Michael O'Driscoll - University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB

Professor: Michael O'Driscoll

Department: English

College: University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: ENGL356
• 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:

Mike is easily the best ENGL prof I've had (and it's my major). He's extremely clear and articulate in his lectures, and consistently offers new insight into the texts. The material he chooses is also interesting and varied. He marks very fairly and offers great feedback. Most importantly, he's warm, friendly and approachable with students.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: ENGL365
• 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:

Mike is one of the best profs I've had...if you have the opportunity to take a course with him DO IT! He is completely engaging and keeps the class environment fun and relaxed. It's not hard to do well on assignments with a little effort. He's very accommodating when it comes to assignment extensions. Overall, a great guy and a great prof.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: ENGLISH356
• 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:

Professor O'Driscoll is great. His lectures directly incorporated and encourages student input. The subject matter was interesting and media varied. Marked well and provided great response and commentary. Beyond the classroom sense he is very approachable, understanding and accommodating. Not pretentious, but inviting! Highly recommended.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: ENG367
• 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:

O'Driscoll is one of those rare profs that actually makes an effort to get to know students outside of class. His lectures were fantastic fun and as a bonus, he took us all to Dewey's after the last day.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: ENGL357
• 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:

Fantastic prof, definitely one of the best I've ever had. He's one of the smartest men you'll ever meet but he doesn't expect you to be on his level. He encourages participation and NEVER puts anyone down. I don't know if I've ever felt so comfortable in a university classroom.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: ENGL362
• 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:

Dr. O'Driscoll was excellent. I was slightly bored upon first perusal of the texts, but in each lecture he pointed out something that blew my mind and made me see the content in a different way. The group work format opened my mind w/o being tedious or embarrassing. He's approachable, laid back and very inspirational. I'm sad he's on sabbatical.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: ENGL121
• 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:

Amazing prof! Really nice guy, always welcome to class discussion, even if you say something kind of dumb he'll make you feel good about participating. Fair marker, interesting content chosen, probably best prof I've had so far.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: ENGL361
• 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:

The prof was very clear about expectations for writing assignments. Lectures put an interesting spin on the texts (describing context, applying theories) rather than just unpacking them.

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: ENGL122
• 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's a nice guy and he's pretty encouraging with his constant "that's great!" "fantastic" "good" comments whether they're not the greatest ideas or not. He keeps you pretty engaged in the class, although I really have no interest in English. Take his class! Easy/fair marker. I was afraid English was going to kill my GPA, but he was nice. Enroll!

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: ENGL362
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

Awesome! It's great to just hear him give a lecture, and he tries hard to get the class's input on everything. Incredibly helpful when composing an essay, you can (and SHOULD) go to him at any point in the writing process and he will help big time. Easy marker.

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: ENGL362
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Excellent prof! Phenomenal orator: makes you feel like your listening to something magical. Likes to use theory quite extensively. Very knowledgeable in the areas of Postmodernism/American literature. If your not really into theory, you might want to rethink taking his class. Class discussion was awesome. Leaves very helpful comments on your essay!

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: ENGL362
• 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:

Simply the best. Great speaker, engaging lectures. He loves the material and knows it so well, its great to have him share it with you. Good marker, a little hard, you need to put in effort, but its worth it. Books and theory might be hard but its worth it.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: ENGL122
• 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:

A really fun and great professor. He is a fair and easy marker. I really hate English but found myself looking forward to going to his class. Like others have already said he keeps your interest and is really passionate in what he teaches. I have not seen him get angry at all and he is always smiling.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: ENGL122
• 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 loved this class. The material was usually pretty interesting, and I found he marked fairly.

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: ENG122
• 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:

Awesome prof, very fun, approachable and enthusiastic about the subject. Very fair and always in a great mood. Exams are very fair as long as you listen to the class discussions. Workload is quite light although this class has a midterm (whereas most other English 122's do not). Take his class!!!!!

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: ENGL361
• 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:

Dr. O'Driscoll is a sometimes-demanding and always engaging prof with a genuine concern for relating the course material to his students. He has an obvious passion for the material and he lights up if you get really into it as well. Fair, clear marker. Great class.

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: ENGL122
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

Great prof. Class was really interesting and easygoing. He kept the mood light. Workload is also relatively light, exams are not bad as long as you read the texts and paid attention in class.

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: ENGL361
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Dr. O'Driscoll is one of the best profs in the English department. His lectures are utterly engaging. He likes to read passages aloud from the texts he chooses and turns ordinary class into a spoken word concert. He is endlessly enthusiastic and interested in student imput. Take any and all classes he offers!

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: ENGL405
• 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:

This prof isn't so much bad as annoying. Adds "-ality" to just about every word you can imagine. Be prepared to hear "the juxtaposition of disparate images" at least twice a week. Other than the pretentiousness, his class isn't the worst and he seems nice so he gets C+ (maybe B- if you really like modernism).

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: ENGL405
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

He is a WONDERFUL professor. Engaging, nice, kind, knowledgeable, and inspirational. He really knows his stuff in terms of modernist writing, so if you like the tough style of the modernists, take his classes on modern lit!