| Information | Review |
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Danielle Leizman
ARTT100 Expecting a P Anonymous 03/11/2025 |
This professor told me not to show up when I was extremely sick, even showing them the UHC note. I was actively coughing, wheezing, and struggling to even show up that one time to be able to do an in-person art installation project that I was told I could just do at home instead anyway because of my illness. Then they didn’t tell their TAs, who were in charge of keeping track of attendance, to even excuse my absence. To repeat - I was told not to show up, but then penalized for it anyway, due to their own error. Why say it was going to be excused only to not excuse it? As a result, I was informed I failed the class at very last second(!!!), on the deadline for the grades, with no prior indication given to me at all that I had gone over the absence count. This was honestly a traumatic experience and a symptom of the lack of communication from this professor about such important things. My work was the highest of quality - before I was suddenly failed with no warning, I had a 99.8 average on all my assignments, and gave every project my all, demonstrating understanding of the course content. I also don’t see why this is a lab class and that they are extremely strict about that if outside of the in-person critiques, which I showed up to all of, the work can be done equally as well remotely. One might ask - The lab might be useful for having art supplies/materials? No, we have to provide them all ourselves anyway. The lab has a lot of in-person instruction at all times? Not really, we just had to be working on our projects mostly silently in that room for 3 hours twice a week. What difference did it even make to have to be in the in-person location? This wasn’t, say, a chemistry lab with strict safety guidelines and hazardous materials than could only be done on-site. This was an art class where the work could be done equally as well anywhere else (provided you still showed up for the critiques, of course). And if it was so important to the class to always be in-person despite my constant chronic health obstacles that I communicated clearly to the instructor at the start of the semester, then why wasn’t it communicated to me prior to the literal last calendar day (December 26th or so) that I had already failed it long ago and shouldn’t have bothered to keep showing up to it? Imagine being a passionate employee at a job you love and then get told via email, minutes before your paycheck arrives, by your boss, that actually you had already been disqualified for the role months ago and now couldn’t receive your salary and were promptly fired. All the prior painstaking effort you had put into being the best employee despite the obstacles would have gone to complete waste. And you would wonder, why weren’t you told this earlier? Your employer would have had to been unable to communicate this to you earlier, when clearly they could have, but accidentally didn’t realize or didn’t do so. This wasn’t a lot of tears and pain that could have been avoided if the professor simply communicated these things with me clearly instead of miscounting their own absences. As someone whose major requires this class and didn’t just take it as a Gen Ed, I highly regret the experience. I should have taken a gap semester for my health to recover instead of relying on this ONE class to still be able to relax, heal and make progress towards graduation, and yes, to pay for housing on-campus with a temporarily reduced workload. I experienced suicidal thoughts as a result of getting the email on the last day of Testudo grade releases that my nearly-100 average and A+ turned into a failing grade. I took this class as part of the IMD major because I wish more than anything to be an XR researcher one day and to use it to help neurodivergent people, the disabled, those with sensory issues, PTSD etc. I wanted to forever change the lives of disabled people like me and my best friend who passed away from her own health complications weeks before I started taking this class. This last-second surprise made me almost leave UMD altogether. And those types of class experiences are the most damaging - a failed grade as a result of lack of effort, or course difficulty, or an inadequate instructor, is understandable and understandable as unfortunately a part of the college process. But I’ve been at UMD for 2 years and I can say - Dan is a GOOD instructor! They have reasonable requirements for their assignments and assess skills taught in a thorough, well thought-out way. They are also very kind and seemed understanding. But this was a failure that wasn’t solely my own - any great professor would not have contributed to this outcome. If not for this, Professor Leizman would be a 5-star professor. But as it stands, I cannot review my experience in the class any higher. |
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Danielle Leizman
ARTT100 Expecting a W Anonymous 01/28/2025 |
DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS AS A GEN ED. I took this class with a friend for the DSSP requirement, and we both withdrew after the first class. You have to buy about 30 materials for this class that you will never use again. If you enjoy art and have the money or time to buy the equipment, go for it, otherwise i do not recommend it. |
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Danielle Leizman
ARTT110 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/24/2024 |
I was nervous to take this class as I was not very confident in my drawing abilities. But, the environment was very low pressure which made me feel comfortable. Dan is very chill and accepting. Each unit teaches skills that build upon each other which allowed me to ease into drawing. The class is very loosely structured which has its pros and cons. Sometimes I would be confused of what was expected from me and there wasn’t much actual instruction. But with the creative freedom, I saw my skills improve very quickly. I have grown to enjoy drawing and hope to do it more in my free time. Plus, throughout the semester we had mini field trips to art exhibits on campus which I enjoyed exploring. |
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Danielle Leizman
ARTT110 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/15/2024 |
Dan is wonderful. No matter your skill level, they make you feel valued and provide great constructive feedback. Just show up to class and do the homework, and you'll be fine. Dan is also very accommodating to their students; they allowed me to sit instead of standing because of my health issues and didn't make a big deal about it at all. |
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Danielle Leizman
ARTT110 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/10/2022 |
Professor Leizman is amazing and inclusive of all students no matter their artistic abilities. All she cares about is that you do your best and continue to work hard to improve your artwork. She is very understanding and is very flexible. Workload is not hard as long as you attend class and have all of the portfolio requirements needed. I would definitely recommend! |