Joan Sotherden - Messiah College, Mechanicsburg, PA

Professor: Joan Sotherden

Department: Communication

College: Messiah College, Mechanicsburg, PA

Rating # 1

Overview:

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

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

Comment:

Terrible professor!!!! I heard comm was an easy general ed class and she made it so hard!!! I couldn't handle the crazy course kid and her general lectures were boring! Would not take her!!!

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: FYS
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Sotherden is a hard prof. She will expect you to attend EVERY class. (Even make you stay for the full time the last class just to turn in a paper). If you can opt out do it!

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: IDFY101
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

This class was not good at all. I did not learn anything about writing which is the premise of the class. She is a terribly tough grader at the beginning and she does not give good direction. She makes comments on your papers and if you change them and turn it back in you still won't get an A even if you changed everything. Do not recommend.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: COMM101
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

This class was boring. Shes a good teacher and a fair grader, but she isn't fun and most of the classes were pretty bland.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: COMM101
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Lecture was interesting and had to write a lot of notes. She is a fan of application questions on her exams. Not difficult, just make sure you are familiar with the information.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: FYS101
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

She was very VERY irritating. i felt that her grading was far too difficult and her class discussions were pointless. She was very critical. She was not afraid to call you out when disagreeing with you, but in a highly unnecessary manner.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: FYS101
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

This was a HARD fys! A lot more work/writing than other FYS classes plus an oral presentation. She is a tough grader and had favorites in the class. Not helpful in answering questions you have. Great cook, though!

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: COMM101
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

bored me out of mind,

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: FYS101
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Not very great. The long pauses are very awkward and it was one of the only FYS sections that had to do an oral presentation. I would say its not the worst, but not the best either.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: COMM104
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

pretty easy class- not a lot of work. tough grader, but really nice lady. i would recommend her for comm gen ed.

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: COMM104
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

Useless major => communications Useless class => communications Useless pr.. nuff said

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: FYSSECT
• 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:

This class was extreme! She left HUGE amounts of quiet space for "adequate think time" which was EXTREMELY awkward! Clearly picked favorites and graded papers tough. Although I will say, she was an AWESOME cook! She isn't that bad in the end, and she's actually a nice lady in her own element(her home)!!

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: COMM104
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

Very good prof. She tries to meet the needs of all types of learning styles. Tries to make class interactive as much as possible. Some days I looked at the clock to see how much time was left, but usually pretty interesting. Follows the book almost exactly so no need to read but take notes.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: COMM104
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Dont take her for interpersonal communication, her class is extremely boring and she doesnt grade fairly at all.

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: COMM101
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Professor Sotherdon is kind of boring, but she made class interesting by having activies planned. She rarely lectured during the entire class without tying activities into them. She made the material very easy to understand. The only thing that I don't like about her is that she doesn't have much of a personality. She's an easy grader though :)

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: FYSSECT
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Her fys is one of the easiest there is. I highly recommend taking her. It was a pretty interesting topic too and at the end of the semester she had us all over for dinner.

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: IDFY39
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Easy first year seminar. Not much writing or reading. The last part of the semester is reading a short book and then discussing it in class, and that's it. I think it was one of best first year seminars just because of the work load. The material discussed is also interesting and can be useful in life.

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: COM104
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

I'm surprised at a lot of the other comments. I think she's a good professor and she communicates well. Things are straightforward, if you follow the sylabis and project discriptions you should do alright. I recommend her.

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: COMM101
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

DO NOT TAKE SOTHERDEN!!!!! If you're taking interpersonal because you are scared of public speaking, DON'T take Sotherden, she makes you do a lot of stuff in front of the class. She is not good at explaining projects and grades papers & projects very hard. Booooring teacher. Don't take for a gen-ed.

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: COM104
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Extremely boring professor. Her lectures are straight from the book, so you can definitely get away without doing the reading before class. Tests are a little more difficult that you would expect. She doesn't seem like she cares too much about her students.