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Paul Landau
HIST122 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/21/2023 |
Id like to start out this review by saying from what I saw in my course professor Landau is clearly a very brilliant historian and clearly very knowledgeable in the topics he teaches, however in terms of being a college professor he stinks on multiple levels. For one he's completely technology illiterate and besides discussion boards he won't touch a computer with a ten foot pole. I would tolerate this if he actually put grades in. At the end of the semester even now as I write this I haven't the slightest clue what my grade is in this course. Sometimes he'd hand back written assignments with vague numbers on them but that's about it, for all I know I have a zero in the corse right now. He also is clearly high off his own farts, he demands no use of cellphones in his class, I can tolerate this but he also is very against the use of computers in his course and expects all notes to be taken by paper and pencil like its 1998. Landau also has a nasty habit of awkwardly stoping class if he sees a student with their phone out hell awkwardly say "Whats so important" or "Do you need to step outside to make a call". Despite claiming he teaches a very classy course he treats his students like children and will shame those for arriving late, At one point I had to miss a class for a scheduled meeting with my advisor and he honest to god asked me to cancel my meeting to not miss his lecture. speaking of lectures their nothing to write home about, in fact Landau runs such a boring lecture that hell disway students from asking questions. He's constantly unorganized and will assign assignments and then just forget about them and act like he didn't ask his class to write about the pyramids or the maroons for next class. He's also clearly at UMD for research first and teaching second, at multiple points in the course he'd take time out of class to brag about his awards and his various published books also being sure to encourage his students to purchase them. avoid this professor if you value a professional and structured coarse avoid Landau he acts like this course is the end all be all of your life.. |
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Paul Landau
HIST122 Expecting an A- Anonymous 03/01/2023 |
Possibly one of the worst teachers I have had, did not post the final exam review until two nights before the final. Was not understanding of people's lives and would consistently stop the class to stare at people and call them out for being late and then proceeded to say "but I would rather you come late than not at all". He called out a student for being late to class on voting day. His topics were all over the place and it was very hard to organize my notes to fit what we were studying because he would go off on tangents. He did not like when people would offer their differing opinions about topics but would then backtrack and say that we need take all the sources we read for the class with a grain of salt. The midterm was easy but the final was ridiculous compared to the midterm in terms of difficulty. He assigned a final paper and presentation (have to present it by yourself in front of the class) on top of the final exam already, in the last two-three weeks of class after being vague about what was expected of us. His ELMS page was set up but he put all discussions and assignments out of 0 points so you couldn't see your real grade the entire semester. Did not put in final grades until practically midnight on the deadline. Overall very disorganized. Subject was interesting to learn about and I tried really hard to like the Prof but he constantly did little things that irked the entire class. Class is not mandatory but without the notes you're pretty much doomed. But prepare to spend a lot of time learning off the internet outside of class. |
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Paul Landau
HIST123 Anonymous 11/18/2021 |
Prof is passionate about the class but is very disorganized, posted lectures and ELMS announcements at 10pm and expected them to be done by next class (which we only learned by him telling us through another announcement about not having many responses rather than putting a due date on the assignment) and it was this way for half the semester. Course content itself was not hard but the disorganized nature of the class and lectures is what makes it difficult. |
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Paul Landau
Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/01/2013 |
I thought this class was pretty easy. The class met 2x a week plus 1x with our TA. So the first day Landau lectured on one specific topic, then you would read 1 or 2 documents for homework. The next lecture was someone in that field of expertise. For that Saturday, you would write a 1-2 page paper (double-spaced) connecting the current event to its historical background. The TA is usually really helpful at providing more notes to incorporate into your paper. Each topic was mostly just one week long, while others were two weeks. It was great because if you didn't like a topic you just had to deal with it for a short period of time. I loved the class and Prof. Landau is really helpful during office hours. There is a ten-page paper at the end of the class, and he is generally a generous grader. |
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Paul Landau
Expecting an A- CB 02/17/2011 |
Every week you have to print out and read around 100 pages of historical text, and then write a 2-3 page paper on the current event. However, if you like current events it is a worthwhile class. After the first few weeks I stopped reading the 100 pages and only skimmed. I still managed to average B's on the papers. Participation in discussion is worth 25% of your grade, so you have to read the assigned newspaper articles, but those aren't long and are usually interesting. Landau himself is a fairly interesting professor and a nice guy. So if you are interested in current "hot spots" and are up for doing a lot of reading, go ahead and take the class. |
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Paul Landau
Expecting an A Anonymous 05/16/2010 |
If you're good at history and can follow a teacher who doesn't use PowerPoint, this class shouldn't be a problem. He jumps around a bit with lectures, but if you actual attend lecture and discussion, overall this course isn't too hard. Plus I learned a lot about Africa, which is pretty cool. |
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Paul Landau
HIST419E Expecting a C Anonymous 03/20/2009 |
Extremely choppy lectures, many of the times doesn't even make sense. The assignments and tests are just a reflection of his own thoughts, which are unorganized. Lectures from his unpublished book and makes students read material that makes little to no sense. Not very accessible, does not provide great feedback. Avoid if you can! |
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Paul Landau
Expecting an A warthog 12/24/2008 |
The man is obviously brilliant... does every single lecture off the top of his head, because he just knows his shit. Teaches the course from a Eurocentric viewpoint, because yes, it's about the colonial era. If you don't like that, go hit a bong at the co-op. There's no rhyme or reason to the flow of the course... he'll jump from Gambia to Kenya to the Congo within two sentences, and probably cross as many centuries within a lecture. Go figure, he used to teach at Yale, where students are probably used to his game of intellectual catch-me-if-you-can. A very rewarding class if you can keep up with him. Don't fall asleep, and DO NOT COME TO CLASS LATE. |
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Paul Landau
Anonymous 12/02/2008 |
I got an A in this course...very suprising but if you are able to take part in the discussions...have a clue on the geography of Africa and its recent history... you should do well Prof Landau is okay as a lecturer, there are some things I disagreed with him as he looked at them from a biased Eurocentric viewpoint, but he does know his material overall |
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Paul Landau
Expecting a C Anonymous 11/18/2008 |
This course is not easy, and unfortunately, Landau keeps himself very distant from his students. His lectures can sometimes be very choppy, and notes are very hard to take for most of them. TA's do a good job of trying to make up for it, but when it comes to exam time, you (nor your TA) will really know what to expect (regarding what material will be covered). |