Cortney Fisher

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

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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.