Mark Swanson - University of Southern Maine, Portland, ME

Professor: Mark Swanson

Department: Science

College: University of Southern Maine, Portland, ME

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: GEY100101
• Grade Received: B-
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

By far the worst professor I have ever had. He feels as though he is entitled and is extremely rude to students who aren't passionate about geology. He's not willing to help his students, his assignments are not clear and treated the course like it was a graduate class. It was a joke of a class.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: GEO100
• Grade Received: C
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

The professor made the class more confusing than already was when asked for instruction clarification. The book was not worth buying because I have only opened it twice. This is a 100 level course with material of a 300 level class. I have learned very little in this class other than to be able to slightly pass this class.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: GEO100
• Grade Received: B-
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

The worst professor and class I have EVER had.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: GEY100
• Grade Received: B-
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Professor Swanson implies that he will be helpful and responsive but his emails and suggestions just confused me more. The assignments were not easy and the drawings were even more difficult. Grading wasn' clear as there were different expectations on every update he made. If he was more responsive and clear this class would have been better.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: GEO100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

This is the worst online class and worst online professor I've ever experienced. He requires all assignments to be submitted in jpeg format (Annoying and time consuming), is completely unclear, and expects you to use Sherlock Holmes-style logic deduction in order to answer the worksheet questions. Stay far, far away from this professor.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: GEY101
• 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 horrible professor. I took his winter online course. He responded to emails days after they were sent. He insulted students' knowledge and ability to learn instead of answering assignment questions. He requires every assignment to be submitted in JPEG format which is extremely inconvenient. Definitely do not recommend this professor!

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: GEOLOWEB
• 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:

Prof. Swanson was clearly not teaching to a non-geology student. I wish I didn't waste my time or money on this class. I spent a huge amount of time on the assignments and when I needed help or clarification he was rude and demeaning in his replies. This was by far the worse class I have ever taken at USM!

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: GEY101
• 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 sincerely hope other students read these posts before taking any of his courses. I needed to take my last required lab-science this past Fall and just finished up with the online version of Geology 101. I ended up with a decent grade in the course, but the workload was a bit much for a 100 level in my opinion. Take someone else. Period.

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: GEO101
• 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:

I took his lecture/lab as a winter session course one year. He was so passionate about what he was teaching. I loved his classes.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: GEY100K
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Swanson is a tenured professor who feels that he's entitled to treat students anyway he likes because he hates what he's doing and has been doing it for far too long. I'm a straight A student who received a B+ in both lab and lecture in 100 level core courses with him because he didn't like me and wanted to prove a point. Avoid him at all

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: GEY100
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Elgh. This guy knows his stuff, but if you don't know his stuff, he is rude to the students. Quizzes are HARD and ridiculous for a 100-level. If taking as a core, take it with a nicer teacher that is more willing to help you. Cold man. Boring lectures with slideshows where he doesn't even know what the pictures taken actually are.

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: GEY100
• 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 science core requirement choice. The lab was well integrated with the class. Lab tests describing rocks shown was only demanding part. Critical to lab is giving additional descriptions of samples. (more is better). Class tests were 1 page, two sided. Seemed to like real world examples, related to class discussion.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: GEY100101
• 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:

Great class for any non-science majors to satisfy your K requirement. Anyone who can't sit through chemistry or biology, then this is the class for you. the professor is very knowledgeable, The lab is mostly coloring map projects, and learning about rocks. The lecture is easy if you pay attention, but can be boring at times.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: GEY101
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

He was a great lab instructor, but the students who were in my lab and also had him in lecture complained about him non stop. I guess just don't have him for both lecture and lab. I highly recommend him for a lab instructor. He was great with visualizations and explaining information very clearly.

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: GEY100101
• 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:

Professor Swanson is a really excellent lecturer, and can be extremely funny...a few times I was in stitches, honestly. He's tremendously knowledable on his subject, and his lectures are very engaging and easy to follow. In his lab...sometimes I really felt like he wished he were somewhere else instead of teaching geology to a class full of mostly non-majors. He seemed like a nice guy, but somewhat standoffish most of the time, though not always. His classes are well worth the time and effort, though.

Rating # 16

Overview:

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

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

Comment:

he requires a lot of work, but he has a passion for geology that is unmatched by other geology professors that I've had...learned a lot and really enjoyed all the field trips in both crustal structure & tectonics and digital mapping

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: GEO101LAB
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

His passion for the subject kept me interested & made it a lot easier to learn. Nice guy who really wants you to learn something. If you pay attention to his lectures you'll be fine on tests.

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: GEY101LAB
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

I only took the lab with Dr. Swanson and I loved it. True I didn't need the book, but you'll learn more than you need to know about rocks just by showing up and paying attention. I'll never look at a rock the same way again.

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: GEY100K101K
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Very passionate about rocks. Knows his stuff. Class requires ALOT of studying and understanding. Definately not an easy class. The lab is alot of work. Doesn't really use the books. The books help reinforce what is taught in class but are not necessary.

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: GEY100101
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Comes off as cold, but really knows rocks. Study hard, do the reading and ask questions and you'll be okay. If you want warm and fuzzy take someone else. If you want a teacher with passion about his subject take Swanson. He'll make you earn your grade.