Joseph Schaefer - Iowa State University, Ames, IA

Professor: Joseph Schaefer

Department: Aerospace Studies

College: Iowa State University, Ames, IA

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: EM274
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Returned my calculator when I forgot it. Good lecturer.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: EM378
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

This professor is sloppy in grading. He counted off 30 points on an exam because he "did not see" a page of work. In a stapled exam. This makes heading into the final nervewracking, given that we aren't given the chance to get a regrade. Oh, and speaking of regrades, expect to be treated like an idiot, no matter how respectful of a tone you use.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: EM378
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

I understand why some may not like him, but this is my take. Go to class. Good lectures. No online notes. Sometimes tangential, but does a good job explaining the concepts, and works a lot of relevant problems in class. The homework is helpful. Do it. Labs are fine. Easy A. Go to the review sessions. Very accessible outside of class.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: EM378
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Professor Schaefer does not use powerpoint and his class notes are mostly unhelpful. He often gets off topic when he teaches lectures and has lengthly discussions on items completely unrelated to the course itself. His review sessions before tests are the only thing that are very helpful. His effort and enthusiasm are there but the teaching is not.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: EM378
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

You won't be impressed by him at all if that is what you are wondering. He actually makes you feel like class is not worth your time because you most likely won't learn anything from it. He gets off topic and he doesn't do well with explaining topics. He is 78 at the moment and Iowa State students would benefit from his retirement.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: EM378
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

The labs are super easy and there's only 7 or 8 of them. He gets off topic pretty much every single lecture so you kind of have to teach yourself. He always says "You should remember this from physics 1, statics, chemistry, blah blah blah" when none of us actually remember anything from those classes. Very nice guy but just not a good lecturer

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: EM378
• 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:

Tests are pretty easy if you go to the review. A lot of test questions come for the review or from lecture so I would recommend attending. Decent amount of homework but not too hard and pretty helpful. Pretty funny guy and likes to go on weird tangents.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: EM378
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Test's are straight forward and he is pretty clear on what is going to be on there. Do the practice exams and go to lecture and you'll get at least a B.

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: EM378
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

For lectures, there were times in which he would get off topic with his tangents. Some of the stories he tells do apply to real world problems. He's very generous on partial credit BUT he will dock points on little things such as sig figs and units. Go to class. Tests are based off of examples he does and the homework. Willing to help if asked.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: EM378
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

He's a funny, old-school guy who likes to go on tangents about whatever we're learning. Assignments and tests are fair. The material is tough, but as long as you show up to class, he explains everything very well.

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: EM378
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Don't be afraid to stop by his office hours, very willing to help. Often will go on rants about how you should know/remember something from mechanics or statics or some other class. Gives real life examples and is very interested in what he teaches.

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: EM378
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Nice Guy. His lecture is disorganized, he spends a lot of time on useless proofs. Exams are usually centered around examples he does in class. He pays attention to who attends class.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: EM378
• 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:

Some people think he wastes lecture babbling but I like how he connects the things were learning to the real world. Although sometimes he needs to condense it a little. Learn how he grades because he will take off stupid points if you don't listen.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: EM378
• 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:

Great class once you learn his way of teaching and grading. Very helpful professor - doesn't just give you the answers but helps you understand the work. Homework and tests are very fair.

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: EM378
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

quality professor, a bit old school but he definitely knows his stuff. online hw is irritating. grading is fair so long as you stick to his rules. if you do so and have the right process you'll easily get a b+ or better on the exams.

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: EM378
• 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:

He grades tests based on if you knew what you were doing. I rarely got a correct final answer because i always ran out of time. I had the right ideas though and got high B's on each test. Great teacher.

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: EM378
• 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:

Barely taught anything. Spent more lecture time going off on tangents of no interest to anyone. Doesn't like to help students in any way. Doesn't curve exams, even if 98% of the class was unable to finish. Not personable or approachable about grading. Terrible professor.

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: EM378
• 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:

This class was hard. The online homework if done on your own was very difficult. Though on the tests as long as you got the jist of the problem, and how to solve it you got most of the points. He did ramble on a few things during class that had little to do with the subject matter, but made the class interesting.

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: EM378
• 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:

Spends class yacking about off subject information. Gives pop quizes on friday mornings. Commonly does his work wrong, and gets really flustered constantly. Can't publically speak, and blames low test scores on students. Below average test scores = below average students, or below average teaching???

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: EM274
• 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:

He was an ok teacher. His time management skills are not good at all. He had us hand in homework and we hadn't even gone over the material in class b/c he ran out of time. He also gave us less time than told on a test which half of the people then did not finish. However he was pretty helpful outside of class and pretty understandable.