Derek Richardson

This professor has taught: ASTR120, ASTR121, ASTR220, ASTR320, ASTR399, ASTR415, ASTR615, HONR268G

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Derek Richardson ASTR121 Anonymous 05/09/2024	I had him for Astr 120 and 121, I really enjoyed his class and he’s a very nice and passionate teacher. This is the only class i actually read the textbook for most the time, you can get by with not but the textbook is free and fairly interesting. All exams are open note and you can ask others for help so as long as you check answers with others in the class you’ll probably get an A. The lab kind of sucks at first because it’s all in python coding and you have to write entire lab reports but it grows on you as you get used to it (i had never coded or written lab reports or had a lab before this). Getting a good table group is really important in this course though, it doesn’t really affect your grade much to have a bad one but it makes the class a lot less enjoyable. For astr 120 he chose the table groups based on a survey and i loved my group, for astr 121 he let us choose and i went with a random group and we didn’t communicate well at all.
Derek Richardson ASTR121 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 05/02/2024	I love Derek as a person and professor but don't really like the setup of the class. It's flipped learning, so you read the textbook before class and then do review and group work during class. For this reason, I didn't really get any learning out of actually going to class but had to attend because there was one short, graded group assignment at the end of each class. However, plenty of time was given for homework assignments and all of the exams (including the final) were take-home and open book, making it easier to perform well. I also love the OpenStax textbook used in this course.
Derek Richardson ASTR120 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/21/2023	Derek as a professor is fine, he is very nice and speaks well on the material. He communicates deadlines and expectations very well. I only took off 1 star because of the set up of the class, I really hated it. Its "blended learning" or something so all class is is stupid Nearpod questions and readings you are supposed to do before class that teach you all the actual material. The lecture time is useless but you have to go because of in-class assignments. Midterms & final are take home and you have a week to do them so this class is an easy A just so annoying you wont learn anything.
Derek Richardson ASTR220 Expecting an A- Anonymous 05/01/2022	Astronomy is the love of my life and my passion. However, this course burnt me out and I have to take a break before my next astro course. Both Derek and Carrie were phenomenal, but the class is all group work. Everyone in my group were complete (insert profane term here). Every day I got chirped at and bullied. The assignments were absolutely miserable and I hated the use of Nearpod to take polls and do interactive activities. I am in the minority when I say that I just prefer lectures. I don't like relying on other people for my grade, ESPECIALLY because this is a gen ed and everyone in the group made it clear that they did not care about the work and phone it in. I abhorred this class. It was easy, don't get me wrong. But the way it's structured where we do the lecture before class and then in-class activities was not it for me. Ugh. Don't take this class if you don't like group work--that's all the class is.
Derek Richardson ASTR220 Expecting an A- Anonymous 02/07/2022	Genuinely such a fun class. The material was super engaging and you could really tell Derek was passionate about what he was teaching. This was Fall '21, which couldn't have been better timing. The DART mission was awaited all semester (which Derek worked on), the James Webb Telescope got some mentions, the Don't Look Up movie, etc. The class itself isn't difficult - the math is formulaic and most errors were due to misinputs. The projects were interesting and he does a good job arranging groups. Exams weren't that bad content-wise, just crunched for time. The pre-lecture work is pretty light. Overall, my favorite class that semester. Definitely something I looked forward to because of Derek. He's very friendly and didn't mind us joking around on the interactive slides. I'm probably going to be adding an Astronomy minor because of this class!
Derek Richardson HONR268G Expecting an A Anonymous 12/27/2021	I took this course Spring 2020 Professor Richardson is very passionate and caring. The class has a nice feel since you go out birding together. It's not a trivial class since I found it difficult to learn to recognize birds by sound, but I learned more than I thought I was capable of.
Derek Richardson ASTR220 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/14/2021	Probably the only class I enjoyed going to all semester and I took this class to fulfill a gen-ed. Class is in a reversed format so the lectures are extremely interactive. Derek keeps everything fun and discussion based as the entire classed is based around group work. Pre-lecture quizzes are a free 10 points before every class and keep you up to date. The exams are 2/3 Individual and 1/3 Group so there is almost always a boost to your grade. Extremely large amount of real world applications so it's easy to see why everything has a purpose. Gave us donuts for the final exam. Derek is super easy going if there is problems, the lowest 3 attendance, pre-lecture quizzes, and post-lecture response questions were all dropped so it was honestly hard to do bad in the class. He also was an engineer on the DART mission to deflect an asteroid that just launched so overall this guy is a cool dude.
Derek Richardson ASTR220 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/04/2021	I took the course in person. Professor Richardson is a very nice person and is very knowledgeable in his subject. Overall, he's understanding of student needs and will work with you if you're having issues. The premise of the class is interesting, though I personally thought there was too much busy work for a 2XX course. All major assignments were group assignments and were pretty lengthy. Your group is determined after the add/drop period at the beginning of the semester. Before each class we needed to watch a pre-lecture video (15-45 min) and take a quiz. You'll be taking notes and learning the topics through the pre-lecture videos and reinforcing each topic in the actual lectures through various interactive activities. At the end of each lecture, you'll need to answer a question ( in ~4-5 sentences) that will be about one of the topics covered in that lecture. Exams were kinda tough. Lots of facts to know and equations to memorize. I'm personally not the best at that but exams are not worth that much of the final grade.
Derek Richardson ASTR415 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 01/13/2021	Awesome teacher!! He really cares about his students and he will work with you through the homework and pre-class quizzes so that you can do well on them. The class isn't hard if you have some python knowledge, the only hard part imo is the pre-class quizzes. Also no midterm and no final!!
Derek Richardson ASTR220 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/02/2018	Great teacher, fair grader. I would definitely take him in another class if I needed to. the class is very straight forward anyone should be able to get a B.
Derek Richardson ASTR120 Expecting a B smacog 11/19/2017	Derek is an awesome guy. His attempts to make lectures interesting are effective and I really enjoyed his class. He is also one of the most understanding professors I've ever had.
Derek Richardson ASTR120 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/11/2014	Derek was really cool as a professor. He was really funny and kept things simple. Homework wasn't difficult, tests were actually pretty funny (science fiction references left and right), and it was a great class to take (ASTR121 too).
Derek Richardson ASTR120 Expecting an A Anonymous 11/16/2011	Derek is AWESOME. He makes all of the classes fun by incorporating little animations or videos to demonstrate concepts, as well as making references to video games or birding (two things he loves to do). He has a great sense of humor, and love answering questions. The homework and tests make you think, but are by no means impossible, and he is very accessible by email or during office hours.
Derek Richardson ASTR100 Anonymous 09/30/2009	This class was interesting and the professor did a good job of organizing the lectures. Homework and exams are pretty difficult, but I consider myself relatively bad in science, and I managed to get an A for the class. Go to his review sessions before exams.
Derek Richardson ASTR100 Expecting an A+ Rahulm5000 06/05/2009	pretty cool professor. class is all power point presentations, and pretty boring. hardest part was trying to stay awake. has 2 exams, which were trivial because most of his questions are taken from the online practice quizes. homework was a joke. overall, class was pretty boring, but jus try to pay attention to the stuff he repeats, and you'll be ok
Derek Richardson ASTR100 Expecting a B- Anonymous 05/13/2009	Richardson is a really really nice guy. However this class was definitely not an easy class at all. He is always open for office hours but homeworks are hard and online work was tedious. As for the exams I did okay on them but not amazing because astronomy isn't the most interesting subject to me. If your looking for an easy A def don't take this but it isn't all on Richardson.
Derek Richardson ASTR100 spatel19 04/27/2009	This class was a lot of fun and I would definitely recommend it. Derek is funny and his power points explain the concepts really well. I would suggest going to lecture because sometimes he gives surprise quizzes when he thinks attendance is low. The surprise quizzes aren't hard, but they're easy extra credit points. His exams were easy and the homework wasn't too bad, but the online part of the homework took up a lot of time. Overall, the class was interesting and an easy A.