RIT SG Professor Evaluations ca. 2005

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Ratings for Robert Paradowski

RatingQuarterComment
7120023Very, very difficult teacher. Expects more than any other I have ever had. You will have to put more work into this class than any other. He definitely knows the material, but is a little old-school with the presentation.
6520023Far too much reading, with quizzes being on very very specific details, and tests that were an insane amount of work and left your arm about ready to fall off. Lectures were insanely boring, with much of the time spent on his articles, travels, and other classes teaches (which are pretty great, but not several times every lecture...really, keep a tally). I put a lot of effort and time into this class and left feeling that I have gotten nothing out of it at all. I suggest any other Sci/Tech study class to fill your requirements.
4820023Possibly the worst professor I've ever had. I got an A in the course I took with him and I still cannot see how he could possibly be a worse instructor.

In a discussion based class, he actively discouraged questions and tended to kill most, if not all attempts at serious class discussions. He was often rude, sometimes insulted the class both personally and generally, and often interrupted students when they attempted to speak. He especially interrupted the quieter students and seemed to single out shyer students to insult harass and interrupt. He ignored personal attacks made against students and in general did not moderate the class discussion. The class discussions we did have were generally off topic and not related to the material. His in class presentation of the material added little to nothing to what was covered in the texts. Texts, may I add, that he had never even read before deciding to teach a class based around them.

His tests were about twice as long as the time allotted for them, the quizzes expected you to have memorized tiny details from the reading. His grading was fair, but the tests that he gave were not. That is if he had actually taught anything to the class at any point perhaps they would have been more reasonable. He also expected a great deal of reading and added nothing to the material from the books I learned nothing from the course

As an example of hte degree of his tangents he spent almost a half an hour in one class on a tangent about Turtles Having Intimate Relations -- he even had slides made up for it.

I would delay my course sequence and/or date of graduation in order to avoid this professor and advise you to avoid him at all costs.
9120023Much better professor than most of the comments below would indicate, my favorite being "too hard for a liberal class", which is a good clue as to the kind of students who post here more often than not. Paradowski does love to talk about what he's written, but to be honest it's great stuff and you will never meet another RIT professor who's published as many books and articles - I guarantee. I took "Makers of Modern Science", and for every exam there were three previous tests posted on reserve at the library. I do feel that it's impossible to get a perfect score on his tests (he claims noone ever has), but by looking at the old tests and doing the reading I got a 95 on the midterm, so its not impossible to get an A in the course.
6120023He is a very bad teacher plain and simple. The material he goes over in class has nothing to do with the real world, for teaching an honors course, he gives long lectures with a few minutes for conversations. Quizes are way to hard, the midterms and final are the only two tests. Very concieted, alwasy talking about the books and reviews that he published and never fails to mention harvard, teaching at the wrong school.
7820023He's reasonable at grading, but does expect a ton of reading. The content is mildly interesting but I have to admit I slept through probably 75% of the two courses I took with him. Just read the books and try to listen while you nap in class and you should do fine.
8820012
5320012Classes are way to hard and in depth for a liberal class... However, he does know the material.
4820011one of my nightmares. if you are an international student dont take this class. he always says that all the other countries are very poor(except poland where his relatives came from) you really sleep in the class and even if you write every word he says, you cant do good at the exams. they are tooooo difficult. and also he thinks that his class is the only one you have so gives lots of reading and he doesnt think they are enough. also he gives hand out which HE wrote.. and always talks about his articles. soo boring you only laugh at his attitude. one day he jumped around singing... so strange.believe me and dont take the class.
6820011Can he be any more full of himself?
8520011Really nice guy. His class is extremely boring, but if you only go to the first half every time its not that bad. He grades essays easy and the tests are easy if you study the notes he gives you. Easy "B"
8820004Tough tests, but good teacher. Very smart guy, knows alot. Has a tendency to dig himself a hole with his comments and then make it worse trying to get out of it.
7120003Professor is a little strange but a nice smart guy. His tests are an incredible amount of work, very difficult. He also requires a crazy amount of reading.
6820003Professor Paradowski is a very hard professor who requires a lot of reading, a lot of detail and a lot of energy that most people find hard to find from a dumb liberal arts class. I learned very little from this course, found it rather boring, the tests were hard and went into a lot of detail. I definately would not recommend this professor to anyone for he can be self centered on his accomplishments (which I would be proud of too), but he needed a little more time for course material......
7120002Very self-centered, spent more time talking about his accomplishments than class material. During oral presentations, interrupted you to go off on a tangent. Goes into very tiny details on tests.
7520002Listen, Paradowski is a good guy. He may be a little out of it, on the fringe so to speak, but he tries as best he can. The guy knows an INSANE amount of stuff. Never consults his notes, just stands, eyes rolled back into his head, and speaks for hours about whatever he is teaching. It's actually sort of scarry... but his tests are very hard, since there is a massive amount of material on them. He also does give a large amount of reading. I give him a C because he is so hard on his students, and lacks and interest in what the students have to offer. (He never even looks at the class.) He also tends to slam students, saying things like "Why aren't you in your dorms doing revolutionary physics like Newton?" But he IS a good guy deep down, just hard to warm up to. Oh, and if you have any time... check out his office, it's the most amazing thing I have ever seen.
8520002Funny guy, I thought his tests were hard b/c he had so much material in such a little time. Very smart!