Aric Bills

This professor has taught: HLTH710, INST126, INST208M, INST228, INST326

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Aric Bills INST326 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/20/2023	I love this guy lol. Aric really does care about all his students developing Python skills and provides enough resources for everyone to leave the class able to program proficiently. He provides video lectures and practice to be watched and done from wed-sun so that on Monday you come in ready to use the lecture skills on an in-class exercise. I stress that everyone comes to class on Mondays as he gives practice points simply for being present in class and doing the exercise, if you don't finish the exercise you have until the start of class on Wednesday to submit. If you run into trouble he and his TAs have so many office hours available and they're all mostly online through Discord so you really have no excuse to not go to office hours to get help. I really wouldn't have done so well in his class if it weren't for office hour help sessions. Other tips for success: - For lecture vids, have your screen split half vid, half jupyter lab to take notes (highly recommend taking notes in jupyter lab as the graded practices are jupyter notebooks) - In class don't just sit and watch him go over concepts, take notes during this time. I recommend doing them in jupyter or on an ipad or physical pen and paper as his whiteboard doodles sometimes contain things like tables and little diagrams and generally you remember more by writing. Also his exams are pen and paper so the more you get used to writing code by hand the better you'll do on the exams. - Do his practice exam several times over and take his practice pages seriously!! His practices are quite similar to his actual exams, he never does things to purposely confuse you he is quite clear on what is going to appear on the exam. - Do all work ahead of time, especially homeworks!! Office hours are your best friend. - Try to scout out people you want to work on the final project ahead of time, (would recommend sitting closer to the front of the class and finding people who are always present in class and work hard) - Do his whiteboard activities, it's kinda embarrassing to go up and participate but the social anxiety-provoking aspect of it helps you remember better I swear.
Aric Bills INST326 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/11/2023	Aric and his class are fantastic. His coursework can be tough, but you get some valuable learning out of everything you do in Python. Although you learn a good chunk of the course content online for homework, The lecture videos he posts every week are nice and easy to follow and make examples out of for homework and projects. His exams are tough but reasonable, and they follow the structure of the practice exams almost to a tee. The cherry on the top is that his office hours are very open-ended and are online, too, so you can drop in whenever they're open (they're open quite frequently and even go pretty late some nights) and get some big help with anything you're having issues with. Overall, coming from comp sci, his course structure is definitely a league above any other programming class I've taken here so far.
Aric Bills INST326 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/25/2023	Aric was one of my favorite professors by far. Sometimes the coursework can be quite challenging, however, there are so many office hours that you can always find someone to help. Also, going to class was always reinforcing the lecture videos watched before class. Most weekly assignments consist of watching lecture videos and completing a Jupyter notebook before Monday's class, starting a coding exercise in Monday's class to be done by Wednesday morning, and the occasional 3 times a semester coding assignment due on Friday. Overall, definitely super manageable and would 100% take it with him again. He also is super understanding about needing extension and prioritizes learning above all else.
Aric Bills INST326 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/25/2023	Definitely not an easy course compared to INST126, but aric gives you the resources and the materials to succeed. Hes a compassionate guy that cares about his students, and is a great teacher in my opinion. The course in general is pretty tough, especially if you're not an experienced programmer. But in general he's a great teacher and I recommend this course
Aric Bills INST326 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 05/16/2023	Amazing teacher and will definitely help you learn Python better. I personally learned nothing from INST126 and Aric made it so I learned Python. He has a lot of TA's who are extremly helpful so office hours aren't loaded. There is a bit of work so start things early. He has 4 exams but they are only 25% of your grade. Overall would definitely recommend.
Aric Bills INST326 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/25/2022	Aric’s definitely one of the best professors on campus. Coming with mediocre python skills, his class challenges your growth and understanding starting from the basics to more convoluted subjects. He’s generous with extensions and office hours. All his UTA’s are very helpful and available. Don’t slack on practices, late penalty is 50%.
Aric Bills INST326 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/13/2022	I wouldn't rate Aric a full 5 stars. Lectures don't really cover concepts, you watch videos on your own time, and come to class to complete practice assignments based on the concepts the videos covered. Another thing is the homework assignments, the homework assignments are honestly rather difficult. You'll likely pass, but be prepared to struggle. Tough grader as well, here's what to expect in the class: 4 major coding homeworks (1 ended up being dropped due to aric getting sick and the schedule got funky) 4 exams 1 group project Weekly practice and exercises Exams are actually not bad, practice exams are provided and the actual exams are VERY similar to practice ones. The group project also isn't too bad, you come up with an idea for a program and execute it. The worst part are the homeworks, but if you are comfortable or rather comfortable with basic python concepts, you'll pass! it might be intimidating the first couple weeks and you may begin to doubt your ability, but stick to it, I really was considering dropping the class because I was doubting myself, but I'm glad I didn't because I really do feel I came out as a better programmer.
Aric Bills INST326 Anonymous 11/30/2022	Aric is the absolute man. He is so understanding and willing to compromise if you need an extension. This is also the class in which I've learned the most in my entire experience. I came in as a very below average coder but Aric got me up to speed and now I'm so much more comfortable with Python. The workload is definitely not easy but he's a fantastic teacher. Also a great lecturer. My favorite professor thus far for sure.
Aric Bills INST326 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 02/09/2022	Aric is one of my favorite professors at UMD. He is extremely fair to students and very accessible outside of class. His assignments can be hard and time-consuming but the instructional team is always available to give you guidance. I learned so much about python in his class and I feel that he genuinely cares about and wants to connect with his students.
Aric Bills INST326 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 01/13/2022	Pros: Prof. is very down to earth, easy going, understanding, great feedback, class has both in person and online lectures. Some struggled in this class, but I have previous programming experience so it was much easier for me. I learned a lot and nearly earned a 100%. Cons: Nothing honestly, I really enjoyed this class and he's one of my favorite Profs. at UMD.
Aric Bills INST326 Anonymous 11/16/2021	He's so nice and his lectures are incredibly well-organized and easy to understand. The pace of the class is great and I really feel like I've learned a lot compared to other coding classes I have taken.
Aric Bills INST326 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 08/13/2021	Honestly an amazing professor that wants you to understand the topics the class goes over very well. The documentation for all projects is very detailed and clear, plus the explanations for all the concept is really easy to understand. Aric is also a really nice person and very understanding. He's willing to take time to talk with you one on one so that you can go over what you don't understand with him and try to clear up any difficulties. 100% recommend taking him if he has a class in the semester.
Aric Bills INST326 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 11/21/2020	Great professor
Aric Bills INST326 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 01/13/2020	Excellent Professor! Learned a ton and highly recommend!
Aric Bills INST326 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/23/2019	Aric is a really good professor who really gets you to learn the material the right way. I have struggled with understanding object oriented programming for a long time, but under his teaching I was finally able to master it.
Aric Bills Expecting a B Anonymous 06/24/2019	excellent teacher who is very willing to go above and beyond to help you understand the material. as long as you pay attention in his class and participate in the class activities you should be good. although his office is far away, I highly recommend going to it whenever you can if you have trouble with the material