Alan Doerr - University of Massachusetts, Lowell, MA

Professor: Alan Doerr

Department: Mathematics

College: University of Massachusetts, Lowell, MA

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: DISC321
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Prof. does not teach at all. You are left on your own to read a math book, read his notes - which read just like a math book, and look up on line how to work the homework problems. If you ask for help in the forum you get very short answers. However, he is a fairly easy grader. Minor math errors are not as important as understanding the concepts.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: DCR1
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Professor Alan is a tough teacher. hard to understand, his writing means different of what he wants you to do. He's an old school teacher. no review for the final he gives you a review pack and you have to do it, he does not give the answers. he doesn't do review in the class and the last class of the semester he was giving lecture. useless class.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: MAT321
• Grade Received: WD
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Made it about 60% of the class before I dropped. Couldn't deal with his teaching style. Online you get 3 exams, that's it. No lectures or chat, very short on answers to questions. Class policies not clearly stated in syllabus. He has 3 different class documents on how class will be run. All are different from each other, caused much confusion.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: DISC1
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

His class was taught in an old school way. So it works best if you like to learn through a professor writes on a white broad. Quizzes every week with usually extra credits to boost up the grades. No exams, if you get an A by the final, no need to take the final. As long as you understand his lecture and study his study guide, quizzes are similar.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: MATH3210
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Simply put - hes an old man just collecting a paycheck He does not care about the students and how they perform. The entire class is made up of 3 exams. He gives you one pdf a week with no context. When you try and ask questions in discussion board or email, he is short, and not helpful.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: MATH3210
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Old school teacher. Got an A on his class by attending ALL his classes, doing homework, and, doing well on quizzes. To be fair, his quizzes are not hard because they are very close to the examples he does. The difficulty relies on doing it his way, so just pay attention on class and make good notes on how to solve the problem his way.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: DISCRETE1
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Doerr is a good man. He's hard of hearing and makes mistakes often tho. The material is diff from usual math, rarely any numbers, but v easy. Doerr does a good job using examples. If u don't understand it, seek help. He weighted grades based on attendance+weekly quizzes. Get an A by the end of quizzes (about 12) and you don't have to take the final

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: MATH3210
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

3 exams in the whole semester, but good feedback on the exams with extra credit on 1 and 2. He basically says you're going to teach yourself through the text and his notes, short in answers, knowledgeable however doesn't interact with students effectively. Very inflexible scheduling times for the *online* proctoring. Weird grading criteria.

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: DISCRETE1
• Grade Received: Not sure yet
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

This was the absolute worst course that I have taken at UML. I'm sure that Mr. Doerr is a nice guy, but he does not use Blackboard to the same standards that other Professors do, which leads to confusion and unclear expectations. Student posts were often left unanswered and the tests were littered with errors which caused unnecessary confusion.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: MAT321
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Professor Doerr is awesome. His notes are clear and give you the baseline to learn this material and pass the class. His grading is thoughtful and feedback helpful. Excellent instructor.

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: MATHDS1
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

I had Discrete I with him and he is one of the best professors at UML. Homework is 100% optional and there were never any mandatory homework assignment. The quiz were easy and each them had about 10 points extra credit on a 25 point quiz. He also allows people with an A average not to take the final. The text book is also free and not needed.

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: MATH1200
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Prof. Doerr was a solid teacher, but the class was a very disconnected. There were no chat sessions, but you could post to the discussion board if you had a question. Response time could be better, but he knows his stuff. I'm terrible at math and I managed a B. Homework consists of 3 tests, 2 of which are take home.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: MAT321
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

He's great if you need a flexible schedule. He gives a lot of lecture notes & gave us 2 take home exams, with a month to complete each. Our final exam allowed access to all class lecture materials and any handwritten notes. He gives a lot of chances to earn extra credit. Spent lots of time on Khan Academy, however. Tests are time consuming & hard.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: DISCM321
• Grade Received: A+
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: Yes
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Great Teacher!!! Super clear on material, excellent resource of material on discrete structures. Learned a lot and would take the class again.

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: MATH2220
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

As long as you don't mind minor math errors then Al is the man for you. He shows you EXACTLY what you need to do to solve rather long questions. He is always there to help and will do his best to get you to succeed. His exams can be long but are definitely manageable. A lot of extra credit is always available. I took him three times and wish more!

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: MATH1200
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: Yes
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

gave us 300 page textbook for free. that is a huge benefit. but thats it. the entire course summed up in one phrase would be "teach yourself math." there is not chat, no office hours, and questions are answered poorly and without effort. If I could start my degree at UML again, I would take all my math classes elsewhere and transfer them in.

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: MATH120
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Took his online pre calc class. Relatively easy, gives nearly a month to do the tests and then scan them to him. There for you with any questions at all times. Great professor would take again

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: MATH2210
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Doerr is a good professor but tends to pitch things at a higher level than that of the class. He is very good about answering questions, eager to help students in need, and very good in his field (I took Linear Algebra I). Will boost your grade if you do homework regularly

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: 92120
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

I found Prof. Doerr willing to be helpful, but his textbook (written by him) was riddled with errors and confusing explanations. When I reached out for help on a seemingly erroneous answer, he wouldn't answer and instead redirected to another problem for my answer. Plan to visit Khan Academy to figure out the material.

Rating # 20

Overview:

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

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

Comment:

Mandatory attendance, will fail you if you miss 6+ classes. Plus for attendance is that if you don't miss class, you can do extra credit problems on test. Two quizzes of 30-50 out of 100 points make up part of each exam. Do practice problems or you will be lost. If you get the material, then his lectures and exams are easy.