Martha McMahon - University of Victoria, Victoria, BC

Professor: Martha McMahon

Department: Sociology

College: University of Victoria, Victoria, BC

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: SOCI388
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Martha is very passionate about the power and politics behind the industrial food system, as well as social justice, gender, ethical farming, and other related topics. Her syllabus and lecture slides are a mess, but as long as you pay attention in class and critically engage with the material you will be fine grades-wise. The class itself was great

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: SOCI388
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Martha is a lovely and intelligent woman, but I have no idea why she's still instructing at a University. She had cryptic & unreasonable expectations for assignments, and she was extremely disorganized and slow. We only knew 25% of our grade going into the final without ever receiving any feedback for the remaining 75% other than our final grade.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: SOCI481
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Martha is such a lovely and kind woman. However, I cannot recommend her as a professor. I found her criteria wildly unclear and the course was overall very disorganized. She is very smart and knows what she is talking about, I just found it to be poorly structured and frustratingly unclear.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: SJS200
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Martha is a bit technologically inefficient at times with disorganized power points . Other than the disorganization the content is amazing, and she really knows her stuff, and it's quite enjoyable!

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: HDCC200
• Grade Received: INC
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

Listen, I do not want to bash Martha. She is a lovely woman who seems like she has genuine interest in her students, but to be brutally honest, she should not be teaching at a university. She reads directly off powerpoint slides that are long-winded and unhelpful. Very scatterbrained. Hard to understand her voice. Extremely boring. Avoid her class.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: SOCIO388
• 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: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Took this class as an elective.. Turned out being pretty hefty in the workload. Would not recommend nor take the class again. Complete GPA drop. Although attendance was not "mandatory" it was taken closer to the end of class.. Debatable whether or not this was used against our grades.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: 481
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

A few years ago, when I attended UVic, I was enrolled in undergraduate and masters courses with Professor McMahon (I've since left the university and am now overseas studying for a PhD in sociology). In my opinion, Professor McMahon is one UVic's best professors - her lectures and reading lists still inspire me.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: SOCI388
• Grade Received: Not sure yet
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

While she's passionate about the material she's incompetent with technology and consistently seeks validation from her students. All assignments are in essay form and 1.5 spacing. I feel as though I didn't learn a whole lot and she does not know how to fill a 3 hour lecture. Generally, she's scatterbrained and doesn't proofread her notes.

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: SOCI390
• Grade Received: Not sure yet
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Martha is friendly and kind, and she does genuinely hope you 'succeed'. But you have to address the points she feels are critical with little guidance. She is extremely scattered and class time is usually a scramble of misplaced links to articles and misspelled lecture notes. Participation matters a lot.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: SOCI390
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

was super excited for this class. reads directly off of slides that are consistently misspellednot condensed. will only keep the class for 23 of the schedule. will not take criticism whatsoever. very dodgy and confused. seems to understand material, but can'twon't apply it to classreality. absolutely miserable. only plus is the topic studied

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: SOC481
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

I have left the course not really understanding feminism any more then when I went in. I felt it was not made clear how feminism is any different than other critical theories, except for taking a female stance. The class was mostly discussion based with very few lectures and no clear links to the readings.

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: SOCI388
• 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:

Hasn't grasped the concept of powerpoint and writes everything down in a Microsoft word document which is hard to read and boring to look at. A lot of class discussion. Likes to link a million topics together and expects you to as well. Assignments are worth large marks, and are all in essay form.

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: SOCI388
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

She's boring. Doesn't inspire any critical thought, or accept critique from students. She was teaching a food course but didn't even talk about colonialism. The tests were too vague, and her paper assignment made no sense. I was so excited for this class, but she pretty much ruined it

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: SOC381
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Amazing woman, post-colonial analysis and a gentle guiding energy in discussions and group work. Martha is an example of feminism at work in the class, allowing for many voices and engaging in intersectional analysis of the social world. She is a treat to learn from. TAKE THIS CLASS IF YOU ARE A WOMAN INTERESTED IN YOUR WORLD.

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: SOC381
• 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 would not suggest this teacher. We had two textbooks for a 3.5 week class and all of the marks came from two essay tests where we didn't really know what was expected of us.

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: SOCI381
• 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:

Likes group discussions a lot so doesn't spend a lot of time teaching. Not that open to different ideas despite discussion. Summer course so two written open book tests that have high expectations.

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: SOCI385
• 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:

Too much reading and disconnected in class. She stabs vaguely at being something she is not. A nurturing classroom atmosphere. High grades for presentations lower grades for essay - test. If you like un-linked theory, this is your class!

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: SOCI381
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Avoid this teacher. Her lectures are useless and so is attending class. An intense amount of reading and you must draw on all readings for the midterm and final (which are a couple of essay questions each). She was no help during her office hours and I couldn't wait until the semester was over. Dull, boring and flighty.

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: SOCI381
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

This class was offered for 17 days during summer. There were tons of assigned readings in the textbook, plus the reserved readings at the library. Exams are in essay format.

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: SOCI465
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

Well, if you enjoy reading 4-6 chapters a week from 5 required textbooks and then being expected to apply all of that plus reserve readings on the midterm (which was one question)and final essay then have fun. Martha is a nice sweet lady and the course material is very interesting but she is way off when it comes to the expectations for the course.