Hal Daume

This professor has taught: CMSC116, CMSC421, CMSC422, CMSC723, CMSC726, CMSC798, CMSC828W, CMSC828Z, CMSC848C, CMSC848I, INST735, INST788B, LING723, LING848I, PHIL688F

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Hal Daume CMSC116 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 11/23/2024	The topic that this course covered (AI) was honestly really interesting. I think Professor Daume seemed very interested in teaching the course and tried to teach a decent amount. However, with that being said, the HW got redundant, each week we had to read several sources and then submit an assignment to go along with it. At some point, while the sources were interesting, it just got boring and tiresome to weekly go over these sources. Each exam was open note, so at least that made things less high stakes. Additionally, the in class situation was pretty disorganized. I understand that it is a new class, but it felt like there were no course objectives and going into class, I didn't really know what to expect. He would occasionally have guest speakers who were fairly interesting, but sometimes that was disorganized and he wouldn't even show up to introduce them and help them set up. Overall, his course lacked structure and, while interesting, was not very valuable. I think a lot of the other reviews summed up the specifics as well.
Hal Daume CMSC116 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 06/13/2024	His lectures are way too complicated for an introductory AI class that is not even designed for CS students. However, the class workload is nothing, with a few in-class quizzes every other week that focus on the readings you have to do each week. The real hard part of this course comes in the form of the midterm and the final, which is cumulative based on all the readings you have done leading up to them. It is open note/book though. I did not even go to class after two weeks and relied on one of my commuter friends in the class to tell me if there was an in-class quiz or not, and still got an A+. An absolutely easy gen-ed if you can take this.
Hal Daume CMSC116 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/27/2024	classes were not interesting at all. i kept zoning out in lecture. there were no discussions, but there was an individual final project, a team final project, and a final exam (all due within a week/week and a half of each other), which i think is a little too much. he’s an accommodating professor overall, but the class in general (especially towards the end) got boring since there were just constantly guest speakers coming in and no actual lecturing done by him.
Hal Daume CMSC116 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/16/2024	Pretty nice guy. Assignments were fairly easy. But that's as far as the good points go. Syllabus and exams were written by AI, TAs gave us no guidance on exams, professor didn't do half the things he said we'd do (midterm review, group project organization, etc). Professor also didn't teach half the course (guest lecturers) or was absent. How are we supposed to be tested on stuff when nobody involved seems to know what was taught in the first place?
Hal Daume CMSC116 Anonymous 05/06/2024	Hal makes assignments due at the most inconvenient hours like noon or at 6 pm. The class and content felt poorly structured altogether, as if he'd just wing the content on the day of the class. The class was not engaging at all and you'd much rather take a different gen-ed instead.
Hal Daume CMSC421 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/12/2023	The class is straightforward, and Hal explains things decently enough. He brings up nice analogies and tends to focus on things that matter more. The midterm exam was exactly like the study guide. However, the HWs were vague and often had grading mistakes. The piazza also wasn't very active. In my opinion, this is a somewhat easy 400-level class, and Hal simply keeps it that way.
Hal Daume CMSC421 Expecting an A Anonymous 04/30/2023	Hal is a very engaging lecturer. He moves around a lot, does a decent number of examples, and always pauses to let students try problems before giving the answer. The whole course follows http://ai.berkeley.edu/. The project descriptions are a bit vague but not very difficult. Sometimes the curriculum feels a bit dated, and Hal does a decent job adding in footnotes about how you should approach something in practice. Unfortunately, Hal is way too busy to be teaching this class. He almost never checks Piazza, so the only time to ask questions is in the 5 minutes before or after class (or in his OH, but I had another class at that time). The TAs are not super helpful because they do not seem to prepare the material or follow along with the course. The homeworks often have under-specified or mistaken questions. Luckily, this usually results in almost everyone getting points back. The exams aren't too hard, especially if you do the practice ones. Unfortunately, they are very computational rather than conceptual. Basically, the course was pretty interesting, but logistically, it is a bit of a mess. I will say we had Tianyi Zhou as a sub one day when Hal was out. I can't speak to his logistics, but Hal is much more engaging and clear, and he goes at a more reasonable pace. Professor Zhou didn't really pause for questions.
Hal Daume CMSC422 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/18/2016	Unfortunately, Hal was disappointing. At first, he seemed like he'd put a tremendous amount of effort into the class and that we would learn a lot. After the first 3 weeks though, he stopped putting any effort, and taught extremely poorly. We barely covered any material, and he made the final trivial. I wouldn't recommend him for anyone who wants to learn: though he does make the class very very easy (16% extra credit absolute).
Hal Daume CMSC421 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/15/2012	Hal is a good professor. He gives very interesting projects for AI based on the Pacman game. These are actually kind of fun to do. The HW is a little too easy I'd say, and doesn't necessarily clarify the concepts from class. But at least it doesn't take long. The exams are pretty fair and not too hard. Hal's lectures are a bit tough to follow and he isn't the best at explaining concepts, but he will go over good examples and try his best to explain if you are not understanding. Overall though, Hal is a really cool professor, and he cares about his students.