Karen Kobayashi - University of Victoria, Victoria, BC

Professor: Karen Kobayashi

Department: Sociology

College: University of Victoria, Victoria, BC

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: SOCI205
• Grade Received: A+
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Karen is a wonderful lecturer and keeps the class engaged with discussion questions and videos. Powerpoints are clear & simple. She is very friendly and easy to talk to. Material is fairly easy and does not require lots of studying, if you listen in class. You are only graded by one midterm, paper and final. Would recommend this class with Karen!

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: SOCI433
• Grade Received: A+
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Dr. Kobayashi is a kind and engaging seminar leader. She had the challenge of leading the first ever 433 seminar so the class was slightly disorganized, but also covered a lot of really neat topics related to family sociology. There were plenty of opportunities to be involved in the topic: talking in class; watching videos; research projects; etc.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: SOCI205
• 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:

Karen is awesome! I took this class just to fill a gap in my schedule but she really gets you interested in the course. The material is fairly intuitive so it's not hard to do well. Engaging lectures and she has a lovely speaking voice! She didn't have a great TA which was unfortunate, but I still recommend Karen as a prof!

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: SOCI205
• Grade Received: Not sure yet
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Very few professors offer extra help to students and actually encourage them to come in for a discussion when they are struggling. Karen goes way beyond to support students in her classes. She is tough but very fair and is a really engaging lecturer. If you do the work and attend classes, you will do well.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: SOCI205
• Grade Received: Not sure yet
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

This was my favourite class this semester. Karen is a professor who brings real world examples into the classroom to make us think about what is actually being taught and how it applies in our lives. Her lectures are organized and she asks a lot of questions to keep us engaged. I came to university to learn from professors like her. She is great!

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: SOC205
• Grade Received: Not sure yet
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Her lectures are so boring and a little unclear. The course is based on one miderm, paper, and a final exam. She is a really hard marker with very unclear instructions on what she would like for her criteria. If you ask her too many questions through email she eventually wont even reply back to you. I would not take her again.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: SOC211
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

The course itself is super boring but she doesn't liven it up much. Talks about herself for most of the lecture, so if you go to class, smile and laugh, and regurgitate the details of her stories to her she will be happy. Brutal marking and strange assignments, rude TA. Powerpoints don't make much sense on their own but the textbook was decent!

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: SOC211
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

The course content is extremely dry, but I think Kobayashi does the best you could do to make research methods interesting. The midterm and final exam were difficult, but if you have a solid grasp on the concepts then you should be fine.

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: SOC211
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

lectures are extremely dry. With that being if you do the readings and show up to class you will do fine. She really cares about her students and will help you succeed if you are falling beind. midterm and final make the class no easy A. Really need to know your stuff for the tests.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: SOCI205
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Karen is lovely! Her lectures are quite enjoyable to sit through. I found the class to be pretty easy and would recommend this class to anyone looking for an elective or just an interesting class to attend.

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: SOCI211
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Karen is one of the best profs I've had. She explains exactly what she wants for assignments, and lets us know what will be on the midterm and final. She is caring, strict but understands we are busy college students. Great class, interesting lectures

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: SOC205
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Karen was a really great professor! I would not hesitate taking another course with her! She is clear with concepts and facilitates good class discussions. She is also really helpful when it comes to researching articles for papers and refining research topics.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: SOCI211
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Karen seems like a nice lady, but she has been unclear from the getgo, and contradicts things she says on a weekly basis - even if they are direct. The class average so far is very low, and it seems she is just not happy with what anyone is doing for her assignments?? Although I attend office hours, I still leave unclear of her expectations.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: SOCI211
• 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:

Karen managed to turn boring course material (social research methods) into something really interesting! My friend took the same class with a diff prof and hated it but I loved it with Karen. She has slides but you really need to go to class to get a good grade b/c she tests out of lectures & not all that is online.

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: SOCI305A
• 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:

She definitely has her favorites students in the class and tends to talk to them more and give them more information than other students. Her tests are extremely hard. I do not think it's very necessary to write 10 short essays for an exam to show that we know are material. She's crazy!

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: SOCI305
• 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:

She is an average professor, assignments are doable but grading is harsh. Not a pleasant person to deal with even though she constantly puts on a smile on. Inflexibly stuck in her ways.

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: SOCI305A
• 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:

She's an excellent professor! Very clear points and very active class. But TA rates the papers and she may be a little bit hard.

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: SOC211
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

has the voice of an angel! so pleasant! very clear, great slides, puts them all on moodle! loved her class!

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: SOCI211
• 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:

Karen is a kind person. Obviously you have to show up to class, pay attention and do the readings to do well, it is university. But she is very clear and helpful with communicating the information. The textbooks are used a lot so they aren't a waste of money and she is extremely smart and interesting.

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: SOC305B
• 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:

Karen was amazing. Her lectures were engaging and passionate and she is dedicated to doing all she can for her students. She really helped me out with all of my assignments and tests. She is a great person, as well. I highly recommend having a chat during office hours. Best sociology professor in the university.