David A Campbell
Department of Life Sciences
AD
2.7
Overall Rating
Based on 7 Users
Easiness 1.4 / 5 How easy the class is, 1 being extremely difficult and 5 being easy peasy.
Clarity 2.6 / 5 How clear the class is, 1 being extremely unclear and 5 being very clear.
Workload 1.7 / 5 How much workload the class is, 1 being extremely heavy and 5 being extremely light.
Helpfulness 2.9 / 5 How helpful the class is, 1 being not helpful at all and 5 being extremely helpful.

TOP TAGS

  • Uses Slides
  • Tolerates Tardiness
  • Needs Textbook
  • Is Podcasted
  • Tough Tests
  • Participation Matters
GRADE DISTRIBUTIONS
25.2%
21.0%
16.8%
12.6%
8.4%
4.2%
0.0%
A+
A
A-
B+
B
B-
C+
C
C-
D+
D
D-
F

Grade distributions are collected using data from the UCLA Registrar’s Office.

15.0%
12.5%
10.0%
7.5%
5.0%
2.5%
0.0%
A+
A
A-
B+
B
B-
C+
C
C-
D+
D
D-
F

Grade distributions are collected using data from the UCLA Registrar’s Office.

18.1%
15.1%
12.1%
9.1%
6.0%
3.0%
0.0%
A+
A
A-
B+
B
B-
C+
C
C-
D+
D
D-
F

Grade distributions are collected using data from the UCLA Registrar’s Office.

14.2%
11.8%
9.4%
7.1%
4.7%
2.4%
0.0%
A+
A
A-
B+
B
B-
C+
C
C-
D+
D
D-
F

Grade distributions are collected using data from the UCLA Registrar’s Office.

ENROLLMENT DISTRIBUTIONS
Clear marks

Sorry, no enrollment data is available.

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Reviews (1)

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Quarter: Spring 2016
Grade: A-
June 20, 2016

Dr. Sellami co-taught this with Dr. Campbell, and they each taught half of the course. I believe she handled all of the logistics and grading, though, so the only part of this review that applies to Dr. Campbell is the "Lectures" section.

As People
I didn't go to their office hours, but they seemed nice. A lot of communication occurred through the Piazza discussion forums, and that was a great resource through which the students, TAs, and LAs (undergraduate assistants) collaborated to get questions answered. The professors didn't answer as many questions as they could have, but they provided input on our most pressing questions.

Materials
Launchpad: $120 if you buy from the company
*Don't buy/rent the textbook. You'll have readings, but you won't be studying from them. If you do want it, rent it from Amazon for $20.*

Grading
Midterm 1 100
Midterm 2 100
Final 200
Discussion 100
Clickers 78
Reading 100
Launchpad 100
Straight scale (90=A, 80=B, 70=C). No curve, but "I rounded generously (so more than mathematically correct...) in students' favors as much as I can justify[.] generally, if you were less than half a percent off from the better grade, you got the better grade[.]"

Lectures
She made lectures mandatory through clicker questions. You got 1.5 points just for inputting answers, and another 1.5 for getting three right (0.5 each). There were usually a lot of questions, which served as useful checkpoints. That being said, she was good at engaging us and speaking clearly. Dr. Campbell, not so much. He was your stereotypical professor who had little charisma. I tried giving him my full attention, but his voice was just too soft and disengaging. They both used PowerPoint uploaded onto CCLE, so a laptop was helpful.

Discussion
Instead of having a TA drone at you for 75 minutes, we did worksheets in groups, which allowed us to stay engaged and work at our own pace, making the material easier to digest.

Homework
Launchpad was a pain. A typical weekly assignment consisted of textbook pages and a quiz, videos and a quiz, and a simulation. They typically took a couple of hours per week, and were always due on the first day of class for the week. Even if there was a midterm on Monday, it would still be due then. I'll admit that the simulations made some concepts clearer to me.

Exams
50 MC for the midterms, 100 MC for the final. Although there were a fair amount of memorization questions, the others were tricky because she focused on applying the experiments that we learned about. For example, we all know that DNA is the genetic material rather than protein. In class, we'd learn about the experiment that led to that conclusion. On the exam, she would describe an experiment like that one, but change the results so that they would suggest that protein was the genetic material instead. That would be the correct answer. So, you cannot rely on just pure memorization. The medians are listed below.
Midterm 1: 82
Midterm 2: 84
Final: 152 (76%)

Tips
- Don't read the textbook thoroughly. It won't help for the exams. Just do enough to ace the reading quizzes.
- Only study from lecture and discussion. The discussion worksheets always have questions that will appear in another form on her exams.
- Sometimes you'll overthink a question, but most of the time you won't be. The wording is very important.

tl;dr Dr. Campbell was a painfully average lecturer, but the first midterm, which covered his part of the course, wasn't too difficult.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
Quarter: Spring 2016
Grade: A-
June 20, 2016

Dr. Sellami co-taught this with Dr. Campbell, and they each taught half of the course. I believe she handled all of the logistics and grading, though, so the only part of this review that applies to Dr. Campbell is the "Lectures" section.

As People
I didn't go to their office hours, but they seemed nice. A lot of communication occurred through the Piazza discussion forums, and that was a great resource through which the students, TAs, and LAs (undergraduate assistants) collaborated to get questions answered. The professors didn't answer as many questions as they could have, but they provided input on our most pressing questions.

Materials
Launchpad: $120 if you buy from the company
*Don't buy/rent the textbook. You'll have readings, but you won't be studying from them. If you do want it, rent it from Amazon for $20.*

Grading
Midterm 1 100
Midterm 2 100
Final 200
Discussion 100
Clickers 78
Reading 100
Launchpad 100
Straight scale (90=A, 80=B, 70=C). No curve, but "I rounded generously (so more than mathematically correct...) in students' favors as much as I can justify[.] generally, if you were less than half a percent off from the better grade, you got the better grade[.]"

Lectures
She made lectures mandatory through clicker questions. You got 1.5 points just for inputting answers, and another 1.5 for getting three right (0.5 each). There were usually a lot of questions, which served as useful checkpoints. That being said, she was good at engaging us and speaking clearly. Dr. Campbell, not so much. He was your stereotypical professor who had little charisma. I tried giving him my full attention, but his voice was just too soft and disengaging. They both used PowerPoint uploaded onto CCLE, so a laptop was helpful.

Discussion
Instead of having a TA drone at you for 75 minutes, we did worksheets in groups, which allowed us to stay engaged and work at our own pace, making the material easier to digest.

Homework
Launchpad was a pain. A typical weekly assignment consisted of textbook pages and a quiz, videos and a quiz, and a simulation. They typically took a couple of hours per week, and were always due on the first day of class for the week. Even if there was a midterm on Monday, it would still be due then. I'll admit that the simulations made some concepts clearer to me.

Exams
50 MC for the midterms, 100 MC for the final. Although there were a fair amount of memorization questions, the others were tricky because she focused on applying the experiments that we learned about. For example, we all know that DNA is the genetic material rather than protein. In class, we'd learn about the experiment that led to that conclusion. On the exam, she would describe an experiment like that one, but change the results so that they would suggest that protein was the genetic material instead. That would be the correct answer. So, you cannot rely on just pure memorization. The medians are listed below.
Midterm 1: 82
Midterm 2: 84
Final: 152 (76%)

Tips
- Don't read the textbook thoroughly. It won't help for the exams. Just do enough to ace the reading quizzes.
- Only study from lecture and discussion. The discussion worksheets always have questions that will appear in another form on her exams.
- Sometimes you'll overthink a question, but most of the time you won't be. The wording is very important.

tl;dr Dr. Campbell was a painfully average lecturer, but the first midterm, which covered his part of the course, wasn't too difficult.

Helpful?

0 0 Please log in to provide feedback.
1 of 1
2.7
Overall Rating
Based on 7 Users
Easiness 1.4 / 5 How easy the class is, 1 being extremely difficult and 5 being easy peasy.
Clarity 2.6 / 5 How clear the class is, 1 being extremely unclear and 5 being very clear.
Workload 1.7 / 5 How much workload the class is, 1 being extremely heavy and 5 being extremely light.
Helpfulness 2.9 / 5 How helpful the class is, 1 being not helpful at all and 5 being extremely helpful.

TOP TAGS

  • Uses Slides
    (1)
  • Tolerates Tardiness
    (1)
  • Needs Textbook
    (1)
  • Is Podcasted
    (1)
  • Tough Tests
    (1)
  • Participation Matters
    (1)
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