Alan Kaufman

This professor has taught: AOSC436, FIRE162, GEOL100, GEOL110, GEOL124, GEOL224, GEOL342, GEOL386, GEOL436, GEOL489R, GEOL497, GEOL497H, GEOL789B, GEOL789C, GEOL789R, GEOL789Y, GERM103

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Alan Kaufman GEOL342 Anonymous 11/25/2024	Only giving one star because I can't give zero. I asked him to explain the purpose of an activity that was taking place over a MANDATORY WEEKEND CAMPING FIELD TRIP was because and he laughed in my face in front of the entire class, called me unemployable and didn't answer my question. Every assignment for this class was like pulling my own teeth out of my head. I went to his office hours once to try and argue points back on an exam and for one of the questions I was arguing he said "I don't know why I took points off for that". He did give them back so there was that at least but still. I hated this class and I hated this professor, if it wasn't a core requirement for my major and it was so miserable that it made me want to change it halfway through junior year. Oh well, at least there is grad school to correct the mistake of undergrad
Alan Kaufman GEOL100 Expecting a C Anonymous 05/25/2023	Kaufman is very knowledgeable in geology but that does NOT make you a good teacher. The study guides he tells us to review are general and then the exams are on the most specific niche little details. He is also so boring and talks monotone and nothing about the lecture is enjoyable. He doesn't release the right answers to online exams so you never know what you go wrong. He also gave us all online exams with open note but then all of a sudden the final was in person which did not prepare us at all for it. The other GEOL100 professor gave her students an online final, so it really just felt unfair. This class is also advertised for non STEM majors but if you don't like science don't take this class because he treats it as if everyone should be a geology major. I got a C in it which is uncharacteristic of me so I think that says a lot. Steer clear of the the geology department! My lab was unenjoyable and poorly structured as well.
Alan Kaufman GEOL100 Expecting a C Anonymous 05/22/2023	He makes the exams way harder than they should be for a 100 level geology class and switched format of his final mid semester he knows his stuff but if you are looking for an easy A, DO NOT TAKE
Alan Kaufman GEOL100 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 05/22/2023	Boy do I have things to say about this man. But tl;dr, DO NOT TAKE ANY CLASSES WITH THIS INSTRUCTOR UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. "It can't be THAT bad" oh it can be and it was. To be fair, the man is a professional geologist and is very smart in the world of geology and has made a lot of contributions to geology in research. And that's where the good stuff stops. It's clear that he very much enjoys his research, and conversely DESPISES teaching and would rather be out doing research. As such, especially for a class full of kids taking it for the GenEd, this does not bode well for an easy A or a well-structured class. He doesn't even use his own lecture material, and clearly doesn't look at it ahead of time; he would go to a slide and after a moment of trying to fabricate something of pure nonsense, he would audibly say "Why is this slide here? It's useless." and move on to make up more balderdash. This only gets worse because the slides are programmed with clicker questions which are unfair or unclear more often than not, and all the clicker questions represent 20% of your grade. The "homework" assignments are horrifically long quizzes that are on McGraw Hill Connect, a worse version of Quizlet. These assignments were weekly and usually took me 2-3 hours each, and the worst part is that you get an automatic 100% as long as you get through the assignment, which means you don't really need to try and it just wastes 2-3 hours of every week. And together all of these are only 10% of the grade. He speaks in such a horribly boring way about geology while making it all up as he goes that it's impossible to stay focused. Class is not skippable because of the clickers. This class is a chaotic inferno of nightmares and I wouldn't wish such a horrible punishment on anyone. Never, ever, take a class with this professor. He's smart, but will make it the most counterintuitive and painful experience of your life. If I could give 0 stars I would. IMPORTANT: We went through the semester with 3 online asynchronous exams, which was admittedly nice (although the short answer questions were graded extremely harshly), and he failed to tell us until a MONTH before the final that the final exam would be IN-PERSON, ON PAPER, and CLOSED-NOTE. It was a horrible final exam and there's no way I did well on it.
Alan Kaufman GEOL100 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/17/2023	Overall this class was very standard. There were 3 midterms alongside a final. Your midterm with the lowest score was dropped. The exams felt fair and he gave practice exams beforehand. Lectures could be a little boring at times but I guess this really depends on how much you like geology. Kaufman himself clearly enjoys the topic and that comes through in his lectures. He sprinkled in some references to his own work and threw in some jokes to break up the monotony a little. He did try to keep things interesting by teaching about forgotten members of the field such as woman and other minorities. What you think of this class will really depend on how interested you are in geology, but I would recommend Kaufman for someone who is indifferent to it like myself. This class does require some work but its very low stress.
Alan Kaufman GEOL100 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/09/2023	Attendance is mandatory, but even if you go the material is way to advanced for a gen-ed 100 level class. Exams were open note and online, and then somehow the final is closed note in person. Doesn't make much sense. I would've been better off with another professor.
Alan Kaufman GEOL100 Expecting an A- Anonymous 03/16/2023	I haven't learned one thing. He also treats this class as NOT a beginner class. He could talk for hours about geology, but expects you to know too much!
Alan Kaufman GEOL100 Anonymous 02/28/2023	He is so boring but knowledgeable. I guess stay in the class, but I haven't learned anything?
Alan Kaufman GEOL124 Anonymous 12/16/2008	I cry at night because of this class. I don't think Kaufman realized how difficult this class is, the curriculum is way too high for a 100 level class. I'm also a BSOS major that was told the class is an easy class for non-science majors...it's not.
Alan Kaufman GEOL124 Anonymous 12/04/2008	While Kaufman really knows his stuff and can give a lot of first hand experience, he tends to talk on what I found to be too high a level for a class that was intended for non-science majors. Of course, I am a BSOS student so that might be the root of the problem...overall, and interesting class that can be very challenging.