John Barker - University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC

Professor: John Barker

Department: Anthropology

College: University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: ARTS001B
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

a great prof, needs a lot of participation especially in arts one, appreciates students but you have to be informed about whatever you are talking about.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: ANTH210
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Interesting topic, but uninteresting and ineffective lectures (and textbook). For example, he frequently showed boring and sometimes irrelevant YouTube videos during class. Grading criteria for assignments was unclear, so my TA marked them somewhat subjectively. The final exam question was vague. The prof forbids eating during lectures.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: ANTH210
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Unhelpful during office hours but gives great lectures. Found my TA (Hannah) to be a very subjective marker.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: ANTH210
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Great class, but unfortunately bad TA's who mark very subjectively.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: ANTH200
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

hands down the best prof ever. so inspiring . take class with him and you will love him

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: ANTH210
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Seems to be a nice guy and really interesting lectures but I don't find him to be very helpful during office hours. But overall great course. Put in just a moderate amount of effort and your grade will be good plus you will pick up some interesting perspectives when it comes to food.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: ANTH210
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

John is pretty good. He always tells the students to go see him or the TAs if they have any problem. My TA (Mascha) was really helpful. It not a difficult course to pass or score.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: INTRO001
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

Thank you for your encouragement!

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: ANTH100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Nice guy but didn't like the TAs, werent much help. Be sure so get good notes of his lectures (examples he uses, etc) since exams are mostly lecture-based.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: ANTH100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Nice guy but TAs werent. Be sure to copy good notes and the examples he uses in lecture since exams are based solely on lecture content. Not much textbook use.

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: ANTH100A
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

He seems nice and happy to help students but his lectures were somewhat dry. Exams are somewhat fair but the T.As were hard. Be sure to copy good notes for exams.

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: ANTH100
• 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:

Great prof! Things were interesting if you actually paid attention, but was easy to drift off (especially with the sun shining outside!). Very friendly and helpful and a great person overall. Midterm/Final was a piece of cake, mostly MC, with a few written paragraphs.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: ANTH100A
• 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:

Dr Barker really knows his stuff and he is incredibly concerned for his students. Any student taking his class (and attending his lectures) won't be disappointed. Great person to introduce anthropology in an academic setting...

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: ANTH100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

You can tell he's really into his research, but his lectures are somewhat dry and he gets sidetracked a lot. Projects are also difficult to get anything higher than a B grade. WARNING: VERY HIGH RELIANCE ON TEXTBOOKS (3)

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: ANTH100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

I found that he's a fairly nice professor, yet my TA was very unhelpful and never gave any comments on how to improve on any of my assignments. Professor Barker tries to answer all questions to the best of his ability, and is encouraging. However, I still have 0 interest in this course, and found it rather dry though there may be good intentions be

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: ANTH100
• 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:

Loved the class! Fairly easy as long as you attend lectures and do readings. Great prof!

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: ANTH415
• 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:

An interesting but demanding course - theoretically rigorous. The course is well-organized and the assignments are well-thought out. Barker is really passionate and knowledgeable about the subject, and makes dense readings crystal clear, but allows room for student perspectives. He cares about your work and is very approachable. Recommended.

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: ANTH100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

Very passionate and dedicated to his work which reflects in his lectures. Very helpful and kind. TA's were very helpful as well. Do your readings and attend lectures, and it's easy to do well. Midterm was brutal, but final was easy. Marking for assignments was very fair.

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: ANTH100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Dr Barker is a kind & intelligent man, and thats made clear in his lectures and his work with the Maisin people. There is an expectation for you to have a huge interest in anthropology that can be offputting to those that just wanted to know more about the subject. The assignment criteria aren't very clear, & the templates are too restrictive.So-so

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: ANTH100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

I didn't enjoy this class as much as I hoped I would. I think a lot of that had to do with the setting and not the prof. Being in third year with almost 400 mostly 18 year-olds gets kinda tiring quickly. However, the course was fairly easy to get through. Just hand everything in and get a B. Doing a summary of an article is pretty dumb though.