Darren Sjogren - University of Calgary, Calgary, AB

Professor: Darren Sjogren

Department: Geography

College: University of Calgary, Calgary, AB

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: GEOG307
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Darren is a really nice guy, but teaching definitely isn't his strong suit. He really knows his stuff and is passionate about the topics that interest him most (which he conveys in class) however sometimes his lecture become too complex and jargon filled. He's available for help if you need it - just ask - but don't wait until the end of the sem.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: GEOG307
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Darren is smart, but is very conceding because of it. If you ask questions in class, be prepared for a snarky response. His midterm and final MC are wordy and incredibly specific. He will never curve an exam (he will tell you this after you fail of course). Lab marks and paper help to buffer your grade but it is by no means an easy course.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: GEO311
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: No
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Darren is nice enough and very smart, but he's clearly one of those prof's who has no desire to teach. Tests/quizzes are tedious and test on minuscule details, however the quizzes and group projects are easy marks. Tends to spend time explaining straight forward concepts. Lectures are LONG and DRY. Videos are tested. This is not an easy A course.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: GEO213
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Super great prof, have to put in alot of work for his labs. made the class super material heavy in the beginning of the semester to have a relaxed end of the semester in his class. weekly quizzes that he uses in his midterm and final, uses top hat, and a map quiz, also posts lecture videos online in case you miss a class or 10.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: GEOG231
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Darren's class requires effort He posts videos that I recommend you watch because there s a quiz every week. The labs take time and they are worth almost half your mark so I would recommend trying you're best. Maja and Karina were my TA's and they give great feedback and they are both incredibly intelligent. I would definitely recommend this prof.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: GEOG231
• Grade Received: B-
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Be ready to allocate more time to the course, it's not difficult by any means, especially if you are a science major but it forces you to make time for it every week. The course touches different topics in the GIS world, so if you didn't study for one topic that week you can be on track the next one.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: GEOG231
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Darren tried this "new teaching plan" this semester. For the 3, 50 minute lectures each week, we would do hands-on work to practice and apply the knowledge we learned in the REQUIRED lecture videos we had to watch each week. These videos sometimes totaled 6 HOURS for one week. On top of that, the labs (due every 2 weeks) sometimes took up to 15h's!

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: GEOG311
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Course was not structured well and the grading was unfair. You are randomly assigned into groups, which means people don't do their work &/or skip class. We do group "work" in class, instead of watching required films. The 3 papers in the course require using 8 sources and answering 3 questions in 1500 words. Got marks off for lack of specificity.

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: GEOG231
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

This class requires a lot of work. Basically everything in the lectures and textbook is on a need to know basis, and requires a lot of down time. Do not take this course unless you are in the geography department. It is in his best interest that you succeed, but only if you are willing to put in the work.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: GEOG311
• Grade Received: Not sure yet
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

Assignments and projects arent that tough, but there are a lot. Exams are more difficult as you need to cover ALL the material to do okay (exams focus on the details). Also, he is kind of condescending, and dont expect him to mark stuff in a timely manner. 6 weeks later and Im still waiting on grades for assignments I submitted in November.

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: GEOG311
• Grade Received: C
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

The lectures are long, and his slides are all copy pasted from google images. His TA marks the papers, and she marks them like we have PHD's in geography when the majority of the class hasn't even taken a geography course. I took this class as a GPA booster, because it has NO PREREQUISITES, but I'm sitting at a C. Don't take this course.

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: GEOG311
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

To put it nicely, his test questions don't actually test your knowledge of geography. (He will ask you which author wrote an article he assigned the class to read, that's an actual test question from his class, gee I learned so much) He seems as if he's talking down to students and I think he gets a kick out of making a students life difficult.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: GEOG311
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: Mandatory

Comment:

I took 205 and 311 with Darren and he explains things very well. He is very clear and easy to understand. If he posts a reading to do in 311, DO IT. there wil be questions on it on the exams and quizzes. You have to be very specific to get full marks, dates, numbers, etc.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: GEOG205
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

This class was difficult and the instruction could only be compared to the in class slides: dull & useless. After receiving a 49% in the course, I went to Sjogren and begged for a chance to fix it. He rejected me & told me if all the students who had 49%s came into his office and asked for help, he wouldn't help any of them either.. THANKS SJOGREN!

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: GEOG311
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Awesome prof. Lectures are interesting and events are easy to remember. He makes it very clear what you need to study for his tests.

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: GEGO205
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

The exams are really difficult, if you are trying to boost your GPA never ever take this class.

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: GEOG311
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

I have taken many classes with this professor, and he is one of the best lecturers I have ever seen. He makes it very clear what he expects and he may seem a bit unapproachable and condescending but he means well, and if you see how much crap he puts up with for first years, you'd pity him too.

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: GEOG231
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Such a good teacher!! The labs are a lot of work but you can do very well in them! His notes were extremely helpful and his tests were fair to the questions he asked. I would take another class with him!

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: GEO311
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Darren is a good prof overall but has some bad qualities. If you get on his bad side he can be sarcastic and condescending. If he likes you he is nice. I also found that to get full marks, very specific information needs to be said, which is generally highlighted in lectures so don't miss them!

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: GEOG311
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

He was a very nice prof and was willing to help his students. The material was not too difficult either. Some quiz questions were totally unrelated ("Author who wrote _ article?"). His midterms were pretty long (short answer and essay - 50 min class)but not to difficult, first midterm I received 100%. Overall, a good prof/class and would recommend.