Professor
Todd Presner
3 of 4
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2019 - Dr. Presner is very knowledgeable and engaging. Overall, I really enjoyed this class and gained a lot from it. That being said, I felt that the group projects were mostly a waste of time. People mostly seemed to just throw their presentations together, which meant that about 30 minutes of class every week felt pretty arbitrary; I didn't learn very much from my peers. The responses (which we had to do only 3 of the whole quarter) were very straightforward. I think that Dr. Presner really wants you to do well in this class, so the grading seemed pretty lenient -- he seemed to be willing to work with students as best as he could. This seems like a class that you could either get a lot out of or get nothing out of (depending on how much attention you paid). To be honest, a lot of people in this class seemed like they just didn't want to be there/do the readings (there was this big group of people in this class that seemed more interested in browsing IG than listening, which was a real bummer because I think this class had very important things to say). I would not recommend taking this class if you're just going to be a waste of space, because engagement is really integral to how this class operates. The readings were very enjoyable, and Presner seems like he put a lot of effort into curating this class. He was very humble and pleasant (despite the double PhD?!) and seemed genuinely interested in how we, as students, engaged with the material. The final was pretty easy (take home). If you are genuinely interested in this class, I'd definitely recommend it. Presner really ensures that you'll get a lot out of this class without being burdensome. If you are just looking for a filler class, maybe look somewhere else.
Fall 2019 - Dr. Presner is very knowledgeable and engaging. Overall, I really enjoyed this class and gained a lot from it. That being said, I felt that the group projects were mostly a waste of time. People mostly seemed to just throw their presentations together, which meant that about 30 minutes of class every week felt pretty arbitrary; I didn't learn very much from my peers. The responses (which we had to do only 3 of the whole quarter) were very straightforward. I think that Dr. Presner really wants you to do well in this class, so the grading seemed pretty lenient -- he seemed to be willing to work with students as best as he could. This seems like a class that you could either get a lot out of or get nothing out of (depending on how much attention you paid). To be honest, a lot of people in this class seemed like they just didn't want to be there/do the readings (there was this big group of people in this class that seemed more interested in browsing IG than listening, which was a real bummer because I think this class had very important things to say). I would not recommend taking this class if you're just going to be a waste of space, because engagement is really integral to how this class operates. The readings were very enjoyable, and Presner seems like he put a lot of effort into curating this class. He was very humble and pleasant (despite the double PhD?!) and seemed genuinely interested in how we, as students, engaged with the material. The final was pretty easy (take home). If you are genuinely interested in this class, I'd definitely recommend it. Presner really ensures that you'll get a lot out of this class without being burdensome. If you are just looking for a filler class, maybe look somewhere else.
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Most Helpful Review
Wow, it seems like the Holocaust class was great. Unfortunately, German 112 was boring. Only a few texts were good and many students in the class did outside work while Presner was lecturing. He didn't bring anything new and interesting to our discussions and as a literature major, I was very dissapointed. I think that it's funny that someone talked about his looks. Okay, not the best judge of a person's abilities, and in my opinion he would have to look like George Clooney to make his class interesting...Overall, I wasn't impressed and I wouldn't take another class with him.
Wow, it seems like the Holocaust class was great. Unfortunately, German 112 was boring. Only a few texts were good and many students in the class did outside work while Presner was lecturing. He didn't bring anything new and interesting to our discussions and as a literature major, I was very dissapointed. I think that it's funny that someone talked about his looks. Okay, not the best judge of a person's abilities, and in my opinion he would have to look like George Clooney to make his class interesting...Overall, I wasn't impressed and I wouldn't take another class with him.
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3 of 4
