Mavis Fenn - University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON

Professor: Mavis Fenn

Department: Theology

College: University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: RS100
• Grade Received: B-
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

It is impossible to get a good grade no matter how much you read and go to class. The lectures are confusing, she trails off onto other topics and does not elaborate on major concepts. PowerPoint slides have 1-3 words on them and are not helpful at all. The textbook is super dry, hard to follow, and nothing from the book is useful.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: RS100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

I hate to say it, but HORRIBLE prof! She's a nice lady, but does not explain content clearly. She talks about unnecessary content in lectures and does not teach in a way students will understand material. Her P.P slides are TERRIBLE! So unclear, confusing makes no sense. Her multiple choice tests are so poorly worded, AVIOD THIS COURSE!!

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: RS100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Textbook cost $100 and was missing pages!! I taught myself this course with Wikipedia. PP presentations were terrible quality, often did not have foreign terms mentioned by professor in lecture. Many terms on exams were not in lectures or books. Terrible course. UW should remove course from DE offerings.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: RS100
• 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:

HORRIBLE prof. Class was boring, not worth money or time. Ridiculous textbook readings, hard tests, lectures and slideshows taught nothing and were completely useless. Prof is comparable to Cruella Deville. DO NOT TAKE THIS COURSE.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: RS100
• 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:

Not a good prof. She is really interested into the stuff she teaches but does not communicate it well. Not an easy course. The prof is unfair when it comes to grading or test questions. Avoid this course

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: RS100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Mavis is passionate about what she teaches, but this does not benefit the student. She does not explain concepts well, her powerpoints are poorly organized, and her multiple choice tests are subjective somehow due to poorly worded questions. Getting a solid grade in the course isn't too difficult though. The course is just annoying.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: RS100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Stay AWAY from this course! Prof is unreasonably boring; she rambles & tells stories unrelated to the course. Exams are multiple choice but there are often more than one right answer. When defending my choices, she agreed with me yet said it was too inconvenient to change my grade. The TA even agreed with me...brutal professor.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: RS100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

This class was extremely interesting but it was also very difficult. IT IS NOT A BIRD COURSE! I loved this class but I had to work very hard to memorize all of the terms. She does not have much information on her slides so be prepared to write a lot. I really enjoyed this class.

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: RS204
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

I really regret taking classes from her. She and her material were really boring for me. I am a good student but could hardly help falling asleep with her, even though I like the subjects themselves. Also, her friendliness seems somewhat fake because she not nice to me on several occasions on which I dealt with her personally.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: RS100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Mavis has a real passion for teaching .. her pace does vary from day to day - at times lectures move very slowly and others it seems like you can't keep up. You should always go to lecture because the textbook was rarely used (just as a reference/to clarify understanding). Make sure you ask questions - lots of material but tests are fair.

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: RS3
• 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:

No Comments

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: RS100A
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Hard, maybe because it was DE. Her voice makes me want to go to sleep, hard to focus and concentrate. Buddhism was particularly difficult because the terms were all in different languages. Multiple choice was a killer on quizzes, tests. Haven't taken the final, but am sure will fail.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: RS215
• 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:

very sweet and easy to talk to, even about things that are not about the class. she likes to get to know her students. her tests are fair and i like going to her lectures. sometimes she'll tell a story that has nothing to do with anything just to break up any boredom.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: RS215
• 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:

Extremely knowledgeable in Buddhism and introduces an interesting "casualness" in teaching with odd anecdotes about things that may or may not relate to the lecture. As someone who has taken the DE version of RS100A with her, I'd advise taking the in-class version of her courses because they're more enjoyable.

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: RS101A
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Very interesting lady, has very interesting stories but didn't help me understand the basic concepts of eastern religions. She is very knowledgable but doesn't translate it well into teach pupils with zero background in the material. Any questions asked in class or discussions revolved around more complex areas of the religion.

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: RS100A
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

The professor herself is very nice and helpful, she seems like a very good professor to have as a lecturer, however: The online lectures are VERY boring, the talking pace is much, much too slow. It aggrivated me that it would take 5 minutes for a paragraph-worth of information to be said in the online lectures.

Rating # 17

Overview:

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

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

Comment:

Good teacher but moves fast. Very knowledgable about Buddhism. She likes to ask hard questions to specific students she knows. All and all A very nice Grandmotherly like women. I have her for Tibetan Buddhism this semester and its a bit odd listening to her talk about the sexual aspects of Tantra. Like your Grandmother reading a penthouse letter.

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: RS100A
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

I found the lectures very hard to follow and what was taught in the lectures differed from the text. The tests were poorly designed and often had technical errors that would cause a reduction in marks. That said, she's a really nice person, but I'm not sure that teaching at a basic level is her strong suit.

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: RS214
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

She is all over the place! Power points are very random. But she does online exams and the answers are in the glossary of the text.

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: RS100A
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Nice lady. Knows her stuff, buut the lecture slides are poorly built. It's hard to keep track sometimes of what means what and what goes into which category.