LARC160 | PlanetTerp

Information	Review
Colleen Vacelet LARC160 Expecting an A- Anonymous 07/08/2024	Good class. But sometimes hindered by Professor Vacelet's attitude. She was unprofessional a few times: in one instance, student asked a question about exam material and she paused the lecture for a good number of minutes to rant about how annoyed she was with the question. Remember sitting there awkwardly with the class the whole time instead of us just moving on and her teaching the material. Kinda ruined the vibe
Deni Ruggeri LARC160 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/07/2024	He is very passionate about this material! His lectures are very engaging, and he frequently has guest lectures that are very interesting. As it's only his second semester teaching this course, it has been a little bit rocky, however he and his TAs have made the assignments very approachable. He has very long readings, but honestly you don't have to read the entire things before you get the gist of the articles. As long as you put effort into the 6 assignments and show up to discussion, this class is an easy A!
Deni Ruggeri LARC160 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/07/2024	Very knowledgable and passionate about the course. He is revamping this course from previous semesters, where it was all just lectures and exams, and now it is all project-based (no exams). Some of the readings are ridiculously long for only a 1 point summary, but you can get most of the info from abstracts. There are a lot of guest lectures but they are actually all very interesting. Ruggeri is new to UMD and is kind of creating the course as he goes, so he is very open to feedback. Would recommend him, and LARC160 for a gen-ed.
Deni Ruggeri LARC160 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/17/2024	Very knowledgeable in course material, although the assignments were somewhat unclear and disorganized. This course was new this semester so some changing due dates and unclear expectations were to be expected. Due to this, the course was relatively simple but served its purpose well. I expect this course will be more difficult the next time it is offered. Lectures were usually engaging when a guest was invited to speak, which happened about 5 or 6 times. Lectures are not mandatory, though discussions are. Grading appeared to be based on whether good effort was put into the assignments. Would recommend taking this professor in the future.
Deni Ruggeri LARC160 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/14/2024	First time teaching this so class was disorganized. Deni genuinely cared about the material and class and was a great guy. Grading was lenient too.
Deni Ruggeri LARC160 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/13/2023	The course was pretty disorganized since this was his first year teaching it. Deadlines were constantly switching, assignment requirements would change, and even the TAs would give different due dates at times. I do think that it was mostly because it was his first time teaching it, and can't say if it will be the same next semester. However, grading was SO EASY. They just wanted to see if you even tried on the assignment. Deni is funny and nice and willing to help if you reach out to him. Overall easy A and would recommend for an easy GenEd. We were also told in the beginning of the semester that lectures were mandatory, but no one ever actually took attendance. Attendance at the discussion was required.
Jueminsi Wu LARC160 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 06/07/2023	Nice enough of a professor, but her lectures are a little useless and boring since she reads off the slides. Clears her throat a lot if you have misophonia or are sensitive to noises like that. If you're looking for an easy A and aren't interested in the material, you could skip all the lectures like I did and get by. Nobody showed up by the middle of the semester lol. There are Quizlets with the exam review answers (the questions given in Canvas don't have answers) and if you study those and use common sense, you could get a good grade on the exams. Two exams, just the midterm and the final. Those are usually about 20 multiple choice questions and then 3 or so written explationation for concepts. My midterm was online but then some students complained about the technical difficulties so then the final was moved to in-person at 8am on the very last day of exams. Discussion required attendance and in my opinion was more interesting than the lectures. You'd draw site plans and learn about section cuts. There were a total of nine projects/assignments. Some were drawings, research on existing landscapes, plant species, etc. The last two were weighted more, and I got extra credit on the final project (bumping my grade up to over 100%). If you have the slightest interest in the environment/being creative and want something you can bs through, this is the class for you.
Jueminsi Wu LARC160 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 06/07/2023	Nice enough of a professor, but her lectures are a little useless and boring since she reads off the slides. Clears her throat a lot if you have misophonia or are sensitive to noises like that. If you're looking for an easy A and aren't interested in the material, you could skip all the lectures like I did and get by. Nobody showed up by the middle of the semester lol. There are Quizlets with the exam review answers (the questions given in Canvas don't have answers) and if you study those and use common sense, you could get a good grade on the exams. Two exams, just the midterm and the final. Those are usually about 20 multiple choice questions and then 3 or so written explationation for concepts. My midterm was online but then some students complained about the technical difficulties so then the final was moved to in-person at 8am on the very last day of exams. Discussion required attendance and in my opinion was more interesting than the lectures. You'd draw site plans and learn about section cuts. There were a total of nine projects/assignments. Some were drawings, research on existing landscapes, plant species, etc. The last two were weighted more, and I got extra credit on the final project (bumping my grade up to over 100%). If you have the slightest interest in the environment/being creative and want something you can bs through, this is the class for you.
Jueminsi Wu LARC160 Expecting an A grizzlybean 05/04/2023	i believe she is slightly new to teaching. she really just reads of the slides, many of which are solely pictures so it is very difficult to take notes. that being said, the material in the class for me seemed fairly self explanatory and exams were not entirely difficult if you did the readings and reviewed, but the way they graded the short answer's were very specific. discussions were pretty engaging, we would walk to sites and draw different types of diagrams and the final project was proposing a site plan with a lot of diagrams, it just takes time. she posts study guides and its pretty vocab based but showing up to class at least for me was useless (attendance is taken though).
Dennis Nola LARC160 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 07/15/2022	This guy assigned a million hard drawing projects... and a full final board presentation. I spent hours upon hours each week on the projects and got 100% on everything. His lectures were terrible. He didn't respond to anything until emailing at least three times. Final was awful. Do not recommend.
Dennis Nola LARC160 Expecting a B Anonymous 02/10/2021	I truly have no clue why he used to be rated so highly. I took his LARC160 in 2018 and every lecture was super boring since he just rambles on and on about stuff you barely understand or really care about. Discussion was useless too, just some boring random assignments. There was also a project where you had to draw an aerial view of parts of the campus, which for some reason he took off a bunch of points and never made his expectations clear. There were also exams involving essays, to this day I still don't know how or why he graded the way he did. If you think LARC160 is an easy class you are wrong, you'll actually have to spend a ton of time and research questions that don't really have an answer. If I could go back in time I would have chosen a different class. Nola is incredibly overrated and I totally regret taking this class with him.
Colleen Vacelet LARC160 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 01/21/2021	Took it in 2020 with her. There were videos available to review as well as the PowerPoint she would use during the lecture so make use of every resource available. Exams were straightforward and easy to fail if you don't take notes during lectures and on the PowerPoint. There are readings, but whether or not you.
Colleen Vacelet LARC160 Expecting an A- Anonymous 06/21/2020	This class was easy enough, but Colleen was very rude and unhelpful over email (made worse by the fact that I took this as an online class). She said she would have office hours every day, but that ended after the first week, and the one time I scheduled to meet with her, she cancelled right before and then stopped responding to my emails. Fine class; not fine professor.
Colleen Vacelet LARC160 Expecting an A Anonymous 03/17/2019	Colleen was very professional and helpful throughout the course. There were daily assigned readings (some were up to ~80 pages), but don't let that scare you! The lecture slides summarize the readings to help with the midterm and final exam. Just be sure to take notes and pay attention to what is taught in class, because the material is really interesting and Colleen really makes the subject stick with you in the future with her multiple examples and campus tours.
Christopher Ellis LARC160 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/19/2016	Dr.Ellis is really nice. His lecture is very easy to understand, and he posted slides to elms, which helps the exams a lot. The key to ace? Never miss a discussion and you'll do great.

Colleen Vacelet
LARC160

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
07/08/2024

Good class. But sometimes hindered by Professor Vacelet's attitude. She was unprofessional a few times: in one instance, student asked a question about exam material and she paused the lecture for a good number of minutes to rant about how annoyed she was with the question. Remember sitting there awkwardly with the class the whole time instead of us just moving on and her teaching the material. Kinda ruined the vibe

Deni Ruggeri
LARC160

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
05/07/2024

He is very passionate about this material! His lectures are very engaging, and he frequently has guest lectures that are very interesting. As it's only his second semester teaching this course, it has been a little bit rocky, however he and his TAs have made the assignments very approachable. He has very long readings, but honestly you don't have to read the entire things before you get the gist of the articles. As long as you put effort into the 6 assignments and show up to discussion, this class is an easy A!

Deni Ruggeri
LARC160

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/07/2024

Very knowledgable and passionate about the course. He is revamping this course from previous semesters, where it was all just lectures and exams, and now it is all project-based (no exams). Some of the readings are ridiculously long for only a 1 point summary, but you can get most of the info from abstracts. There are a lot of guest lectures but they are actually all very interesting. Ruggeri is new to UMD and is kind of creating the course as he goes, so he is very open to feedback. Would recommend him, and LARC160 for a gen-ed.

Deni Ruggeri
LARC160

Expecting an A
Anonymous
01/17/2024

Very knowledgeable in course material, although the assignments were somewhat unclear and disorganized. This course was new this semester so some changing due dates and unclear expectations were to be expected. Due to this, the course was relatively simple but served its purpose well. I expect this course will be more difficult the next time it is offered. Lectures were usually engaging when a guest was invited to speak, which happened about 5 or 6 times. Lectures are not mandatory, though discussions are. Grading appeared to be based on whether good effort was put into the assignments. Would recommend taking this professor in the future.

Deni Ruggeri
LARC160

Expecting an A
Anonymous
01/14/2024

First time teaching this so class was disorganized. Deni genuinely cared about the material and class and was a great guy. Grading was lenient too.

Deni Ruggeri
LARC160

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/13/2023

The course was pretty disorganized since this was his first year teaching it. Deadlines were constantly switching, assignment requirements would change, and even the TAs would give different due dates at times. I do think that it was mostly because it was his first time teaching it, and can't say if it will be the same next semester. However, grading was SO EASY. They just wanted to see if you even tried on the assignment. Deni is funny and nice and willing to help if you reach out to him. Overall easy A and would recommend for an easy GenEd. We were also told in the beginning of the semester that lectures were mandatory, but no one ever actually took attendance. Attendance at the discussion was required.

Jueminsi Wu
LARC160

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
06/07/2023

Nice enough of a professor, but her lectures are a little useless and boring since she reads off the slides. Clears her throat a lot if you have misophonia or are sensitive to noises like that. If you're looking for an easy A and aren't interested in the material, you could skip all the lectures like I did and get by. Nobody showed up by the middle of the semester lol. There are Quizlets with the exam review answers (the questions given in Canvas don't have answers) and if you study those and use common sense, you could get a good grade on the exams. Two exams, just the midterm and the final. Those are usually about 20 multiple choice questions and then 3 or so written explationation for concepts. My midterm was online but then some students complained about the technical difficulties so then the final was moved to in-person at 8am on the very last day of exams. Discussion required attendance and in my opinion was more interesting than the lectures. You'd draw site plans and learn about section cuts. There were a total of nine projects/assignments. Some were drawings, research on existing landscapes, plant species, etc. The last two were weighted more, and I got extra credit on the final project (bumping my grade up to over 100%). If you have the slightest interest in the environment/being creative and want something you can bs through, this is the class for you.

Jueminsi Wu
LARC160

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
06/07/2023

Nice enough of a professor, but her lectures are a little useless and boring since she reads off the slides. Clears her throat a lot if you have misophonia or are sensitive to noises like that. If you're looking for an easy A and aren't interested in the material, you could skip all the lectures like I did and get by. Nobody showed up by the middle of the semester lol. There are Quizlets with the exam review answers (the questions given in Canvas don't have answers) and if you study those and use common sense, you could get a good grade on the exams. Two exams, just the midterm and the final. Those are usually about 20 multiple choice questions and then 3 or so written explationation for concepts. My midterm was online but then some students complained about the technical difficulties so then the final was moved to in-person at 8am on the very last day of exams. Discussion required attendance and in my opinion was more interesting than the lectures. You'd draw site plans and learn about section cuts. There were a total of nine projects/assignments. Some were drawings, research on existing landscapes, plant species, etc. The last two were weighted more, and I got extra credit on the final project (bumping my grade up to over 100%). If you have the slightest interest in the environment/being creative and want something you can bs through, this is the class for you.

Jueminsi Wu
LARC160

Expecting an A
grizzlybean
05/04/2023

i believe she is slightly new to teaching. she really just reads of the slides, many of which are solely pictures so it is very difficult to take notes. that being said, the material in the class for me seemed fairly self explanatory and exams were not entirely difficult if you did the readings and reviewed, but the way they graded the short answer's were very specific. discussions were pretty engaging, we would walk to sites and draw different types of diagrams and the final project was proposing a site plan with a lot of diagrams, it just takes time. she posts study guides and its pretty vocab based but showing up to class at least for me was useless (attendance is taken though).

Dennis Nola
LARC160

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
07/15/2022

This guy assigned a million hard drawing projects... and a full final board presentation. I spent hours upon hours each week on the projects and got 100% on everything. His lectures were terrible. He didn't respond to anything until emailing at least three times. Final was awful. Do not recommend.

Dennis Nola
LARC160

Expecting a B
Anonymous
02/10/2021

I truly have no clue why he used to be rated so highly. I took his LARC160 in 2018 and every lecture was super boring since he just rambles on and on about stuff you barely understand or really care about. Discussion was useless too, just some boring random assignments. There was also a project where you had to draw an aerial view of parts of the campus, which for some reason he took off a bunch of points and never made his expectations clear. There were also exams involving essays, to this day I still don't know how or why he graded the way he did. If you think LARC160 is an easy class you are wrong, you'll actually have to spend a ton of time and research questions that don't really have an answer. If I could go back in time I would have chosen a different class. Nola is incredibly overrated and I totally regret taking this class with him.

Colleen Vacelet
LARC160

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
01/21/2021

Took it in 2020 with her. There were videos available to review as well as the PowerPoint she would use during the lecture so make use of every resource available. Exams were straightforward and easy to fail if you don't take notes during lectures and on the PowerPoint. There are readings, but whether or not you.

Colleen Vacelet
LARC160

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
06/21/2020

This class was easy enough, but Colleen was very rude and unhelpful over email (made worse by the fact that I took this as an online class). She said she would have office hours every day, but that ended after the first week, and the one time I scheduled to meet with her, she cancelled right before and then stopped responding to my emails. Fine class; not fine professor.

Colleen Vacelet
LARC160

Expecting an A
Anonymous
03/17/2019

Colleen was very professional and helpful throughout the course. There were daily assigned readings (some were up to ~80 pages), but don't let that scare you! The lecture slides summarize the readings to help with the midterm and final exam. Just be sure to take notes and pay attention to what is taught in class, because the material is really interesting and Colleen really makes the subject stick with you in the future with her multiple examples and campus tours.

Christopher Ellis
LARC160

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/19/2016

Dr.Ellis is really nice. His lecture is very easy to understand, and he posted slides to elms, which helps the exams a lot. The key to ace? Never miss a discussion and you'll do great.

Reviews for LARC160