Alexander Ervin - University of Saskatchewan

Professor: Alexander Ervin

Department: TBD

College: University of Saskatchewan

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: ANTH230
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Honestly a great class to take if you enjoy anthropology. Not exactly a difficult class, as it solely graded on a 25 page paper and final. Professor is extremely knowledgeable as he has traveled around the world and knows what hes talking about. Would take again if I hadn't received such a high grade on my essay portion. He is also pretty funny.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: ANTH230
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

A senior professor with comprehensive knowledge of his field. He is a person of extremely high character, one who challenges students to use the knowledge they are acquiring to create a better world, particularly by defending the oppressed. If you are truly interested in anthropology, he is an excellent choice of a person with whom to study.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: ANTH326
• Grade Received: B
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

The first 2 weeks of this prof was very confusing, but once you start understanding how he teaches and that his stories aren't note worthy but for context he gets a lot easier to follow.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: ANTH326
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Goes very off topic in lectures. Very little point in attending lectures as barely any material is covered in comparison to the off topic conversation. Whole class graded on one assignment and one final. Lecture slides only include one-word reminders of the lecture conversation proffs use and provides no info to students.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: ANTH230
• 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:

Posts slides online but must attend class as he adds so much. Have to write a 20-25 page paper based on 3 books you must read, worth 50% of your grade. Final is also 50% of your grade. Tends to go off topic and sometimes hard to follow.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: ANTH230
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

He has some published books and highly wise and experienced in politics, history, and especially, anthropology.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: ANTH244
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

His lectures are very convoluted, he will stray off topic often. But the subject matter is interesting nonetheless. I've taken 244 and 326 from him, and he grades very easy. Long papers/large projects that are worth more. He's given me a 98 in a needs assessment project, an 82 in a 12 page term paper on a book I didn't have time to read.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: ANTH111
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

Ervin was the typical prof. His lectures, though, were long and often wondered from topic to topic without any middle ground. Didn't connect with his students. He didn't use a mic in a huge 150 seat lecture theatre. Hard to hear.

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: ANTH111
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Less than helpful, emailed him multiple times and never got any clear help. Lectures were long and hard to pay attention too. Went off topic quite easily. He is obviously very knowledgable on this subject, just is unable to teach it in a clear way.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: ANTH230
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

An incredibly knowledgable + well-travelled man. Very kind. Learned a lot about other cultures, but class was difficult + very much a self-study course. There is no textbook + grading criteria is very unclear. Tough marker! You write a 20-25 page assignment on 3 books that you read on your own but don't discuss in class. 50% term paper + 50% final.

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: ANTH230
• Grade Received: A+
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

Awesome guy, interesting ideas in class. Attend class and pay close attention and you'll do great

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: ANTH230
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

I thought Prof. Ervin was a fair grader and was especially helpful during his office hours and was very willing to answer any questions outside of class

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: ANTH230
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

I went to almost every lecture, took vigorous notes, did the term assignment and paid attention. I have taken multiple other ANTH classes and understand the concepts. This class was a blatant waste of time, money and energy. This professor is terrible and incoherent at best. Avoid him at ALL costs.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: ANTH230
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

He is an alright teacher. Likes to joke and has some interesting stories. Many times too vague (he uses "and so on and so forth" and "etc." quite a bit.). Only thing I really didn't like about his class was the midterm. Reading three entire books to write a 20 page essay is straight up overkill. Stay away unless you can handle a huge workload.

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: ANTH326
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Prof Ervin is my favorit of the anth department at the U of S. He has a very down-to-earth attitude and really cares about his students. Going to class will get you a higher mark, he marks papers quite easily but exams quite hard.

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: ANTH111
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

He's not bad, but a little hard to follow in his lectures. I showed up to 5 lectures and got a 92 in the class, so he's quite an easy professor. If you want an easy credit and don't much care about the subject, take it from this guy.. but if you truly want to learn a lot about introductory anthropology, I suggest another professor.

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: ANTH231
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

I thought he was a fairly interesting prof (usually) who genuinely cares about the students and the anthro program.

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: ANTHR329
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

He’s an awesome professor, but an even better person. He's the best prof I've had in 4 years. He genuinely cares about the students as individuals and about anthropology in general. He makes the lectures interesting. He's authentic and doesn't try to impress students. He’s one of the few prof who I would enjoy having a friendly chat with.

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: ANTH231
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

I don't know why everyone's complaining, I thought Ervin was a great prof! Somewhat unorganized, but the lectures were very thorough and interesting. You will never be bored in his class.

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: ANTH111
• 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:

Great professor! It might be a cliche, but this man really could lecture about the telephone book and make it sound fascinating! Highly recommended.