is pretty nice but extremely monotone and quiet. Half of the class doesnt even show up any more. Id take this class again, just skip out on the lectures you dont need them.

Matthew Patrick
INST201

Expecting a C
Anonymous
11/10/2023

Do not take. Very rude to students and generally aloof.

Lee Lipscomb
INST201

Expecting a B
Anonymous
10/19/2023

If you actually did all the readings (around 5 per week), watched every lecture (3 per week, 1hr each on average), and did all the assignments and quizzes (3 to 4 every week), you wouldn't have time for your actual major. I think she doesn't understand that almost no one in her class is taking this as a major requirement - it's a gen ed and she needs to chill. My group was only a couple hours late on one heavily weighted assignment and BAM we got a zero with no chance of pleading our case (we had a pretty good reason, trust). She just told us to do the extra credit work. Her extra credit opportunities are ridiculous (you'd probably spend several hours working on them) and they can't compensate for some of these assignments. I'm sure this class would be great with literally any other professor.

Kelly Hoffman
INST201

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
07/18/2023

Professor Hoffman is probably one of the best and nicest professors i’ve ever had. I just switch majors to InfoSci and this is one of the first intro classes I’m taking and she’s extremely kind and helpful. For the online session, she does not have any exams because she understands how difficult it can be in terms of cramming and retaining the information. Her lectures are interesting and informative. All her assignments correspond to the readings and lectures. She’s extremely organized and has the modules posted by week so it’s really easy to see what you you need to do for the week/keep up with the due dates. She also makes sure the class understands why she does things the way she does which is something not a lot of professors do. Definitely recommend taking any of her classes!

Courtney Douglass
INST201

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
05/21/2023

Her teaching style was actually interesting when we had lectures (she was gone for more than half of the semester). However, the material is quite boring. The TAs are incompetent but hope and pray she doesn't grade any of your stuff because she's not only harsh but also unfair. The class is really structured around a big "semester project" that my 7 yr old cousin can complete in a day hence she drags everything out to make up for the lack of more meaningful assignments. The quizzes are extremely weird. You can Command F the entire quiz based on the slides and end up with a 65. And to top things off, she doesn't adhere to her grading scale and ended up not posting assignments that were on the syllabus. Fellow terp, if you care about your well-being, please seek another class or professor.

Courtney Douglass
INST201

Expecting a B
Anonymous
05/17/2023

1. The class is extremely dysfunctional and assignments on the syllabus were either never created and loaded to canvas weeks late 2. Each Quiz was incredibly difficult and made for you to receive the lowest grade possible as she asked questions you couldn’t possibly prepare for or guess were relevant to the section. 3. Save yourself, do not take this class. The class content is enjoyable, but there’s no reason why I shouldn’t have an A.

Courtney Douglass
INST201

Expecting a B
Anonymous
05/16/2023

Just because someone has a Ph.D. does not mean they are a good teacher. Courtney was the worst professor I have had at UMD - little communication with students, harsh grading, warped and confusing quiz questions, unorganized, and switched between in-person and online lectures without sending announcements. The list of issues with her class is lengthy and she is not a real professor. I hope the INST college can look for some better professors because this is not worth anyone's tuition.

Courtney Douglass
INST201

Expecting a C+
Anonymous
05/06/2023

Run! Don't do it! Everyone here pretty much gave a good summary of what she's like and how she organizes her class. So, word of advice, if you can, take this class with literally anyone else. This class is not hard but she makes it unnecessarily stressful. Getting a good grade on any assignment, except for discussions, is like a game of luck, regardless of how much you study.

Courtney Douglass
INST201

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
05/02/2023

This class was incredibly unorganized and nobody responded to emails. Assignments and class format were confusing and unclear. She was nice enough I guess but she grades harshly and doesn't put grades in until very late. I'm honestly not even sure what my grade is going to be and we're two weeks away from finals week. This class may be the one the drop me GPA which absolutely blows my mind. The content isn't even interesting and it's overall just a tough class to get through. There's one big group project that she makes out to be much bigger than it actually is. The project is very annoying and is just not worth your time.

Courtney Douglass
INST201

Expecting a B-
Anonymous
04/20/2023

This professor is one the worst that I have ever encountered. The class is really disorganized with little to no communication from her or the TA's. She grades stuff really late so you don't know your actual grade until near the end of the semester. Her quizzes are meant for you to fail as they are more of a "gotcha" questions and don't really reflect the lecture nor the content.

Courtney Douglass
INST201

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
04/13/2023

She is a terrible professor. Harsh grading and stupid quiz questions that don't make sense or reflect lectures.

Courtney Douglass
INST201

Expecting a B
Anonymous
03/09/2023

She is extremely unreliable with her rubric and grading and does not provide the opportunities for easy point earning she claims she gives. The actual content is easy to understand and the concepts can be grasped but for some reasons she makes it so difficult to do well. The tests are not over course material, and I have heard of so many people going through every single document available and still not finding concepts she mentioned. I do not understand what makes grades for this class so unattainable, as it sounds like an approachable class, but trust me. If you tend to get decent grades, this class will still pose you a challenge.

Courtney Douglass
INST201

Expecting a B-
Anonymous
03/06/2023

Omg PLEASE DO NOT TAKE HER. I’m sorry but the worst professor I’ve ever had in my entire life. She’s making this class so much more difficult that it should be, her grading is super harsh. Taking points off for the smallest reason. PLEASE PLEASE if you want a good gpa DO NOT take her!!!!

Courtney Douglass
INST201

Anonymous
03/05/2023

Currently taking this class and she is terrible. The content is not hard or difficult but her wording on the quizzes makes them tricky and most of the time you will end with a poor score. She is also a very harsh grader and is also very strict about class. She doesn't answer emails and asks to be understanding for her needs but then goes to complain about us. I would avoid taking her at all and the only reason why I chose this class was because she was the only professor available.

Courtney Douglass
INST201

Anonymous
03/03/2023

Worst professor you can ever have. Don't take her.

Courtney Douglass
INST201

Expecting a B-
Anonymous
02/20/2023

She refused to round from 79.7 to an 80 so I ended with a C+. She wasn't a bad professor just demanded people's attention throughout the class and yelled if someone was having a convo during the lecture. Attendance in lectures became mandatory because people weren't showing up. She also used the words "black folk" a lot during our lectures on certain topics.

Courtney Douglass
INST201

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
01/27/2023

The other comments sum her up very well: - begs for pity but is the least understanding towards students - doesnt answer emails - her TAs dont do anything - will make you consider switching majors

M Sauter
INST201

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
01/11/2023

Never watched a single lecture and you don't have to. There were weekly discussion posts, but you didn't really have to do any of the reading for them since you only needed 200-300 word responses. There were also lecture exit tickets, and you just had to say three things you learned from lectures and you could copy of the slides they upload. Weekly quizzes most weeks, but all the answers are online and you get 2 tries. Only big assignment is a group paper. It could maybe suck if you are placed in a bad group, but there are checks on the progress every couple of weeks that keep people in check and also count for a good amount of your grade. The paper was only like 3,000 words which really isn't that much for 5-6 people. Seemed to be graded pretty leniently. Great no-stress class, and honestly, some of the material on the slides did seem pretty interesting.

Christopher Dempwolf
INST201

Anonymous
12/15/2022

Ok, so this teacher was basically none existent, still don't know if he's a real person. He had recorded lectures at the start, but then just started posting PowerPoints. The class itself is extremely easy. The biggest part of your grade is a group project where you have to write an essay about the topic you're assigned. Grading is extremely slow also. In the end, the class is an easy A but you won't learn anything from it.

Courtney Douglass
INST201

Expecting a B
Anonymous
12/06/2022

Please avoid taking this professor at all costs. I've never had a professor that is so unprofessional, rude, and just overall terrible at teaching ever. I would call myself a pretty good student and I attended all her painfully confusing and long lectures, go to office hours, and make sure to be on top of every assignment for this course. Dr. Douglass is incredibly unorganized and she constantly rambles about everything but what we're supposed to learn. If you ever need any clarification on anything for the class do not expect to get any CLEAR answers from her. She constantly talks in circles without ever getting to an actual point. She NEVER lets you forget that she has ADHD and its hard for her...statistically probably more than 1/4 of her students struggle with the same thing and I'm sure none would behave as awfully as her. Save yourself the confusion, headaches, and stress and just avoid taking her if you can. (The course itself is so easy, she just overcomplicates everything and her teaching style is just talking about things that don't relate to the material whatsoever).

Ryan O'Grady
INST201

Expecting an A+
Naruto
11/28/2022

Had this guy for Inst201, and Inst311. He makes quizzes/exams so easy class probably averages a 90 percent on them.

M Sauter
INST201

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
11/07/2022

Had class online during fall 2022. Lectures seemed decent enough but was able to do basically all the work without watching any of them. Main work on a weekly basis is discussion posts/replies, ELMS quiz, and a lecture exit ticket, all of which were always easy. Have group report due at end of semester for final with various progress checks throughout semester, was fairly easy for my group, we never even needed to meet in person. Would recommend for gen ed or if you have general interest,

Fabian Faccio
INST201

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
10/29/2022

Goat prof, super nice and chill, take him if you can!

M Sauter
INST201

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
09/15/2022

Uses They/Them pronouns. Their lecture is enjoyable and at times interesting. Although they are interesting I rarely attended class because they are all posted online and I am not an InfoSci major. There are no exams, only occasional 5 questions open note online quizzes based on the recorded lectures. The only thing that could downside is that your final project which is a random group of 5-7 people and if they meet deadlines the class is a breeze. You can get an A in the class literally spending less than 3 hours a week, submitting online assignments by skimming through the recorded lecture and do your part for your group without actually ever attending class.

Ryan O'Grady
INST201

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
07/02/2022

Great professor! He is really understanding about any situation you are in. I would totally recommend his class

Fabian Faccio
INST201

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/29/2022

He is a really great professor, he understands everyone's concerns and really takes the time to address those concerns, I took his class recently in Spring 2022, our class got pushed too online last minute with zoom lectures every Friday, the TA's are strict on grading but I believe that it is fair. Overall the class is really great and Fabian is a really great professor to have

Ryan O'Grady
INST201

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
05/20/2022

Great class, easy and interesting. There's an end of the semester research project that is the only thing that was important. The assignments are just online ELMS quizzes and discussion boards that are also easy.

Ryan O'Grady
INST201

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
05/19/2022

Awesome professor! His lectures are easy to follow, he explains concepts very well, and he gives many examples so that we know how what we're learning applies in the real world

Ryan O'Grady
INST201

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
05/18/2022

Easy, class hope you get a good group. Work is so easy to do

Fabian Faccio
INST201

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
05/17/2022

Fabian is a good professor. He gives a lot of office hours and he is able to help so much with assignments if you need it. However, the course load isn't too bad (or hard by any means) as long as you don't dedicate time to the weekly readings. The weekly assignments consist of saying three things you learned from lecture (recorded), a 5 question open-note quiz based on lecture, and a discussion board. His TAs were somewhat strict on grading, but not enough where you'll get below an A. The other con was the group paper that was a semester-long, working on with our group during Zoom discussion. He assigns the groups, but as long as you get lucky, then you can knock it out pretty easily. A good class despite being thrown together during the first week of classes.

Caitlin Christian-Lamb
INST201

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/15/2022

Easy class. Regardless of who the instructor is, it was barely any work each week, so I'd recommend this class to last semester seniors.

Courtney Douglass
INST201

Anonymous
05/15/2022

taken her class during Spring 2022, the worst Gen Ed class ever. The assignments are confusing, quizzes don't make sense even after studying her lectures. Also, the lectures are recycled. Useless discussions are graded harshly, and she grades them very late. The due date for assignments is moved without notice, so good luck rescheduling your assignments. She also always asks for sympathy for the super late grading in announcements, which doesn't seem really fair to me as she's paid by the university to give out grades at specific times. TLDR: Just avoid taking her class. It's just not worth it.

Courtney Douglass
INST201

Anonymous
05/10/2022

Do not take INST 201 with this professor, *especially* if it's asynchronous. She records her lectures but about 1/3 to 1/2 of her lectures are reused from her summer classes, which made due dates confusing. And even though she records the lectures, they're usually much longer than they need to be because she pauses... several times... for minutes at a time... during the lecture. Also speaking of due dates, she moves them around with no warning. Discussion boards are a pain.

Caitlin Christian-Lamb
INST201

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/02/2022

interesting class and i learned a lot. very easy class. nice teacher

M Sauter
INST201

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/22/2021

Best professor I've had at UMD. They make the class interesting and give many opportunities for extra credit. This helps me a lot since I am not the strongest student on campus. There isn't a final exam, but there is a final paper that a group needs to write together. I would definitely take it again.

Elizabeth Bonsignore
INST201

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
10/15/2021

Prof. B is an extremely nice, caring, and inspiring lady who truly enjoys what she does. I feel bad giving her such a bad rating, but her class was awful. It feels like our class was the last priority in her busy life. Also, the class contents were mostly common sense and really seemed useless. There was a semester long group project that was drug out for soooo long. It took months, but we could have gotten it done in one week. The class was extremely unorganized to the point it was obnoxious. The instructions of every single assignment was unclear. On top of that, our class were the test dummies for a Playable Case Study program that was extremely buggy and pretty much unusable. We had two lectures a week, the first 30 minutes of each 50 minute lecture was spent talking about assignments and off-topic things. Since she only had 20 mins each lecture to actually lecture, she never finished, so she had to take time out of our discussion section to finish. Needless to say, I stopped attended the lectures early on, I learned nothing, and I passed the class with a high A.. I would recommend prof B for other classes, but for this one, I would recommend getting your easy A from someone else.

Courtney Douglass
INST201

Anonymous
06/16/2021

I am currently taking her online class. She is very harsh in grading.

Joyce Garczynski
INST201

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
05/26/2021

The class is literally a free A. Weekly quizzes can be completed by just searching the readings with control + f. The discussions posts are very easy and the final project is not hard at all. I would recommend this class to people who are looking for a light 3 credit course.

Joyce Garczynski
INST201

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/18/2021

She was always prepared at the beginning of the week with the course material and content. Easy grader and responsive to emails. Would take her again without hestitation.

Joyce Garczynski
INST201

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
05/16/2021

This class was pretty much exactly what I signed up for. There was a relatively low workload each week, mostly discussion posts and a quiz covering a few articles we were supposed to read. There was plenty of extra credit (you could get 3.5 points out of 3 on any quiz, for instance, which is pretty much just +.5% to your final grade) which was nice, but wasn't really needed, I felt. The final group project was to try to make a meme go viral and then report on virality, which wasn't too difficult and I found the process fun.

Elizabeth Bonsignore
INST201

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
05/15/2021

She's very nice and somewhat lenient about due dates (small late penalty per day late). However, the class is kind of disorganized. Seems to be a lot of busy work, even if it's easily graded. But, prepare to wait ages for your grades. Our final papers are due the 17th, and as of last night, the 14th, some groups still hadn't gotten their draft paper grades back yet. They were due a month ago. She also has this "playable case study" to teach us about cybersecurity, which in theory is cool, but the website is filled with glitches. It's some sort of research project... not sure what's being researched though. You don't have to consent to having your data used in her research, but I'm pretty sure the goal of having these assignments is for them to have free beta testers. Overall, the class is not a lot of work, you'll just be frustrated at times because in class activities are confusing, there's a lot of busy work, and you will wait for major grades.

Laria Rogers
INST201

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
02/06/2021

Professor Rogers is great, very nice, and gave easy assignments for the fall 2020 version of 201. The research project instructions were also very clear, and she gave amazing feedback as well

Sydney Triola
INST201

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
01/23/2021

The class had so much potential but this professor just really ruined it for everyone. It wasn't even her teaching style; she just graded things without any mercy. Forgot a period? -10 points. Citation off by a single indent? -25 points. Doesn't matter the quality of your writing I bet she wouldn't even read it unless the grammar and punctuation were 100% accurate.

Elizabeth Bonsignore
INST201

Expecting an A+
eandoh
12/18/2020

Dr. B is a great professor. The class is slight if you put in some effort. I've got no complaints apart from the fact that she can go on a tangent sometimes but even that is related to the topic so it's not really a bad thing. Take her class, couple readings here and there but it's slight. Put in some work, easy dub.

M Sauter
INST201

Expecting an A
Anonymous
08/24/2020

Prof. Sauter is amazing. Their lectures are super interesting, comedic, and relatable. There are no exams, only occasional 5 questions quizzes based on the lectures. The only downside is that your final project (and many of the assignments throughout the semester) are with an assigned group of 4-5. I got stuck doing all the work. TAKE THIS PROFESSOR'S CLASS.

Lee Lipscomb
INST201

Anonymous
07/18/2020

one of the worst professors ive ever had

Ryan O'Grady
INST201

Expecting an A
Anonymous
06/08/2020

Took online. Chill professor. Your grade vs the effort you put in will depend on a lot TA since TA grades a lot of the assignments.

M Sauter
INST201

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/13/2020

was concerned since she had no reviews, but INST201 was interesting, and not that hard at all. i took it online, but her in person lecture is probably fine too. the quizzes and discussion boards were pretty easy, and you do a semester-long group project, for which i had a good group for. overall take her for inst201. she is nice and knowledgeable, and i feel she is on the same page as college students and is quite up to date on what's going around on social media and the world.

Renee Hill
INST201

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/08/2020

She was the man. The class is a joke and while she tried to make it sound important, she also didn't assign dumb work or assignments. She grades easy, and is one of the nicest professors I have had here. She is a great person and I feel like if she had to teach an actual course she would do well too. However, this class was a joke, but she gets 5 stars for her combination of being a great person and not making a dumb class harder than it needed to be.

Sydney Triola
INST201

Expecting a B
Anonymous
12/17/2019

Do not take this class or at least with this teacher. She teaches based on her own political beliefs and if you disagree you will fail. She talks about having an “open and safe room” but if you end up disagreeing with anything she believes in she will correct you to make it her opinion. Every week you get assigned LONG readings that are so dull and dry and then you have to take an online quiz. She makes a huge PowerPoints and reads off the slides every class. Her grading for papers is all over the place and you really never know what you are going to get. No one in my class knew how to do APA citation and would mark everyone off significantly for not doing it. She linked Perdue owl to do the work cited on the class page but when you do it through Perdue owl (which she linked) she would say it isn’t correct APA? This was her first year teaching and it was quite obvious. She had good intentions but failed to properly run a class.

Sydney Triola
INST201

Expecting a B-
Anonymous
11/24/2019

I took inst201. It was very easy to tell she had favorites in class. Whoever was her favorite didn't have to do much work in the class and always received extra credit on every assignment. She maintains this cheery personality in class, but if you don't cite literally every sentence in your essay, she will say its false.

Sarah Gilbert
INST201

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
05/28/2019

Dr. Gilbert is a kind instructor who really wants her students to do well in the class. She gives numerous extra credit opportunities that have a profound impact on your grade. In addition, she posts her lecture slides online if you miss class. While the class is a bit lecture-heavy, it is relatively easy to get an A in.

Jessica Vitak
INST201

Anonymous
12/30/2017

Great professor she really does try to make things interesting for the class. She does make you do a meme group project. Her tests are easy and she doesn't make the class overly difficult.

Reviews for INST201