Cortney Fisher

This professor has taught: CCJS100, CCJS230, CCJS301, CCJS315, CCJS345, CCJS360, CCJS498B, CCJS498L, CCJS498R, CCJS498T, SOCY227

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Cortney Fisher CCJS360 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/05/2025	Just do what you need to do. Ask questions, be engaged. Go to office hours if you need to. As much as she seems super hard, she does care and wants you to succeed, you just have to want it too. Highly highly recommend taking her for Victimology, you learn so much and you come out of the class a better person and significantly more aware of your place in society when it comes to victims rights. The content is unsettling, but I think the transparency is essential to getting the most out of this class as possible.
Cortney Fisher CCJS100 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 05/01/2025	very engaging class and one of the only professors ive had that makes the class relatable and engaging. however, a large part of your grade is participation. As a student who likes to watch and listen, this was difficult for me. the participation grade is not an easy 100, but it is actually personal. The class is not a lot of work though. The tests are heavily textbook based and simply listening in class isn't enough. However the tests are all open note. I would recommend this class but it is important to be aware of the participation factor before taking.
Cortney Fisher CCJS345 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 03/30/2025	Dr Fisher is a charismatic professor who teaches with a touch of humor and brings her dog to class but that's the only good thing about her. She is not understanding or forgiving, she is a HARSH HARSH GRADER, and gives you no mercy. Dr Fisher makes it so hard to get a good participation grade as well. If you want a good participation grade make sure your life revolves around her class, meaning, office hours is a MUST, extra credit assignments are important, and the "optional" discussion boards are not optional if you want a B or above for participation. Participating in class is not enough. If you forget to do an assignment in time you have 24 hours to complete it for HALF of the grade. Good luck taking a class with her. One good thing about this class is that we don't have exams, we only have small quizzes and a final project.
Cortney Fisher CCJS100 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 01/30/2025	If you have the privilege of taking one of Dr. Fisher's class do it. She is the most wonderful teacher. For teaching so many classes, she really takes the time to be personable with the students and remembers their stories. She has awesome stories to tell and she is very educated. Her projects are a lot of critical thinking and sometimes she will ask you to lead the class in a discussion.
Cortney Fisher CCJS230 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 01/27/2025	I saw some iffy reviews for Dr. Fisher but she is a great professor. She took the constructive feedback from the past and used it to improve her class. She gives more opportunities to boost your engagement grade and the final exam was straight forward. The reflection assignments were also fairly easy as long as you put work in.
Cortney Fisher CCJS100 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/16/2024	Do not take her as an introduction to criminal justice. A benefit is that the three exams are online, but it seems half the questions do not apply to in-class lectures, only the textbook. There is extra credit, but honestly, everything is dependent on exams and class participation. She is knowledgeable about the class but talks so much, making the class boring and hard to engage with. Additionally, attendance is not mandatory, but not showing up could affect your grade.
Cortney Fisher CCJS230 Expecting a C- Anonymous 12/10/2024	if you’re taking this class with her because you don’t want to take the 2.5 hr class… don’t. her grading is harsh and makes no sense, attendance “isn’t mandatory” but it will affect your grade, her slides are so vague that you literally have to go to class, and she yaps so much omg. semester is over and idk what my grade is. just take the 2.5hr class if you can it’ll save you so much trouble and heartbreak.
Cortney Fisher CCJS301 Expecting a B- Anonymous 12/09/2024	Do not take this professor she has an arbitrary grading system that isn't on elms that will severely lower your grade and she grades opinionated essays very harshly if you do not agree with her
Cortney Fisher CCJS100 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/05/2024	I liked this class and this professor. She is good at what she does and knows what she's talking about. She is passionate about the subject which helps a lot. I do wish there were some other assignments mixed into the class because almost all of your grade is based on the 3 exams you take, but other than that I liked the class a lot.
Cortney Fisher CCJS100 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/03/2024	Dr. Fisher is a lot of fun in class, but it is hard to get an A in this course. The lectures are interesting and engaging, but almost none of the lectures or in-class notes are applicable to the exam because all the exam questions are randomly generated from the textbook. For that same reason, the exams are IMPOSSIBLE to pass without a textbook. Even with a textbook, the questions are so specific that you run out of time searching for the exact terminology in your physical book (no cntrl f on a digital textbook because of lockdown browser, so you have to print 100+ pages to use your book). A very large portion of your grade depends on participation, which can be challenging to get if your class schedule interferes with office hours. Therefore, you have to do every extra credit assignment you can to boost your grade because there is no homework. For a more advanced course, I bet Dr. Fisher would be a great professor to have, but her style of teaching and method of creating exams makes it unreasonably difficult to get an A in CCJS100.
Cortney Fisher Anonymous 12/02/2024	I LOVE THIS WOMAN WITH ALL OF MY HEART. She is the reason I love this major so much. If you pay attention, take notes, stay on top of this, you can pass any class she teaches. Make friends in her classes! Quizzes can be tricky but you get the answers after attempt one and a second attempt. Exams are based on quiz question banks (plus a some) but she is an angel UMD does not deserve.
Cortney Fisher CCJS230 Expecting a B Anonymous 11/05/2024	She is a great lecturer. She keeps everyone interested, her slides are organized, and there's so many opportunities for extra credit. You do need to go to class because a lot of stuff she teaches isn't on the slides she posts. Has a very cute dog. No midterm, only a final with a lockdown browser. 10 chapters of material.
Cortney Fisher CCJS230 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/20/2024	Dr. Fisher was a great professor for this course. There are plenty of extra credit assignments that I owe my final grade to. There are quizzes for every module we go through, which are very much lecture-based. This means if you don't show up to the lectures, you will likely miss some important information because the lecture slides are very very vague. The biggest complaint I have is the engagement grade, which is why I didn't give her 5 stars. If you do not frequently raise your hand in class, even if you participate in the discussion boards, your engagement grade will not look great, which sucks because it weighs a lot. It sucks more if you are someone who is not comfortable raising your hand and speaking in front of a lecture class. Again, there are many extra-credit assignments which in the end, made up for this lack of engagement on my part. The midterm and the final exam are online, but this doesn't mean you should slack on studying because they are still hard. Overall, I think people overreact about her. She really isn't that bad - just study and be respectful.
Cortney Fisher CCJS360 Anonymous 05/15/2024	Dr. Fisher is a good professor, yet the material on both the weekly quizzes and exams doesn't properly reflect that of the material that we cover in our lectures. There's no reason for nearly half of the final exam to be based upon the most random reading that she never covered in class; yet, even if you read all of the material, she chooses the most random portions to implement into the exams that are going to stress students out.
Cortney Fisher CCJS360 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/07/2024	I was deterred for so long from taking Fisher because of her bad reviews, but do not listen to them. She is my favorite professor I have had this semester. 360 is her favorite class to teach in particular and it def shows because the lectures are quality af and she's great at conveying the info. attendance does matter toward your grade but I never skipped a class mostly because of how interesting it was. she expects your focus which I think is fair for this in-demand crim elective, you should be there because you want to be there bc you want to learn. the module quizzes are not hard since they're open note and you can retake them. you can choose a traditional midterm exam or to do two writing assignments which I love how she gives us the choice. she also had so many extra credit opportunities which def will bring me up to an A. the final is online open note (even tho its lockdown browser) and she's giving us a longer window to take it in which I so appreciate!! my only regret is not taking her classes sooner. this class literally inspired me to start working in victim advocacy on campus like she's that good. if you are a crim student who likes crim classes then you will like her. shoutout to her dog Attie that she always brings to class and my great TA Emma!
Cortney Fisher CCJS345 Expecting an A- pgurdon 05/02/2024	Dr Fisher is probably my favorite professor of all time. She is incredibly knowledgable, a fair grader, her lectures are engaging, she gives lots of extra credit and engagement opportunities, you get to decide if you want to take a midterm or do two short papers, and the exams are online. She genuinely cares so much about her students' learning. She takes feedback seriously and has adjusted how she teaches based on the class' wants and needs. I went to her office hours and she gave me really great advice and connections, and is one of the main reasons I got an internship. She was happy to be a reference for me even though we hadn't had very much one-on-one time. She's straightforward and doesn't sugarcoat but is also very empathetic and understanding. I was in her CCJS345 class last semester, am in her CCJS360 class this semester, and will be taking CCJS498R with her this summer. She's seriously an excellent teacher and I've learned so much from her. She's not particularly easy or difficult; you will get out of her courses what you put into them. If you attend all the lectures, do your quizzes on time, and participate in class by regularly asking ad/or answering questions, you can definitely get an A.
Cortney Fisher CCJS345 Expecting an A Anonymous 04/12/2024	I absolutely love Dr. Fisher and her dog Attie (who will attend most lectures). I've had her for 230 and 360 and her format is usually the same. The lectures slides are posted and provide a good outline for the content just make sure to write down what she's saying in class too because that always shows up on quizzes and exams. There will be quizzes after every module and they're online and open note which is super convenient. Those questions will often also be on the exams which is super helpful. She's definitely very passionate about the subjects she teaches and is very qualified in her field. The only downside for some would be that there is required participations but it's easy enough to fulfill the requirements. Make sure you go to class because you will miss content. Attendance is required but it will effect your participation grade. If you go to class and pay attention the TAs will notice that and it will improve your participation grade. You can also get credit for asking questions or answering questions she posses during class. You can also go to office hours and ask her questions which improves your participation grade. There is also a choice between doing a midterm exam or reflection assignments which gives students more options. There are also plenty of extra credit opportunities.
Cortney Fisher CCJS230 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 03/29/2024	Dr. Fisher is a great professor. She genuinely cares about her students, and she is pretty funny. As an added bonus for coming to class, she has her dog Attie (Mini Bernedoodle) with her during most lectures. Also, most lectures don't last the full 1 hour and 15 minutes, which is another bonus. Exams are open note, but you have to use Lockdown Browser. Quizzes are also open note, but no lockdown browser. Instead of the midterm exam, you can complete a series of reflection assignments, but I chose to do the midterm only because I don't want to do so much writing. One complaint I have about her is that her lecture slides are rather vague, but if you pay attention to what she is saying as she explains each slide and take extra notes, you should be fine. Another complaint I have is regarding her participation grade. She calls it "Engagement," which basically measures how many times you raise your hand and talk in class, how engaged you are with the material, how often you go to the TA's office hours, and if you sign the attendance sheet or not. Frankly, the TA's office hours segment of the engagement grade seems kind of pointless, because not everyone goes, but it is valuable if you are confused about the material.
Cortney Fisher CCJS345 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/12/2023	I loveeeee Dr. Fisher! I had her for CCJS230 and her format for 345 was the same, which was comforting coming into this course. She is very knowledgeable and offers a couple of opportunities for extra credit. You also have the option of replacing the mid-term with several reflection assignments throughout the semester, which I think is a great way for students to choose their own paths! I highly recommend doing the readings (both the textbook and novel) as the quiz and exam material relies pretty heavily on that material. Doing the readings prior to attending class really helps the info stick, as the professor goes through the slides pretty efficiently to allow for questions or class discussions. Overall, I would highly recommend Dr. Fisher, just be prepared to read!
Cortney Fisher CCJS301 Anonymous 12/10/2023	NO NO NO. just no. she is one of those professors who dont rely on the elms grade for your status in the class. she provides an equation in the syllabus to calculate your grade in the class, but when i messaged nicely about not understanding how to calculate it she basically just told me to look at it again. copy and pasted the same passive aggressive response twice once I told her I had already tried on my own. if you want a professor who isnt there to help and you like not knowing your grade the whole semester go ahead. not a nice person at all
Cortney Fisher CCJS230 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/05/2023	Dr. Fisher is a great professor and you can tell she is very passionate about the course. Her lectures are very informative but her quizzes are heavily based on attendance on lecture. Even though she doesn't take attendance, taking the quizzes without attending class would probably make your grade pretty low. She does post her lectures as slides but they're extremely vague and the quizzes are based on what she talks about in lecture. Midterms are not under any lockdown browser but the final is. There is a portion of your final grade that's engagement (total participation in class) and if you're a shy person or understand the material that makes you not speak up in class, then your grade will definitely drop because of this.
Cortney Fisher CCJS498R Expecting a B- Anonymous 08/18/2023	Pretty harsh grader, required 1 textbook and 2 novels. Lots of outside work. Her lectures are okay, not crazy intensive and fairly easy to understand but the quizzes and exams will be testing you on some mundane knowledge- you need to remember the smallest details. Sometimes she expects you to infer as well. You have to write reflection papers but really you have to cite every sentence and cater to what she wants to hear. Again, fairly harsh on the paper grading. My class complained about getting points off for 'not going above and beyond'. Also, people in my class said they have had her before and she is getting worse. Not sure- this was my first and last time having her.
Cortney Fisher CCJS230 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 05/19/2023	I loved having Dr.Fisher throughout the semester. Her classes were very engaging and she encouraged questions and discussion throughout lectures. It was obvious that she is very knowledgeable in the field of criminal law. All lecture slides were posted on ELMS from the beginning of the year so if you ever missed a lecture (attendance was not mandatory) you wouldn't be falling far behind. Fisher also made the midterm optional and instead had a number of "reflection assignments" you could complete in lieu of the midterm. Fisher was my favorite professor this semester and CCJS230 was my favorite course. The only thing holding me back from giving her 5 stars is the way her grades are weighted. I will be finishing with a B+, however, my work throughout the entirety of the semester reflects the grade of an A. She places a heavy weight on an engagement grade which is based on how much you talk during lectures. This does not work in your favor if you understand the material and hence don't tend to ask questions (like me) or if you just prefer not to speak in front of large lectures. Also, the engagement grade isn't added until the end of the semester, so you have no sense of your final grade until it is too late to submit extra credit or really do anything about your grade. Overall, loved Fisher but the grade weight could definitely be improved significantly.
Cortney Fisher CCJS360 Expecting a B Anonymous 01/18/2023	I recommend NOT taking this course in the winter. Her prerecorded lectures can be too long. Also, there are too many readings to squeeze into 2 weeks. From the comments, if you want a fair playing field take this class in the spring.
Cortney Fisher CCJS360 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/09/2021	I love Dr. Fisher! She’s funny and very intelligent in her field. Lots of extra credit opportunities. You can take quizzes twice which helped a lot. Very straight forward lectures but attendance is mandatory. I would love to have another class with her !
Cortney Fisher CCJS360 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 01/14/2021	I recently had Dr. Fisher for the Fall 2020 semester and her class was extremely interesting. You can clearly tell she is well informed on the subject matter and provides multiple guest speakers throughout the course of the semester. You're allowed to take quizzes twice and she offered 4+ extra credit opportunities that were relatively simple to complete. The midterm and final are worth a lot and are a little challenging due to the wording, but if you attend office hours, complete a majority of the assignments, and study for both exams, you'll be fine. Her class is not as difficult as people make it out to be.
Cortney Fisher CCJS230 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/17/2020	The class itself was interesting as it gave useful information whether you are going to law school or not BUT she was not a great professor. Not only did she make a huge mistake by having students use honorlock for our midterm (despite many students telling her it was causing issues on our laptops), she then proceeded to brush over the exam and “learn for the next time” while giving us bad grades because honorlock would kick us out and/or glitch causing us to lose time. She did however remove honorlock from the final. In continuation, she would always make facial expressions and put you down if she deemed your question being unworthy- this class just wasn’t as enjoyable as it could have been. I know she is a good person but maybe 2020 got the best of her.
Cortney Fisher CCJS360 Expecting a B- Anonymous 11/27/2019	Contrary to older reviews, I believe this class has ramped up in difficulty, particularly on exams. With the midterm and final being worth 30% and 40% of the grade, respectively, the class averages around 70 on each. There is still a 5% extra credit opportunity, but that comes through 3 separate essays. I will give her credit for having extensive knowledge of the course, but the some of the questions on the exam come in the form of "In lecture, we mentioned (small topic that was discussed for 30 seconds)..." and the quiz questions rarely appear on there. If you are taking this class as an elective, I'd avoid it as there are too many readings to complete and requires a much longer time to study for exams.
Cortney Fisher CCJS360 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 11/26/2013	CCJS360 (Victimology) is one of the best classes I've ever taken at UMD. Cortney is awesome. She knows the topic so well because of her experience working with victims. She gives tons of extra credit opportunities through bonus quiz questions and random days where she'll give extra credit if you attend lecture. The exams are online, which makes life really easy and makes it easy to get an A. I think that this class gives such a fascinating look at how the criminal justice system disservices victims. Take this class -- it's awesome and Cortney is fantastic.
Cortney Fisher CCJS360 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/02/2010	This class is one of the most interesting classes I've ever taken. The information is depressing yet very important and intriguing, and bringing in guest speakers helps make the content much more relatable. All of the grading was online through ELMS --> 10 quizzes with warning, multiple extra credit opportunities, and online midterm/final. She posted the lectures online and additional readings so it's very hard to get lost. However, I would attend lecture just because sometimes she doesn't post definitions within the powerpoint and you'd miss them otherwise. Cortney is a very engaging and interactive teacher - she has a sense of humor and tells it like it is, which makes lecture much more bearable. Having a background in law and experience with this topic gives her much more insight and therefore more knowledge is given to her students.
Cortney Fisher CCJS230 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/25/2010	This is one of the most engaging and informative classes I have taken in college. Courtney's lectures are extremely interesting and almost everything you learn you can use in real life (law) and to help you stay out of trouble and know your rights. Her lectures never lasted the full time but there were 10 pop quizes (open note) throughout the semester. The tests are pretty difficult BUT you can do well on them. Most of her questions come from class exercises and her past quizes so as long as you study those you should get an A or B (if you don't you will probably get below a C). This is a great class and you will enjoy it!
Cortney Fisher CCJS105 Expecting an A- terp13 01/26/2010	Cortney is a great professor. She gives engaging lectures in which she presents the information from the book in a simple, comprehensible manner. However, her tests can be tricky -- they are multiple choice, but many of the answers are like this: A. [some answer]. B. [another answer]. C. all of the above. D. none of the above. They can get confusing. But the final recycles questions from the first two exams. Discussions are good; helpful. The TA reviews before exams and basically tells you the answers. There are also pop quizzes. These are hard, but most of them are open note. It helps to read the assigned text before class, because these pop quizzes are based off of random facts hidden in the corners of the books. Just be familiar with the material before you go to discussion. There is also a research paper you must do. It wasn't terrible, just make sure you don't put it off like I did. 10 pages!
Cortney Fisher CCJS360 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/27/2009	This class was probably the most interesting class I have ever taken at UMD. I took this class as an Advanced CORE class; it compliments my major (Psychology) very well. I would definitely recommend this class to anyone, especially crim and psych majors. C. Fisher was a good instructor. She has a very sarcastic, yet funny, personality. Her exams were a little tricky, but they weren't too bad. She also gives alot of extra credit. All together, you can earn about 80 extra credit points (the class is out of 1000 points). So don't complain if you get a B+ and you didn't do the extra credit. She gives 10 "pop" quizzes, which are all open note. There's the midterm and the final (non-cumulative). There is no textbook, so you must go to class! There are 4 novels you must read, but they are pretty interesting. TAKE THIS CLASS!!!
Cortney Fisher CCJS360 Expecting a B Anonymous 12/18/2009	Phew, I LOVED this class! Even though the material was depressing, the class was very interesting. Professor Fisher brings in a lot of guest speakers, one in which is from a book you have to read (A Rip In Heaven). Professor Fisher is a VERY knowledgeable woman. Class was based off of 10 quizzes, a midterm, and a final. The quizzes were open note. Her midterm and final were a bit tricky in the wording so DEFINITELY study! Even though you need to study for the exams, TAKE the class i'm sure you will find it as interesting as I did! (I'll probably even come back next semester just to hear one of the speakers speak again!) Ending note: Professor Fisher does not put up with any kind of disrespect toward her speakers as in (text messaging, using your laptop for things other than notes), she WILL take measures to stop this behavior from happening. So this is just a warning.
Cortney Fisher CCJS451 Expecting a B bmm233 07/08/2009	I didn't think this professor was all that great. When I asked if she knew how to open the powerpoint slides on a Mac she told me it "wasn't her problem". She constantly was cutting class short for stupid reasons. She does let you make up the quizzes if you have an excused absence but the TAs I had were not helpful. Not a hard class but she is not a great teacher.
Cortney Fisher CCJS360 terpstudent123 01/25/2009	Great professor, kept class interesting and fun, which could have been very hard considering the depressing material. Made all notes accessible to students and was very helpful.
Cortney Fisher CCJS360 Expecting an A sbrown827 11/07/2007	Wonderful class. Lectures were very interesting, no outside work, a few readings, but nothing overwhelming. Gives extra credit opportunites that are outside of class and very simple. Highly recommend.