Kenneth Leonard

This professor has taught: AREC260, AREC345, AREC365, AREC386, AREC399, AREC489G, AREC699, AREC799, AREC846, AREC847, AREC898, AREC899

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Kenneth Leonard AREC365 Expecting an A- Anonymous 01/05/2024	Easy A if you put in a little effort. Weekly quiz answers are taken right out of the book and you can skim to find them. Prof drops aloooooot of stuff including participation and one whole Exam. Extra credit is available every week! I found that the Exams were difficult purely because of the amount of content we covered in class. However if I remember correctly I think half of the questions on the Exam were taken straight out of either the weekly quizzes or the weekly HW. Only complaint is Prof. Leonard makes the Exams too long for the time we are given. There is a lot of free response that you are better off doing first in order to complete the test. Overall recommend this class. I really feel that Prod. Leonard genuinely wants his students to succeed.
Kenneth Leonard AREC260 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/15/2023	He's a passionate lecturer and is loose on deadlines. But, he is often unresponsive on email and also assigns a lot of reading. Grading policies are nice you have 3 midterms and the lowest one gets dropped (the final counts as a midterm so I skipped it). A couple of group projects, which are easy if you just split the work up. I didn't find any interest in the topics he presented but take him if you want an A, but you will have to work a bit for it.
Kenneth Leonard AREC365 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/14/2023	Leonard is a great professor as someone who took this class for a gen-ed requirement. I am honestly confused by a lot of the negative reviews or people saying this class is a GPA dropper, I am assuming these are from people who didn't go to class. His exams are fair and he allows a cheat sheet which is super helpful to make in terms of studying material aside from being able to use it on the exam. He posts all his notes/slides online and has a full PDF of his full semester notes uploaded which is basically all you need to study for exams. There is a weekly reading quiz and problem set which takes info from the textbook (his book which you have to buy which is annoying) and he drops the two lowest problem sets as well as the lowest exam, so if you put in effort on the first two midterms you don't have to take the final. He does take attendance through TopHat which was new to me, but I didn't mind it and he drops 8 missed class attendance points no questions asked which is pretty lenient to me. He also provides extra credit opportunities each week which are super helpful. While you should read and put effort into this class to do well, I in no way found it to be overly hard or time-consuming and I felt like I learned a lot
Kenneth Leonard AREC365 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/12/2023	Professor Leonard is a genuinely awesome professor. He is very friendly, has great stories, and is incredibly educated on the topic at hand. The class itself is not hard is you study. This is NOT a class I would recommend to take as a gen ed. I took it for my minor and for the purpose of needing it for a minor or major, it is such an interesting class. But it will be brutal if you expect to coast by as if it is a typical gen ed. He drops a lot of grades which is awesome (including a final, 8 attendance points, and 2 problem sets). He is a stickler with grades outside of all of his drops and extra credit opportunities, but I guess he has to be. Easy A if you actually read the book he follows (do not even need to pay attention that much in class, just read the book). Good guy, interesting class, only take if it goes towards a major or minor however.
Kenneth Leonard AREC260 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/08/2023	He is a great professor. I took this class by accident thinking i signed up for another class, but i was not disappointed. He's so fun, so kind, and so knowledgeable. He has actually done studies in Africa and India on the subject and he is even featured in our class textbook. He is very impressive. For his class specifically engaging in important. He loves having class conversations and discussing what students think about certain topics. He is just such a great guy and is great at being moderate in discussions. There is a textbook for the class and it is necessary because you'll read a chapter in it every week, but it's not that expensive. There are three exams in total and he drops one, so I don't have to take the final. So make sure you do well on the first two because you're not going to want to worry about another test. We have weekly reflections on the chapters due at the end of the week, but he does not take off for late submissions and doesn't really care.
Kenneth Leonard AREC260 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/08/2023	This class is amazing. Kenneth has very interactive lectures, and the hardest thing about the course are the weekly reading assignments, which are honestly not that bad once you read the chapter. The tests are very easy, and are something you will learn how to prepare for during the semester. Grading is very lenient, and he is very willing to accommodate if you talk to him. He is a very personable professor, and is very entertaining in his lectures and conversations. I highly recommend this course.
Kenneth Leonard AREC260 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/06/2023	This class is an easy A. If that's what you want, then take it. The material itself is fine, but there's quite a bit of it. If you skim the readings, come to three-fourths of the lectures, and do the assignments, then you'll get an A. The professor is nice, but a bad lecturer. Many of his claims include controversial topics, but he doesn't seem interested in having thoughtful conversations about those topics. It comes off as him trying to be provocative to get students' attention. You'll also hear some interesting things about gender roles.
Kenneth Leonard AREC365 Anonymous 12/06/2023	I don't know why everyone reviewed him so poorly. He's definitely one of my favorite professors at UMD. He explains things super well, connects them to interesting stories, and makes lecture go by so quickly because of how well he can teach. There's always something interesting happening so it's not just him explaining material to us the entire lecture, and you get to enter a competition with extra credit points (lots of opportunities to earn EC in this class!!). The exams aren't bad and you're allowed to bring a double sided handwritten piece of paper with your notes on it, plus he drops the lowest one.
Kenneth Leonard AREC365 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/05/2023	I have many mixed feelings about Professor Leonard. He is very well versed in his subject, and this results in engaging lectures. He also offers lots of opportunities for extra credit, and the weekly problem sets can be done in a group. However, his exams are extremely difficult, even with the page of notes we are allowed. He also requires us to pay $30 for a tricked-out clicker that tracks our location, so if you are not in class and do the clicker you will lose 2 weeks worth of extra credit points. Overall, be prepared to put more time than you think into this class for studying and group work.
Kenneth Leonard AREC260 Expecting an A apandya7 12/01/2023	In a semester filled with a lot of bad professors, I found Professor Leonard shined as a great lecturer who created an interesting and active learning environment. Respective to the class of AREC 260, Professor Leonard presents views on the economic aspects in relation to gender that alter the way you think about marital relations and the job market. Although the class is very heavy on reading, I found myself willing to do it because the class was so interesting. Full props to Professor Leonard for turning a class I fully thought would be a joke into the most interesting class I took this semester. Also the midterms are not bad at all and he drops a lot of your lowest grades including lowest midterm (that means if you do good enough on the first two you can drop the final).
Kenneth Leonard AREC365 Expecting a B Anonymous 11/29/2023	Not crazy hard like people are saying. If you do your work and study, you will be good. There are a lot of extra credit opportunities and you can form a team in class to split the work with. I have a B due to the reading quizzes and my lack of reading the book, but if you generally read it, at least have it during the homework quizzes. His lecture was interesting in my opinion but again he is very helpful and knows how to teach, you just gotta know how to learn.
Kenneth Leonard AREC260 Expecting an A Anonymous 11/29/2023	Easy Peasy, Prof Leonard is so easy and kind. Most of my assignments (reading reflections) were graded as 100% (we have once a week). You can get by without reading the material and he drops one exam (I won't be taking the final because I am happy with my grade), 8 participation grades, and 2 reading reflections. Yes, it's a lot of reading but you can get a good understanding by skimming and doing the assigment. Also, exams are open note open books. 10/10 recommend for easy A
Kenneth Leonard AREC365 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 11/10/2023	Not going to give one star only because I like Professor Leonard as a person. He is extremely well educated on the topic at hand and clearly has had a lot of cool experiences, however this class is brutal. I have managed a 4.0 gpa until this class, and it has been a struggle. His average scores on exams are not good, around a 75. This class is boring lectures that you have to go to bc he takes attendance (with the exception of dropping 8 classes) and the grading/quizzing is really difficult. If you are taking this class for your major and are interested in the subject, I can se how this would be of use, but if you are taking it for a gen ed - don't, take a different class. It is a gpa dropper!
Kenneth Leonard AREC365 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 01/05/2023	This class is a GPA dropper. Do not take this class. I studied and went to class every day and the exams were still impossible. The professor covers a lot of material and asks questions in class that are not going to be asked again during the exam so it was extremely difficult to study for exams and predict what would actually be on the exams. Choose another elective if you can. I probably will not get into my dream grad school now over an elective that isn't even related to my major. The exams were nothing like what the professor taught during class. The class was at least interesting but not worth the many hours I spent on this class compared to my other senior level classes.
Kenneth Leonard AREC365 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/06/2022	I loved this class, Leonard tells funny stories and really gets you interested in the subject. The readings can be a lot but he uploads his own class notes for the entire year on canvas which is super helpful. He gives tons of participation points and drops a lot of your lowest grades which really gives you a boost. No complaints at all, I loved this class!
Kenneth Leonard AREC365 Expecting an A- Anonymous 02/04/2022	I like Leonard. He's pretty funny and does a decent job expanding on topics discussed in the weekly reading. The readings can be long but you'll be fine skimming them. Discussion was very relaxed and all we had was a group presentation. Weekly group problem sets and individual reading quizzes made up your grade. There were 3 exams based on lecture content but he drops the lowest grade. He uses TopHat so that's the best way to contact him. Overall I enjoyed his class and wish I got to know him better!
Kenneth Leonard AREC260 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/11/2022	He tends to ramble but the class is over all an easy A. The only thing is that it is a decent amount of reading but if you get a good TA you'll do fine and he is loose with deadlines and drops your worst paper. If you do the reading and review his slides you don't really need to go to class to do well.
Kenneth Leonard AREC365 Anonymous 12/09/2021	DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS. biggest waste of time for an elective and leonard does not actually teach the information in his lectures, just rambles and makes the exams impossible for no reason in such a short time period. on top of that he is just plain rude and unhelpful to students.
Kenneth Leonard AREC365 Expecting a C Anonymous 12/17/2020	Leonard is an awful teacher. The content is very disorganized and emailing him for help is useless as he shows no respect for his students. Honestly it seemed like his goal was to make this course difficult. I am a straight A student and very much struggled in this class.
Kenneth Leonard AREC365 Anonymous 12/12/2020	Avoid this professor at all costs. He does not care about his students at all. He made an easy gen ed hard for no reason.
Kenneth Leonard AREC365 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/27/2018	Very very very boring lectures and he made everyone buy a tophat account and take attendance with that. Quiz and classwork are all online.
Kenneth Leonard AREC365 Expecting an A- jcampb14 12/22/2015	I really enjoy this class. All of the assignments and quizzes are online. The professor also uses tophat, which is instead of the clickers for participation. Tophat: if you download it on your phone, that's the best way to use it. When you send the texts in it sometimes doesn't show up. If you actually participate and it didn't go through, make sure you see him right after class or you won't get credit. The class itself if super interesting! I love the book, and how it progresses through how hunger impacts everyone and what to do with it. He gives ample options to supplement your grade, so as long as you've done all of the assignments you'll be fine.
Kenneth Leonard AREC365 Expecting an A garthe 12/14/2014	He's funny and OK in person but that doesn't excuse his terrible teaching. I don't give my rating based on his personality. I give my rating based on his ability to teach or grade responsibly. I personally did very well in this class but I seriously hate his condescending attitude when it comes to grading or academics.
Kenneth Leonard AREC365 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/14/2014	I signed up for his class late and he wouldn't let me make up the participation and homework grades lost... It's university policy to excuse new students for any previous assignments or to give them an opportunity for a makeup.
Kenneth Leonard AREC365 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/14/2014	Professor Leonard is an absolutely terrible professor. He is extremely unreasonable with his grading methods, and he continuously tries to reason and argue with your answers, even if your answers agree with the book. Even if the extent of your understanding for the class is enough to get an A, his BS still not be able to get enough. The class was easy but he was a real jerk. Talking to him via email is extremely annoying. He flat out rejected my health excuse documentation. Why? I have a form from the health center and he said "No makeups, sorry." What? I don't understand this. He is also obsessive over attendance in his class. He makes you buy TopHat in order to record attendance. Not only that, but he sent us an email explaining that those that skip the lecture will be reported for academic dishonesty. It's totally understandable that people shouldn't skip class, but when have you ever had a teacher do this? Do you really want to sign up for a teacher that does this? I've had three professors use TopHat and they all don't care if you skip lecture and answer TopHat.
Kenneth Leonard AREC365 Expecting a B Anonymous 11/19/2014	Professor Leonard is a nice guy who makes a relatively boring subject interesting. He has a lot of personal experience and his stories are funny and relevant to the topics covered in class. He provides all the notes for the semester on ELMS, and Top Hat is used for participation points. The chapter quizzes on ELMS are incredibly easy if you skim through the book, but the homework assignments are very hard. Even if you know the material well, it is difficult to get even half credit because the questions are tricky and worded very awkwardly. I would have an A in the class if it were not for the homework assignments. He provides a lot of materials to help you study for the three exams, and will drop the lowest great, which is great. The exams are of average difficulty but like the homework, have some tricky and weirdly worded questions, especially these awful multiple answer questions. There is one "essay" at the end, but they are meant to be short and he provides the prompts in advance. Overall, an interesting and fun class, but I would not say this class is an easy A.
Kenneth Leonard AREC345 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/21/2013	Prof. Leonard was extremely approachable, very knowledgable and excited about the topic, and very fair. The exams were of average difficulty, but his lectures and the readings more than covered what was necessary to pass. He utilized Top Hat for in-class questions and participation, which I found efficient. Overall, he was just a likable guy and he made a boring subject interesting with his personal passion for the topic. If you're looking for an upper level elective, this is a great choice.
Kenneth Leonard AREC345 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/18/2013	Do you need a non-major 300 level elective? AREC345 is for you! Minimal work, laughably easy exams (the lowest of which is dropped, by the way, so don't even worry about a final), copy-answers-from-the-book homework and free points abound just for attending class (sadly not free in the monetary sense, you'll have to purchase the TopHat service for a semester to do them). Protip about TopHat by the way: Because it works via the internet, you don't need to be in the room to answer questions. Feel free to skip lecture and have the TopHat window open back in the dorm and just answer the questions there for credit. You don't need to be correct, just put in anything for participation points. Exams are based almost exclusively on lecture notes which he posts in a relatively complete form. He'll talk a little bit more on specifics during lecture, but nothing that's not directly cited in the readings (which you WILL need to do for homework, though they're just a few pages a pop). Attending the discussion section was optional. Provided nothing really in terms of new information. Got an extra credit point or two for attending but when there are hundreds of points in the class, it never mattered terribly much. An easy class, overall. Material was sort of interesting. No economics background needed.
Kenneth Leonard AREC365 Expecting a B anonymous13579 12/06/2013	NOT AN EASY CLASS!! TRICKY QUESTIONS, hard grader. Many of these reviews aren't from after 2010, so I thought I'd clear the score. I picked this class cuz of the positive reviews on here. THESE ARE NOT TRUE. You do not need a 70% to get an A, you need like a 92.5%, which isn't bad, but definitely is NOT easy in this class. Here's the layout - 11 HW assignments (online) worth 25 points each. Extremely hard and tricky questions, almost impossible to get a 100% on even when going to office hours to get massive help. - 22 short chapter quizzes (online) worth 7 pts each. These are SUPER easy, but small help compared the 25 point HWs that WILL wreck your grade. - 20-25 participation scores (online) worth 5 pts each and not for every class. He drops the lowest 5. - 3 exams, each 250 points, but he DROPS THE LOWEST EXAM SCORE, which is good, since the averages are around a 77-80%. These are HARD exams; tricky questions (though he reuses the mult choice from HWs) and even harder "select all that fit" questions. Also an essay, but he gives you the essay options a few days before exam to study from. He is not an easy grader. He is funny in class, and a really nice guy to go to during office hours, but this is NOT AN EASY CLASS. I am an over-achiever who needs to keep a perfect GPA, and I barely scraped by a 92.5 percent in this class. BARELY. If you are an economics major or such, it'll probably be easier for you than for me, but seriously, this is not an easy A. This is an easy C or D. So think hard about whether you want to take this class. If you're just taking it for the sake of taking it, do it pass/fail (apparently that's what the majority of students to), but for people who are taking this for minors or majors, that's not an option for us. Sadly. Honest to god, not an easy course. Interesting at some points - though you don't have to pay attention too much since he posts the notes online. He is also rather a jerk when it comes to debating his exam questions with him. He will write them extremely tricky (though he doesn't think so) and have more than one answer that works MANY times. Absolute jerk when it comes to HW and exam questions. If you have to take it, take it with him, but work hard on the HWs and the chapter quizzes, cuz they are what will save your grade if you mess up on exams. Good luck!!
Kenneth Leonard AREC365 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/14/2010	Exams are hard but you need like a 70% to get an A. Lots of quizzes and homework's that are easy and you have to go to class since attendance is around 10% of final grade. Material is interesting at first and at the end but the agriculture portion in the middle of the course can get a bit boring. Really interesting if you are a fan of the subject. Leonard is a smart, nice, approachable professor. I recommend the course.
Kenneth Leonard AREC365 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/09/2010	Leonard is a great teacher. He makes the class fun and interesting and has a very lenient grading method. His exams can be somewhat hard, but even if you average a 70% on the exams you can still get an A in the class. Surveys are handed out in class as extra credit. Quizzes are posted every week and are painstakingly easy, along with the homeworks. I highly advise this class it is interesting material and an easy A.
Kenneth Leonard AREC365 Expecting an A Anonymous 01/04/2010	This was a great class! Prof. Leonard keeps the material interesting and the class isn't too challenging (and there's no arec/econ prerequisite). The whole semester is based out of 1100 points and you need 900 to get an A. Therefore, there's plenty of opportunities to do well even if you mess up a bit at some points. It's important to go to class because Prof. Leonard hands out random surveys that you get (easy!) points for if you are present. Also, the homework and quizzes are all done online but aren't very challenging-in fact, they are fairly simple ways to get points, so take advantage of them (don't forget the deadlines!). There are three examinations the entire semester (700 of the 1100 points available). The nice aspect of the class is that even though there's no curve, if you complete all the assignments and attend class, you don't have to do super well on the exams to get an A. All the class notes are online (although they might not be updated until later in the semester) and you are given a lot of material (ie: previous exams) to prepare for the exams (take advantage of them!). Also, collaboration with others-both in regards to completing assignments and with studying for exams-is encouraged. There's no discussion sections-only three lectures/week-and the book is required (and not too difficult to manage). I highly recommend this class-I learned a lot from it and it's very interesting material that can be very useful/applicable. Good luck!
Kenneth Leonard AREC365 Anonymous 12/23/2009	The material is boring but he can be pretty funny at times. you have to go to class atleast the majority of the time because attendance counts. he periodically hand out surveys (not quizzes) to check attendance. you can miss two but after that it deducts from your attendance grade. hes a fair guy, makes things very obvious for you. you can work together on most assignments and he does not mind. the notes are online so no worries about paying attention.