J. Duncan Shaeffer - Arizona State University

Professor: J. Duncan Shaeffer

Department: TBD

College: Arizona State University

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: CGU421
• Grade Received: A+
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

18 Lecture Quizzes 18 Map Quizzes. I've taken 5 courses with him. He talks for about 20 - 40 mins, 3 or 4 videos per week (2 hours of lecture a week). Can be boring at times. Take notes and you'll be fine. Map quizzes are timed 1 min per question and you cannot skip or go back in any quiz! Overall fairly easy though. Get online books, use Ctrl+F.

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: GCU426
• Grade Received: A+
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

I took Professor Shaeffer for Russian Geography, US Geography, and I am taking him in the fall for Latin American Geography, I absolutely love the guy. He's probably one of the smartest professor's I have ever had and hes incredibly knowledgeable in Geography both textbook knowledge and real life experience wise. The lectures can be long at times

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: GCU322
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Easy class if you pay attention. Professor is super knowledgeable. 18 sections, each has about an hour of lectures, then reading a 15ish page chapter, then reviewing maps. Each section had 3 quizzes. Not a ton of feedback but it wasn't needed since there was only multiple choice tests.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: GCU325
• 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:

This course takes a lot of time 7 hours/week just watching lectures. Get the book DIGITALLY to easily search up subjects. If you're into geography and have substantial knowledge of Europe, TAKE this class. Shaeffer is a genuine individual who is passionate about this subject. I really loved this course. Overall it's fun and interesting.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: GCU325
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

6+ hours of lectures, 3 reading quizzes, 3 lecture quizzes, and 3 map quizzes Every Week for 7 weeks! If you have a hardcopy of the book expect to read all 575 pages of it. I do not recommend this class as it is way too much work, but the grading is straight forward and mildly lenient.

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: GCU322
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

I took the online course and this class is easy if you have the time for it. The lectures are so boring because he rambles on about one thing for too long. Take notes during the lecture and pay attention to what you're reading.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: GCU322
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

Lectures are long (4-parts, up to 2hrs total per chapter) and pretty boring. He tends to ramble, which makes it difficult to take notes. Pay attention or you'll miss quiz answers. Friendly guy though, clearly loves the subject. The rest is just reading the book & studying maps. Put in the time and it's an easy A.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: GCU322
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

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

Comment:

I somewhat disagree with the bad ratings. I did session B so fast-paced, and in the syllabus, it states like 18+ hours of work a week. However, it only took me maybe 6-9 hours a week. I watched the lectures at 2x speed, got a 100 on most lec quizzes. Skimmed textbook for reading quizzes (40 min time limit), map quizzes are cake. Easy A for me.

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: GCU121
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

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

Comment:

DO NOT TAKE ONLINE. He assigned AT LEAST 50 assignments every week and it takes hours to finish. The information taught is relatively easy, but the amount of homework assigned makes it impossible to get an A. Not worth it if you're willing to spend at least 12hrs a week for this class alone

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: GCU322
• Grade Received: A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

Way too big of a time commitment for a class I took for university cred, would not take again and would warn anyone who doesn't care too much about geography against taking it. I swear a lot of time in lecture vids are redundant statements or rambling which just adds to the dreadfully long lecture videos. But if you like geography i guess its good.

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: GCU325
• Grade Received: A-
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

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

Comment:

So much work in a half semester class. 7 hours of video lectures a week and you HAVE to watch and take notes or else you won't do well on the lecture quiz every week. 2 map quizzes a week, 2 reading quizzes a week. No need to read book if using ebook, easy enough to look up. But you have to watch videos and study the map ahead of time to do well.

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: GCU325
• 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:

If you like traveling/Europe, then this is the class for you! Content is very interesting and lectures include personal stories and pictures from his trips. Quizzes are straightforward. Fairly easy A, shouldn't get less than a B. Only complaint was I took the 7.5wk class, so it was fast p

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: GCU325
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

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

Comment:

This class is not hard, but the most time consuming class in all my major (biochem). There were 3.5 hours PER WEEK of listening to lectures (10 lectures per quiz and each lecture was about 20 minutes), 60 pages of reading per quiz, and a map study guide per quiz. There are THREE quizzes per week. NOT AN EASY A!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: GCU426
• 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:

Prof Shaeffer is awesome! His class was very intriguing. I learned a lot about Russia/FSU, and his lectures & quizzes were extremely straight-forward and you know EXACTLY what to expect when you take them; therefore, they should be fairly easy but studying is time-consuming. There was an 8pg fairly easy paper at the end of the course. RECOMMEND!!!

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: GPH381
• 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:

He is pretty chill. Class is fast paced, but a pretty easy A. Reading quizzes suck, but everything else is pretty common sense. Wish he gave an A+ but that is his choice. Take it with friends and rock it. Also took GCU 426 which was harder due to the huge paper.

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: GPH381
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

this class is a slam "DUNK"an

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: GCU325
• 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:

Listen carefully to all his lectures to do well on the exam. Map quizes and reading quizes take time as you have to prepare for them in advance. He is a great professor at ASU. Over all, GCU 325 is an interesting class. Highly recommended

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: GCU325
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 5.0
• Course Difficulty: 1.0

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

Comment:

Easy class, only hard part is finding time to watch the online lectures, but if you open them in Explorer, you can watch them at up to 2x speed. I don't even know what his normal paced voice sounds like.

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: GPH381
• 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:

Great professor. Test questions are literally word for word from his unit lectures. Map quizzes are simple. Reading quizzes are a challenge, so plan ahead! Paying attention and taking careful notes will earn you an easy A. I recommend him if you're diligent and decent at keeping track of time.

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: GPH325
• 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:

It was a great online class. I like his style.